Friday, October 16, 2026

Event. West Papua and International Humanitarian Law Report Launch

 


Non-International Armed Conflict in Papua under International Humanitarian Law Perspective*
How can International Humanitarian Law help us understand the ongoing armed conflict in Papua?
Join us for a discussion with researchers and experts on the classification of the conflict in Papua as a *Non-International Armed Conflict* (NIAC), its humanitarian implications, and the importance of legal frameworks in pursuing peace.
Monday, 19 October 2026*
14:00–16:00 WIB | 18:00–20:00 AEDT*
*Online Webinar*






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1) West Papua in flames: Forest fires, land grabs and the human cost of Indonesia’s food and energy push

 


2) Gritty Jakarta Biennale, polished Art Jakarta – both tell Indonesia’s story, haze and all
3) 'Working continuously to address such allegations' - Indonesia defends its human rights monitoring in West Papua 

4) Indonesian Constitutional Court orders reform of military justice – Parliament has two years to reform military justice system

5) Intan Jaya students mark one year since Soanggama killings 
6) TPNPB Claims to Have Executed Security Personnel; Damai Cartenz Task Force Says Victims Were Civilians
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1) West Papua in flames: Forest fires, land grabs and the human cost of Indonesia’s food and energy push

Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 16 October 2026 
Since August 2026, fires have burned more than 30,000 hectares of forest and land across West Papua, with South Papua Province alone losing 25,838 hectares, three times the figure for 2025. For weeks, thick haze has blanketed communities from Merauke to Manokwari, cutting off air links, closing schools and filling health centres with patients who cannot breathe. This is not a natural disaster. Satellite data from WALHI, Greenpeace and the Ministry of Forestry itself place the majority of fire hotspots inside concessions and National Strategic Project (PSN) zones cleared for food and energy estates. The fires in West Papua are the latest chapter in four decades of corporate burning in Indonesia that has gone almost entirely unpunished, and they are unfolding as the government proposes to open a further 12.7 million hectares of “degraded forest” to palm oil for biodiesel.

A season of smoke: the human cost

The people bearing the cost are indigenous Papuans whose forests, gardens and swamps have been cleared or burned. In Merauke, visibility fell to 200 metres in October and residents describe heat at 2–3 am where dense forest once kept nights cool. In Ilwayab district, families walk up to eight kilometres with jerrycans for clean water, sago groves and vegetable gardens have burned, and the swamps that once stopped fires at their edge have dried out.
The health toll is rising. One community health centre in Manokwari recorded 231 respiratory patients between September and mid-October, its highest number since the Covid-19 pandemic, with toddlers and the elderly among them. Sorong’s air pollution index reached 121, “unhealthy”. Manokwari closed all schools from 7 October. Mimika closed primary schools and distributed masks. In Merauke, however, children kept going to school through the haze with no advice to stay home.
For a region where many communities are reachable only by air, the haze has also severed lifelines. The Ministry of Transport counts 16 airports affected across four Papuan provinces and 2,021 domestic flights disrupted nationwide between 11 August and 13 October, including 1,067 cancellations. The Jayapura–Wamena and Jayapura–Timika routes to the highlands have been hardest hit. Lorentz National Park has been closed since 1 September. Smoke has drifted as far as Maluku, Sulawesi and Ternate, where flights were unable to land.

Where do the fires originate from?

WALHI identified 8,324 hotspots across West Papua between January and October 2026. Of these, 1,834 were in food estate areas, 913 in sugarcane and energy estates, 1,221 in forest utilisation concessions and 560 in oil palm concessions. Within the Merauke PSN zone alone, WALHI counted 807 hotspots from January to August: 674 in four food estate clusters overseen by the Coordinating Ministry for Food and the Ministry of Agriculture, and 133 in six energy estate entities affiliated with First Resources and Wilmar International. Greenpeace found 294 smoke sources along a 135-kilometre road from Wanam to Muting held under a forest use agreement by the Ministry of Defence, and further sources inside Wasur National Park and the Dolok Island Wildlife Reserve.
The PSN itself is the engine of this clearing. Under a 2023 regulation, more than two million hectares of Merauke Regency were designated for food and energy development, and Ministerial Decree No. 591 of 2025 reclassified 486,939 hectares of customary forest as non-forest land. Field investigators from the Pusaka Bentala Rakyat Foundation found a clear pattern: wood and vegetation from land clearing piled in plots and then set alight, the fire following the piles. Every concession permit includes a commitment not to clear by burning.
When the National Disaster Management Agency reported to President Prabowo on 12 October that fires covered 639 hectares across six provinces, no Papuan province was on the list, on a day when 3,624 hotspots were recorded in the South Papua Province, alone. Only Boven Digoel has declared a fire emergency. Merauke and Mappi are still “holding coordination meetings”.

