Buried in Practice Investigates Missing US State Department Human Rights Report on Freeport-McMoRan in West Papua

Book examines three decades of unanswered questions surrounding a publicly acknowledged 1995–96 U.S. investigation. Calls for stronger protections for Indigenous communities affected by major natural-resource projects.

SYDNEY, June 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Buried in Practice: Freeport in West Papua, Indonesia—and the State Department Human Rights Report That Disappeared draws attention to new research into a publicly acknowledged 1995–96 US State Department human rights investigation into Freeport-McMoRan's operations in West Papua, Indonesia, and asks why the investigation's interim and final reports remain missing or unreleased three decades later. Written by former Wall Street mining analyst John C. Wilson, the investigative work draws on more than ten years of Freedom of Information Act requests, declassified diplomatic cables, litigation records, government documents, and eyewitness testimony to reconstruct the public record and examine broader questions of human rights, government transparency, and public accountability.

Journalists, editors, researchers, and human rights organizations are invited to request a review copy of the book, supporting documentation, or an interview with the author to examine the documentary record and discuss the book's findings.

"The question is not whether an investigation occurred," Wilson said. "The question is why its findings remain absent from the public record."

The book argues that the missing State Department report is not only an unresolved archival issue, but part of a larger accountability problem affecting natural-resource projects in remote regions.

Buried in Practice documents:

• A publicly acknowledged 1995–96 US State Department human rights investigation into Freeport-McMoRan's operations in West Papua, Indonesia, whose interim and final reports have not been publicly released.
• More than ten years of FOIA requests, appeals, and litigation seeking records related to the investigation.
• Declassified diplomatic communications documenting US officials' engagement with allegations of killings and abuses in the Timika area near Freeport's Grasberg mine.
• The relationship between government decision-making, corporate influence, and public accountability.
• Thirty comparative case studies involving Indigenous rights, environmental harm, security-force violence, and contested resource development across six regions, supporting the book's call for structural reform.

Rather than focusing solely on West Papua, Buried in Practice places the case within a broader international context, comparing resource-development disputes involving Indigenous communities in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australia, the Pacific, and the Arctic.

The book also reviews cases that have resulted in civil settlements, criminal proceedings, sovereign wealth fund exclusions, or continuing public debate decades after the events occurred, arguing that questions of accountability often remain unresolved long after major development projects begin.

FOIA attorney C. Peter Sorenson writes of disclosures related to the US State Department investigation of Freeport in the book's foreword: "The frame is there. The picture is missing."

Wilson calls for stronger enforcement to protect Indigenous communities from development aggression linked to major natural-resource projects. Reforms discussed in the book include greater transparency around corporate payments to security forces, stronger investor and lender accountability, and possible Magnitsky-style targeted sanctions—such as asset freezes, travel bans, and other restrictions on responsible corporate officers, security officials, financiers, and complicit entities where evidence warrants.

Wilson, a former mining analyst with SG Warburg and SBC Warburg in New York and a Wharton MBA graduate, says the book is intended to encourage discussion about transparency, accountability, and preservation of the historical records.

Buried in Practice is the second volume in the Archives of a Wall Street Analyst investigative series and is available worldwide in paperback, hardcover, and ebook editions through major online booksellers.

About the Author

John C. Wilson is a former Wall Street mining analyst and Wharton MBA whose investigative nonfiction examines the intersection of resource development, state secrecy, human rights, and public accountability. As an analyst, he covered major international mining companies, including Freeport-McMoRan, for SG Warburg and SBC Warburg in New York.

Publishing Imprint

Buried in Practice is published under the Resource Capital Research imprint.

Media Contact
John C. Wilson
Sydney, Australia
+61 2 9439 1919
[email protected] 
www.buriedinpractice.com 

SOURCE John C. Wilson