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West Papua Report
June 2008
This is the 49th in a series of monthly
reports that focus on developments affecting Papuans This
series is produced by the non-profit West Papua Advocacy
Team (WPAT) drawing on media accounts, other NGO assessments
and analysis and reporting from sources within West Papua.
This report is co-published by the East Timor and Indonesian
Action Network (ETAN) Back issues are posted online at
http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/default.htm Questions regarding this report can be addressed to Edmund
McWilliams at edmcw@msn.com.
Summary:
Military Sweeps
Target Papuan Civilians
According to a report Papuan media, the
Indonesian military (TNI) is conducting
sweeps in the central highlands which are
specifically targeting civilians. The
Cenderawasih Post reported on May 9 that
AKBP Marolop Manik, head of the police in
the central highlands region of Jayawijaya,
announced that the Indonesian military would
stage a month-long sweep of villages in the
region in search of "separtist symols."
Leading the operation dubbed "Mambruk" would
be the notorious Indonesian Intelligence
Service (BIN) which is widely believed to
have played a central role in the murder of
Said Thalib Munir, Inodnesias leading human
rights advocate, in 2004.
Unconfirmed reports from the region claim
that security forces are operating with
great brutality and that some villagers have
been forced to flee to the surrounding
forests and mountains.
In the past, the Indonesian military has
launched such sweeps purporting to be
targeting armed resistance fighters. Such
sweeps create enormous suffering among
civilians who are driven from their villages
by soldiers who destroy homes of local
villagers as well as their sources of
livelihood. This operation is different in
so far as the civilians are the express
targets of the operation.
Papuan Christian Leaders
Describe Serious Human Rights Abuse in West
Papua The Catholic News Service carries an account
by Indonesian clerics that points to
systematic human rights abuse in West
Papua. The report is excerpted below: Indigenous residents of Indonesias Irian
Jaya region suffer a multitude of
injustices, from rape and murder to the
pilfering of riches extracted from their
island, said representatives of an
Indonesian Catholic diocese. Unsettled
disputes and violent conflicts between the
Indonesian government and the indigenous
residents have resulted in the killing of at
least 100,000 people by Indonesian security
forces, said Father Cayetanus Johanes Tarong,
superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred
Heart in West Papua. "There is murder, intimidation, terror and
rapes," Father Tarong said. "Welfare meant
for the people mostly goes to build the
infrastructure of the corrupt governmental
bureaucracy. They still dont feel safe in
their own land."
The Catholic delegation met with officials
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
May 19. The delegation included members of
the justice and peace office of the Diocese
of Jayapura and Franciscans International, a
Catholic international lobby group. The
delegation visited Washington to seek
support from U.S. Catholics and members of
the U.S. Congress to help ease what they
call a humanitarian crisis in the region.
The delegation also met with State
Department officials. The increase in identified cases of HIV/AIDS
is rampant among indigenous Papuans, because
educational information about the virus and
how it is spread is limited and the lack of
educational facilities is tragic, said Chris
Duckett, a Franciscans International
advocacy officer based in West Papua.
The delegation planned to spend several days
meeting with members of Congress to educate
them about the plight of West Papuas
indigenous people and to urge them to
provide the region with financial aid and
mediation between the Papuans and Indonesian
government. The delegation also seeks U.S.
advocacy for peace in their region and the
threat to cut off military assistance to the
Indonesian government if it does not address
the humanitarian problems.
The UN Committee on
Torture Expresses Concern about West Papua
On May 16, the UNs Committee against
Torture concluded its fortieth session and
made observations and recommendations on a
report regarding Indonesia which it reviewed
during the session.
The Committee said it was "deeply concerned
about the numerous ongoing credible and
consistent allegations, corroborated by the
report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture
and other sources, concerning routine and
widespread use of torture and ill-treatment
of suspects in police custody, especially to
extract confessions or information to be
used in criminal proceedings, as well as by
members of the security and police forces,
including by members of the armed forces,
mobile police units, and paramilitary
groups, during military and ?sweep?
operations, especially in Papua, Aceh and in
other provinces where there had been armed
conflicts."
The Committee further noted that it was
concerned with Indonesias "lack of
international judicial cooperation in
investigating, prosecuting or extraditing
perpetrators of acts of gross human rights
violations, especially with regard to acts
that occurred in East Timor in 1999, the
Committee was deeply troubled at evidence
that alleged perpetrators of war crimes
wanted by Interpol, such as Colonel Siagian
Burhanddhin, for whom Interpol had raised a
red notice, were currently serving in the
Indonesian military forces." Colonel
Siagian is Commander of the Indonesian
Military (TNI) in Jayapura, the capital of
West Papua.
