Summary
The Indonesian Government's human rights record came
under scrutiny at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
which convened a quadrennial review of Indonesia's progress
on human rights protection. The focus on developments in
West Papua was more intense than the last review with the
denial of freedom of speech and the holding of political
prisoners among the leading concerns. Indonesia promised to
invite the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech though
it was unclear if he would be allowed to visit West Papua.
The U.S. State Department released its annual global review
of human rights observance. The report gave significant
attention to human rights violations in West Papua with some
focus on the role of the security forces. As in the past,
the State Department report ignored the Indonesian
government's failure to provide minimally adequate health,
education and other vital services to the Papuan people.
Amnesty International also issued its annual report on human
rights with a significant focus on rights issues in West
Papua. A detailed study revealed the Indonesian government's
failure to protect Papuans from unscrupulous land developers
in West Papua. Demonstrators in Vanuatu targeted their
government's warming relationship with Indonesia,
particularly with Indonesian security forces.
Contents
- Indonesia's Rights Record in West
Papua Under Fire in Geneva
- U.S. State Department
Human Rights Report on Indonesia Includes Focus on
West Papua
- Amnesty International Highlights
Human Rights Abuses in Its Report on Indonesia for 2011
- Indonesian Government Allows
Foreign Corporation to Rip-off Papuans
- Vanuatu Citizens Support Papuan
Rights
Indonesia's Rights Record in West
Papua Comes Under Fire in Geneva
On May 23, Indonesia's human rights record became the focus
of attention at the United Nations Human Rights Council
(UNHRC) Universal Periodic Review. Members of the Council
must submit to such reviews every four years. (See
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/IDSession13.aspx )
TAPOL,
in a May 23 press release, noted that concerns about
human rights in West Papua increased sharply since the last
review in 2008, with a significant number of member states
also raising concerns about freedom of expression, human
rights defenders and political prisoners in the region.
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The Indonesian Government
report only painted a partial picture of the
serious challenges that remain, especially
regarding religious freedom, free expression,
and accountability for serious abuses committed
by security forces.
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The Indonesian government claimed it had taken numerous
concrete steps to put into effect the seven recommendations
that Indonesia accepted from its last UPR review in 2008.
These recommendations were to develop human rights education
and training, sign and ratify various human rights
instruments, support and protect the work of civil society,
combat impunity by security forces, revise the Penal Code,
and develop systems to improve and share best practices to
support human rights.
However, Human Rights Watch and the Indonesian human
rights groups KontraS
pointed out that the Indonesian Government report
only painted a partial picture of the serious challenges
that remain, especially regarding religious freedom, free
expression, and accountability for serious abuses committed
by security forces. In particular, the groups observed: "The
right to freedom of opinion and expression are guaranteed by
the Constitution and national laws. However, various laws
are on the books continue to be enforced that criminalize
the peaceful expression of political, religious, and other
views. Offenses in Indonesia's criminal code such as treason
(makar) and 'inciting hatred' (haatzai artikelen)
have been used repeatedly against peaceful political
activists."
Switzerland and Mexico were among those questioning
Indonesia’s worrying human rights record in West Papua,
joined by regional neighbors New Zealand and Japan. The
United States, echoing concerns by NGO's such as HRW,
KontraS, TAPOL, WPAT and others, called for action on
Indonesia’s repressive treason laws. This call was backed by
Canada and Germany who further called for the release of
peaceful political prisoners. The treason laws (notably
Article 106 of Indonesia's Criminal Code) have been employed
extensively in West Papua to impose harsh prison sentences
for peaceful dissent. These laws directly violate
Indonesia's obligations under international law and its own
constitution guaranteeing the right to freedom of speech and
of assembly.
Germany pressed Indonesia on whether it intended to release Filep Karma and other political detainees who are being
held arbitrarily and accused Indonesia of violating Article
20 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which
states that “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful
assembly and association." In November 2011 the UN Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention issued
an opinion saying the Indonesian government is violating
international law by imprisoning Filep Karma and called for
his immediate release. Karma is serving a 15-year term in
Abepura prison
Restrictions on access by foreign media and civil society
were raised by a number of states, including France and
Australia, while Germany called for immediate access for the
International Committee of the Red Cross, which was ejected
from Papua in 2009.
In partial response to the sharp critiques, Indonesia
announced on May 23 that it planned to issue an invitation
to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank
La Rue. It was not immediately clear, however, whether La
Rue would be permitted to visit West Papua. In 2007, the
UN's special Rapporteur on torture was allowed to visit West
Papua, but her visit there was monitored and following her
departure Papuans with whom she met were harassed and
threatened by Indonesian security elements.