The wider pattern: four decades of fire and impunity

West Papua is burning the way Kalimantan and Sumatra have burned for a generation. Indonesia’s fire cycle began with the 1982–83 East Kalimantan blaze that consumed three million hectares, and it has recurred with every dry season since.. “They keep recurring because the perpetrators remain beyond the reach of the law.” Research covering 2015 to 2025 found that 54 per cent of burned land was subsequently converted to oil palm. Fire appears to be no longer a side effect of plantation expansion but a tool of it. Some 3.2 million hectares of illegal oil palm have been found inside forest areas, and plantations now cover around 20 million hectares nationwide. Indonesia controls half the global palm oil market.
The global demand is now being driven by the state. The B50 mandate, in force since 1 July 2026, requires diesel to be blended with 50 per cent palm-oil biodiesel, with B100 the stated goal. Satya Bumi estimates B50 will need a further 5.36 million hectares by 2039, with up to 1.5 million hectares of deforestation. On 7 October, the President’s Special Envoy for Climate and Energy, Mr Hashim Djojohadikusumo, told investors that 12.7 million hectares of “degraded forest”, an area the size of Java, would be used for oil palm to serve the biodiesel programme. The same 12.7 million hectares was pledged for reforestation at COP29 in Baku in 2024, a commitment President Prabowo repeated before King Charles III in London.

Who is responsible

Responsibility is being deliberately diffused. WALHI’s study “Who is Behind the Fires?”, (see cover on top, source: WALHI) launched on 14 October, examined the 30 companies with the most hotspots in 2026 and found nine with ownership routed through Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands and Samoa, in one case through layers that made the beneficial owner impossible to identify. It also traced five individuals close to the circles of power into the structures of PT Golden Blossom Sumatera, PT Kiani Lestari and PT Monrad Intan Barakat. In Merauke, 674 of the 807 PSN hotspots sit on land controlled by the government itself, with the Jhonlin Group as private partner and the Ministry of Defence as an implementing body.
Articles 76 and 77 of the Environmental Protection and Management Law and Article 72 of the Forestry Law all provide for sanctions. What is missing is the will to apply them to politically connected business groups and to the state’s own projects. Indigenous communities are already in court. Civil society organisations and representatives of South Papuan communities have asked the Jakarta Administrative Court to annul Decree No. 591, describing it as part of a plan to deforest two million hectares of customary forest. Hashim Djojohadikusumo has claimed the South Papua food estate began on “60 per cent vacant land” with “no timber, no forest.

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2) Gritty Jakarta Biennale, polished Art Jakarta – both tell Indonesia’s story, haze and all

The city saw two events open on the same weekend, both highlighting its art scene and drawing attention to socio- and geopolitical anxieties

Payal Uttam
At the 2026 Jakarta Biennale, visitors can plant cassava in moist soil. An evocative soundscape, including the calls of threatened birds-of-paradise, fills the air. Paintings made with natural pigments on tree bark hang on the walls.
The installation by Papua-based artist collective Alyakha Kolektif draws attention to illegal gold mining and excessive logging that are damaging the environment in Indonesia’s Sentani region. The cassava planting, which continues until late October, is intended as a gesture of hope.
That gesture feels particularly timely as thick grey haze, fuelled by forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, continues to blanket Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, with air quality hitting hazardous levels.

“The biennale is themed ‘Kebal’, which is like when you feel so much pain that soon you don’t feel it any more,” says programme director Ayu Maulani, who explains that the Bahasa word roughly translates as “immune” or “resistant”. “It’s about how the people of Indonesia are trying to survive amid state policies that do not serve their interests.”
Organised by Majelis Jakarta, a coalition of art collectives, the event opened on October 4 and runs until November 24 at venues across the Indonesian capital, including the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts complex.


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3) 'Working continuously to address such allegations' - Indonesia defends its human rights monitoring in West Papua 
Andrew Mathieson Published October 16, 2026 at 11.00am (AWST) 

The United Nations has heard Indonesia reject the latest claims of systematic human rights abuses inside West Papua.

