Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and several Papuan civil society groups have protested against raids on Papuan student dormitories in several areas in Jakarta and Denpasar, Bali, by Indonesian security forces last week.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The United States needs to get its own house in order before it can criticize Indonesia on rights abuses, a lawmaker said on Sunday.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said American business practices were partly to blame for the problems in Papua.

Jakarta – A politician asks the central government to grant Papuan people requests as long as the easternmost island stays within the Republic.

"The government needs only to spare independence from the Papuans," People Consultative Assembly deputy head Lukman Edy said in a press release as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The government says that it will be more focused on the development of oil and gas reserves in Papua.

"According to the results of satellite photos, Papua has huge oil and gas reserves," deputy minister for energy and mineral resources Widjajono Partowidagdo said on Monday.

Jayapura – Thousands of protesters staged a pro-independence rally in Indonesia's restive and resource-rich Papua region Monday demanding a referendum for self-determination.

More than 3,000 native Papuans, some in traditional grass skirts, walked 13 kilometers from Abepura city to the provincial capital Jayapura to meet local lawmakers.

Faisal Maliki Baskoro & Ririn Radiawati Kusuma – The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry says Freeport Indonesia's union workers should be more reasonable in their demand for a raise.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – As tensions remain high in Papua, rights groups on Sunday said security forces in Jakarta and Bali had arbitrarily raided the dormitories of Papuan students.

"This is a form of intimidation and direct terror," said Haris Azhar, a coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

Tjahjo Eranius, Kuala Kencana – After more than a decade of hard work and long hours driving a truck through the mountains of Indonesia's remote Papua province for US mining giant Freeport McMoRan, Nus Magay refuses to work for anything less than a hefty raise.

Indonesia is addressing problems in Papua without prodding from other parties, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Michael Tene told the Jakarta Globe on Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized human rights abuses in the region.

Indonesia rejected allegations of human rights violations in Papua province on Friday, hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized abuses in the restive region.

West Papua will be given the opportunity to apply for observer status within the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

The Director General of the MSG secretariat in Port Vila, Peter Forau, has told Radio Vanuatu that this was agreed upon at last week's MSG Foreign ministers meeting.

Honolulu, Hawaii – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday voiced alarm about human rights conditions in Indonesia's Papua and called for dialog to meet the aspirations of the restive region's people.

Jakarta – Responding to mounting public concerns over a conflict of interests in its acceptance of US$14 million from US mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia, the National Police has again denied the issue.

Arientha Primanita & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Jakarta has said it is ready to open a dialogue with Papuans, providing that it is not based on discussion of self-determination, conforms to the rules of special autonomy and favors "accelerated development."

Jakarta – National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) chief Budi Susilo Supandji has urged the government to avoid using a military approach to managing Papua, suggesting that monitoring the implementation of special autonomy would be a good place to start.

Jakarta – Commenting on the recent government claim that it was unaware of escalating tensions in Papua prior to a bloody crackdown at the Third Papuan Peoples Congress, lawmakers say it was well-informed of the situation months beforehand.

Union workers at Freeport Indonesia Grasberg copper mine plan to extend a strike into a third month, which would make it the worst work stoppage in the history of the country's mining industry.

Jakarta – The government is playing down reports made by the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) that the police and the military may have committed human rights violations when they dispersed a Papuan congress last month, allegedly leading to the deaths of at least three Papuans.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for all law enforcement officials to settle security problems in Papua and West Papua firmly but proportionally and with full respect for human rights.

Farouk Arnaz – Measures taken to disperse the pro-independence Papuan Peoples' Congress in Jayapura last month were within the bounds of regulations governing the use of force, the National Police chief said on Monday.

Banjir Ambarita, Farouk Arnaz & Ronna Nirmala, Jayapura – Seven soldiers have been detained by the military police on suspicion of abusing 12 people at a public meeting in Papua's Jayawijaya district, in the latest allegation of rights abuses by the armed forces there.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The government has recommended circumcision for people in Papua over the past two years as a new approach to curbing rapid increases in, cases of HIV/AIDS infection.

Jakarta – Another shooting occurred on Monday as a Freeport-owned car was attacked by unknown assailants in Mimika. Police officer First Brig. Marselinus was reportedly shot in the head and sent to a Freeport hospital in Mimika, Papua.

The Indonesian government must immediately act on the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission's (Komnas HAM) findings that human rights violations were committed by Indonesian security forces at the Third Papuan Peoples' Congress on Oct. 19, Amnesty International says.

The Indonesian government must immediately act on the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission's (Komnas HAM) findings that human rights violations were committed by Indonesian security forces at the Third Papuan Peoples' Congress on 19 October 2011.

