The following is the 26th in a series of
regular reports prepared by the West Papua Advocacy Team to
provide updates on developments in West Papua.
Contents:
Australia Bows to Indonesian Pressure on
Prospect of Future Papuan Refugees
In the wake of strong pressure from Jakarta
for having accorded asylum to most of the 43 Papuans who
fled persecution in West Papua earlier this year, the
Australian government appears to be attempting to prevent
any further Papuan appeals for protection.
The government of Prime Minister John Howard
has announced plans to seek in May national legislation
establishing the "Pacific Solution" under which refugees
fleeing persecution in West Papua and seeking asylum in
Australia will effectively be denied refuge.
As described by government officials, the
plan includes several components which appear to be in
violation of the 1951 Convention Relating to The Status of
Refuges to which Australia is a signatory. As described by
Australian officials, the first tier of "defense" against
fleeing refugees would be military patrols by Australian
forces acting in collaboration with the very source of
persecution for the refugees, i.e., the Indonesian military.
Any refugee who successfully navigates the
perilous seas and joint military patrols to land on
Australian soil are to be moved to Nauru or Mannas Island,
outside Australia's "migration zone" where conditions of
detention were described by observers as “inhumane” and even
life-threatening. Children and the infirm would not be
spared detention under these bleak conditions where the
opportunity to appeal asylum decisions would not exist and
access to legal representation would be limited or
non-existent.
The Refugee Convention calls on parties not
to penalize refugees directly fleeing persecution and
seeking asylum. UNHCR officials have publicly expressed
concern that the "Pacific Solution" would constitute such a
penalty.
Papuan Civil Society
Leaders Speak Out
Senior Papuan civil society leaders have
recently expressed their rising concern about developments
in West Papua with members of the West Papua Advocacy Team
at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Center. At
their request, the Team transmitted these concerns to U.S.
Congressional officials as well as officials in the U.S.
executive branch. Because of the severe retribution at the
hands of Indonesian government security officials for their
candid expression of view, the identity of these sources can
not be revealed publicly although their identity is known to
US government officials with whom the Team has shared these
perspectives. There follows a review of those perspectives.
Senior Papuans have emphasized their view
that racism is at the root of Papuans' suffering. They note
that the provincial parliament and civil service are
dominated by non-Papuans who immigrated to West Papua, often
under Indonesian government encouragement and subsidy.
Noting the decades of marginalization Papuans have suffered
in their own land, these leaders observe that while the
Papuan population in Papua New Guinea has grown from 2.5
million to over 6 million since the 1960's, the Papuan
population in West Papua, under Indonesian control since
that period, has grown from 800,000 to only a little over 1
million. They cite the failure of the central government to
provide basic health and other services for Papuans as well
as frequent "security operations" as accounting for the
abnormally low population growth among Papuans in West
Papua. They also note Jakarta's willingness to fund
education only in urban areas for the children of (largely
non-Papuan) civil servants. Senion Papua civil society
leaders contend that this has created a "lost generation" of
Papuans who lack the skills to compete with migrants. They
also describe a situation in which many Papuan women face
non-consensual sterilization after giving birth. One Papuan
leader described the policies of splitting provinces,
inadequate provision of essential services for Papuans,
Government-encouraged immigration into West Papua and
security force repression as constituting "genocide by
process."
Religious figures among Papuan civil society
also express concern over religious discrimination, noting
that central government policies appeared to favor Muslims
across the archipelago. The Jakarta government, they
contend, appears intent on dividing those few provinces
which are predominantly Christian. They cited as examples
recent government action to split provinces in Sulawesi,
Maluku and, most recently in West Papua where the government
has created the province of "West Irian Jaya," despite the
express opposition of the Papuan people and their elected
representatives. The splitting of existing provinces in each
case entailed carving out a majority Muslim province from
what had previously been a predominately Christian province.
Also, Papuan leaders note that the Indonesian military was
training special militias, many of which were exclusively
Islamic.
Papuan civil society leaders continue to
call for a dialogue between senior level Jakarta officials
and Papuan civil society and elected leaders. Some also
argue for an independent "facilitator" to guide the
dialogue. (Note: This proposal is in keeping with a recent
US Council on Foreign Relations study which called for such
a dialogue which would be supported by the international
community.) Many senior Papuans however, are increasingly
critical of the Yudhoyono administration which, although
professing to support the concept of dialogue, nonetheless
has trampled Papuan rights, and they expressed opposition to
the division of the province.
TNI Conducting Military
Operations Possibly Related to
March 16 Demonstrations
Indonesian military sources, speaking in
late April to the official Antara news service have
confirmed that military operations are underway in West
Papua in an area approximately 35 miles west of Jayapura,
the capital. According to the sources, four persons were
killed on April 10 in a military clash with what the
military claimed were suspected insurgents. Two of those
killed were security personnel. Separately, the Papuan human
rights advocacy organization ELSHAM reported that Indonesian
strategic reserve forces have been deployed recently to
villages in the same area for the purpose of searching for
students sought in connection with the March 16
demonstrations in Abepura (see previous month's report for
details of this incident). It is unclear whether the two
reports are related, though they refer to the same area.
The same ELSHAM report notes that 18
students escaped a boat-sinking incident in Jayapura harbor
when the boat they were using in an attempt to escape to
Papua New Guinea was destroyed. The students had been sought
by security authorities in connection with the March 16
incident. One of the students in the boat was killed in the
incident while two others are in custody. The ELSHAM report
raised the possibility of "foul play" and called for an
independent investigation of circumstances of the loss of
the boat.
More International Calls to End
Ban on International Media Access to West
Papua
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry's State
Secretary, Kjetil Skogrand, told the Jakarta Post in an
interview published on April 27 that he has urged Indonesian
counterparts to allow international journalists to have
access to West Papua to "assess the situation." His call
echoes that of members of the U.S. Congress and many
international non-governmental organizations.
Cholera Spreading
in Papuan Central Highlands
Local health officials cited by media
sources indicate that a disease outbreak in Jayawijaya and
Yahukimo districts in the central highlands is cholera.
Reports indicate that over 200 people have died from the
disease and over 600 have been treated since the outbreak
was first reported in mid-March. Hampering the medical
response to the outbreak is the very rudimentary health
service infrastructure established in these largely-Papuan
populated provinces by the Jakarta government.
Human Rights Commission Protests
Inadequate Health and Other Services
A senior official with the National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) has condemned
inadequate health, education and other basic services in the
Mimika District, which is home to the Freeport McMoRan
mining concession. The official, Amidanh, who is chief of
the Commission's economic, social and cultural affairs
subdivision, said that in addition to these problems, the
Freeport firm's empowerment and compensation programs were
not well run. He also reported in an April 12 Jakarta Post
interview that security force violations of local residents'
human rights were continuing.
Greenpeace Calls for Moratorium on
Logging in West Papua
Emy Hafild, Southeast Asia regional
representative for Greenpeace, has told the media that
Greenpeace is pressing the Indonesian government to suspend
all logging in West Papua. "We badly need to protect the
forests for the sake of the Papuans," she said. Hafild, who
for years was active in Indonesian environmental and human
rights movements, noted that 60 percent of forests in West
Papua are controlled by concession holders whom she
described as "pioneers of forest destruction." She noted
that the 62 firms holding such concessions controlled 11.6
million of West Papua's 39.7 million hectares of forest.
Greenpeace, in a separate statement, also called on major
importers of woods logged in Indonesia to impose stricter
controls to end the international trade in illegally logged
timber.
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