What to boycott?
Our campaign is targeting brands that are provably complicit in ecocide and genocide in West Papua. To begin with, we will focus on products using expropriated West Papuan palm oil. Palm oil is one of the most destructive forces in West Papua. A recent study predicted that West Papua will lose 13% of its remaining forest cover by 2036, with palm oil the fastest growing industry.
For example, Tanah Merah is a giant palm oil plantation currently under construction in Boven Digoel Regency. Spanning 1800 kilometres, it is more than twice the size of greater London, and upon completion would be the biggest single plantation in the world.
The Indonesia state and international investors consider West Papua to be virgin territory, ripe for exploitation. But as the slogan of the West Papuan resistance says: “Papua is not an empty land”. Answer the call and join our boycott campaign.
“Papua is not an empty land”
Answer the call and join our boycott campaign.
Hershey’s
The American confectionary company Hershey’s sources palm oil from occupied West Papua via its suppliers Bunge Loders Crooklan and Fuji. At least five palm oil processing mills have been identified as supplying to Hershey’s, including three in Merauke Regency — a hotspot of deforestation and ecocide.
Merauke’s forests have been decimated to make way for vast monoculture plantations, often of palm oil and rice. Since the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) launched in 2010 with the promise to “feed Indonesia, then the world”, millions of hectares of customary land have been destroyed.
MIFEE wordt door velen omschreven als een “ecologisch veroorzaakte genocide” op het lokale Marind-volk. De inheemse sagopalm, van levensbelang voor de cultuur van Marind en andere stammen, is in grote delen van Merauke verdwenen.
Hershey’s claims to be “Doing Well by Doing Good” for the climate and local communities, while at the same time profiting from the exploitation of West Papua’s land and resources. Through its 90+ brands – including popular chocolates Cookies and Creme and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – the company generates over $11 billion in annual profits.
No profit from stolen land!
Use your spending to tackle Hershey’s ongoing complicity in Indonesian occupation.
KitKat · Smarties · Aero (Nestlé)
These three chocolate products are made by Nestlé, which sources palm oil from three mills located in occupied West Papua. In addition, Nestlé has named Wilmar International as one of its main suppliers. Wilmar has been confirmed as owning palm oil processing plantations in West Papua.
All three of these products use palm oil. Because of the complexity of global supply chains, there is no publicly available way of knowing whether each individual KitKat or Aero bar contains West Papuan resources. Until Nestle stops sourcing palm oil from West Papua and profiting from stolen land, we advocate a boycott of complicit products.
Oreo · Ritz (Mondelez)
Oreo biscuits and Ritz crackers are both owned by the parent company Mondelez International. Like Nestlé, Mondelez has been identified as sourcing from three different palm oil mills in West Papua.
As both of these products contain palm oil, any individual Ritz cracker or Oreo biscuit may containexpropriated West Papuan minerals.
Pantene · Herbal Essences (Procter & Gamble)
Pantene and Herbal Essences are hair care products made by the multinational giant Procter & Gamble. Procter & Gamble sources palm oil from seven mills in West Papua, including three in Merauke Regency and others in the northwestern Bird’s Head Peninsula — a region that has recently seen extensive deforestation and military violence.
Like Nestle products, Pantene and Herbal Essences are likely to contain palm oil which may come from West Papua.
Procter and Gamble has a moral and international legal responsibility to end its complicity in Indonesia’s project of ecocide and genocide.
Boycott Pantene and Herbal Essences until they withdraw their business from West Papua.