Amnesty International
Notes Increasing Targeting of Papuan Human
Rights Defenders On May 28, Amnesty International issued its
annual report for 2008, including a report
on human rights tredns and developments in
Indonesia that focused in part on West
Papua. The report noted continued "Torture,
excessive use of force and unlawful killings
by police and security forces " and that
"most perpetrators of gross human rights
violations in the past ... continued to
enjoy impunity." The report emphasized that
"the situation in Papua remained tense with
increasing targeted attacks and threats
against human rights activists and church
leaders." It also noted that "the number of
possible prisoners of conscience increased
sharply with up to 76 people detained for
peacefully expressing their political or
religious views." The report added that "freedom of expression
continued to be severely restricted" with "a
sharp increase in attacks and threats
against human rights defenders following the
visit in June of Hina Jilani, the UN Special
Representative of the Secretary General on
Human Rights Defenders." The report further
pointed out that Jilani had "highlighted the
continuing harassment and intimidation of
defenders by the police, military and other
security and intelligence agencies and the
restrictions on access to victims and sites
of human rights violations, particularly in
Papua." In a special section devoted to West Papua,
Amnesty International noted the following:
"The low-level conflict between the security
forces and pro-independence militants in
Papua continued. The military repeatedly
threatened local community members who
supported independence through peaceful
means. An army official who had been
indicted for crimes against humanity in
Timor-Leste, but had yet to face trial, was
nominated as military commander in the
Papuan capital, Jayapura. Reported human
rights violations by security forces
included extrajudicial executions, torture
and excessive use of force." Amnesty International also drew attention to
the fact that "prisoners of conscience"
Filep Karma sentenced to 15 years, and Yusak
Pakage sentenced to 10 years, remained in
jail. Both were convicted partly under these
articles in May 2005 for raising the Papuan
flag. It also highlighted the case of Albert
Rumbekwan, director of the National Human
Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) in Papua, who
it noted has received death threats and was
kept under surveillance following the visit
by the UN Special Representative on Human
Rights Defenders.
Indonesian
Intelligence Terrorize Family of Pastor
after He Reveals Nickel Mining Conflict
According to Biak News (May 28),
Indonesian security and intelligence
personnel have targeted for intimidation the
Reverend Esron Abisay who is the Head of
Evangelical Christian Chuch in North Biak.
The intimidation, which has extended to his
family and is on a 24 hour per day basis,
followed release of report the Pastor had
written regarding security force-supported
efforts to open a Nickel Mine in Tablasupa
villages.
Pastor Abisays report concluded that the
proposed nickel mine in the Tablasupa area
had caused conflict as local people strongly
who had peacefully resisted plans to open
the mine even in the face of police and
eventually military support for the
developers.
The dispute followed June 29, 2007 action by
the Jayapura Regency Government which gave
the right to mine nickel in the area to
Tablasupa Nickel Mining Inc. (The company is
the property of the Indonesian State.)
On July 1, 2007, Tablasupa Nickel Mining Inc
held a meeting with local people to present
a profile of the company plan, but local
people rejected the proposal. Shortly
later, several local people stepped forward
to claim ownership of the prorposed mine
site. Police responded by seizing the
claimants and taking them to Jakarta where
they were accused of being part of a
separatist group.
Local people continued to resist opening of
the mine and on February 24, 2008, protested
in front of the Parliament of Jayapura
Regency Government. They later blocked the
road in their villages to oppose the mines
opening. Finally, on March 8, the Jayapura
District Government supported the local
peoples call to prohibit the opening of the
mine.
The Nickel company then sought to exert
pressure on the local citizens by labeling
them "separtists" and calling in the police
to "monitor" the situation. On April 2,
2008, two Indonesia Army intelligence agents
launched interrogations of local people.
Growing Doubts about BP
Natural Gas Project
Despite promises by British Petroleum
(BP), there are growing doubts that the
major BP natural gas extraction project in
Bintuni Bay known as Tangguh will escape the
tragic fate of other major exploitation
projects in West Papua. Like the notorious
Freeport-McMoran Cooper and Gold mine in
Tembagapura which has a record of chronic
human rights abuse and environmental
destruction, the Tangguh project is coming
under growing military pressure and raising
basic environmental concerns. Despite BP
promises to limit the role of the Indonesian
military in the project area, there is a
growing military presence in the neighboring
towns, including Bintuni itself and Babo.
There is also a growing population of
non-Papuans attracted by the prospect of
employment.
BP has failed to address the issue of carbon
capture from the Tangguh site, which is due
to begin production by the end of 2008. BP
also has failed to offer any plan to address
the pollution associated with the massive
increase of sea transport to and from the
Tangguh site which threatens to pollute
waterways and disrupt traditional fishing.
Papua New Guinea
Reportedly Blocks Melanesian Consensus to
Give West Papua "Observer Status" at
Regional Meeting Human Rights defenders monitoring diplomatic
developments report that the Government of
Papua New Guinea is blocking efforts to
grant observer status at the South Pacific
regional "Melanesian Spearhead Group"
meeting convening in the next week.
The effort to grant observer status
reportedly is led by the Government of
Vanuatu and supported by delegates from the
Solomon Islands, Fiji and New Caledonia.
Papua New Guinea, which borders Indonesia,
has traditionally been sensitive to the
interests and desires of its giant neighbor.
The National PNG, on May 30 strongly
editorialized against its Governments
stand. Excerpts of that editorial follow:
"(W)e are of the opinion that pretending the
Papua issue doesn?t exist will achieve
nothing for PNG and could even be
counter-productive for our relations with
Indonesia. That nation pursued an aggressive
policy of trans-migration in past decades
that saw thousands of Muslim Indonesians
transplanted into a territory where the main
religious inroads had been made by
Christianity.
"When PNG gained independence, it was
natural for our governments to seek to
maintain the closest possible relationships
between our country and our Indonesian
neighbours. Today it is much harder to
justify a narrow-minded foreign policy that
simply ignores the outcry from our immediate
neighbours. The outcome of the Melanesian
struggle for autonomy or independence in
that Indonesian province may well be years
away, but we predict that in the end, full
or part independence will come to the
province. And if it does, PNG?s
relationship over the years with those
fighting for a measure of freedom over the
border will come under close scrutiny.
"It may well be that we would be better off
to at least listen to the representatives of
those people at the current MSG meeting and
show some humanity towards their cause.
"Does our government fear some form of
invasion from Indonesia?"
Back issues of
West Papua
Report
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