AHRC-PRL-042-2011
Hong Kong – At around 3pm today the security forces surrounding the Third Papuan People's Congress in Indonesia opened fire and dispersed the event. Possible casualties are not known as of now. Several persons are reported to have been arrested, including Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi, indigenous political leaders.
Ali Kutarumalos, Jakarta – Thousands of striking workers blockaded roads leading to Freeport-McMoRan Cooper & Gold Inc.'s mine in easternmost Indonesia on Tuesday, preventing food, medicine and other supplies from reaching holed-up staffers and their families.
Around 5,000 people on Monday swarmed Zhakeus Field in Padangbulan, Jayapura, Papua, to attend the opening of the 3rd Papuan People's Congress, which runs through Oct. 19. They came from seven customary areas in Papua as well as West Papua.
Banjir Ambarita & Ririn Radiawati Kusuma, Jayapura – The Indonesian unit of US mining giant Freeport McMoRan announced on Monday that it was suspending its operations in West Papua amid a suspected pipe sabotage and a blockade by striking workers.
Jayapura – The Third Papuan People's Congress opened in Jayapura today and took place in a field in the open air, after failing to get permission to use either the UNCEN auditorium or GOR, the sports stadium in Jayapura.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Another worker at giant copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), who was wounded in a clash with security officers at Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, Papua, on Oct. 10, died on Saturday at his home in Kwamki Lama.
Jakarta – Copper and gold mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia has been forced to halt production following a deteriorating security situation around its mining site in Grasberg, Papua.
Timika, Papua – Police said they have identified six people involved in an ambush on Friday at Mile 37, Tanggul Timur, Mimika, Papua, that left three people dead.
"There were five or six perpetrators," confirmed Papua Police Command spokesman Senior Commissioner Wachyono, when asked about the incident on Saturday.
Banjir Ambarita – At least three people were killed in an ambush on Friday near the Freeport-McMoRan Grasberg mine in the Mimika district of Papua, police said.
"Three Freeport workers died instantly from gunshot wounds," Papua police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said. "The [Mitsubishi] L300 that the victims were in was also set on fire."
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The remains of Petrus Ayamiseba, 36, a PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) worker who was shot dead on Oct. 10 during a clash with the police at the Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, Papua, was buried at the Christian cemetery on Jl. Cenderawasih, Timika, on Thursday.
Dozens of journalists demonstrated in Manokwari to protest against the beating of a colleague, Duma Tato Sanda, a journalist working for Cahaya Papua, who was beaten up by workers of Freeport during a clash in Timika and suffered from bruises and swelling in his cheeks, lips and his waist and was punched in the chest.
In connection with the shooting dead of Petrus Ayamiseba who worked at the catering department for workers at Freeport, the Dewan Adat Papua has declared that it is essential to withdraw army and police troops from area around the Freeport mine.
Yogyakarta – Scores of demonstrators from the People's Mining Militia held a free-speech forum in front of the Gedung Agung Presidential Palace in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Thursday October 13.
Nick Chesterfield and local sources – Plain clothes Indonesian police agents in Jayapura opened fire late on October 12 outside a student dormitory, in another violent act of security force intimidation before the Third Papuan People's Congress starts on October 16.
AWPA has written to the US Ambassador in Canberra (letter below) asking that the US Government investigate the killing of Petrus Ayamiseba to see if Freeport management is using the security forces and its own security staff to intimidate workers to return to work.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The world's largest publicly traded copper mining firm, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc., may have to wait a little longer to get its Indonesian operations back on track, pending a court ruling to settle a salary dispute with its workers.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The government will create an inter-ministry team to resolve long-standing salary and security problems involving mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia, according to a minister.
Officials in Puncak Papua have started moving children out of the conflict-torn district as the situation there continues to deteriorate.
An industrial dispute at the world's biggest gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province, has turned ugly, after a striking worker was shot dead by police. Seven others were critically wounded when officers tried to stop striking workers from going into a facility at the mining complex on Monday.
Jakarta – Thousands of Papuans rallied in front of the Papuan People's Assembly in Abepura, Jayapura, on Tuesday, demanding a referendum on the province's independence from Indonesia.
Nethy Dharma Somba Rangga D. Fadhillah, Jakarta/Jayapura – A PT Freeport Indonesia worker named Petrus Ayamiseba was shot dead when the police fired warning shots to stop protesting workers from entering Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, Papua, on Monday.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura, Papua – The situation in the highland district of Puncak Papua remained tense on Monday as a housing complex for local teachers was burned down in the continuing tribal war that has killed at least 27 people since late July.
Rendi A. Witular and Rangga D. Fadillah, Jakarta – The fatal shooting by police of a local worker of Freeport McMoran during a union protest on Monday will likely exacerbate a long-standing row between the US mining giant and its local stakeholders.
