AHRC on Indonesia: A Review of the Indonesian Government’s Obligation under International Human Rights Instruments in Regard to the Truth, Remedy and Justice of Gross Violations of Human Rights
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- Published on Thursday, 30 May 2019 00:17
AHRC-PAP-001-2019
May 30, 2019
By Chrisbiantoro1
Introduction
As a member of the United Nations (UN)2, Indonesia has ratified at least six major international human rights treaties3. Currently, Indonesia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council 4, therefore, it has obligations to increase the standard of human rights protection in its territory under the resolution of the UN General Assembly creating the Human Rights Council.5 This short paper will address the concern on the performance of the human rights obligations of the Indonesian’s Government in accordance with international human rights law, regional human rights instruments and national law.
The WCC Executive Committee Statement: Concern and Solidarity for West Papua
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- Published on Thursday, 30 May 2019 09:17
27 May 2019
Statement: Concern and Solidarity for West Papua
Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5: 24 (NRSV)
The executive committee of the World Council of Churches, meeting in Bossey, Switzerland, on 22-28 May 2019, recalls the many initiatives and expressions of concern about the situation in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and Papua Barat (together referred to herein as “West Papua” or “Tanah Papua”) by national, regional and international ecumenical and church-related organizations over many years. Since the joint World Council of Churches (WCC)/Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) delegation visit to Indonesia (including West Papua) in 1999, the WCC has repeatedly lifted up issues related to human rights, environmental degradation, and economic justice in West Papua, particularly from the perspective of the Indigenous Papuan people. The same concerns were raised through the Living Letters team visit to Indonesia in July 2008, and the WCC General Secretary’s visit to West Papua in June 2012, and underlined in WCC governing body statements (including by the executive committee in February 2012, and by the central committee in June 2016).
Government keeps restrictive policy for foreign journalists covering in West Papua
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- Published on Monday, 27 May 2019 03:42
An interview on 23 May 2019 with the head of the immigration division in the regional office of the Ministry for Law and Human Rights in Papua Province, Mr. Hermansyah Siregar (see intro image), has confirmed what human rights organisations had been criticising since May 2015, when President Joko Widodo announced the opening of West Papua to foreign journalists. West Papua remains a restricted area for foreign journalist. Any journalist visa will only be approved once the applicant has obtained all necessary documents through the Clearing House procedure, a lengthy bureaucratic procedure which is mandatory for foreign journalists intending to cover in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and Papua Barat.
Papuan provincial parliament is drafting local regulation on the settlement of human rights violations
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- Published on Monday, 27 May 2019 03:20
Fourteen legislators of the Papuan provincial parliament (DPRP) are in the process of drafting a local government regulation (peraturan daerah or PERDA). The law shall provide a legal framework to deal with human rights violations in the province of Papua. The legislators have met with NGOs, victims of human rights violations and other stakeholders, asking them to share their inputs to the draft. The draft regulation is planned to be incorporated into the local legislation program 2019.
Police officers shoot two indigenous Papuans in Deiyai Regency – one victim dead another injured
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- Published on Sunday, 26 May 2019 04:21
According to information received from the Secretariat for Justice and Peace (SKP) of the Catholic Deanery in Tigi and the Papuan Tabernacle Church (KINGMI Papua) joint security force members shot dead Yulianus Mote (18 years). Melianus Dogopia (18 years) was severelly injured by a bullet in a related incident which also occured in the regency of Deiyai, Papua Province. On 21 May 2019, around 4.00 pm, Melianus Dogopia and three of his friends stopped a public transportation vehicle near the Timipotu market in Waghete Town and asked the driver for 10.000 IDR (approximately 60 € cents) and cigarettes. The four youths were intoxicated. The driver refused to give them money or cigarettes, so the young Papuan men did not allow the car to pass by. The situation escalated into a brawl between the four indigenous Papuans and the driver. As the driver pulled a knife attempting to attack the four men, an angry mob of bystanders playing volleyball in the nearby school yard started to throw stones at the driver and his vehicle. One of the stones broke the windshield of the vehicle.
Update treason trials: Imprisonment sentences for five KNPB activists
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- Published on Sunday, 26 May 2019 04:11
In early May 2019, judges found the Polish citizen Jakub Skrzypski and co-defendant Simon Magal guilty of having committed treasonous acts imprisonment. Skrzypski was sentenced to five years, Simon Magal to four years imprisonment. The judges argued that the public prosecution and the police had gathered sufficient evidence that Jakub Skrzypski had planned to sell weapons to the West Papua National Liberation Movement (TPN-PB), while Simon Magal had allegedly facilitated the trade. However, Jakub Skrzypski states that he is a tourist who was just interested in the Papuans political struggle for independence. He asserts being innocent and rejected the verdict against him. His lawyers stated that he plans to appeal against the verdict. The head of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, stated in an interview with news outlet Al Jazeera "We consider all of them to be prisoners of conscience who are imprisoned solely for peacefully expressing their political views and [who] have not used violence or hatred - The prosecutor failed to prove any evidence that [Skrzypski] committed treason”.
Amnesty International proposes human rights agenda to Indonesia's election candidates
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- Published on Saturday, 11 May 2019 02:08
Amnesty international has published a document proposing a human rights human rights to candidates during the Indonesian presidential and parliamentarian elections on 17 April 2019. The agenda consists of nine points, addressing the most important shortcomings in the field of human rights in Indonesia. Several agenda items have a particular high relevance for the human rights context in West Papua. Point six of the agenda demands the government to respect human rights in Papua.
Amnesty International calls on all presidential and parliamentary candidates to commit publicly to ensuring that human rights are protected, respected and fulfilled, as provided in international human rights law and standards and the country's own Constitution.
The PDF document on the human rights agenda may be downloaded here
Peaceful protest in Malang attacked and dispersed - Asian Human Rights Commission launches Urgent Appeal
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- Published on Friday, 10 May 2019 21:38
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INDONESIA: Peaceful public protest attacked and dispersed
ISSUES: Freedom of expression and opinion, human rights defenders, fair trial, legal aid
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The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a national human rights organization, the Commission for the Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS), regarding the brutal attack and forced dissolution of a peaceful public protest organized by the Papuan university students. Police and vigilante groups attacked the students, resulting in many student injuries and trauma. There has been no proper investigation undertaken by the law enforcement agency, and there is no guarantee and protection to exercise the right to freedom of expression and opinion.
More Articles...
- Upset police officer pulls gun and opens fire in Asei Village, Jayapura Regency
- Update treason trial - Polish citizen sentenced to five years imprisonment and four years for his Papuan companion
- In Memoriam Father Neles Kebadabi Tebay - ‘a pioneer’
- Law enforcement institutions in West Papua continue to use treason for criminalization of political activists
- Police cracks down on peaceful West Papua demonstrations in Bali and Malang
- AJAR publishes new report on female victims of violence in West Papua - I am here
- Human rights defenders raise allegations of torture and discrimination against Nabire Police
- Police officers arbitrarily arrest two Papuans and a baby in Sentani – both men subjected to torture during detention
- Joint Conference by the International Coalition for Papua, the Westpapua-Netzwerk, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
- Human Rights Update West Papua – April 2019, covering January – March 2019