The UN Human Rights Council has reported the human rights situation in West Papua has deteriorated, citing reports of torture and mass displacement.

"We know the violence that West Papuans are having to endure is getting increasingly worse," Green Party spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman said at a Morning Star flag raising ceremony in Auckland on Friday. Read more

Last year, there were 160 West Papuans studying in New Zealand.

In August a long-simmering discontent exploded into a mass uprising.

The number involved has reportedly reached tens of thousands.

At least 10 people are said to have been killed in separate clashes between the demonstrators, and security forces and vigilante mobs.

The trouble was sparked off when security forces and militia mobs stormed the dormitories of West Papuan students studying in Surabaya and Malang, East Java.

The pretext was an accusation - never substantiated - that the students had damaged a flag pole flying the Indonesian flag.

The number involved has reportedly reached tens of thousands.

At least 10 people are said to have been killed in separate clashes between the demonstrators, and security forces and vigilante mobs.

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said it was closely monitoring the security situation in West Papua.

MFAT said it has encouraged Indonesia to facilitate a visit to Papua by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"We have urged Indonesia to respect and protect the human rights of all its citizens," a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said.

"New Zealand recognises Papua as part of Indonesia's sovereign territory.

"We continue to encourage Indonesia to promote peaceful social and economic development in Papua."

Despite MFATs efforts, some say New Zealand has not done enough.

West Papua Action Auckland has written an open letter to Jacinda Ardern.

They are urging her to condemn the racism that started the protests and end the internet blackout which is hampering journalists covering the story.

Source

• rnz.co.nz
• thejakartapost.com
• scoop.co.nz
• thespinoff.co.nz
• infowestpapua.com
• Image: infowestpapua.com

They want the "foreign" bishop to be replaced by a native-born Papuan priest.

Lega was born on Flores Island in Nusa Tenggara Timur, the southernmost province of Indonesia.

The anger allegedly stems from a dispute between two priests that turned into an ethnic feud.

The diocese does not seem willing to confirm this.

A lay Catholic in the diocese who asked for anonymity told ucanews.com that the problems began in April when diocesan treasurer Father Rudy Renyaan — a Papuan — threatened to kill Father Paul Tan an ethnic Chinese priest over a financial dispute.

The death threat resulted in the Papuan receiving a 13-month prison sentence.

Renyaan is currently in Sorong prison, while Tan has been transferred to Jayapura Diocese, in neighbouring Papua province.

Hundreds of Catholics took to the streets of Sorong in Manokwari-Sorong diocese on Sept. 12, to demand Lega's the resignation.

Some 250 police were deployed to monitor the protest, which passed off peacefully.

The protesters accused Lega of being arrogant, discriminatory and unable to solve problems affecting the diocese.

In a statement read out during the rally, Lega was also accused of not respecting indigenous Papuan priests.

"He is not a good and right leader of Catholics.

He is not a true shepherd according to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church," the statement said.

Diocesan officials, however, denied the accusations, saying everything was fine.

In a statement received by ucanews.com, several priests in the diocese defended Lega, saying there were no problems between the bishop and his priests and that the protesters were small in number.

The priests also called on other Catholics in the diocese to remain united and not be easily provoked."Let us not let ourselves be consumed by false information and spread false rumours," they said.

Source

• ucanews.com
• Image: ucanews.com Frans Michael

A three-member pastoral solidarity team spent four days in West Papua with an "intensive" programme of visits and meetings.

"Indigenous West Papuans shared with the CCA delegation about the on-going repression and systematic human rights violations in West Papua, including the passing of laws that suppress freedom of speech and freedom of association," the CCA said.

They spoke of the growing concern at the impunity for human rights abuses enjoyed by the police and the military.

They described the Special Autonomy Law as a failure.

This law is supposed to enshrine respect for local socio-cultural expressions, including:

• the restoration of the Papua name over the Indonesia-preferred Irian Jaya,
• the freedom to fly the Papuan flag and sing the community's national anthem.

The CCA report says the Indonesian government systematically restricts the right to freedom of the press as well as the initiatives of West Papuans who come forward to monitor human rights violations.

