Tag: human rights

Human rights violations in Papua are very high, according to a three-year survey

JUBI, 20 January 2012

[A photograph at the beginning of the article shows three little boys squatting in the street and inhaling aibon.]

The Papuan branch of Komnas HAM, the National Commission  on Human Rights, believes that violations of economic, social and cultural rights  in Papua are very serious  and can be described as gross human rights violations.

The commission’s chairman for co-ordination, Adriana S. Walli, has drawn together a great deal of information in her review of the prospects for economic, social and cultural rights in Papua which she presented at a Focus Group Discussion which was held in Jayapura on 20 January.

According to Adriana, repression and ECOSOC violations have been perpetrated on a vast scale during the past three years .’These violations are occurring on a daily basis and can be identified as gross violations. However, she said, they are brushed aside as being nothing more than trivia.

She went on to say that there were two indicators for why these violations continue to occur. The first was the prevailing view that these violations were trivial, and the second was the lack of commitment of the government and various related agencies.

While presenting her data, Adriana  said that when she was carrying out her investigations during the past three years, she had come across  a great number of ECOSOC violations, especially in health, economic rights and children’s rights.

She drew attention to the fact that in the various hospitals, little had been done to improve the facilities. Many of the personnel were harking back to Dutch times. The supply of clean water is inadequate while there has been a big increase in the number of street children. Many of these youngsters consume alcohol and sniff dangerous substances such as aibon; they also participate in free sex practices, take drugs and so on.

Small indigenous Papuan traders have great difficulty obtaining credit to grow their businesses while they still use traditional methods to handle their finances.

The chairman of the Papuan branch of Komnas HAM, the National Commission on Human Rights, Julius Ongge, told the gathering that the  government of the province of Papua  must be held responsible for the implementation of ECOSOC rights. When local people call for  their basic rights such as customary rights and their rights to education and health, it is obligatory for the government to respond but what in fact happens is that they come face to face with the security forces.

‘Whenever people make demands for their rights, they confront many alarming accusations  and often have to face lengthy legal processes even they have done nothing wrong,’ he said.

Related articles
0

Papuan People need not be afraid to talk about Independence

Bintang Papua,6 January 2011Papuans Needn’t be Afraid to Talk about Merdeka-Independence

Biak: A human rights lawyer and advocate has reminded the Papuan people that they needn’t be afraid  to talk about independence for Papua because independence for Papua is a basic human rights  that is legally recognised  and can be fought for by legal, democratic and political means. ‘I say this because  the 1945 Constitution guarantees these rights,’ said Yan Christian Warinussy, executive-director of LP3BH-Manokwari.

He said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People also guarantee these rights. He went on to say that  Papua Merdeka  is the political aspiration of the majority of the Papuan people which must be fought for  by peaceful,dgnfied and democratic means through universal legal and political mechanisms. All components of the Papuan people should unite  and discuss the various developments that provide the background for these aspirations of the Papuan people and should reach agreement on the issues that they should discuss in the context of a Papua-Indonesian dialogue.

The aspiration for Papua Merdeka must be used as the basis in every discussion which should at all times be based on the basic issues that were  agreed upon at the Papuan Peace Conference held from 5 – 7 July 2011 which included political, security, legal issues as well as basic human rights, and social, cultural, economic and environmental rights. He said that these issues were drawn up as the necessary steps towards the Papua-Indonesia Dialogue, with a recommendation about five people as negotiators agreed upon at the people’s conference. A declaration on a peaceful Papua was also agreed  upon as the guidance at the Papuan Peace Congress which was held from 16 – 19 October 2011 in Zacheus-Padang Bulan field, Abepura. Forkorus Yaboisembut was elected as the head, with Edison Waromi as the prime minister and all this was adopted as the strategic position of the  Papuan people on their way forward to the Dialogue.

Other components that were included were the OPM, the Papuan Presidium Council, the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, the West Papua National Authority, the National Youth Committee  the military wing, the TPN-PB, as well as other organisations in the Land of Papua and overseas*.   He expressed the hope that all these components would come together  and draw up an agenda for this struggle  in a systematic and responsible way, using legal and political mechanisms that are universally recognised. ‘Papuans need not be afraid to talk about their independence,’ he said.

{*West Papua Media note: this list of supporting organisations is referring to the Papua Peace Network meetings, and not to the 3rd Papuan People’s Congress at Zacheus Field: this Congress was not supported by all sectors of the resistance movement including the TPN-OPM and KNPB as they asserted it did not go far enough}

He also said that the Dewan Adat Papua – Customary Papuan Council – would be the people’s organisation that would unite all the various components in the Papuan struggle, in response to the aspirations of the Papuan people

He warned the security forces in the region not to stand in the way of the Papuan people or try to infiltrate the Papuan people in order to prevent them from freely using legal procedures and mechanisms  based on the 1945 Constitution and Law 39/1999 [on human rights] as well as other human rights documents in the course of their discussions on their political rights  in the Land of Papua.

