DTE works to supports human rights and ecological justice in Papua. This involves information, advocacy and capacity-building support work with partners to help local communities build sustainable livelihoods, in a deeply challenging context of global climate change, top-down investment policies and projects, a high level of militarisation and violence linked to the suppression of political dissent. [more]
The following submissions were made in July and August 2011 in response to the urgent threats to human rights and livelihoods faced by indigenous peoples in the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) project area.
To mark the ten year anniversary of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, DTE has translated a speech by AMAN's Secretary General on March 17th 2009.
This year's forest fires and resulting smoke-smog pollution have again caused havoc over large areas of Kalimantan and Sumatra. Dry conditions meant that the fires spread rapidly and continued into November, before rains started easing the situation. The choking 'haze', which is expected to take a heavy toll on local people's health, spread to neighbouring countries, prompting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to apologise to them.
An NGO report shows how West Papua's rich, extensive forests are being stripped to satisfy China's demand for timber. The Indonesia government, keen to demonstrate to the international community that it is taking illegal logging and timber smuggling seriously, responded by promising action against corrupt military, police and forestry personnel.
Notes from a discussion between DTE and Alex Sanggenafa, focal point for the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago (AMAN) for Yapen Waropen, Papua.
AMAN and indigenous peoples: challenges in the Papuan context
Papuans' mistrust of the Indonesian government remains as deep as ever; they still tend to ask what hidden agenda lies behind any government efforts to win their hearts and minds.
gn [dot] apc [dot] org