• Many indigenous West Papuans are being arrested and detained for non-violent expressions of their political opinion.
• The indigenous West Papuans constantly face discrimination as well as violent attacks.
• Peaceful demonstrations are often dispersed by force.
• In many instances, non-violent participants have been arrested, detained and tortured, while others have been killed.
• Many prisoners and human rights activists have died while in detention.
• Reports of torture and ill-treatment of political detainees have been increasing.
• Civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are being violated.
• The Christian Conference of Asia includes 17 national councils and more than 100 churches in 21 countries.

Source

• RNZ
• ANS
• Image: ETAN

Indonesia's Ambassador to Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand, Tantowi Yahya, says protesters supporting West Papua independence should have sought a government permit before they staged the protest.

About 30 local people participated in the protest in front of the hotel in which the Pacific Island Forum leaders summit is held in Samoa.Ambassador Yahya said the issue of Papua was not on the agenda at this Forum meeting.

An Indonesian foreign affairs Ambassador Yahya said the issue of Papua was not on the agenda at this Forum meeting. An Indonesian foreign affairs official says the Forum meeting is not the place to raise the West Papua issue.

He says the 1969 integration of West Papua into Indonesia has been relegated to the history pages.

However, The General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, said a protest that took place during the forum supporting West Papua's independence was nothing new.

Mr Pihaatae said it illustrated the strong support from some. He urged all Pacific nations to express their concern as seen in Samoa.

Indonesia's Ambassador was at the meeting and condemned the protest and accused Pacific Islanders of being misled on a human rights situation that had largely improved.

But on behalf of the churches, Mr Pihaatae says the demonstrators believe that people in West Papua are still struggling.

"Whatever the Indonesian said, I will never, never believe that something is fine in West Papua because we have evidence that [they are] living out every day, the killing of the people," Reverend Francois Pihaatae said.

The organiser of the [protest in Samoa, Jerome Mika, says Samoans have had the right to freedom of expression since independence and he said the demonstrators were encouraging Pacific island leaders to support such freedom for West Papua.

Source

• Radio NZ
• Radio NZ
• Image: Radio NZ

Terms of reference for the dialogue are not known yet, but the Jakarta meeting agreed on the Catholic priest, Dr Neles Tebay, taking on a mediator role. Continue reading

The situation in West Papua was one of the main focuses in a statement issued at the end of their recent meeting in Auckland by the Executive Committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops.

They called for:

• Quality education
• Fair and transparent access to jobs, training programmes and employment
• Respect of land titles
• Clear boundaries between the role of defence and police forces and the role of commerce

The bishops did not have a view on the question of independence for West Papua. "Indeed we believe that where this question becomes a single focus, care to uphold and strengthen local institutions of democracy may be overlooked."

They noted that a large majority of indigenous people of Papua seek peace. "The large majority of indigenous people of Papua seek peace and the various dialogue groups, advocating and witnessing to peaceful co-existence, are a source of hope for all."

New Zealand's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee in New Zealand has turned down a call to push for a UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression to visit West Papua.

A human rights petition, organised by West Papua Action Auckland and supported by other human rights groups and Catholic and Anglican church leaders, had sought for New Zealand to condemn the arrest and intimidation of peaceful protestors.

The Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu and Palau have all called for UN intervention in West Papua.

Read the bishops' statement

Source

• Scoop Federation of Catholic Bishops Media release
• Voxy
• RNZ
• Asia Pacific Report
• Image: greenbooks.org

Father Nico Syukur Dister who is is Professor at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology in Jayapura accepts there are a variety of opinions on the question of independence for for West Papua.

While he understands why church leaders see it as their duty to unify the people, he says, "the real politics in West Papua make it impossible for the churches to remain neutral."

Dister pointed out that leaders of three Papua churches (GIDI, Baptist and KINGMI), whose members and leaders are predominantly native Papuans, recently released a pastoral letter condemning the ongoing violence and discrimination against Papuans.

"As far as I know, the Catholic Church seldom or even never made such a clear statement," he said. "Why is that the case?"

Dister's comments were made after Catholics staged a protest outside the annual bishops' meeting in Jayapura.

They were protesting because the bishops had not spoken out against the marginalisation and social injustice they suffer.