U.S. State
Department Human Rights Report on Indonesia Includes
Focus on West Papua
The U.S. Department of State on May 24 issued its annual
report to Congress regarding human rights observance in most
countries of the world. The report on Indonesia was for the
most part detailed and comprehensive. (See full report here:
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?dynamic_load_id=186273 )
(Note: WPAT is preparing a more comprehensive analysis of
the annual State Department Report. The following notes only
the more significant elements of the report, including
identification of several shortcomings.)
Reflecting the particularly egregious violations of human
rights in West Papua, much of the report focused on
developments there. The Executive Summary notes that "Major
human rights problems included instances of arbitrary and
unlawful killings by security forces and others in Papua and
West Papua provinces." However, the sentence preceding this
accurate account contends that "security forces reported to
civilian authorities." That contention can be interpreted to
mean that the "arbitrary and unlawful killings by security
forces" accurately described in the succeeding sentence is
somehow undertaken on behalf of "civilian authorities." In
reality, Indonesian security forces have long been a rogue
force perpetrating human rights violations with near
impunity. This reality is alluded to indirectly in the
report which acknowledges in the Executive Summary that "the
government attempted to punish officials who committed
abuses, but judicial sentencing often was not commensurate
with the severity of offenses, as was true in other types of
crimes as well." The body of the report includes examples of
failed justice, notably in addressing human rights crimes
committed by security force officials in West Papua, are
cited with good detail.
The Report provides accounts of numerous violations during
the 2011 reporting period, usually with appropriate detail.
For example, in describing the security force assault on the
October 16-19, 2011 Third Papuan National Congress the U.S.
State Department accounts writes:
"...police and military units violently dispersed
participants in the Third Papua People’s Congress, a
gathering held in Jayapura October 16-19. Activists
displayed banned separatist symbols and read out a
Declaration of Independence for the 'Republic of West
Papua' on the final day of the gathering. Police fired
into the air and detained hundreds of persons, all but
six of whom were released the following day. Three
persons were found shot and killed in the area. Police
spokesmen claimed that the police were equipped only
with rubber bullets and other non-lethal ammunition.
Police beat many of those detained, and dozens were
injured. At year’s end, six of the leaders of the Third
Papua People’s Congress faced charges of treason and
weapons possession."
The State Department writes that "the Indonesian National
Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) found that Demananus
Daniel, Yakobus Samsabara, and Max Asa Yeuw, whose dead
bodies were found near the Congress area, had been shot.
Komnas HAM called for an investigation."
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Troubling,
the report downplays a key element of that
violence, i.e., the impact of security force
"sweeping operations." These operations in 2011,
as in previous years, continued to drive
villagers from their homes and often into
life-threatening refuge in nearby forests.
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The report acknowledges that violence continued to
afflict the Papuan people on a massive basis. Troubling, the
report downplays a key element of that violence, i.e., the
impact of security force "sweeping operations." These
operations in 2011, as in previous years, continued to drive
villagers from their homes and often into life-threatening
refuge in nearby forests. The report raises doubt about the
human impact of sweeping operations by claiming that the
remoteness of these operations precludes accurate accounts
of that impact:
"Violence affected the provinces of Papua and West
Papua during the year. Due to the remoteness of the area
it was difficult to confirm reports of burned villages
and civilian deaths. Much of this violence was connected
to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and security force
operations against OPM. For example, OPM forces wounded
three soldiers in a July 5 exchange of fire. In another
incident on July 12, attackers, whom the government
alleged were OPM-affiliated, injured four soldiers and
two civilians. On October 24, alleged OPM-affiliated
attackers shot and killed the chief of the Mulia police
station."
This U.S. Government rendering of the harming of
civilians entailed by the "sweeping operations" also seeks
to implicate the armed Papuan resistance, the OPM. The State
Department report fails to note that Indonesian Government
claims of OPM activities as constituting triggers for the
sweeping operations are widely suspect.
The State Department acknowledges that security forces
continue to resort to torture: "During the year the Legal
Aid Institute of Jakarta conducted a survey on the
prevalence of torture in Papua that found 61 percent of
survey respondents suffered physical abuse while being
arrested and 47 percent of respondents suffered physical
abuse during questioning."
The State Department Report usefully notes that the
Indonesian Government regularly interferes with and
intimidates human rights monitors, including journalists:
"However, some government officials, particularly
in Papua and Aceh, subjected the organizations to
monitoring, harassment, and interference as well as
threats and intimidation. Activists said intelligence
officers followed them, took their pictures
surreptitiously, and sometimes questioned their friends
and family members regarding their whereabouts and
activities."
The report, however, fails to relate this repression to
the intimidation of journalists, such as in the case of the
stabbing of Banjir Amarita who reported on the police rape
of two women in Papua, nor does it note that foreign human
rights monitoring in West Papua continues to face persistent
government restrictions. The report does note that the
Indonesian Government continues to ban the International
Committee of the Red Cross from reopening of its office in
West Papua, which was closed by the government in 2009.
