2) MSG to process West Papua membership bid
3) Top UN Human Rights Official Completes Mission to Indonesia
4) China remains biggest market for West Papua`s exports
5) Mongabay Series: Indonesian Forests
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1) ULMWP Leaders welcomed to Port Moresby
ULMWP Executive member Andy Ayamiseba signs “final declaration” witnessed by Rex Rumakiek for TPN (military wing)
- By Len Garae
The four West Papuan official representatives of United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) led by Chairman Benny Wenda, have been provided with historic VIP welcome by the Melanesian Spearhead Group host, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Peter O’Neil on arrival at Port Moresby last weekend.
Speaking for ULMWP in Port Vila, Executive Member Andy Ayamiseba says it gives his organization and the people of West Papua great joy to know that the 21st MSG host has demonstrated true Melanesian diplomatic respect for their leaders, by making them feel a true part of Melanesian brotherhood.
Ayamiseba says he has received reports from Port Moresby that on arrival, his leaders were saluted, provided with official black diplomatic cars and driven to Stanley Hotel, the venue of the meetings in PNG’s Capital City.
After signing declaration after declaration for about 50 years, ULMWP Leaders made an unanimous decision that the signing ceremony to endorse OPM Leader Jacob Prai and the Liberation Army of West Papua into ULMWP at Grand Hotel in Port Vila last week was the “final declaration”.
Now they are confident that West Papua is about to enter a new dawn with Melanesia.
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https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/350445/msg-to-process-west-papua-membership-bid
2) MSG to process West Papua membership bid
about 1 hour ago
Leaders of Melanesian Spearhead Group countries have referred a West Papuan application for full membership in the group to its secretariat for processing.
The leaders are having their annual summit this week in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby.
PNG's prime minister Peter O'Neill is hosting leaders from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji as well as a representative of New Caledonia's indigenous Kanak people.
A long-pending application for Spearhead membership by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, which has observer status in the group, is to be processed under new guidelines for membership.
It's unclear whether this means the decision is a technical or political one.
The guidelines, newly approved at this summit, were developed after the leaders came to an impasse two years ago over the West Papuan bid for full membership.
Indonesia, which has associate member status of the Spearhead, strongly opposes West Papuan involvement in the group.
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3) Top UN Human Rights Official Completes Mission to Indonesia
While proposed new laws may threaten human rights in Indonesia, the country continues to engage positively with the UN and other bodies.
By Jack Britton
February 15, 2018
In early February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, conducted his first official mission to Indonesia since taking office in 2014. During the three day visit, February 5-7, Al Hussein met with President Joko Widodo, high level government representatives including the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of religion, civil society organizations, religious leaders, and the three Indonesian national human rights institutions. It was the first mission by the UN’s top human rights official to Indonesia since the previous high commissioner, Navi Pillay, in 2012. Whilst some breakthroughs have been made regarding the advancement of human rights across the archipelago, a number of issues raised as concerns by the former high commissioner remain unresolved.
In Indonesia, people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities have not been provided with the protection urged by Navi Pillay during her 2012 visit, and are now facing unprecedented criminalization under the new formulation of the Draft Revised Penal Code that outlaws homosexual relations. The 1965 Blasphemy Law that Navi Pillay recommended be repealed remains a source of human rights violations and discrimination against religious minorities. The law is currently, for the third time, having its constitutionality tested by a judicial review in the Constitutional Court. The discriminatory enforcement of Sharia in Aceh that the former high commissioner called out also continues to create an environment of intimidation and fear in the autonomous region.
On the other hand, Indonesia has continued to engage with and largely fulfill its commitments to the international human rights treaty and charter-based bodies it is a party to. The state’s impressive tradition of ratifying human rights conventions has continued with its ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
While human rights are generally experiencing a decline across the region, Indonesia has demonstrated its commitment to human rights through facilitating the visits of a number of special procedures including the special rapporteur on health and adequate housing. Indonesia’s active participation in the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last year and its adoption of the majority of recommendations put forth by countries reviewing its human rights performance further demonstrated its openness in engaging with the international community to advance human rights.
During the mission, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), in performing one of its roles as a bridge between civil society and the international human rights mechanisms of the United Nations, facilitated a meeting between civil society organizations, victims groups, and the delegation of the high commissioner. An open forum was created in which survivors of past human rights abuses, women human rights defenders, victims of various forms of gender-based violence, and academics, had the opportunity to deliver oral statements to the high commissioner. Al Hussein expressed his admiration and appreciation for the bravery and strength of the civil society movement.
Komnas Perempuan, in an additional closed meeting with the high commissioner, voiced its appreciation for the official mission and delivered updates about a number of issues pertaining to violence against women and the situation of women’s human rights in Indonesia. Child marriage, polygamy, virginity testing in the military, the criminalization of abortions, cyber violence against women, gender based violence in contexts of natural resources conflicts, past human rights violations, violence and discrimination against religious minorities, and the implementation of the Qanun Jinayat — or the Sharia-based Islamic Criminal Code — in Aceh were among the issues that Komnas Perempuan highlighted during the visit.
