4. OPPRESSION
AND RESISTANCE Human
Rights Violations "Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and to full guarantees against genocide or any other act of violence.Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation, restoration and protection of the total environment and the productive capacity of their lands, territories and resources, as well as to assistance for this purpose from States and through international cooperation." The source of the human rights problems in West.Papua is the colonisation and subsequent dispossession of the lands and resources of the indigenous peoples. They have been prevented from exercising their fundamental  freedoms,  including  their right to development in accordance with their own needs and interests (see Appendix 1).
Since the occupation of West Papua by Indonesia in 1963, violations of human rights have been widespread. A ~equent and pervasive cause of dispute has been about land rights. The appropriation of tribal or clan land for development projects, from forestry, mining, or road construction to Transmigration settlements, has resulted in large numbers  of indigenous people  being removed. from their traditional land, invariably leading to conflict with the armed forces, as well as physical and emotional harm for the people affected.
Two of the better known cases of human rights abuses are those of Mecky Salosa and Arnold Ap. Salosa, one of many ill-treated West Papuan refugees involved in border crossing events in recent years, was murdered after being returned to Indonesia by the PNG government in 1991. Arnold Ap, anthropologist, traditional musician and cultural figure, was tortured and executed by Indonesian authorities in 1984.
Recent abuses, highlighted in the 1995 ACFOA report (see Appendix 1), occurred between June 1994 and March 1995 in an area close to the US based E~eeport McMoRan copper and gold mine. Eyewitness accounts of events report that 22 civilians and 15 alleged guerrillas disappeared or were killed by the military, assisted by security forces employed by the Freeport McMoRan mine. Others were arrested, beaten, tortured or forced to flee into the jungle. The incidents occurred because  of  protests  by  the Amungme, Dani and other indigenous people, who, with members of the  OPM,  were  demonstrating against the expansion of Freeport's huge mine at Tembagapura. It is also reported that the Indonesian government is to relocate a further 2000 people from the Tembagapura area to the lowlands, leading to potential further human rights abuses, and deaths in the resettled areas from malaria.