Indigenous environmental defender Adolfina Kuum on “the destruction of our people’s rivers, our forests and way of life” in West Papua
Video still of Adolfina Kuum from Lepemawil Timika.
PBI-UK has highlighted the work of Adolfina Kuum, also known as Dolly. She is the founder of Environmental Care Community in Timika.
Google Maps image marks location of Timika.
Kuum says: “I see the basic rights of the [Indigenous] Amungme, Kamoro and Samopane tribes being ignored by the [Indonesian] state and Freeport [which is] a USA owned gold mining company operating in Timika.”
She highlights: “The presence of Freeport in the Indigenous territories of the Amungme and Kamoro tribes brought destruction and havoc, which led to the creation of the Women’s Movement Against Mining in Timika.”
Freeport-McMoRan map indicates the location of their Grasberg Mine.
Kuum has previously stated: “This case is about our fight against those who profit from the destruction of our people’s rivers, our forests and way of life. Our communities are experiencing the life-threatening effects of mining.”
Threats against defenders
Kuum further notes: “Me and other human rights defenders protesting against Freeport have experienced intimidation, terror and violence by thugs, company employees and the military. Between 2013 and 2023 we received direct and mobile phone intimidation, threats, destruction of meeting places and cars, and arrests under various pretexts. One of my female friends was arrested by the police on 7 April 2020, as well as myself later in August 2020. There has been shrinking of democratic space by security personnel, stopping women’s discussions and conducting interrogations at the place of activity on 10 December 2021, UN International Human Rights Day.”
She adds: “Human rights activists and environmental defenders have been stigmatised by the state as subversives, rebels, leftist groups, OPM (Free Papua Movement), and other stereotypes. Discrimination towards Papuans in particular, has resulted in the shrinking of democratic space and silencing of local media.”
The Grasberg Mine
PBI-UK has previously noted in their The Case for Change report: “The Grasberg Mine in West Papua, Indonesia, has been subject to allegations of major environmental devastation and severe human rights violations. Indigenous communities accuse the mine of polluting rivers and causing health issues. Human rights defenders and Indigenous communities protesting the mine’s operations since the 1970s have faced repression including torture, displacement and threats, amid ongoing militarisation.”
Photo: The Grasberg open-pit copper and gold mine in 2007. Photo by Alfindra Primaldhi.
Ownership of the mine
The Phoenix, Arizona-based company Freeport-McMoRan has noted: “Through its subsidiary, PT-FI [PT Freeport Indonesia], FCX [Freeport-McMoRan] mines one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits in the Grasberg minerals district in Papua, Indonesia. In addition to copper and gold, PT-FI produces silver. FCX has a 48.76 percent interest in PT-FI and manages its mining operations.”
In July 2022, the Chicago-based Corporate Accountability Lab further explained: “Since 1967, Freeport McMoran (‘Freeport’), a US company headquartered in Arizona, has owned and operated the world’s largest gold and third largest copper mine [the Grasberg Mine], located in the mountains of Papua, Indonesia.”
Kuum calls for divestment from Grasberg Mine
In February 2024, Kuum stated: “We call on all businesses, including banks and exchanges, such as the London Metal Exchange, to end their international complicity with these mining operations. We demand to live with dignity, respect and fulfil our basic rights as dignified human beings and be able to enjoy the natural environment that our ancestors have cared for and passed on to us.”
The major shareholders of Freeport-McMoRan include the Toronto Dominion Bank (at $73.39 million in shares), the Investment Management Corp of Ontario/IMCO (at $3.21M). The Toronto-based IMCO “may manage the assets of pension plans or investment funds on behalf of the following: Ontario Government Agencies, Ontario Municipalities, Ontario Universities or Colleges, Ontario Crown Corporations.”
Payments to “a brutal security state”
The Corporate Accountability Lab has also noted: “Estimates place Freeport’s payments to the military and police between $20 and $80 million in the 1990s and 2010s. After the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed the US legislature in 2003, Freeport began sending money to police and military units rather than to individual commanders and officers – but for years, individual security personnel received direct payments.”
They add: “It is estimated that the number of Indigenous Papuans killed by Indonesian security forces since Papua lost its independence in 1962 is close to 500,000. A covert investigation by the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane in 2016 concluded that Indigenous Papuans have suffered a ‘slow motion genocide’. A 2013 study estimated that one torture incident had occurred every six weeks for the past fifty years by Indonesian security forces, the vast majority involving civilians.”
Canadian “military goods” to Indonesia
Over the last five years, Canada has exported at least CAD $30 million in “military goods” to Indonesia.
This includes $2,738,360.44 in 2019, $8,176,217.40 in 2020, $10,708,499.85 in 2021, $8,380,657.83 in 2022, and $285,120.73 in 2023.
These figures do not reflect the additional “military goods” that may have been exported to the United States then re-exported. The US State Department noted in January 2025 that: “The United States has $1.88 billion in active government-to-government sales cases with Indonesia under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system.”
Mining and the Canada-Indonesia CEPA
Global Affairs Canada has noted: “On November 15, 2024, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto announced the substantive conclusion of the negotiations … of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).”
Canada and Indonesia are committed to “sign the CEPA in 2025.”
In 2023, Canada imported US$1.43 million of copper from Indonesia.
On December 23, 2024, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported: “[The Canadian government] in 2021, as CEPA talks were getting under way, projected that Canadian imports of mineral products from Indonesia would increase by 42 per cent by 2040, and imports of metal products by 18 per cent.”
Peace Brigades International
The Peace Brigades International-Indonesia Project promotes human rights in Indonesia through strengthening the capacities of human rights defenders in remote areas, with a focus on their ability to document human rights abuses, advocate to the Indonesian government and internationally, and build their personal security and protection networks.
To read the full Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom article about Adolfina Kuum, go to Life as a Papuan Woman Human Rights Defender.
Video still: PBI-Canada helped Kuum to visit Lekwungen and WSÁNEĆ territories (Victoria, British Columbia) in September 2023. The image below says: “SHUTDOWN FREEPORT – Freeport is a parasite on people and nature in Timika.”
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