The Draft Revised Penal Code and the Elimination of Sexual Violence Bill, two pieces of legislation currently being debated in Indonesia’s People’s Representative Council (DPR), were also on the agenda during the visit. The Elimination of Sexual Violence Bill as it was originally formulated is a piece of draft legislation that provides for comprehensive protection and rehabilitation measures for victims of sexual violence, focuses on preventing the occurrence of violence, and outlines new sentencing options for perpetrators Speaking in a press conference, Al Hussein urged the country’s legislature to pass the important piece of draft legislation that provides “essential protection for victims of sexual and gender based violence.”
The other piece of draft legislation that became a focus for the top human rights official was the Draft Revised Penal Code that is set to be passed into law on February 14. Alarmingly, Article 484 Paragraph 1(E) of the code currently makes extramarital sex a criminal offence able to be punished by up to five years in jail. This is a provision that human rights activists are afraid will result in the criminalization of rape victims, an increase in child marriage and a rise in vigilante mob actions. The high commissioner also voiced his concern about the Draft Penal Code explaining “Moreover, should the penal code be revised with some of the more discriminatory provisions, it will seriously impede the Government’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and would run counter to its international human rights obligations.”
In general, Indonesia’s openness and transparency in receiving the mission must be applauded, as should the state’s offer to facilitate a mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to Papua that materialized during the visit.
As Indonesia enters a year that is to be defined by political power struggles with simultaneous election of regional heads looming in 2018 and the presidential election in 2019, Al Hussein’s visit will hopefully act as a reminder for Indonesia to hold on to its tradition of tolerance and to strive for the advancement of human rights in a region were human rights are generally experiencing regression.
Jack Britton is a translator, researcher and freelance writer currently embedded with the Indonesian National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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4) China remains biggest market for West Papua`s exports
Reporter: SYSTEM 6 hours ago
Manokwari, W Papua (ANTARA News) - China remained the biggest export market for commodities of the Indonesian province of West Papua in 2017, Head of West Papua`s Central Bureau of Statistics Endang Retno stated here on Wednesday.
The province earned US$68.59 million from exporting its commodities to the country in December 2017 alone. Apart from China, Japan and South Korea were two other main export destinations for West Papua`s commodities, she noted.
"The contribution of Japan and South Korea to West Papua`s revenues reached $55.70 million and $47.39 million respectively," she remarked, adding that the three countries` total contribution reached 96.51 percent of West Papua`s total export value.
Retno pointed out that West Papua`s export value stood at $177.88 million, or Rp.2.4 trillion, in December 2017, of which mineral fuels were the biggest contributor, with total value of $174.19 million.
"Mineral fuels dominate West Papua` export value that increased by 97.93 percent," she stated.
Besides mineral fuels, this province`s export commodities comprised jewelry, wood and wooden products, salt, sulfur, cement, fish and shrimp, meat and processed fish, soap, and cleaning products.
The province`s exporters transport most goods to the targeted countries through the Bintuni Bay Port, but they also rely on Sorong Port, Soekarno Hatta Airport of Jakarta, Tanjung Perak Port, Manokwari Port, and Sultan Hasanuddin Airport of Makassar, among others.
Retno remarked that West Papua also imported certain commodities, with a total value of $64.37 million, in December 2017. Among countries that exported their goods to West Papua are Singapore, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, China, and Australia.
Reported by Toyiban
(T.KR-TQA/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014
(T.SYS/B/KR-BSR/A014)
The province earned US$68.59 million from exporting its commodities to the country in December 2017 alone. Apart from China, Japan and South Korea were two other main export destinations for West Papua`s commodities, she noted.
"The contribution of Japan and South Korea to West Papua`s revenues reached $55.70 million and $47.39 million respectively," she remarked, adding that the three countries` total contribution reached 96.51 percent of West Papua`s total export value.
Retno pointed out that West Papua`s export value stood at $177.88 million, or Rp.2.4 trillion, in December 2017, of which mineral fuels were the biggest contributor, with total value of $174.19 million.
"Mineral fuels dominate West Papua` export value that increased by 97.93 percent," she stated.
Besides mineral fuels, this province`s export commodities comprised jewelry, wood and wooden products, salt, sulfur, cement, fish and shrimp, meat and processed fish, soap, and cleaning products.
The province`s exporters transport most goods to the targeted countries through the Bintuni Bay Port, but they also rely on Sorong Port, Soekarno Hatta Airport of Jakarta, Tanjung Perak Port, Manokwari Port, and Sultan Hasanuddin Airport of Makassar, among others.