Earlier this month representatives from Vanuatu and Solomon Islands urged the UN general assembly force Indonesia to permit the UN Human Rights High Commissioner to assess the situation in the occupied territory.

Amnesty International Indonesia is the latest authority on human rights to request Jakarta "investigate the killings and prosecute those responsible".

Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government takes all allegations of human rights violations seriously.

"Our national institutions and legal mechanisms including the independent National Human Rights Commission is working continuously to address such allegations," Indonesia's statement to the UN general assembly said.

"Indonesia's record of engagement with the international human rights system speaks for itself."

It argued Indonesia was a respected member of the Human Rights council, having served six terms on the council while "reflecting the highest level of trust from the international community".

Senior Indonesian diplomat Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro was appointed to the UN Human Rights council presidency earlier this year. At the time, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua said Indonesia was "totally unfit" to preside over the council.

Jakarta said arrangements for the high commissioner's visit should "not be set by a third state or any regional body" that includes members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Pacific Islands Forum countries including Melanesian Spearhead Group members Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea have requested Indonesia allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua to assess the widespread human rights abuses claims as far back as 2019.

Indonesian security forces have been in an ongoing battle with pro-independence guerilla fighters this year, mainly from the West Papua Liberation Army.

A recent report from the independent Human Rights Monitor said military operations and armed violence between Indonesians and West Papuans have intensified in the territory this year.

The Indonesian delegation said any serious discussion of West Papua "must reflect the full picture", which included innocent civilians, teachers, health workers and many others falling victim to violence by armed groups.

It outlined a series of recent attacks from West Papuans and said those were not acts of peaceful political expression.

"Attacking innocent civilians and murdering civil servants are criminal acts," Indonesia told the UN general assembly in a further statement.

"Indonesia has a responsibility to protect all of its citizens.

"Law enforcement must and will remain subject to Indonesia's laws and our international human rights obligations.

"We therefore categorically reject any attempt to present disinformation or misinformation about human rights situations in Indonesia."

Indonesia's government have in recent times indicated that a UN visit remained on track, but the West Papuan independence movement have remained sceptical of the timeline.


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4) Indonesian Constitutional Court orders reform of military justice – Parliament has two years to reform military justice system

Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 16 October 2026 
On 15 October 2026, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court delivered Decision No. 260/PUU-XXIII/2025 on Law No. 31/1997 on the Military Judiciary. The Court declared the Act conditionally inconsistent with Article 24(1) and Article 28D(1) of the 1945 Constitution. Those provisions guarantee an independent judiciary and equality before the law. The case was brought by two petitioners, Mr Lenny Damanik and Mrs Eva Melina Br. Pasaribu, through judicial review of the Act.
The Act remains unconstitutional unless the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Government amend it within two years of the ruling, that is by October 2028. The amendments must clarify the distinction between military offences and general criminal offences, define which court has jurisdiction over cases involving personnel of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), and reform the military justice system as a whole.
The ruling is significant. Under the current Act, jurisdiction follows the status of the accused rather than the nature of the offence. Military personnel accused of an ordinary crime against a civilian, such as assault or murder, is tried by a military court, not a civilian one.

Why it matters for West Papua

In the Papuan provinces, the military justice system has repeatedly failed victims of violence allegedly committed by military personnel. The Papuan Association of Human Rights Advocates (PAHAM Papua), which provides legal aid and human rights advocacy across the region, says the people of Papua face persistent difficulty in establishing the facts, holding perpetrators accountable and securing redress when military personnel are the alleged perpetrators.
In a press release issued in Jayapura on 16 October 2026 (No. 05/SP-PAHAM.Papua/X/JPR/2026), PAHAM Papua pointed to cases from its own casework that illustrate the pattern. PAHAM Papua’s conclusion from these cases is that the military courts are not a sufficient forum for enforcing the law. Law enforcement processes must guarantee effective investigation, independent prosecution, public and independent trials, and accountable judgements. In practice, military proceedings have delivered none of these reliably, leaving families waiting for truth and accountability that rarely comes.
The Court’s decision directly addresses a core driver of impunity in West Papua, where military personnel accused of human rights violations are processed under military jurisdiction, regardless of the crime and the status of victims as civilians.

What must happen next?

