The tragedy of West Papua

AWPA Human Rights report – West Papua 2012

This report details incidents of human rights abuses in the past year and in particular looks at the crackdown on the KNPB. It shows the continuing struggle of the West Papuan people for their right to self-determination. It is by no means exhaustive.In the report AWPA uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the western half of the Island of New Guinea. However, “West Papua” at this time is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.

Summary 
of events

There was no improvement in the human rights situation in West Papua in 2012. In fact, the human rights situation continued to deteriorate with the Indonesian security forces targeting human rights defenders, peaceful demonstrators and in particular members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB).

The year started with the trial against five Papuan activists for treason. The trial began on the 30 January and the five men, Forkorus Yaboisembut, Edison Waromi, Selpius Bobii, Domingkus Sorabut and Agustinus Kraar were charged with treason because of their involvement in the 3rd Papuan People’s Congress which was held between the 17 and 19 October in 2011.

In March the Jayapura District Court sentenced the men to three years in prison for subversion. At no time did these men commit violence and they have been jailed solely for peacefully expressing their political views as is their right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As opposed to the three-year sentence given to the five activists, no action was taken against the security force personal who were involved in the brutal crackdown and they received only written warnings. There were also serious doubts about the fairness of the trial proceedings. The security forces maintained a heavy presence during the trial sessions and one of the senior lawyers for the defence, Gustav Kawer, was threatened with prosecution, in violation of his right under Indonesian law and international standards to carry out his professional duties in defending clients in court.

Amnesty International considers all five men to be prisoners of conscience.

The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), held its thirteenth session from 21 May to 4 June 2012. The review of Indonesia was held at the 5th meeting on 23 May 2012. A number of countries used the session to question Indonesia on the human rights situation in West Papua including questioning the Indonesian government on its handling of human rights violations, such as the torture of civilians, shootings and killings in Papua

Amnesty International in its annual report for 2012 also criticized the Indonesian security forces stating, “Security forces faced repeated allegations of torturing and otherwise ill-treating detainees, particularly peaceful political activists in areas with a history of independence movements such as Papua and Maluku. Independent investigations into such allegations were rare”

In April 2012 Amnesty released a report “Indonesia must end impunity for police violence” “Police in Indonesia shoot, beat and even kill people without fear of prosecution, leaving their victims with little hope of justice” and“despite a decade of supposed reform – officers continue to be implicated in shootings and beatings of peaceful individuals during protests, land disputes and even day-to-day arrests. 

Criminal investigations into human rights violations by the police are rare, punishments light and Indonesia has no independent national body to deal effectively with public complaints”.

The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) also alleged that the National Police made widespread use of torture in their detention centers to extract information from detainees. ELSAM claimed in its quarterly report that at least 10 detainees, out of 22 cases of torture it investigated, had died in police detention. The ELSAM survey, conducted between January and April, found that 32 individuals had been tortured. 

“We found that 12 of the 22 cases of torture against detainees were committed by active-duty police officers. This shows that despite massive media reporting about the practice the police have not yet learned their lesson and still resort to violence to collect information,” said ELSAM researcher Wahyudi Djafar (Jakarta Post 4 June 2012)

In the past year there was a large number of shootings and clashes between armed groups throughout West Papua. Although the security forces usually tried to blame the OPM, many of the culprits of the attacks have yet to be found. However, the security forces conducted military operations in response to some of these attacks leaving the local people in fear and traumatized by the military operations.Numerous reports have pointed out that it is in the interests of the Indonesian military to provoke conflict in West Papua and every incident cannot be blamed on the OPM. There are also militia groups operating in West Papua.

There were also a large number of rallies held by peaceful demonstrators in the past year, which should confirm to the international community that the issue of West Papua is not going away.

Download the full report:
WP_report_2012_2_i-use.docx

Also downloadaable at Scoop NZ, here

Jakarta Post: A Brave Few Fight for Justice in Papua Despite Deadly Dangers
Brooke Nolan | January 06, 2013

Arriving at Maranatha Convent in Waena, a town near Jayapura, Papua, a nun greets me and shows me a room where I am hoping to stay. Her first question to me still looms in my mind. “Are you from an NGO?” she asks.

Her suspicion is strange, given that the work of NGOs often parallels that of nuns.

But her reason reveals a fear of authorities many Papuans justifiably hold. She explains that a group of six Australians from an NGO had been staying at the convent until a few days ago.

“Then the military turned up, demanding to see their documents and searched their bags. The Australians were intimidated and they left,” she said.

A bit later, my friend Alice and her boyfriend Henry arrive (not their real names). Alice is a journalist at a Papuan news portal and the author of a book telling the story of political challenges faced by Papuan families. Henry is on staff at the Commission for Disappeared People and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in Jayapura.

A run-down shack tucked off the main street is home to the Kontras office, which has no identifying features, and yet it’s well known to those in uniform. Soldiers walk back and forth outside the office, monitoring who enters and exits. This type of surveillance of activists, journalists and NGO workers is normal in Jayapura, Alice and Henry tell me.