Retno remarked that West Papua also imported certain commodities, with a total value of $64.37 million, in December 2017. Among countries that exported their goods to West Papua are Singapore, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, China, and Australia.
Reported by Toyiban
(T.KR-TQA/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014
(T.SYS/B/KR-BSR/A014)
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5) Mongabay Series: Indonesian Forests
by Hans Nicholas Jong on 14 February 2018
‘Eye of Papua’ shines a light on environmental, indigenous issues in Indonesia’s last frontier
- For decades the Papua region in Indonesia has remained the country’s least-understood, least-developed and most-impoverished area, amid a lack of transparency fueled by a strong security presence.
- Activists hope their new website, Mata Papua, or Eye of Papua, will fill the information void with reports, data and maps about indigenous welfare and the proliferation of mines, logging leases and plantations in one of the world’s last great spans of tropical forest.
- Companies, with the encouragement of the government, are fast carving up Papua’s land, after having nearly depleted the forests of Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo.
JAKARTA — Zely Ariane, an editor at the Tabloid Jubinewspaper in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, gets frustrated each time an acquaintance travels there and asks to meet up on short notice.
None of them, it seems, realizes just how vast the region is.
“My friends always say, ‘Hey, I’m in Papua, let’s meet up!’” Zely said in Jakarta recently. “But where in Papua, though? If someone was to ask to meet you in Java, they’d surely say where [specifically], no?”
The name Papua typically refers to the western half of the island of New Guinea, which is split up into two administrative regions: the provinces of West Papua and Papua. Together, they cover more than 420,000 square kilometers (162,000 square miles) — an area the size of California. Crucially, the two provinces account for 35 percent of Indonesia’s remaining rainforest, spanning 294,000 square kilometers (113,500 square miles).
“No one seems to have a good grasp of the geography of Papua, or at least almost no one,” Zely said.
This lack of understanding is due in part to the remoteness of the region — Indonesia’s least developed and most impoverished — and its harsh mountainous terrain, as well as to the security response to a low-level separatist insurgency simmering since the 1960s. The military and police have for decades maintained a strong presence there, and to date it remains the least accessible part of Indonesia for journalists — in particular foreign reporters, who require a special permit just to visit the region. Earlier this month, a BBC reporter covering a health crisis in the district of Asmat was ordered to leave the region after posting tweets that the military deemed insulting.
With the authorities maintaining a chokehold on the information coming out of Papua, amid very little transparency, concerns abound over the state of human rights, healthcare, education and other development issues in Papua. Now rising up that list of concerns is the environment, as the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo eyes the country’s easternmost provinces as a new frontier ripe for plantations, primarily oil palm, which have already nearly depleted the forests of Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.
Filling the information vacuum
Now, local activists have stepped into the information vacuum with an initiative that seeks to bring greater transparency to the changes being wrought to Papua’s environment in the name of economic development.
Through their recently launched website, Mata Papua, or “Eye of Papua,” activists from the rights advocacy group Yayasan Pusaka provide reports with an emphasis on the welfare of indigenous communities and the activities of natural resource-exploitation companies: plantations, miners and loggers.
“The idea behind this website came after seeing the difficulties in accessing information and data on permits and documents related to the extractives industries,” Franky Samperante, the Yayasan Pusaka executive director, said at the launch of the website in Jakarta.
Mata Papua provides photos, videos and written reports on Papua, as well as a map built on the open-source geographical information system QGIS. The map features five overlays: social, concessions, forests, demographics and administrative.
“So if you want to know about the people in Papua, you would click on the social map,” Franky said.
He said he hoped Mata Papua would help empower Papua’s indigenous people with knowledge about their own areas and the presence of extractives companies operating in their midst. The site also aims to help officials with policy-making and give the general public a better understanding of this little-understood region.
New frontier
Franky said he believed access to information was crucial for Papua as developers ramp up their operations in the region. A recent study by Duke University and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis showed that deforestation driven by oil palm expansion in the region had escalated in the past decade, increasing fivefold.
“Right now, Sumatra and Kalimantan are already flooded with extractives permits, which is why investors are eyeing Papua next,” Franky said.
Papua is also home to one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines, the Grasberg facility operated by a subsidiary of the U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan. Mining remains the dominant extractive industry in the region, accounting for a combined 90,000 square kilometers (about 35,000 square miles) of leases, according to Franky. This is followed by logging, with 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 square miles) and plantations with 21,000 square kilometers (8,100 square miles).
The expansion of the extractives industries has fueled conflictswith indigenous people in Papua. Local media reports have mentioned only five such conflicts, according to the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), an NGO — a figure it says would be much higher if greater access to data on land conflicts was available.
“That’s why we need to be alert and watch every policy,” Franky said, “because the failure to monitor Sumatra and Kalimantan has resulted in uncontrollable permit issuance there.”
Banner image: The Papuan hornbill is one of the birds-of-paradise for which New Guinea’s rainforests are famous. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.
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