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through its subsidiary, Freeport Indonesia (FI) Inc. The FI has been Indonesia’s single largest taxpayer.
The first contract was signed in 1967, two years before Indonesia legalised its annexation of West Papua through the fraudulent Act of 'Free' Choice in 1969. Since the beginning of its exploitation, thousands of Indonesian army personnel have been deployed by the government to protect the company. In return, the military is paid 'protection money' by the company.
The company has already exploited gold and copper in the first mountain targetted, called Erstberg. The mountain has disappeared and has now been transformed into a hole. In 1988, the company started its exploitation in the second mountain, called Grasberg, which is located next to Erstberg mountain. This mountain contains huge mineral deposits. Grasberg transformed Freeport into one of the biggest producers of copper and gold in the world. The company has rights to explore some 2.3 million acres of land outside its current area of operations.
This American company has paid more than U.S.$1.8 billion in taxes and revenues to the Indonesian state since 1992 and tens of millions of dollars to the Indonesian military. The company has been notorious for dispossessing locals and colluding in human rights abuses by its military guards. The human rights violations include torture, rape, indiscriminate and extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, racial and employment discrimination, interference with access to legal representation, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, forced resettlement of Papuan communities, and the destruction of housing, churches, and other shelters.
The Papuans have also suffered from the violation of subsistence rights, resulting from seizure and destruction of thousands of acres of rainforest,
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