"The bishops stay silent instead of speaking up more about injustices faced by indigenous people. They let our dignity be torn up by unfair developments in areas such as health, education and even politics," protest organizer, Christianus Dogopia said.

Responding to the protesters, Bishop Aloysius Murwito of Agats-Asmat he and other bishops will work together with priests and parishes to deal with the issues.

"We will pay more serious attention to their demands," he said.

(A translation of the words on the placard the protesters are holding in the image above has been supplied. It says: "Where are the shepherds when their sheep are being hunted by wolves?")

Source

• UCAnews
• West Papua Daily
• Facebook

Image: Vatican Radio

According to Papua police, 86 people have died, 264 have been seriously injured and 839 injured slightly since 2013 in alcohol-related incidents.

Papua governor Lukas Enembe as well law enforcement agencies and officials signed an "integrity pact" on March 30 this year that included prohibiting the production, distribution and sale of alcohol.

However, instead of making crackdowns, some officials are helping supply people with alcohol, according to Bishop John Philip Saklil of Timika.

He called for authorities to vigorously enforce the ban they put in place.

His call follows a string of deaths linked to adulterated homemade liquor.

Inaction from local government and security personnel, as well as general ignorance about bootleg alcohol contributed to the deaths, according to Saklil.

He added that because of such ignorance, the consumption of alcohol particularly bootleg liquor in his diocese, has become widespread.

The bishop claimed security personnel must have some role in supplying and selling liquor since people living in areas they can access but others find difficult to reach have a steady supply of alcohol.

"It's impossible they don't know anything about it," he said, suggesting there was a deliberate policy not to enforce the ban.

"The involvement of military and police in supplying and selling liquor and their reluctance to deal with violators of the ban, resulting in them letting perpetrators of crimes go is valid proof."

He referred to the deaths of the seven young men, saying three out of four people suspected of selling of bootleg liquor in the area avoided arrest, while the other was arrested but released a few hours later.

Papua police chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw couldn't be reached for comment on the bishop's allegation.

Source

• ucanews.com
• Image: photo.kontan.co.id

The march was met at the steps of parliament by MPs from various political parties, who spoke of their concern about Indonesian state oppression in the Papua region. Continue reading

The call was made at the end of a four-day Catholic Student Association of the Republic of Indonesia conference in Jayapura on July 31.

Conference participants — association members from 70 chapters across the country — said the central government should dissolve the current investigative team formed by the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, and sit down with the Papuans.

An ongoing conflict in West Papua between the Indonesian government and indigenous groups seeking independence or greater autonomy has led to many rights abuses, according to rights groups and Papuan activists.

Catholic students have also urged President Widodo to remove restrictions and allow foreign journalists free access to Papua.

"We demand [the] government gives access to foreign journalists so they can visit Papua, without interference, including from the military," Angelo Wake Kako, the association's chairman, said on July 31.

Mario Yumte, a member of the association's Jayapura chapter, said Papua's longstanding conflicts need to end with dignity.

Catholic students see it as their duty to encourage the relevant parties to sit down, talk heart to heart, and listen to each other, she said.

"If we are silent on the Papua conflict it means we do not care about humanity," said Yumte.

Father John Djonga, a human rights advocate, said Aug. 1 that he appreciated the Catholic students' concerns about Papua. But he also reminded students to build intensive communication with local Papuan leaders.

Communication with local leaders, he said, is important because there is so much poverty and injustice in Papua that needs immediate attention.

According to the priest, there have been efforts to have a dialogue mediated by third party, but the Indonesian government has not listened.

This made the Papuans seek international attention regarding their struggle especially in the Pacific region, Father Djonga said.

Source

• ucanews.com
• Image: etan.org

The Dutch human rights law firm, Prakken D'Oliveira, has submitted the complaint to the UN Human Rights Council.

It details vast and continuing alleged human rights violations by the Indonesian government against the people of West Papua. Continue reading

Most have since been released.

In the wake of the arrests, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, not for the first time, was pressed about the rights situation in West Papua.

"The government is concerned about these matters," he told parliament, "and the government wants to see an improvement in the situation in that part of the world."

"The government does not believe that megaphone diplomacy will serve that objective."

