Tag: civil resistance

Unions call on Indonesia to release arrested nurses

ACTU MEDIA RELEASE :  

Tuesday, 29 March 2011


Unions call on Indonesia to release arrested nurses


Australian unions have called on the Indonesian Government to respect international labour Conventions and human and trade union rights following the arrest of five nurses in West Papua.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said it was outrageous that the nurses had been detained for nine days and were reportedly subjected to long periods of police interrogation, simply because they had supported an industrial campaign to ensure they received their contracted entitlements.

“It is disturbing that at the same time as workers in North Africa are beginning to benefit from newfound democratic freedoms, repression of basic human rights including the freedom of association is taking place in our region,” Ms Kearney said.

“These West Papuan nurses were pursuing their legitimate rights and it is obscene to think they are languishing in jail.

“I am advised that more than 1500 nurses took spontaneous and unprecedented industrial action in response to an announcement that the Government of the province of West Papua had withdrawn industrial payments.

“We are told that in an attempt to intimidate the nurses and to force them back to work, five nurses were arrested.

“The intimidation has failed and the nurses and their community are more resolute than ever in their determination to secure the release of the five nurses and to win the industrial campaign.

“However it is simply outrageous that this type of intimidation and violation of human and workers’ rights is occurring.”

Ms Kearney said the arrests of the nurses, including two officials of the National Union of Indonesian Nurses, was a heavy-handed and excessive response to nurses pursing a legitimate industrial campaign in support of their contracted entitlements.

“This action is a clear breach of ILO Convention 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise), which was ratified by Indonesia in June 1998.

“It violates the fundamental human and trade union rights enshrined in C87 and reflects poorly on the Indonesian authorities.

“The Indonesian Government should take immediate steps to release the nurses, to remove all charges and to enter a constructive dialogue with the National Union of Indonesian Nurses to resolve these issues.”

Media contact: Rebecca Tucker ph (03) 9664 7359 or 0408 031 269; rtucker@actu.org.au

 



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Australian Nurses Demand Release of Jailed Nurses in West Papua

Media release

ANF demands release of jailed nurses

29 March 2011

The Australian Nursing Federation is calling for the immediate release of five nurses in West Papua who have been jailed by the Indonesian government for taking industrial action.

ANF acting federal secretary Yvonne Chaperon said eight nurses and midwives were originally detained by the criminal investigation unit of the Papuan police in Jayapura for their involvement in industrial action. Five nurses remain in jail.

“The nurses and midwives at the DokII Hospital in Jayapura were promised an incentive payment over a year ago and were suddenly informed on 30 December 2010 that the local authority had rescinded the decision to pay them. This led to a decision by the nurses and midwives to take industrial action and the subsequent detention and interrogation of five nurses.”

Ms Chaperon said the Australian Nursing Federation, representing over 200,000 nurses and midwives nationally, condemned the excessive response by the Indonesian Government.

“These nurses and midwives were exercising a democratic right to take industrial action in response to a decision that was made without reason or warning to withhold an incentive payment they had been promised more than a year ago,” Ms Chaperon said.

“We stand united with our colleagues in West Papua and call for their immediate release. They must be allowed to return to their homes and families without the threat of further intimidation or harassment.”

Media enquiries: Cathy Beadnell 0400 035 797

The ANF, with over 200,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing in Australia.  For more information, go to www.becausewecare.org.au.

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Medical staff take their complaints to the DPRP and to the govt in Jakarta

Bintang Papua, 23 March 2011

The secretary of the provincial administration of Papua has been
reported to the police by nurses and midwives who work at the hospital for his deceitful actions towards the medical staff and for conveying false information to the public. He had promised to pay monthly ‘incentives’ to the staff throughout 2010 but this has failed to
materialise.

Hundreds of nurses and midwives demonstrated outside the office of
provincial legislative assembly, the DPRP and outside the office of the
provincial governor.

The lawyer, Anum Siregar told the press that the provincial secretary ,
Constan Karmadi, had deceived the public when he promised as long ago as December 2010 that incentives would be paid as promised, describing it at the time as a ‘Christmas present’.

The medical staff are planning to make a formal complaint against the
provincial secretary to the Administrative Court, pointing out that
Instruction 125/2010 has been issued for the payment of the incentives, only to be cancelled out by a later instruction that withdrew any such payments.

Letters have also been sent to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono , as well as to Vice-President Budiono about all this as well as about the
arrest of five nurses and midwives who work at the general hospital, or
alleged incitement in bringing other members of the profession out on
strike, which resulted in a breakdown in the provision of services at
the hospital. The arrested nurses are now being treated as ‘suspects’.

The lawyer said that the hospital authorities had acted in violation of
the regulations and in a very irresponsible way.

When a journalist from Bintang Papua approached the director of DokII
hospital, Dr, Maurits Okasaray, for a comment on this situation as he
was seen leaving the police criminal investigation unit, he refused to
say anything, remarking only that the question should be put the police authorities who are investigating the matter.