National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo says they are auditing the "pocket money" received from American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan's Indonesian unit to help provide security at the Grasberg mine in Papua.

Despite the ongoing audit, Timur told Detik.com that "there is no violation."

Jakarta – Critics have urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to immediately probe mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia's security funds allocated to the Papua Police despite assurances from the company that the money is legal.

Camelia Pasandaran – Striking workers employed by Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold's subsidiary in Papua have dropped their minimum wage increase demands from $7.50 to $4 an hour, the All Indonesian Workers Union said on Monday.

Gunmen opened fire near Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg gold and copper mine in Papua on Monday, injuring a police officer in the latest in a string of attacks.

Jakarta – National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo defended the police's actions against the participants of the third Papuan Peoples Congress, saying that the police had acted within the law.

He explained that the police had no choice but to dismiss the congress because it was considered as an act of treason.

Twelve civilians in Kurulu, Jayawijaya are thought to have been tortured by members of the security forces on 2 November 2011 in violation of legal procedures., said Matius Murib, the deputy chairman of Komnas HAM Papua branch, in a statement to Bintang Papua.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The presence of large firms in Papua alongside Freeport could exacerbate conflict in the region if locals are not given the chance to take up economic opportunities, activists warned the government in a press conference on Sunday.

Jakarta – National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution refused to provide commentary regarding the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) latest finding that there had been serious violations during the Papuan People congress crackdown in Abepura, which claimed the lives of six people.

Jakarta – The government must first withdraw its military and police personnel from Papua if it really wants peace talks to start, says the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

Nivell Rayda & Samantha Michaels – In the highlands of Mimika district in Papua, where temperatures can easily drop to a chilly 10 degrees Celsius, thousands of Freeport workers hold fast to their demands against the owner of one of the world's largest open gold and copper mines.

Setyo Budi – The Indonesian Police cancelled a plan to forcibly break up a blockade at Freeport's Grasberg mine on 1 November after striking workers brought their wives and children to the strike site.

Timika, Papua – Police failed to lift road blockades stopping fuel and food reaching Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold's mining operations in Indonesia's Papua region, after clashes with striking miners and local tribesmen on Friday.

Camelia Pasandaran – The National Commission on Human Rights on Friday released a report detailing alleged human rights violations carried out by Indonesian security forces during a raid on a separatist rally near Jayapura on Oct 19.

Jakarta – With both the US and Australian governments recently expressing support for Indonesia's handling of Papua, the government will likely stick to its guns and continue to emphasize security and military approaches, despite rhetoric that it would adopt a more comprehensive approach.

Jakarta – The Indonesian police and military continue to apply persuasive approaches in handling all sorts of conflicts and problems in restive Papua, a senior police officer said here Thursday.

Jakarta – Papuan people refuse to argue with Jakarta over the Papua issue, demanding only that the central government respect their dignity as fellow humans, a senior researcher says.

Geneva – Following last month's violent dispersal by Indonesian security forces of the Third Papuan Peoples' Congress in Jayapura, Indonesia has been confronted with the full scale of human rights problems in Papua by the new report Human Rights in Papua 2010/2011.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) reported on Thursday that it had found that 96 out of 387 participants at the third Papuan Peoples Congress had been assaulted by police officers.

Below is a statement from New Zealand human rights, development and peace organisations about the use excessive use of force and human rights violations perpetrated by Indonesian police and military personnel breaking up the Third Papuan People's Congress in Jayapura, West Papua, on 19 October 2011.

Geneva – The Faith Based Network on West Papua (FBN), Franciscans International (FI), and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released the report "Human Rights in Papua 2010/2011" on 2 November 2011.

Trade unionists from around the world including Australia are in Jakarta, to try to resolve the bitter dispute at the Freeport mine in the Indonesian province of Papua.

The dispute flared last month, leaving several people dead after clashes between striking miners and Indonesian security forces.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – "There is no alternative to our reliance on the Indonesian Military [TNI] and police", Freeport chairman James Moffett wrote to the New York Times in 2005. All issues related to security support, Moffett said, were "ordinary business activities."

John McBeth, Jakarta – He is a mechanic with a single name and a mysterious past, but the man called Sudiro is almost single-handedly leading the eight-week-long strike that has played havoc with the operations of the world's richest copper and gold mine in the central highlands of Papua, Indonesia.

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Mining company PT Freeport Indonesia claims that funds given to security personnel guarding project sites in Papua are allowed under a multi-national pact.

Jakarta – The central government and representatives from Papuan organizations must involve mediators before engaging in further talks to resolve a string of conflicts in the easternmost region, activists say.