Banjir Ambarita, Farouk Arnaz & Ronna Nirmala, Jayapura – In an escalation of the long-running Freeport mine labor dispute, one man was shot dead on Monday and several more injured after a march of striking workers descended into a clash with police officers.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-204-2011
Dear friends,
Jakarta – Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Indonesia to investigate the use of "deadly force" by police who shot dead one protester and injured six others at a mining protest.
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-202-2011
Dear friends,
Kontras, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence has condemned the shooting of Freeport workers who were seeking negotiations with the management of the company. Since the commencement of the strike on 15 September there has been no sign that the management is seeking to provide the space for dialogue which could accommodate the interests of the two sides.
Indonesian security forces opened fire on striking workers at Freeport-McMoran's gold and copper mine early Monday, killing one and critically wounding another, a union official said.
Police said it was too early to comment and officials from Freeport, based in the US state of Arizona, were preparing an official statement.
The Indonesian authorities must immediately investigate the use of deadly force by police at a mining protest, Amnesty International said today after one protester was killed and at least six injured.
Jakarta – The People's Liberation Party (PPR) reports that a person was shot dead by security forces during a clash with thousands of PT Freeport Indonesia employees at the Gorong-Gorong bus terminal in Timika, West Papua, on the morning of Monday October 10.
Jakarta – A clash between striking workers and police near Freeport Indonesia's copper mine killed one protestor and injured others, complicating a pay dispute that appears far from being resolved.
Jayapura – About two thousand people intending to attend the Third Papuan People's Congress due to open on 16 October have already arrived in Jayapura from other parts of Papua. Some arrived by plane while the majority travelled here by ship. The police have taken measures to guard the roads leading into Jayapura by examining all passengers who arrive aboard the white ships.
Indonesian police have detained ten West Papuan activists in Jayapura on Thursday ahead of a critical meeting for the pro-independence West Papua National Authority (WPNA), according to local sources.
Alex Rayfield and Claudia King – Workers at the Freeport McMoRan mine in West Papua resumed strikes on 15 September after more than six weeks of unresolved negotiation talks with company management.
Workers at the world's largest gold and copper mine in Indonesia have promised to strike indefinitely until their demands are met.
Most of the workforce at the giant Freeport McMoRan Mine have been on strike for a month which they have extended for another 30 days.
Workers at one of the world's largest gold and copper mine in the remote Indonesian province of Papua vowed on Friday to paralyze production, as their strike over pay enters its second month.
Karima Anjani – Union workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's extended their strike at a massive Indonesian gold and copper mine on Thursday for a second month, the longest strike in the country's mining industry.
Jayapura – The Third Papuan People's Congress [KRP] which is due to take place from 16-19 October will be provided with a security force of four thousand Papuans, according to the chairman of the KRP committee, Selpius Bobii, when he handed over the congress programme to Bintang Papua.
No: 024-Per.Sikap/DPP.GSBI/JKT/X/2011
Solidarity greetings,
As reported in various media as well as the chronology of cases that submitted to the Central Executive Board of Federation of Independent Trade Unions (DPP GSBI) on Thursday, 29 September 2011 ago, that there has been a workers strike of PT Freeport Indonesia, since September 15, 2011 till now.
Rangga D. Fadillah, Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia says it cannot fulfill its workers' demands for hourly wages because their offered 22 percent salary increase was the best among the mining companies operating in the country.
Thousands of workers from Freeport Indonesia have been on strike since 15 September demanding higher wages and better personal welfare, bearing in mind the great risks that their work involves. The wages they currently receive are far from adequate and are way below the wages paid in mines elsewhere the world.
Jakarta – PT Freeport McMoran, Indonesia's largest gold producer, has rejected employee demands for a 25 percent salary increase, arguing that the request had exceeded the company's capacity.
Index: ASA 21/029/2011
Mimika – Thousands of PT Freeport Indonesia workers staged another protest in front of the Mimika Manpower Agency over what they said was a violation committed by the company.
The protesters who have been on strike since Sept. 15, said the company had broken the law by recruiting new workers while they were on strike.
Thousands of PT Freeport Indonesia workers staged another protest in front of the Mimika Manpower Agency office over what they said was a violation committed by the company.
New York – Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Tuesday that his government was fully aware of problems in restive Papua and was working to find a way to deliver autonomy.
We fully support the strike by PT Freeport Indonesia workers for better wages and conditions. The government must guarantee legal protection to the workers and protect them against intimidation and threats while they are on strike and conducting negotiations with the company in accordance with Law Number 13/2003 on Labour.
Anita Rachman – Eighty percent of Papuans live in the approximately 3,000 kampongs spread across the country's largest province, so any meaningful understanding of how Papuans live must start at the village level.
Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A local NGO is urging the government to propose contract renegotiations with Freeport Indonesia to force the company to pay proper royalties for its mines.