Tag Archives: Working Conditions

The voice of Papuan workers: the companies came and our income dropped.

When the oil palm plantation companies first arrive in the villages they promise jobs for indigenous Papuans, an effort to implant dreams of improved economic well-being and higher incomes. Once work starts however, the promises aren’t followed through and the imagined changes never come about. Meanwhile, the land and forest which used to provide the […]

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Yerisiam Gua Women: Our lives depend on sago

[awasMIFEE note: This is a translation of an article by Zely Ariane which was published by tabloid Jubi on 29th October, based on a similar article published by Suarapapua.com in May. As part of a response to a complaint to the RSPO, the company has since initiated a process of dialogue with the community, and […]

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Violence and Intimidation from PT Nabire Baru’s Brimob Guards continues

New reports continue to emerge of aggressive behaviour from Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers who have been stationed as security guards for PT Nabire Baru’s oil palm plantation near the city of Nabire. Here are a few of the most recent stories translated from local bloggers and activists. The first two articles are from a […]

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Investigative Report into Oil Palm in Nabire Regency, Papua

Based on a Field Visit 13th March 2014 by Santon Tekege General Description of PT Nabire Baru in Nabire Several companies’ plans to invest in the oil palm sector in Nabire have met with local opposition. People from the Yerisiam and Wate ethnic groups have staged several peaceful actions in Nabire against one of these […]

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Problems faced by Sinar Mas plantation workers in Lereh, Jayapura

SKPKC Jayapura staff organised a meeting in the Juk-Lereh church which was attended by around 20 employees of PT Sinar Mas. The meeting was a response to the Taja parish priest Hendik Nahak’s request to address problems facing workers at Sinar Mas’s oil palm plantation. Father Hendrik explained that there are quite a few problems […]

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Report of a Visit to PT Dongin Prabhawa’s Plantation at Mam.

A recent visit to Mam to monitor the latest developments around PT Dongin Prabhawa’s oil palm plantation near the south bank of the Digoel River in Merauke has revealed several concerns, from irregularities in the logging plan and ill-treatment of workers to human rights abuses. PT Dongin Prabhawa is a subsidiary of the Korindo Group, […]

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Three Years of MIFEE (part 2): First Villages Feel the Impact as the Plantation Menace Spreads.

The forest villages of Merauke are as remote as it is possible to imagine in the twenty-first century. Nowhere in Indonesia is further from Jakarta – 3700 kilometres as the crow flies. 662 km of forest and a high mountain range separate Merauke from the Papuan capital, Jayapura, which is also the focus of most […]

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Companies are Still not Fulfilling their Promises to Hire Workers Locally.

(Merauke, Sept 2013) Compaines operating within the framework of MIFEE, the large-scale food and energy mega-project in Merauke, are still not meeting their commitments to recruit local people to their work force. However, when negotiating to use customary land, companies often promise to use local labour. In Kampung Zanegi, where PT Selaras Inti Semesta (SIS […]

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Sugar Company Rajawali Felling Sacred Forests.

Sugar-cane plantation company Rajawali’s prescence in Kampung Domande is still controversial. Domande villagers have several times resorted to using customary law to block access and halt the company’s activties. In late May 2013, the people of Domande wrote a letter detailing their protests and complaints about Rajawali’s operations on their land, namely that the company […]

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Twenty-seven organisations report MIFEE to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

A coalition of organisations has requested the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Commission to take action under its Early Warning and Urgent Action procedures to address the dire situation being faced by indigenous people all over Indonesia. For the second time, the specific focus of their concern is the Merauke Integrated Food and […]

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