A ruling on paper changes nothing for victims unless the Indonesian Parliament (DPR RI) and the Government act within the deadline. PAHAM Papua has set out what the reform must contain and what institutions must do to make it real:
  1. Amend the Act promptly. Jurisdiction must be determined by the nature of the offence and clear legal provisions, not by the perpetrator’s status as a soldier. General crimes allegedly committed by TNI personnel against civilians must be tried in the ordinary courts.
  2. Regulate joint jurisdiction and disputes. Rules for cases that straddle military and civilian jurisdiction, and for resolving disputes over which court is competent, must be clear so that they cannot be used to stall prosecutions.
  3. Prepare the ordinary courts. Judges, prosecutors, investigators and legal advisers need the capacity to handle cases involving armed personnel. Witness and victim protection and the management of evidence must be strengthened.
  4. End impunity. No one should be shielded from criminal liability by rank, position or institution. PAHAM Papua frames this not as hostility to the TNI but as a precondition for a professional defence force and public trust in the rule of law.
  5. Put victims and families at the centre. They are entitled to information on their cases, legal aid, protection from intimidation and appropriate redress.
  6. Give Papua particular attention. Every allegation of violence by the authorities resulting in death, injury, torture or violations of civilians’ rights must be investigated seriously, without discrimination or interference.
PAHAM Papua adds that where military violence amounts to crimes against humanity, meaning widespread or systematic attacks on civilians carried out through state policy, the chain of command or the complicity of those in authority, it must be handled under Indonesia’s human rights court framework rather than as an ordinary criminal matter.
The Constitutional Court has given Indonesia a legal mandate to combat impunity and strengthen the rule of law. Whether it leads to change depends on what the DPR and the Government do before October 2028, and on whether the ordinary courts are ready when cases arrive. Legal certainty, judicial independence, transparency and accountability would strengthen, not weaken, the TNI’s professionalism and public trust in state institutions.

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5) Intan Jaya students mark one year since Soanggama killings 
News Desk October 16, 2026 

Jayapura, Jubi — Dozens of students from the Somatua Intan Jaya Independent Student Community (KOMISI) have held a public rally in Jayapura to mark the first anniversary of the Soanggama killings, under the theme “Soanggama’s Wounds, Papua’s Wounds”.

The rally was held at the Waena Expo grounds in Jayapura, Central Papua, on Thursday, 15 October 2026.

Students read poems commemorating the deaths of civilians in Soanggama, Intan Jaya and across Papua. They also displayed posters and photographs of civilians killed in Intan Jaya.


The incident, known as the Soanggama killings, occurred on 15 October 2025 during a military sweep by the Habema Operations Command under the Joint Regional Defence Command III in Soanggama village, Hitadipa district, Intan Jaya regency, Central Papua.

Reports at the time said 12 civilians and five members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) were killed.

Serkios Sani, the rally’s field coordinator, accused Indonesian military personnel of carrying out indiscriminate operations in the village.

“Within a short time, more than a dozen lives were lost. After the killings, military personnel buried the victims’ bodies in an inhumane manner in a single grave in the grounds of the Laodekia Indonesian Gospel Tabernacle Church,” Sani said.

He alleged that, in the period following the incident, military personnel forced residents to gather under threat of firearms, prompting frightened villagers to flee and leaving many injured.

“The military accused a civilian and then shot him dead,” he said.

Sani named several civilians reportedly killed in the incident: Agopabega Kobogau, 18; Umbinus Tabuni, 48; Pisen Kogoya, 35; Winina Lawiya, 30; Agus Kogoya, 40; and Sepi Lawiya, 20.

The five TPNPB members reported killed were identified as Ipe Kogoya, Kasus Kogoya, Poli Kogoya, Meki Murib and Roni Lawiya.

“One year has now passed since this indiscriminate military operation, in which more than a dozen people from Intan Jaya lost their lives. The state, particularly the Indonesian military, must be held accountable,” Sani said.

Students call for investigation and accountability

Feri Japugau, who coordinated the rally, said Intan Jaya had experienced escalating armed conflict between Indonesian security forces and the TPNPB over the past seven years.

He said the conflict, which has continued from 2019 to 2026, had significantly affected civilian life.

Japugau argued that the conflict was not isolated from wider disputes over natural resources, adding that security operations had affected social, political, economic and healthcare conditions in the region.

“Armed clashes, security operations and retaliatory attacks have created a cycle of violence that is difficult to stop. The continuing conflict has left the security situation unstable over the long term,” he said.

