Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea, and is officially part of Indonesia. The island as a whole has an extraordinary cultural and linguistic diversity, containing 0.01% of the world's population, but 15% of the world's known languages.
How do
they live? Papua is home to around 312 different tribes,
including some uncontacted peoples - the island has the largest number
of uncontacted peoples outside Brazil. The central mountainous region
of Papua is home to the highland peoples, who practice pig husbandry
and sweet potato cultivation. The lowland peoples live in swampy and
malarial coastal regions, and live by hunting the abundant game, and
gathering. Some of the many Papuan tribal languages are related to
others, but some are completely unique. The
people are ethnically distinct from the Indonesians who control their
country.
What problems do they face? All the Papuan peoples have suffered
greatly under the Indonesian occupation which began in 1963. The
Indonesian army has a long history of human rights violations against
the Papuans, and the racist Indonesian soldiers generally view the
Papuan people as little more than animals. Papua's natural resources
are being exploited at great profit for the Indonesian government and
foreign businesses, but at the expense of the Papuan peoples and their
homelands. When international companies come to Papua, the Indonesian
military accompanies them to 'protect' the 'vital projects': the
military presence is almost always associated with human rights
violations such as killings, arbitrary arrests, rape and torture. Those
Papuans who protest against the Indonesian government, the military or
'vital projects' are even more likely to experience abuses of their
human rights.
How can I help?
Click
here to donate to Survival.
Click
here for a sample letter to send to the Indonesian government.
Click
here to write to your MP or MEP (UK).
Click
here to write to the President, your senators, congressmen or elected officials (US).
Write to your local Indonesian embassy, click
here to find out more.
How does Survival help? Survival is supporting
the right of the Papuan peoples to live on their land in peace, by exposing, and
protesting against, the human rights violations they experience, and by
campaigning for their land ownership rights. It supports Papuan opposition to
any harmful projects on their land, such as the pulp plant which Scott Paper
planned to build on Auyu land - the plan was abandoned after international
protests. Survival is calling on the Indonesian government to enter into
dialogue with the Papuan people so that they are able to decide their own way of
life and their future.
