Photo by Survival International

Papua is home to around 312 different tribes, including some uncontacted peoples. The central mountainous region of Papua is home to the highland peoples, who practice pig husbandry and sweet potato cultivation. The lowland peoples live in swampy and malarial coastal regions, and live by hunting the abundant game, and gathering. Some of the many Papuan tribal languages are related to others, but some are completely unique. The people are ethnically distinct from the Indonesians who control their country.  All the Papuan peoples have suffered greatly under the Indonesian occupation which began in 1963.  Papua’s natural resources are being exploited at great profit for the Indonesian government and foreign businesses, but at the expense of the Papuan peoples and their homelands.

The mining and logging industries have brought environmental destruction and social catastrophe to West Papua’s tribal people. They have also brought the military, which supports many of the businesses, and provides protection for others. The armed forces have an appalling reputation for human rights violations against the tribes.  This industrial development is now also responsible for the spread of the deadly HIV virus. Most of the cases of HIV/AIDS in West Papua can be traced back to the commercial sex industry, which has sprung up around logging and mining projects.  A recent investigation by the Al Jazeera programme ‘101 East’ has shown the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis amongst the tribal people of West Papua, Indonesia.  West Papua has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate outside Africa. 3% of the population are now infected with the virus, and experts fear that by 2025 that figure will rise to 7%. Of every four people who are infected, three are indigenous, even though almost half of those now living in the province are outsiders.

A study in 2001 found that more than a quarter of prostitutes tested were HIV positive. Papuan men, drawn to these industries for work, have now taken HIV/AIDS back to their villages. Official figures put the HIV/AIDS figures at 15 times the Indonesian national average, but field workers say the real figure is closer to 50 times.  The Papuans have suffered years of violence and brutality at the hands of the Indonesian military. As a result, many tribal people blame the government and the military for introducing sex workers infected with HIV, and for failing to take adequate measures to halt the spread of the disease.  Much government treatment and awareness raising about the disease is failing to reach the Papuans – most is centred in the towns, which are dominated by the Indonesian outsiders. Many worry that the epidemic is even worse than feared because so few people in the remote areas have ever been tested, or are even aware of how to prevent the disease.

You can read more about the plight of the Papuan Tribes on the Survival website.  Survival is calling on the Indonesian government to enter into dialogue with the Papuan people so that they are able to decide their own way of life and their future.