A report has been released following a joint investigation into the mistreatment and torture of a group of 15 Papuans in connection with two criminal incidents that occurred recently in West Papua.

Hundreds of paramilitary police have been sent to Indonesia's Papua province after 9,000 mining workers started a month-long strike for higher wages. They're employed at the US owned Freeport McMoran copper and gold mine.

Timika, Indonesia – Thousands of workers at Freeport-McMoran's gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia began a monthlong strike Thursday over a wage dispute.

Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-041-2011

Dear friends,

Jayapura – The Papua Police have dispatched 114 police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel to Timika to heighten security ahead of a planned month-long work strike by PT Freeport Indonesia workers from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

Thousands of workers at Freeport McMoRan's giant gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia prepared to go on a month-long strike over wages at midnight on Wednesday, a workers union said.

"The strike will start midnight involving 9,000 workers and it will last for one month," Virgo Solossa, a spokesman for the Freeport workers union told AFP.

Jayapura – Mufriadi, a journalist with TOP TV Papua, was reportedly beaten by the South Sorong regent while he was covering a rally involving local residents outside of the regency administration office over the weekend.

Investing in conflict-affected and high-risk areas is a growing concern for responsible businesses and investors. Often times companies based in developed countries operate in lesser-developed foreign markets, where governance standards are lax, corruption is high and business practices are poor.

Once again, violence has been used in Papua, this time against a television journalist working for the local TV station in South Sorong, TOP TV. Mufriadi who reports on the district of South Sorong was severely beaten by the bupati – district chief – of South Sorong in West Papua while covering an assault on the office of the district chief by local people.

A massive upsurge in "mysterious acts of violence" around the Jayapura region of West Papua has many local observers blaming Indonesian security forces.

Although thirteen of the fifteen Papuans who were arrested on 31 August have since been released, the National Human Rights Commission's (Komnas HAM) Papua branch is continuing to pay serious attention to what happened, said Mathius Murib, deputy chairman of the commission.

A group of Papuan independence activists in Auckland are hoping Pacific leaders have heard their calls for self-determination and the inclusion of West Papua in the Forum.

Pacific leaders once spoke out about the violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Indonesia military in Papua, but have ignored the issue for the past four years.

Jayapura – Police have detained two people identified as EK,17, and PK,19, for their alleged involvement in several murders in Jayapura, Papua, on June 7, 2011 and in Nafri on Aug. 1, 2011.

The two were arrested together with 13 others in Kotaraja, Jayapura, on Aug. 31 after the police investigated a series of violent incidents in August.

As security in West Papua deteriorates, local groups have stepped up their calls for dialogue with Jakarta. Joe Collins from the Australia West Papua Association reviews the latest developments

Jakarta – Jayapura district police have been accused of torturing 15 witnesses who were initially suspected of being members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in a violence related case in Abepura.

KontraS condemns the appalling practices of torture and criminalisation which were perpetrated by the law enforcement agencies against of a number of Papuan people by the police in Papua. Such activities are a serious violation of their human rights which should be avoided at all costs because they are in breach of a number of legal provisions.

David Adam Stott – "Where it cuts across the island of New Guinea, the 141st meridian east remains one of colonial cartography's more arbitrary yet effective of boundaries."1

Max Lane – I was very active between 1991 and 1999 in the international solidarity movement for Timorese independence. During that time, I worked with a variety of Timorese individuals and political groups.

At the the 42nd Meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to be held in Auckland next week, AWPA calls on the PIF leaders to grant observer status to genuine representatives of the West Papuan people who are struggling for their right to self determination.

The Pacific Islands Forum is being told it must speak out about the ongoing instability in the Indonesian region of Papua.

Groups representing the indigenous Melanesian people of Papua are calling for them to be given observer status at next week's Forum summit in Auckland.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-150-2011

Dear friends,

Maire Leadbeater – The Melanesian people of West Papua, neighbours to Papua New Guinea, say they belong to the Pacific region and that it is their home geographically, ethnically and culturally. But since Indonesia took control of the territory in 1963 they have been excluded from regional meetings.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Jayapura City Police have named Julius Wenda, 32, a resident of Kotaraja, Abepura, a suspect in connection with the murder of Capt. Tasman M. Nur, 53, a member of the Cenderawasih Military Command, on Aug. 23.

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – It is a seemingly unending conflict in a part of the world famous for both its awesome remoteness and the incredible wealth on and beneath the ground.

Rights group Amnesty International on Thursday urged Indonesia to free a Papuan activist jailed for staging a peaceful protest and raising an independence flag in the remote province.

Index: ASA 21/027/2011

London – After the mass mobilization of the people of Papua on 2nd August 2011, and the conference of the International Lawyers on West Papua (ILWP) in Oxford England, conflicts and various cases of violence continue to occur in Papua.

