Contents:
* West Papua Advocacy Tam member Octo Mote spoke before the U.S. Congressional human rights commission regarding threats to the environment and human rights in West Papua
* ETAN and WPAT fault as insufficient Secretary Clinton's call for "a degree of autonomy" for West Papua*
* Repression and violence in West Papua escalates dramatically in April
* U.S.-based human rights groups call for an investigation of the violence and for dialogue
* Papuan clergy and civil society leaders also call for investigation of the violence

At least 400 members of the Mamanwa tribe in Surigao del Sur, northwestern Mindanao, are in their second week of a blockade against four mining companies: Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC), Oriental Synergy Mining Corporation (OSMC), Case Mining Company (CMC) and Platinum Group Mining Company (PGMC). The Mamanwa previously sent notices of termination to the companies, informing them that they will longer be permitted to mine their ancestral territories because the companies have never paid them any royalty fees. Under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), Indigenous People in the Philippines are entitled to “a royalty payment… which shall not be less than 1% of the Gross Output of the mining operations in the area.”