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More actions to release five detained nurses

JUBI, 24 March 2011

Nurses arrests violate human rights

KontraS Papua, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of
Violence, is convinced that the detention of five nurses by the police
in Papua is a violation of their human rights. KontraS Papua member,
Olga Helena Hamadi said that the police should not treat the nurses as criminals, adding that the government should quickly act to resolve this case.

She also said that it was wrong for the governor of Papua Barnabas Suebu to ignore this case, as the consequences are being felt by many others in Papua. ‘Many people have already become victims.’

[This refers to the impact the case is having on services at the
hospital where the nurses work, which are vital to all local Papuans in
need of medical treatment at a hospital where they can be treated at
minimal cost. TAPOL]

Hamadi urged Komnas HAM, the National Human Rights Commission, to
continue with its investigations into this case to mediate in the case.
‘They need to work harder to produce stronger evidence to bring an end to this case,’ she said.

She also suggested that the police should hand this case over the
government in order to reach a settlement.

As already reported, eight nurses have been identified for questioning,
five of whom have been arrested and are being held by the police. Five
of the nurses have already been declared suspects, while two others are currently being interrogated.

————————–

JUBI, 24 March 2011

Nurses working at DokII General Hospital in Jayapura have reported the secretary of the province of Papua Costant Karma to the police. They were accompanied by the team of lawyers who are acting for the nurses.

One of the lawyers, Michael Tieret, said they had produced the
governor’s instruction No 125/2010 which granted payment of an
incentive to the nurses, alongside the governor’s instruction No 141
which cancelled the incentive.

One of the lawyers, Cory Silpa, said that the provincial secretary had
also used abusive words against the nurses at a meeting in mid December 2010, when the nurses had made their demand for the incentive to be paid. He had said: ‘You lot seem to think I have no brains. I’ll use my own ways, just you wait and see. The names of all of you sitting here now are with me. ‘

The lawyer, Michael Tieret, said that this had caused great anxiety
among the nurses. He said that he hoped that the provincial secretary
would be summoned by the police for an explanation.

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Dialogue needed to solve problems at hospital in Jayapura

[Abridged in translation by TAPOL]

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
17 March 2011

The problems surrounding the moves to uphold the rights of members of
the medical profession – nurses, midwives and assistant medical
personnel – at the DokII Hospital in Jayapura have intensified and have
now led to their criminalisation. Eight nurses have been declared
suspects, five of whom are in police custody

In April 2010, medical personnel sought a meeting with the governor of
the province of Papua to discuss an improvement in their rights. On 2
December 2010, they held their first demonstration demanding payment of
an incentive that had been promised a year before by the regional
government. On 6 December, the governor issued Decision 125 ordering
that the incentive be paid from January 2010. On 17 December, during a
Christmas celebration at the hospital, the regional secretary of the
Papuan province said in his address that the incentive would be paid.
But all of a sudden, without any consultation, the governor issued
Instruction 141 on 30 December saying that the decision to pay the
incentive had been cancelled.

A number of meetings held with various official bodies including the
provincial legislative assembly, the DPRP, failed to secure any
agreement about the incentive.nor was there any response from the
provincial administration. On the contrary, the personnel were treated
as criminals. Services as the hospital were badly affected as many of
the personnel paid visits to their colleagues who were in custody, as a
sign of solidarity.

The undersigned NGOs, in a spirit of solidarity with the medical
personnel at DokII Hospital, wish to convey the following:

1. We are very concerned about the failure as yet to reach any solution
to the problems between the hospital.personnel and the Papuan provincial
administration. This long drawn out case shows that the provincial
administration is incapable of solving the problems in the healthcare
sector, which is one of the priorities under the special autonomy law.

2. We are very concerned about the fact that within a period of one
month, two instructions were issued by the governor on the matter, one
of which ordered the implementation of an instruction while the other
cancelled the instruction, without explaining the reason for this. This
has only highlighted the deficiencies in the system and the lack of
coordination and lack of understanding about governance in the province
of Papua.

3. Far from solving the problem, the criminalisation of eight medical
personnel has worsened the problem and has resulted in the paralysis of
healthcare services at DokII Jayapura Hospital .

4. We call on the police in Papua to release the five medical personnel
in custody and to withdraw the decision to criminalise them. This would
help safeguard the neutrality and authority of the police in the eyes of
the public.

5. We call on the medical personnel at DokII Hospital to continue to
comply with their responsibilities towards the community because the
Papuan people are entitled to receive proper medical attention.

6. The governor should immediately enter into dialogue with the medical
personnel in order to pay due attention to their rights, particularly
taking account of the burdens and risks involved in correcting the
management of DokII Hospital. Such a dialogue would prove that the
Papuan provincial administration has acknowledged its responsibility to
provide healthcare services while enhancing the positive reputation of
the provincial government in the eyes of the medical profession
throughout the Land of Papua.

ALDP (Alliance for Democracy in Papua), KontraS Papua,Legal Aid
Institute, Papua.

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