Arie Sunaryo – The Surakarta district police have seized two large banners depicting symbols of the Morning Star flag belonging to Papuan students that was to be used in a protest action at the Gladag traffic circle in the Central Java city of Solo on Thursday August 15.

Bogor – The momentum in the lead up to Indonesia's 68th Independence Day was used by scores of Papuan students to demand freedom and self-determination for the Papuan people. These demands were conveyed during a demonstration at the Tugu Kujang intersection on Jl. Padjajaran in Bogor, West Java, on Thursday August 15.

Joel Magarey – Australian and West Papuan activists are set to sail to the disputed Indonesian territory of West Papua without permission.

The "peace mission" has united Aboriginal and Papuan activists in support of the West Papuan independence struggle and will see 15 sailors leave on Saturday in a "freedom flotilla" of two yachts headed for the town of Merauke.

Jenny Denton – A group of Australian Aboriginal, non-Indigenous and West Papuan activists will set sail from Cairns for West Papua on Saturday, on a journey that organisers describe as both cultural exchange and act of resistance.

Jakarta – Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian has announced a plan to conduct a flag-hoisting ceremony on Papua highest peak, Mount Cartenz, on Wednesday. The ceremony is part of a series of activities to observe the country's 68th Independence Day, which falls every Aug. 17.

Ezra Sihite & Novy Lumanauw – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has sought to quell growing support for Papuan self-determination among Indonesia's Pacific island neighbors, on Monday seeking to demonstrate the area's recent economic progress to visiting Solomon Islands Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo.

Police in Indonesia's Papua region have reportedly banned a number of protests and cultural parades planned to protest against the signing of the 1962 New York Agreement.

The deal between the UN, the Netherlands and Indonesia was a precursor to the Act Of Free Choice seven years later which led to Jakarta imposing its rule on the former Dutch colony.

A number of peaceful protests and cultural parades, planned to protest the signing of the New York Agreement on the 15 August 1962 have been banned by the police in West Papua.

Semarang – Some 650 military personnel of Infantry Battalion (Yonif) 410/Aloguro left Tanjung Emas Seaport at Semerang, Central Java, for Papua on Monday to strengthen Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border security.

Jayapura, Papua – A man was wounded after being shot at when trying to grab a weapon of a patrolling police officer in Timika on Sunday, police said.

The incident occurred after patrolling police asked a group of four men, who were consuming alcoholic drink late that night to stop and told them to go home.

An Indonesian Brimob police officer has shot dead an unarmed mentally ill Lani youth in Wamena on Thursday, after the youth allegedly verbally ridiculed the passing heavily armed police patrol on Jalan Ahmad Yani, according to witnesses interview by West Papua Media stringers.

The KNPB (West Papua National Committee) and PNWP (West Papua National Parliament) will march through the streets of West Papua on August 15th on a Papuan cultural parade in support of the Free West Papua Campaign opening a new office in the Netherlands as well as in rejection of the "New York Agreement" of 15 August 1962 where the USA and the government of the Netherlands sold West

Rochelle Jones – West Papua – officially under Indonesian rule since 1963 – is located in the Western half of the island of New Guinea, 250km north of Australia. In 2012, West Papua Media conducted interviews with four West Papuan women who are active in the nonviolent movement for freedom. Here, AWID gives some background, and excerpts from the interviews.

An independence campaigner in Indonesia's remote Papua province says a deadly shooting last week was the fault of Indonesian soldiers, who shot at an ambulance.

Reports from local media say one man, Erik Yoman, was killed, and several others injured, including medical officers.

Jayapura – Papuan indigenous traders are very worried about the fact that they are not able to compete economically because of the arrival in Papua of immigrants who are 'taking over' the trade in many simple commodities which has for a long time been where Papuan women (mama-mama) are conducting their business activities.

A platoon of the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade, or Brimob, has been deployed to Mulia, in Papua province's Puncak Jaya regency, in response to a fatal shooting last week.

A Senior Indonesia vice-presidential advisor says the government is serious about protecting human rights in West Papua and Papua provinces.

Alex Rayfield, Yapen – In dramatic scenes outside a remote West Papuan prison, local community leaders on Monday forced the Indonesian police to release to two independence activists jailed on charges of rebellion.

The Hague, West Papua – The Free West Papua Campaign is to open a new office in the Netherlands.

Earlier this year the Campaign, which is fronted by exiled West Papuan Independence leader Benny Wenda, opened an office in the British city of Oxford.

Banjir Ambarita – An armed civilian group shot at an ambulance carrying a patient in the restive Papua district of Puncak Jaya on Wednesday, killing one and injuring two others.

Jayapura – The Second Secretary for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in Jakarta, James P. Feldmeyer, declared that he will pay close attention to any information or complaints, however small he receives from Papuan people.

Jayapura – Five Papuan Freedom activists were arrested while taking part in a demonstration on 29 July, in support of the discussion on Self-Determination for the people of West Papua which took place at the United Nations Human Rights Committee which met in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month.

Oxford, UK – Benny Wenda has been many things in his 38 years. Among them, student and activist, prisoner and wanted man, a child of indigenous farmers in the West Papua province of Indonesia and a father of six in this English university town.

As announced by Mr Herman Wainggai, on Monday 29 July at 11am the West Papuan people will be conducting a peaceful demonstration in the city of Jayapura – The people call upon the governments of the US and Australia, as well as the member nations of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, to mediate the rights of the West Papuan people under international law as those adopted by the UN.