Deadly infiltration

“At [the publication I work for], we’ve been infiltrated by Kopassus,” Alice says, referring to the Indonesian army’s special forces. “Most recently, a man called Ayub started working with our editing team. He never finished the work he was supposed to do and he spread false rumors, causing problems for me and my colleagues. Then one day we noticed that the official number of his regiment was stitched on the inside of his military bag. So we knew it wasn’t an ordinary military-style bag bought at a market. We confronted him and he admitted he was working for Kopassus. He was fired immediately.”

Alice talks fervently about the ongoing military repression of civil society in Papua. She first became involved in activism when she returned to Papua after completing her undergraduate degree in economics and management at Duta Wacana Christian University in Yogyakarta.

“When I returned to Papua, my father told me not to get involved in politics. He was afraid that the military would do to me what they did to him,” she says. “During military raids in the 1970s, he was humiliated by soldiers, stripped naked in front of the whole village and searched against his will. Despite what my father said, I don’t mind if I die fighting against military repression in Papua.”

One of Alice’s former colleagues has already done so. On July 30, 2010, after months of receiving death threats via SMS, the body of 29-year-old journalist Ardiansyah Qomar Wibisono Matrais was found tied to a block of wood at the bottom of the river in Merauke. His ribs were smashed, most likely as a result of repeated physical assaults, and the markings on his neck indicated that he had been strangled with something such as a belt or a rope.

Instead of an investigation, the body was flown to Makassar for further examination. Merauke police, who refused to release the forensic report or the result of the au topsy, stated that Matrais had committed suicide.

Before his death, Matrais had been reporting on human rights abuses and rampant illegal logging in the Keerom and Sarmi districts of Papua. Following the arrests of powerful figures involved in illegal logging at the beginning of 2010, the anonymous death threats to Matrais and other journalists increased.

Independent evaluations verify that threats to journalists are a true danger in Indonesia, where year after year the country’s performance on freedom of speech reports has become increasingly abysmal.

In 2009, Indonesia ranked 100 out of around 180 countries listed in the International Press Freedom Index, slipping to 117 in 2010 and dropping to 146 in the 2011-2012 period.

Actions and consequences

Like Matrais, Henry receives death threats via SMS from anonymous numbers every week. Henry has been working at Kontras for the past two years.

“My family is from Maluku but I was born in Jayapura and have lived here all my life,” he says.

This month, Henry has been busy finishing the Kontras 2012 Report on Torture. According to this report, the number of torture victims in Papua from June 2011 to July 2012 far outweighed those in any other part of Indonesia. Kontras reports 98 torture victims in Papua, followed by 26 victims in Jakarta.

Opposite Henry sits Barry (not his real name), a young man born in the Jayawijaya highlands, who now works at the Institute of Human Rights Studies and Advocacy (Elsham) and for an NGO called Unite For Truth (BUK).

Twelve years ago, Barry was in his final year of high school when his brothers, father and friends were tortured and imprisoned by police in Abepura.

At 1 a.m. on Dec.7, 2000, police broke down the doors of student dormitories in Abepura, forcing 105 students into trucks which took them to police headquarters at Kota Raja. Students were then stripped and tortured for five hours, according to testimony provided by students and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which was later presented at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Three students, Ori Ndoronggi, 17; Elkius Suhuniap, 20; and Johny Karunggu, 20; died while in custody as a result of police brutality.

Many others, including eight of Barry’s friends, died from the wounds inflicted upon them at the Kotaraja police headquarters in the weeks and months that followed the incident.

“The police bashed my brother and father on the back of their heads with the butts of rifles until blood poured out of their mouths and they became unconscious,” Barry says.

Despite the deaths of three young men while in police custody, there were no convictions in the trial that followed. Instead, the police responsible for the torture and killings have received promotions, while the memories of violence are still fresh in the minds of local people.

Taking action

“This year [2012] on Dec. 7, we held a remembrance ceremony for the victims of police and military violence. This is something we do every year to honor them. We have to continue to fight for justice for our brothers and sisters killed and tortured by the police and military,” Barry says.

As a university student, Barry founded the Community of Abepura Victims (KKA), and in 2007, he started BUK to fight for the rights of victims of police and military torture from Abepura, Wamena, Waisor, Kimaam, Assue and Maryedi.

Every week, Barry and BUK members visit prisons in Jayapura to bring coffee and food to political prisoners.

People with convictions mirroring those of Alice, Henry and Barry can be found all over Papua. Considering their experiences, it is no surprise that local people describe the law as hiburan (entertainment) and Papua’s special autonomy status as hiasan (decoration).

Justice, not separatism, is the first thing on these peoples’ minds. The longer justice in Papua is trampled on, the stronger the urge toward separatism becomes.

The military, the police and the Indonesian government must acknowledge the unhinged brutality used to crush civil society in Papua if there is ever to be peace. An acknowledgement is the first step. Reparations must be made and the perpetrators of crimes punished for their acts.

Brooke Nolan is a PhD student from the University of Western Australia with a focus on Indonesian studies. The opinions expressed are her own.

Here:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/a-brave-few-fight-for-justice-in-papua-despite-deadly-dangers/564729