He also criticised the growing military presence in civilian areas, including residential communities.

Villages, public roads, churches, gardens, schools and other public facilities had increasingly become part of conflict zones, he said, leaving residents feeling unsafe in their daily lives.

KOMISI issued a series of demands following the rally.

The group called on the Indonesian military to take responsibility for the reported deaths of 12 civilians in Soanggama and urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to investigate the incident and other alleged abuses in Intan Jaya.

It also called on Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, the minister responsible for natural resources, the governor of Central Papua and the Intan Jaya regent to revoke the special mining business permit held by state-owned mining company PT ANTAM Tbk for Block B of the Wabu area.

The students further urged Indonesian Military Commander General Agus Subiyanto to review military personnel’s conduct and ensure their duties complied with Article 30(3) of the 1945 Constitution, which sets out the military’s role in defending and protecting the state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

They also called on the Intan Jaya regency government, the Intan Jaya Regency Council, the Central Papua Regional Council and the Central Papua People’s Assembly to facilitate an investigation by the Papua representative office of Komnas HAM into the Soanggama incident and other shootings involving civilians.

The group demanded that those responsible for the reported shootings of civilians in Soanggama be thoroughly investigated and brought to justice in accordance with Indonesian law. (*)


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6) TPNPB Claims to Have Executed Security Personnel; Damai Cartenz Task Force Says Victims Were Civilians
News Desk October 16, 2026 

Jayapura, Jubi — The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) claims to have executed four people in Dekai, the capital of Yahukimo Regency, Highland Papua, on Monday (12 October 2026). The group claimed the four were members of the Indonesian military and police, as well as agents of Indonesian military intelligence.

However, the Damai Cartenz-2026 Police Task Force said the victims were civilians and that there were only two victims, not four as claimed by the TPNPB.

TPNPB spokesperson Sebby Sambom said the group’s National Command Headquarters (KOMNAS TPNPB) had received a report from Major Yabane Sonyap, commander of the TPNPB’s Yallenang Battalion, on Wednesday, 14 October 2026.


According to the report, TPNPB members had stabbed and shot four Indonesian security personnel, including military intelligence agents.

Sambom said the attack was retaliation for the death of Tirinus Keroman, a member of the TPNPB’s Yallenang Battalion. He said the TPNPB’s Regional Defence Command (Kodap) XVI was responsible for a series of attacks against Indonesian government security personnel and military intelligence agents in Yahukimo Regency.

Sambom said the TPNPB in Yahukimo had issued a warning to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and his administration to immediately evacuate all Indonesian migrants living in Yahukimo Regency.

“If this warning is ignored, then during TPNPB operations, anyone identified as an Indonesian migrant will be shot dead and executed on the spot,” Sambom said in an electronic message on Wednesday (14 October 2026).

“Whether they are meatball sellers, drivers or civil servants, including teachers and healthcare workers, we once again urge Indonesian migrants to leave the conflict zone immediately and return to their hometowns outside the Land of Papua, for their own security and safety,” he said.

Sambom claimed the TPNPB had formally complied with international humanitarian law and had issued an appeal before the incident urging civilians to leave the conflict zone.

Meanwhile, Damai Cartenz-2026 Police Task Force public relations chief Senior Commissioner Yusuf Sutejo said neither incident had resulted in casualties among military or police personnel. The victims, he said, were two civilians.

“As for military casualties, please confirm that with the military. Fortunately, there were no police casualties,” he said in a text message on Thursday (15 October 2026).

Earlier, Sutejo said the Damai Cartenz-2026 Police Task Force and Yahukimo Police were investigating two violent incidents in Dekai District, Yahukimo Regency, on 11 and 12 October 2026.

The incidents resulted in the death of a 46-year-old civilian identified only as A, while a 51-year-old civil servant identified by the initials ET sustained serious injuries.

Sutejo said the first incident occurred at the Block B shop-house complex in Dekai at about 6.15 pm Papua time on Sunday (11 October 2026). The second involved a serious assault on ET at the Eselon IV residential area, Lane 3, in Dekai on Monday morning (12 October 2026).

“Information claiming that the victim identified by the initials A was an intelligence agent is false. The victim was a civilian earning a living to support his family,” Sutejo said in a press statement on Monday (12 October 2026).

The public has been urged not to believe or spread unverified information, in order to help maintain security and public order. (*)

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