A newspaper chief editor in West Papua says journalists in the region are pressured by police and government not to publish material about West Papuan pro-independence groups.

Victor Mambor of the Tabloid Jubi newspaper, says it's not uncommon for media outlets in West Papua to be called or visited by police for special meetings about issues of publishing.

Members of the House of Lords held a debate about West Papua on Wednesday in which they raised serious concerns about the human rights situation and called on the British government to take a stronger stand.

A coalition of organisations has requested the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Commission to take action under its Early Warning and Urgent Action procedures to address the dire situation being faced by indigenous people all over Indonesia.

The Pacific Freedom Forum has condemned the confiscation of a magazine by police in Indonesia's Papua province.

Local police have reportedly taken six copies of the new Papua Pelita magazine from the publication's head office for inspection.

The Pacific Freedom Forum says police actions to stop distribution of a new magazine in West Papua break press laws of Indonesia and must be condemned.

The forum has joined the Indonesian Press Council in criticising police for their actions against the magazine, Papua Pelita.

Police actions to stop distribution of a new magazine in West Papua break press laws of Indonesia and must be condemned, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.

Human Rights Watch has voiced alarm at the implications for West Papua from a new law in Indonesia giving the government wide powers to shut down NGOs.

The Law on Mass Organisations imposes a broad range of obligations and prohibitions on NGO activities, and severe limitations on freedom of expression and association.

Workers at the Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc expect to reach an agreement over pay in less than two weeks, a union official said on Friday, cutting the risk of further disruption at the world's second-biggest copper mine after a deadly accident two months ago.

Jayapura – Following the establishment of an OPM office in Oxford, the UK earlier this year, there are now plans to set up an OPM office in The Netherlands on 15 August.

Jayapura, Papua – Britain still recognizes Papua as an integral part Indonesia, a British diplomat said.

"We are here this time on a working visit to the Cendrawasih Regional Military Command," Millie Mc Devitt, Second Secretary in Political Section of the British Embassy, said in a news release issued here on Wednesday.

Indonesian and international human rights groups have called questioned Jakarta's commitment to finding a peaceful resolution to the decades-long insurgency in Papua, following a discussion on the issue at the United Nations.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Yuliasri Perdani, Jayapura/Jakarta – As the National Police revised downward the number of victims in the Sunday night stampede to 17 from 18, the blame game has started over who is responsible for the riot that began during a boxing championship in Papua's Nabire regency.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says he supports journalists and non-government organisations having greater access to the country's Papua and West Papua provinces.

Mr Natalegawa has told the ABC's Newsline the security situation in the provinces remains Indonesia's "only concern".

Mettu Badii, Semarang – Scores of students and young people from the group National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS) held a candlelit vigil in front of the Diponegoro University campus in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang on Sunday July 14 to remember the bloody Wasior and Wamena incidents.

Yogyakarta – Hundreds of demonstrators from the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a peaceful action and free speech forum today, Monday July 15.

Jayapura – The Papua branch of the Indonesian Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) has said foreign journalists have found difficulties in getting permit to perform their journalistic duties in Papua.

The organisation calling itself the executive government of the Federal Republic of West Papua has sent a letter to the Pacific Islands Forum seeking membership in the regional organisation.

The West Papuan Freedom Flotilla sets out on the first leg of its epic journey from Lake Eyre to the warm waters of Merauke, West Papua on July 16, 2013.

Finalia Kodrati, Arie Dwi Budiawati – Papua National Solidarity (NAPAS) is demanding that the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and the Attorney General's Office fully resolve the alleged human rights violations that took place in Wasior and Wamena, West Papua, in [2001 and] 2003.

Simon Santow: Last week, the ABC's stand-in PNG (Papua New Guinea) correspondent Liam Cochrane made a trip to the far north-west of Papua New Guinea to meet a rebel commander of the Free Papua Movement.

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – An unidentified gunman shot a passing motorcycle taxi driver dead in the restive Papua district of Puncak Jaya on Friday, police said

The ojek driver was gunned down in Wandigobak village, near the Semen River, at around 8:30 in the morning, according to Papua Police spokesman I Gede Sumerta Jaya.

Jakarta – The Custom Institute of Amungme Tribe (Lemasa) in Papua has called on the central government to involve customary communities in the renegotiation process for the PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) contract extension.

Fergus Jensen, Jakarta – Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc has resumed copper concentrate shipments from its mine in Grasberg, Indonesia, but expects output this year to drop by a fifth following a near two-month stoppage.

A tunnel cave-in killed 28 people at the world's second-biggest copper mine in May, shutting operations while safety investigations were carried out.

According to several NGOs which are involved in the promotion of human rights in Papua, there has been no change in the human rights situation in Papua in the first one hundred days of administration of Lukas Enambe and Klemen Tinal (Lukmen).

Ali Akhmad, Jakarta – The Press Council says the ban on the first edition of Papua's Pelita Pelita Magazine is considered as an attempt to block the press.

"If the police really did come and prohibit the distribution of information, that is a form of blocking the press," Press Council member Imam Wahdyudi told Tempo on Sunday.

Michael Sergel – Asylum seekers and West Papuans were prime time talking points on Australian television last week, as ABC hosted a ground-breaking debate on Indonesia-Australia relations live from Jakarta.