Politicians in Australia have frequently claimed that the economic and social plight of the indigenous people of Indonesia's West Papua region was improving.

But a new report called 'We will Lose Everything', based on a fact finding mission the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Brisbane, concludes otherwise.

It's traditional for West Papuans to demonstrate around May the 1st.

This date is the anniversary of transfer of administration in the former Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia in 1963, a process in which Papuans were not consulted.

But this year they were also demonstrating their support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua's bid to be a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, as well as the International Parliamentarians for West Papua.

The IPWP, a network of politicians from around the world who support self-determination for West Papua and are concerned about ongoing human rights abuses against Papuans, held a summit in London last week.

Attended by MPs from the wider Pacific, Europe and Britain, as well as Liberation Movement leaders such as Benny Wenda, the summit resulted in a declaration calling for an internationally-supervised vote on independence in West Papua.

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• Image: radionz.co.nz

Peaceful demonstrations supporting Papuan independence were held in several parts on the predominantly Christian Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua.

Thousands of West Papuans marched in the peaceful demonstrations in cities including Jayapura, Yakuhimo, Manokwari, Merauke and Sorong.

Demonstrators were demanding the United Liberation Movement for West Papua be accepted as a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

"We have the right to be a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. We are Melanesians, we are not Indonesians," Bazooka Logo, spokesman for the pro-independence National Committee for West Papua, told demonstrators

"We say 'no' to Indonesia. Indonesia is not Melanesia. Indonesia is Malay, which doesn't have the right to be a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, but Papua does," Logo said.

44 West Papuans were arrested by Indonesian police during demonstrations.

13 demonstrators were arrested in Merauke, 11 in Jayapura, 5 in Yahukimo and 15 in Kaimana regency.

Father Neles Tebay of the Jayapura Diocese has said that the Catholic Church, in collaboration with all religious leaders, has jointly called for a peaceful dialogue to settle the Papua conflict.

"We will continue to promote dialogue until the formal dialogue between the Indonesian government and the Papuans represented by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua takes place for the sake of a lasting peace," Father Tebay told a meeting of several bishops from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, April 9.

Source

• ucanews.com
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: jakartaglobe.

The call came as Indonesia's Co-ordinating Minister for Political Affairs, Law and Security visited Fiji.

Luhut Binsar Padjaitan was reportedly delivering Fiji an assistance package worth up to US$5 million, plus a contingent of engineers, to help the country recover from Cyclone Winston.

But in Jakarta, a senior government official told Indonesian media last week that the ministerial visit was to suppress regional support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.

As the ULMWP was recently granted observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Jakarta has increased its diplomatic overtures to the region.

PCC general secretary, Rev. Francois Pihaatae, said Indonesia's offer to Fiji should be welcomed.

But the reverend noted that Mr Padjaitan's visit had glaring political overtones.

Rev. Pihaatae noted the minister had been "extremely vocal against groups seeking self-determination in Papua" and had publicly called for West Papuan activists to be removed from the country.

Any bilateral talks between Indonesia and Fiji on the issue of West Papua should not be influenced by assistance to cyclone victims, the reverend said.

"We call on all donors - including NGOs - not to attach conditions to their aid and to refrain from providing assistance along with a discreet message to support a political cause," he said.

The reverend said that New Zealand and Australia - long seen as opponents of Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama - had rushed to Fiji's aid following the cyclone, setting no pre-conditions for humanitarian assistance.

Last month, Mr Padjaitain, who is a former military leader, announced Indonesian government intentions to have a number of human rights abuses in West Papua probed.

Sources

• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Benny Wenda

The report was compiled by the Brisbane Catholic Justice and Peace Commission's Shadow Human Rights Fact Finding Mission to West Papua.

It came after a visit to West Papua last month by Josephite Sr Susan Connelly, and Brisbane archdiocese's Catholic Justice and Peace Commission executive officer Peter Arndt.

They interviewed more than 250 community leaders in Japapura, Merauke, Timika and Sorong.

The report has not yet been publicly released, nor has comment been sought from Indonesian authorities.

Allegations of recent Indonesian military and police intimidation, beatings and torture, kidnapping and murder in West Papua are made in the report.

