Freeport Mine Petition

The Freeport mine provides concrete evidence of the mismanagement of the mining sector in Indonesia. The nation's officials see gold only as a foreign exchange commodity which happens to be located on Papuan soil, not as a natural resource which has destructive power if exploited and which has impacts on people and the environment around it.

During its 40 years of operations, Freeport has not only damaged the mountain sites of Grasberg and Ertsberg, but altered the landscape over an area of 166 square kilometers in the Ajkwa river valley, polluted the Ajkwa river estuary, contaminated a number of species, and threatened groundwater with acid mine drainage.

Prosperity for the Papuan people is increasingly far from becoming a reality. In Freeport's area of operations, the majority of residents live below the poverty line, and are forced to scrounge a living from the remnant gold in Freeport's mine waste. The number of HIV/AIDS sufferers continue to rise at the nation's highest rate in the Freeport mining town of Timika.

Freeport still has not dealt with the problem of human rights violations relating to the pattern of behaviour of Indonesian security forces, past and present, and future. Hundreds of people have suffered serious human rights violations, and have even died without the matter being resolved. To date there have not been any human rights violations that have been seriously followed up by the government - in fact the impression is that they have been deliberately neglected.

Meanwhile, from year to year Freeport continues to gouge profits from the biggest gold, copper and silver mine in the world. Freeport's top managers receive facilities, benefits and wages worth 1.5 million times the income of a Papuan resident of Timika. The conditions in the Timika area are like a tinderbox, there is no stability and no guarantee for the future of Papuans. There is one crisis after another, while Freeport continues to enjoy profits from its mine.

The government must immediately take real and measurable steps to solve the Freeport case. The mining activities of Freeport in Papua must be reevaluated. The President must immediately provide a mandate via a Presidential Decree to form an Independent Panel. This panel should be made up of experts in law, environment, social impacts, science, and human rights and must include local community representatives. The tasks for the panel should be as follows:

1. Undertake an assessment of all aspects of Freeport's mining operations, including environmental management, human rights abuses, and socioe-conomic aspects.

2. Facilitate a full consultation with the indigenous community, especially those in the area of Freeport's operations, and with other stakeholders regarding the future of Freeport's mining operations.

3. Findings of legal breaches should be followed up with the responsible authorities. This includes violations of environmental law and human rights abuses.

4. Map out and investigate a number of scenarios for the future of Freeport, including the possibilities of early mine closure, altering rates of production, and mine waste management.

What you can do

Add your name to the petition by sending an email to :

Luluk Uliyah

Secretariat Manager

Mining Action Network

Mampang Prapatan II/30 South Jakarta, Indonesia

Phone/Fax: 062 21 794 1559

email: luluk@jatam.org

Please include your name, institution (if applicable), and address

Friends of the Earth International Web Team