Dance Yanu has been sentenced to seven months and 16 days by a judge at the Manokwari court after being found guilty of makar (subversion).

There are fears that the prospects for peace in the land of Papua will becoming increasing difficult for three reasons. The first is the escalation in the level of violence that has been disrupting the situation in Papua.

An Indonesian Military officer stationed in Papua was stabbed to death by unknown attackers on Tuesday.

Capt. Tasman, 53, from the Cenderawasih XVII Military Regional Command, was on his way to work when the attack took place near a housing complex on Jalan Baru in Heram, Jayapura.

Washington – More than two dozen US lawmakers on Monday urged Indonesia to free Papuan activist Filep Karma, saying that his detention raised questions about the emerging US ally's commitment to democracy.

The Papuan National Liberation Army, the military wing of the OPM has condemned the shooting dead in Arso 14, district of Keerom of a Papuan named Dasnum Komba which occurred on 17 August. According to the TPN/OPM Komba died after being shot by members of the 330 infantry brigade (Yonif 330) which is based in the area.

Jakarta/Brussels – A spike in violence in Indonesian Papua over the last two months underscores the urgency of exploring new ideas to address conflict there.

Today, a bipartisan group of 26 members of the United States House of Representatives, led by Reps. Joseph Pitts (R-PA) and James Moran (D-VA) requested that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia release Papuan human-rights advocate Filep Karma. In the letter, attached, the Representatives declared:

Elisabeth Oktofani – The government must quickly set up a long-awaited body to oversee political and economic development in the restive province of Papua if it is to stem a rising tide of violence there, analysts said on Monday.

A national reconciliation team of the West Papuan people consisting of a number of organisations that have been outspoken in their views about the problems of the indigenous Papuan people as well as the policies of the government in Papua have announced that they will be convening the Third Grand Papuan Congress.

Ronna Nirmala & Banjir Ambarita – Prominent human rights activists urged the government on Sunday to hold immediate talks with people in restive Papua, as violence and calls for independence intensify.

UA: 251/11 Index: ASA 21/025/2011 Indonesia Date: 19 August 2011

Papuan political prisoner Kimanus Wenda is in urgent need of medical treatment. He has a tumour in his stomach, and needs to be transferred to a hospital to undergo an operation. Prison authorities have refused to pay for his transport and medical costs.

Nick Chesterfield and local sources – Indonesian Police and Army from a joint taskforce opened fire on a car of West Papua independence activists in Abepura, West Papua, on August 18, after arresting three other activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) for distributing pamphlet in support of demonstrations planned for August 20.

Melkianus Bleskadit was sentenced yesterday in Manokwari court to two years for his role when the 14-star flag was raised.

A day earlier, the prosecutor asked for him to be sentenced to five years. The prosecutor has announced that he will mount an appeal against the verdict.

Congress of the United States Washington, DC 20515

August 19, 2011

Dr. H Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
President of the Republic of Indonesia
Istana Merdeka
Jakarta 10110 Indonesia

Your Excellency:

Jakarta – A group of armed men launched attacks in the Papua regency of Paniai as Indonesia celebrated on Wednesday its 66th Independence Day.

The sound of gunshots has been heard since about 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning in Pagepota and Uwibutu villages in Paniai. There have been no reports of casualties.

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A shootout took place in the Tanah Hitam mountain early on Tuesday morning after the banned Morning Star flag was hoisted, a day before Indonesia marked Independence Day.

In light of the leaked Kopassus documents AWPA is calling on the Australian Government to rethink its policy of ties between the Australian military and the Indonesian Special Force Group, Kopassus.

Camelia Pasandaran – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reinforced on Tuesday the importance of protecting the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia amid increasing security issues in volatile Papua.

Jerry Omona, Jakarta – The XVII Cenderawasih Military District Command in Papua is still investigating Army Special Forces (Kopassus) documents leaked by the media group, Fairfax Australia, last Saturday. The documents dated between 2006 and 2009 contained reports on the Free Papua Organization's separatist movement.

Faisal Maliki Baskoro – After two years with little progress, the government is considering shifting the location of its planned food estate to East Kalimantan from Papua because of the availability of land.

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Calls have intensified for the Indonesian military to drawdown its extensive operational and surveillance presence in West Papua to ease the oppression of locals and pave the way for a fruitful dialogue between Jakarta and the disaffected indigenous people of the region.

Leaked military documents show Indonesia is engaged in a vast illegal surveillance operation against ordinary people in the restive eastern region of Papua, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Fidelis E. Sastriastanti – The military has played down Australian media revelations of a confidential report on the Papuan insurgency, saying that there was nothing new in the details published.