Related articles
0

It’s time for Jakarta-Papua dialogue, says MRP deputy chair

Bintang Papua, 3 January, 2012
[Abridged in translation by TAPOL]
Jayapura: ‘The new year, 2012  must be a year in which dialogue between Papua and Jakarta takes place,’ said  Hofni Simbiak, deputy chair of the MRP, during a discussion about development, the human rights situation and civil society in Papua.’As a response to the current political and ECOSOCsituation  in Papua, all sections of the people in Papua agree that 2012 should be the year in which dialogue between Jakarta and Papua should take place. This is an emergency and there should be a response from the central and regional governments,’ said Septer Manufandu. He said that if  the government fails to respond to people’s calls for dialogue, this will damage the reputation of the government in the eyes of the people.

He went on to  say that 2012s a year in which many problems must be solved through dialogue and it is up to the government quickly take the initiative, as a way of improving Indonesia’s reputation worldwide. ‘Dialogue is the only way to solve the problems in Papua and to put an end to violence.’ He also said that  the government should make an evaluation of the implementation of the development programme since the adoption of the special autonomy law (in 2001). This should include evaluating developments in education and health and to see whether this has benefited the people or Papua or not. These are matters requiring the serious attention of the government, he went on to say.

According to Hofni Simbiak, all the activities in 2011  were orientated towards projects for which  there was no financial backing because of the misuse of the funds and corruption which is widespread in the education and health sectors.

Although the government had taken action regarding the implementation of UP4B (Unit to Accelerate Development in Papua and West Papua), the MRP des not agree with this programme. As far as they can see, a lot of money has been spent but this has not had any significant impact which has resulted in the people losing confidence in the government. As long as the Papuan people are not themselves the object  of all the development, this will continue to be a problem from year to year and could be a time bomb. This also applies to the UP4B, which could create big problems in 2012.

According to Septer Manufandu, the failures in human rights problems as well as political problems and ECOSOC had intensified in 2011 so much so that the government could be charged with failure on these issues as well as its failure to deal with the issues of education and health.

Related articles
0

Troop deployment to Paniai must stop

JUBI, 3 January 2012
Responding to reports from the community in Paniai that additional troops are still arriving in Paniai, the deputy chair of the Majelis Rakyat Papua said that this must stop

Venetina Koyoga said that according to the most recent information from Paniai, additional troops continue to arrive there while local people are reported to be evacuating from the area.

‘According to information we have received from the people there, the inhabitants of two kampungs have already evacuated. We are checking these reports but if they are indeed true, I would like to stress that no more troops should be sent there,. This must stop so as to ensure that the people there can live in peace, instead of what is happening now. Let us all sit down together, the Governor, the MRP and the DPRP, and agree to a good solution.’

If there is any increase in the number of troops, there should be coordination between representatives of the people in the province, such as the governor, the DPRP and the MRP. If there is no such coordination, the people there will continue to feel threatened,’ she said.

‘I very much regret the fact that there have been acts of violence against people living in Nabire, Puncak Jaya, Ttimika and other places in Papua. We should all sit down together and find the best solution to the problems there. The deployment of troops should end and those troops already there should be withdrawn.’

Related articles
0

Human Rights Commission urges police chief to withdraw his troops from Paniai

JUBI, 17 December 2011The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has urged the chief of police  to immediately withdraw his Brimob troops  from the district of Paniai and not to send any more troops there.

This request is made in a letter signed by the deputy head of Komnas HAM, M. Ridha Saleh, which is a follow-up of the complaint made by   the chairman f the Regional Traditional Council (DAD)  in Paniai several days ago. He said that the complaint  was made  because of two recent incidents involving members of the police force. One was shooting in the vicinity of the copper-and-gold mine in Degheuwo which led to the death of a civilian and the other relates to the situation following the dispatch of 150 additional Brimob troops who arrived in Enarotali  on 11-14 November 2011

In the second place, the Brimob post which was set up in the midst of several kampungs. should be removed.

Thirdly, to immediately conduct an investigation into what caused the death of Mateus Tenouye. Fourthly, to restore a conducive situation so as to enable the people in the district of Paniai to go about their daily activities.

And fifthly, to speedily hold dialogue with all parties involved in conflicts and to help the community to resolve problems that have occurred in the district of Paniai.

‘This request is in accordance with the authority rested in Komnas HAM according to Article 89, para (3) of Law on Human Rights 39/1999,’ the letter said. Copies of the letter have been sent to the chairman of Komnas HAM, the chief of police in Papua based in Jayapura and to the Paniai chief of police in Madi.

Komnas HAM very much hopes that the situation of the people in Paniai will be more conducive, bearing in mind that all people have the right to live in peace and tranquillity and to be protected against threats of fear, in accordance with article 15, para (30) of Law 39/1999.

Komnas HAM also calls upon all people to do everything possible to safeguard a conducive situation for people living in Paniai.

‘The chief of police needs to re-evaluate  the policy of sending additional  Brimob troops to Papua, particularly to Paniai. His troops must be withdrawn  because the people there are very upset, especially because of the attack on Eduda several days ago which has only intensified these fears and are having a significant impact   because people are unable to organise activities  in preparation for Christmas Day which is fast approaching.’

At the present time, there are hundreds of Brimob troops and police in Eduda, which is the headquarters of TPN/OPM, after managing to occupy the area.

Calls for the withdrawal of these troops  have also be made by others, especially since, in the past couple of days, operations in the area have intensified  in an attempt to hunt down the group of John Magai Yogi, who recently moved into the forest.

Related articles
0

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