The report also accurately describes government culpability
in the exploitation of Papuans by foreign and domestic firms
exploiting resources:
"During the year indigenous persons, most notably
in Papua, remained subject to widespread discrimination,
and there was little improvement in respect for their
traditional land rights. Mining and logging activities,
many of them illegal, posed significant social,
economic, and logistical problems to indigenous
communities. The government failed to prevent companies,
often in collusion with the local military and police,
from encroaching on indigenous peoples’ land. In Papua
tensions continued between indigenous Papuans and
migrants from other provinces, between residents of
coastal and inland communities, and among indigenous
tribes."
The report, however, pulls its punches in describing the
impact of the Indonesian government's social engineering
entailed in the "transmigration" program:
"Some human rights activists asserted a
government-sponsored transmigration program
transplanting poor families from overcrowded Java and
Madura to less populated islands violated the rights of
indigenous people, bred social resentment, and
encouraged the exploitation and degradation of natural
resources on which many indigenous persons relied.
However, the number of transmigrants as compared with
spontaneous economic migrants was relatively small.
During the year, 7,274 families participated in
government-sponsored transmigration programs. In some
areas, such as parts of Sulawesi, the Malukus,
Kalimantan, Aceh, and Papua, relations between
transmigrants and indigenous people were poor."
Contending that the number of transmigrants in 2011,
7,242 families, was small, fails to take into account the
hundreds of thousands of transmigrants who have been
re-located to West Papua over the years by the government
and the reality that those transmigrants continue to receive
formal and informal Government support. Government support
for these transmigrants is a key factor in the systemic
marginalization of Papuans.
WPAT Comment: The gravest omission in the State
Department's evaluation of human rights in West Papua is its
systematic failure over the years to address the Indonesian
government's neglect of fundamental services for Papuans.
Jakarta continues to ignore its obligation, as set forth in
international human rights agreements, to provide basic
health and education services for Papuans or to foster
employment. This neglect has had a devastating impact on
Papuan communities, notably in rural areas, where health and
education outcomes are among the worst in the world. Despite
a relatively meticulous account of human rights abuses in
West Papua, and of the impunity granted to the perpetrators
of those abuses, the report ignores Jakarta's decades old
policy of malign neglect which has had a genocidal impact on
the Papuan people.
Amnesty International Highlights Human Rights Abuses in Its Report
on Indonesia for 2011
Amnesty International (AI) highlighted human rights abuse in
West Papua, Aceh and Maluku in its
2011 report on Indonesia.
The report observed that "peaceful political activities
continued to be criminalized in Papua and Maluku."
Specifically it observed that "the government continued to
criminalize peaceful political expression in Maluku and
Papua" and that "at least 90 political activists were
imprisoned for their peaceful political activities."
The AI report cited several incidents to document this
denial of the right of freedom of expression:
- In August, two Papuan political activists,
Melkianus Bleskadit and Daniel Yenu, were imprisoned for
up to two years for their involvement in a peaceful
political protest in Manokwari town in December 2010.
- In October, over 300 people were arbitrarily
arrested after participating in the Third Papuan
People’s Congress, peaceful gathering held in Abepura
town, Papua Province. Although most were held overnight
and released the next day, five were charged with
“rebellion” under Article 106 of the Criminal Code. The
charge could carry a maximum life sentence. A
preliminary investigation by the National Human Rights
Commission (Komnas HAM) found that the security forces
had committed a range of human rights violations,
including opening fire on participants at the gathering,
and beating and kicking them.
The AI report also noted that throughout Indonesia
"police accountability mechanisms remained inadequate" and
that "security forces faced persistent allegations of human
rights violations, including torture and other ill-treatment
and use of unnecessary and excessive force."
"Perpetrators of past human rights violations in
Aceh, Papua, Timor-Leste and elsewhere remained free
from prosecution. The Attorney General’s office failed
to act on cases of serious human rights violations
submitted by the National Human Rights Commission
(Komnas HAM). These included crimes against humanity
committed by members of the security forces."
Amnesty noted that repression of those engaged in the
defense of human rights and of journalists continues to be a
problem in Indonesia:
"Some human rights defenders and journalists
continued to be intimidated and attacked because of
their work. AI provided examples of this abuse:
- In March, journalist Banjir Ambarita was stabbed
by unidentified persons in the province of Papua shortly
after he had written about two cases of women who were
reportedly raped by police officers in Papua. He
survived the attack.
- In June, military officers beat Yones Douw, a
human rights defender in Papua, after he tried to
monitor a protest calling for accountability for the
possible unlawful killing of Papuan Derek Adii in May.
AI documented the continuing practice of torture and
physical abuse perpetrated by security forces: "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 January, three soldiers who had been filmed kicking
and verbally abusing Papuans were sentenced by a military
court to between eight and 10 months’ imprisonment for
disobeying orders. A senior Indonesian government official
described the abuse as a “minor violation."
