Frances Evans – West Papua: where the second largest rainforest in the world is cleared for Freeport/Rio Tinto's gold and copper mines; where one of the world's most diverse marine environments is being polluted by BHP-Billiton's toxic tailings; where, for more than half a century, demands for self-determination have been met with mass human rights abuses; where a struggle has been largely ignored by the rest of the world.

Situated just north of Queensland, West Papua is the easternmost island under Indonesian government. A border drawn arbitrarily by the Dutch, British and Germans during colonisation separates the Indonesian-occupied territory from independent Papua New Guinea.

While Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945, West Papua remained under Dutch control and preparations were made for its independence. However, in 1962, under pressure from a US worried about Soviet/Indonesia relations, the Dutch ceded control to Indonesia.

In 1969, a "referendum" called "the Act of Free Choice" was held to decide whether West Papua would remain part of Indonesia. However, the vote was performed by 1025 government-selected representatives to whom it had been made clear that anyone who favoured independence would be treated as traitors. All 1,025 voted to remain with Indonesia.

In the lead up to the act, two West Papuan tribal leaders, on their way to New York to voice complaints about the act, were detained by Australian officials in Papua New Guinea. In West Papua itself, 100,000 Papuans were killed by the military while opposing the outcome of the act and 28,000 Papuans crossed the Papua New Guinea border to seek refuge from the Indonesian regime.

Under the Indonesian occupation, West Papua has been plundered by numerous multinational corporations with no consultation with indigenous communities. Freeport/Rio Tinto run the world's largest gold mine and third-largest copper mine in West Papua. Because Freeport is Indonesia's largest single taxpayer, providing a fifth of Indonesia's entire tax base, the Indonesian government has a vested interest in ensuring the success of the mine.

In the first five years of the mine's activity, 5000 local Amungme people were displaced. No provisions were made to compensate the people for the loss of their land and livelihoods, and many starved or became ill as they were moved from the highlands to the malarial coasts. Opposition to these occurrences regularly led to military killings of Papuans.

In 1977, the Free Papua Movement (OPM) sabotaged the Freeport slurry pipeline, causing a halt in production and the loss of millions of dollars. This led to an increased military presence in the area, and attacks on local communities. Freeport financed a large proportion of this military activity, as well as supplying military facilities such as barracks and guard posts. This arrangement between the military and Freeport, long derided by human-rights groups, still continues.

The death of two US school teachers in 2002 during an ambush attack near the Freeport headquarters brought the problems in West Papua to the attention of international media. Indonesian military officials immediately blamed the OPM for the attack; however, subsequent investigations by the Indonesian police and human rights organisations have found the military to be responsible. The military has blocked further attempts to investigate the incident.

The conflicts concerning West Papua's independence from Indonesia have been relatively quiet in the international media. Journalists and human rights advocates who have attempted to report the grave situation in West Papua have been denied access to the region by Indonesian bureaucrats. Many have also been deterred by the mysterious deaths of journalists, and arrests and torture of human rights workers.

With the advent of Washington's "war on terrorism", Indonesia has labelled the West Papua independence movement a separatist/terrorist movement in order to broaden support for the campaign against it. Washington recently gave Indonesia US$50 million for "anti-terrorism operations". This will go directly to the Indonesian police and military, whose notorious disregard for human rights has led to countless cases of extra-judicial military killings, disappearances, torture and unlawful arrests.

Currently, the people of West Papua along with solidarity groups around the world are lobbying the United Nations to revoke the Act of Free Choice.

One focus is to oppose the Australian-based corporations, such as BHP-Billiton, Rio Tinto, Australian Defence Industries and International Purveying Incorporated, exploiting West Papua and profiting from the Indonesian occupation.

[Amungme community leader Mama Yusefa Alomang, who is also a director of the Foundation Against Violence and for Human Rights YAHAMAK, will be speaking at the July 11-17 at LaTrobe University in Melbourne. Alomang is also the recipient of the 2001 Goldman Environmental Prize, and the 1999 Yap Thiam Indonesian Human Rights Award.]