fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

WTN Arusha / Tanzania 28. Aug. 2008

Two human rights defenders from the Hadzabe people in Tanzania have been acquitted by the Mbulu District Court from all charges brought against them in an attempt for revenge, because they had successfully defended the tribal homeland of their people against a corrupt deal. A Dubai conglomerate of wealthy sports-hunters from Abu-Dabi had been trying franticly to establish a sports-hunting area in the culturally and ecologically most important part of the Yaida Valley, along Lake Eyasi in Tanzania.

This is the 51st in a series of monthly reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans. This series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua. This report is co-published by the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network (ETAN) Back issues are posted online at http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com .

SUMMARY:
*A Respected International Medical Officer Describes Inadequate Health Care and Migration as Likely to Make Papuans a Minority in Their Own Land by 2011
*International Community Calls for Release of Peaceful Papuans Demonstrators Beaten and Arrested by the Police
* World Council of Churches Say Papuans Traumatized and Subject to Militarization
*A WPAT Member Who Visited the Tailings Wasteland Created by Freeport-McMoran Mine Rebuts the Operation's Propaganda about Successful "Reclamation" Efforts"
*A WPAT Alum Writes about the Need to Ensure a Role for Local Communities in Advocacy for the Environment
*Papuans Call for Halt on Development Schemes until Papuans Obtain Rights to Consider their Impact
*Forestry Firms Provide Little to Local Papuan Communities as They Destroy West Papua's Natural Resources
*Indonesian National Human Rights Commission to Investigate Abuses in West Papua Despite Government Opposition