Sr Connelly likened her visit to West Papua to "stepping back 20 years when I first went to East Timor".

"The same oppressive security presence everywhere, the same suspicion, bewilderment, frustration and sadness," she said.

In the 1970s, ethnic Papuans accounted for 96 per cent of the population in West Papua.

Today they are a minority 48 per cent, because of the rapid migration of Indonesians from other more populated islands such as Java.

The report found that Papuans were now marginalised economically at the expense of immigrants, the majority of whom are Muslims.

The report said there was "a movement for Muslims from Indonesia to replace Papuans in every sector".

"The Indonesians want to replace the Christian religion with Islam.

"Many mosques are being built everywhere. They want Papua to be a Javanese Malay nation," the report said.

The report documents Muslims being radicalised in the once predominantly Christian Papuan provinces, and "very active" Muslim militias that burn down Papuan houses.

The report also documents religious, social and economic discrimination, including the carving up of land for major developments, which benefit multinationals and exclude Papuans.

Sources

• Radio New Zealand
• Asia Pacific Report
• Image: Radio New Zealand

All mainstream religions in Papua, Christian and Muslim, have agreed not to accept groups of fundamentalists in the region and have pushed for local police to expel them.

"They have not been identified as terrorist group but they need to be watched closely in order to prevent them from creating violence in the land of Papua," said Father Neles Tebay of the West Papuan Catholic Justice and Peace Secretariat.

Melanesian leaders are wary of Indonesian security forces' counter-terrorist efforts, knowing that in the past, these have targeted peaceful West Papuan pro-independence groups.

However, on the other side, the message is clear that Australia, and New Zealand, should be worried about PNG's lack of capacity to control its side of the border.

Tekwie says it's become easy for people to come over from Indonesia to live and work in PNG without visas.

"We have a problem with intelligence gathering, we have security problems and we do certainly need help from Australia and New Zealand, PNG defence force and the foreign affairs department and the border development authority up at the border to do intelligence gathering."

"This is our main problem. The threat to our border is real and we cannot underestimate it."

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• Image: www2.jawapos.com

The Pacific Conference of Churches General Secretary, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, says Papuans are being killed and tortured merely because they want self-determination, a right guaranteed by the United Nations of which Indonesia is a member.

He said 500,000 Papuans have died since Indonesia annexed the territory in 1961.

Pihaatae said the situation in Papua was made worse by Indonesian denials when the evidence of abuse was clear.

"Social media makes it impossible for Indonesia to hide the atrocities committed by its security forces on a people who want to determine their political future for themselves."

The call came after the killing of a student in Timika and Indonesia's denials at the United Nations General Assembly of human rights abuses in the territory.

Rev Pihaatae said that despite the obvious, overwhelming evidence, the Indonesian government insulted the intelligence of Pacific people by its denials.

"Our leaders' silence will not make the issue go away," Pihaatae said.

"In the name of humanity we, the Pacific churches, call on our leaders to end this bloodshed and bring injustice in Papua to an end."

Source

• Facebook
• Image: freewestpapua.org

They were released after being held and interrogated for 90 minutes.

The demonstrators were calling on Indonesian President Joko Widodo to investigate the unresolved December 2014 killings of four student protesters.

Armed police broke up the demonstration and detained several people, including the seminarians.

"They, carrying weapons, got off their truck and seized all [belongings] such as posters that we brought," Yulianus Freddy Pawika, a Franciscan seminarian, told ucanews.com.

For the people at the protest the police actions indicate a larger problem.

"It shows that those fighting for human rights have become targets of violence committed by the police," said Peneas Lokbere, coordinator of the advocacy group Solidarity for the Victims of Human Rights Violations in Papua, which organized the Oct. 8 protest.

Father Neles Tebay, a priest who coordinates the Papuan Peace Network advocacy group, also questioned the police actions.

"Every peaceful protest is faced with a military approach," he said. "How can it be?"

In September, Bishop John Philip Saklil of Timika decried military and police aggression in Papua.

He highlighted five specific acts of violence, including an Aug. 28 case in which two soldiers were accused of firing on a graduation party in a church, killing two people.

Source

• globalpulsemagazine.com
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: globalpulsemagazine.com