Indonesian Government Allows
Foreign Corporation to Rip-off Papuans
An international environmental group accused a Hong
Kong-owned palm oil developer with paying traditional Papuan
landowners as little as $0.65 per hectare for their land.
(See full report at:
Clear-Cut Exploitation.)
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The company paid as little
as $25 per cubic meter to landowners for timber
harvested during clearance of their forests,
including for valuable merbau. The company made
millions by then selling the exported merbau for
$875 per cubic meter.
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The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency
(EIA), joined in conducting its research by Indonesian
partner "Telapak" found that PT Henrison Inti Persada paid
less than $1,000 for 15 square miles of forest from the Moi
clans of West Papua. When the Hong Kong-based commodities
conglomerate Noble Group purchased a majority stake in the
company in 2010, analysts calculated that the plantation
would be worth US$162 million when developed.
The company paid as little as $25 per cubic meter to
landowners for timber harvested during clearance of their
forests, including for valuable merbau. The company made
millions by then selling the exported merbau for $875 per
cubic meter.
The EIA/Telapak research highlighted a history of legal
irregularities in the plantation’s development and in timber
harvesting – crimes never pursued by government officials
tasked with safeguarding West Papua’s forests and people.
Violations include forest clearance and timber utilization
prior to permits being issued, and failure to develop
smallholder estates in line with legal requirements.
Impoverished landowners never received promised development
benefits such as houses, vehicles and education.
EIA Senior Forest Campaigner Jago Wadley said: “Papuans,
some of the poorest citizens in Indonesia, are being utterly
exploited in legally questionable oil palm land deals that
provide huge financial opportunities for international
investors at the expense of the people and forests of West
Papua.”
The briefing also describes how Norway has a stake in the
plantation via the multi-million dollar shareholdings of its
sovereign wealth fund – the world’s largest – in Noble
Group. Norway has been internationally feted as a climate
change leader following its significant political and
financial investment in the Reduce Emissions from
Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) program in Indonesia
and elsewhere.
These contradictions highlight how, if left unreformed,
investment and commodity markets will continue to destroy
forests and undermine local communities in spite of efforts
to reduce emissions from deforestation, argue EIA and
Telapak.
“That Norway - Indonesia’s biggest REDD+ donor - will also
profit from this destructive exploitation is ironic in the
extreme. Norway could be paying Papuans to maintain their
forests instead of profiting from deforestation in West
Papua,” said Telapak Forests Campaigner Abu Meridian.
Vanuatu Citizens
Support Papuan Rights
A
May 16 report by Johnny Blades of Radio New Zealand
provides a timely update regarding tensions in Vanuatu
between those who support the rights of their fellow
Melanesians in West Papua and Vanuatu officials who have
been lured by offers of Indonesian assistance to support
Jakarta, which has offered police training and other
assistance in exchange for Vanuatu's silence on human rights
violations and the denial of the right to self-termination.
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In as
far as the NGOs and members of the public are
concerned, they do not agree with the government
making any deals with Indonesia, that’s in
opposition to the situation in West Papua.
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A police crackdown and the arrest of 24 protesters who
demonstrated against the arrival of an Indonesian military
plane highlighted these tensions. The demonstration in
Vanuatu's capital of Port Vila was peaceful and did not
violate any local laws. The Indonesian Hercules aircraft
reportedly was carrying equipment to assist in an upcoming
meeting between African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
countries and the European Union.
Under a recently signed cooperation agreement, Indonesia
will provide police and paramilitary training to Vanuatu.
West Papuan leaders living in exile in Vanuatu have called
on its government to reconsider its policy in regard to
Indonesia, which in 2011 became an observer of the
Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
Andy Ayamiseba, speaking to Radio New Zealand from
jail after his arrest at the airport protest said that “If
there is any such force to train Vanuatu police, Indonesia
should be the last on the list. These people, they're
committing atrocities on other Melanesian people."
Opposition Vanuatu MP, Sela Molisa, said the people of
Vanuatu strongly opposed the cooperation with Indonesia:
“The government can get assistance from anywhere including
Indonesia. But people have different opinion from the
government. In as far as the NGOs and members of the public
are concerned, they do not agree with the government making
any deals with Indonesia, that’s in opposition to the
situation in West Papua.” he said.
Molisa witnessed the arrests and condemned the police and
government actions. He said people had the right to express
themselves and that no permit was required for holding
banners in a peaceful way at the airport.
WPAT Comment: In addition to bullying small regional
neighbors, Jakarta has successfully employed its powerful
regional status to ensure that governments throughout the
world limit their public criticism of its policies in West
Papua. The international movement of solidarity with the
West Papuan people, including NGO's, some media, a growing
number of Parliamentarians, and concerned individual
activists like the Vanuatu protesters continue to play the
role of the international community's conscience.