The UN Human Rights Committee is requesting the Indonesian government to provide information about the alleged extra-judicial killings by security force members in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. The Human Rights Committee (CCPR), the body that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), has adopted the List of Issues prior to Reporting (LOIPR) of Indonesia at its 129th session (29 June to 24 July). More specifically, the Committee is asking for the number of victims of extra-judicial executions disaggregated by ethnicity, in particular indigenous Papuans, and the reparations provided to the victims’ families.
The International Coalition for Papua (ICP) has documented the extra-judicial killings of 33 civilian victims by security force members throughout the year 2019. All the victims, except one, were ethnic Papuans. The list of 33 documented victims does not include victims of extra-judicial killings during the forceful dispersal of a protest against racism and the subsequent outbreak of ethnic violence in the town of Wamena, Jayawijaya regency, on 23 September 2019. Investigations into the case are still ongoing. According to data published by the police, 33 persons were killed (25 non-Papuans and 8 Papuans) during the riots. However, non-government sources allege that the riots have cost the lives of 41 people, from which sixteen were ethnic Papuans. Data show that the majority of them died as a result of bullet injuries indicating a high possibility of extra-judicial killings by security force members during the crackdown.
The ICP has also so far documented and reported the extra-judicial killings of eight indigenous Papuans by security force members during the first semester of 2020. These outcomes are an indication of the continuing pattern of state violence, violations of the right to life and the persistent racial discrimination which indigenous Papuans face in Indonesia. The ICP calls for the Indonesian government to provide the information requested by the Human Rights Committee and the Indonesian authorities to immediately conduct independent, impartial and effective investigations into these cases. All perpetrators should be brought to justice at civilian courts through fair and transparent trials, as stipulated in international human rights treaties.
