1) Appeal for UN intervention in Papua

1) Appeal for UN intervention in Papua

2) Papua’s forest under threat: Greenpeace

3) Papua governor keen on autonomy law.

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http://www.ucanews.com/news/appeal-for-un-intervention-in-papua/67725

1) Appeal for UN intervention in Papua

Best hope for ending violence, say rights groups

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta
Indonesia
2013-03-14 14:00:16

Father Neles Tebay Kebadabi (second from left) receives the Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Award

Human rights organizations including the Asian Human Rights Commission and Franciscans Internationa, have appealed to the UN Human Rights Council to help promote peaceful dialogue to end ongoing violence in Indonesia’s Papuan provinces.

“We call on the Human Rights Council to urge the government of Indonesia to actively engage in peaceful dialogue under neutral mediation … to find a sustainable solution for all people living in Papua,” they said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Their call echoes that of Lambert Pekikir, head of the main Papuan independence movement, who said earlier this month that the conflict in Papua can only be resolved with UN involvement.

The rights groups said persecution of activists under the cover of anti-terrorism measures since last year has resulted in arbitrary arrests and fabrication of charges aimed at silencing human rights defenders in Papua and West Papua provinces.

The rights organizations cited several cases of violence that allegedly occurred in Papua this year.

On March 2, Reverend Yunus Gobai, a former leader of the Protestant KINGMI Maranatha Nabire Church, was allegedly beaten and arrested by police in Papua’s Paniai district.

Police later demanded 1 million rupiah (US$105) for his release even though no criminal charges were laid against him.

On February 15, seven Papuans were arrested in Depapre and taken to a police station in Jayapura. They were allegedly tortured while being interrogated about activists forced into hiding.

“We deplore the ongoing violence in the Papuan provinces of Indonesia,” the rights organizations said in the statement.

Father Neles Tebay Kebadabi, who on Wednesday received South Korea’s Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Award, said dialogue through the UN should be the best and most dignified means of seeking a just and peaceful solution to violence in the Papuan provinces.

“We want many people and institutions, both from within and from outside Indonesia, to be friends of dialogue between Jakarta and Papua,” the coordinator of the Papuan Peace Network said.

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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/03/15/papua-s-forest-under-threat-greenpeace.html

2) Papua’s forest under threat: Greenpeace

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Fri, March 15 2013, 8:49 AM

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Paper Edition | Page: 4

When the government’s moratorium on deforestation expires on May 20, forest areas in Papua province will be in peril, activists say.

Kiki Taufik from Greenpeace Indonesia said that Ministerial Decree No. 458/2012 issued in August last year stipulated that around 800,000 hectares of forest in Papua, including protected forest would be converted into productive forest and other utilization area (APL). He urged the government to extend the moratorium and revise the decree.

“By issuing the decree, it seems that the ministry was preparing to open up the forest area for businesses ahead of the expiry date of the two-year moratorium map,” Kiki said in a press conference on Thursday.

Teguh Surya, the forest political campaigner for Greenpeace Indonesia, said that the decree would pave the way for the rezoning of 376,535 hectares of forest areas into non-forest zone, as well as the conversion of 392,535 hectares of protected forest into productive forest.

“Even though the decree also stipulates a conversion of around 41,000 hectares of non-forest areas into forest areas, it is not comparable to the protected forests converted into productive forest and APL,” Teguh said. “Moreover, the non-forest area could not replace the function of primary forest, because its destruction could endanger the province’s water management as well as ecological system,” he added.

Papua has 25 million hectares of protected areas followed by Kalimantan with 14 million hectares and Sumatra with 13 million hectares.

Around 90 percent of 31.9 million hectares of land in Papua province is still forest. However, Kiki said, half already have the status of productive forest or APL, which, if the ministry did not revise the decree, would soon be utilized for concessions.

Recently, environmental activists called on the Forestry Ministry to reject the draft spatial planning bylaw proposed by the Aceh administration, that would allow the conversion of around 1.2 million hectares of its existing 3.78 million hectares of protected forests into productive forests.

“Should the government continue with its plan to convert protected forests in Papua, we are afraid it would help the Aceh administration get approval for its new spatial planning draft,” Teguh said. “This means Indonesia faces losing a total of 2 million hectares of protected forest within a short period of time.”

Separately, the Association for Community and Ecology Based Law Reform (Huma) program coordinator Anggalia Putri said the decree violated the president’s commitment to the protection of forests, including the establishment of Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). She said the forest conversion would trigger conflict between local communities and business practitioners in Papua.

“Around 65 percent of agrarian conflict is linked to the conversion of forest areas into plantations.” (nad)

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http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=74667

3) Papua governor keen on autonomy law.

Posted at 05:49 on 15 March, 2013 UTC

The newly elected governor of Indonesia’s Papua province Lukas Enembe has vowed to improve the implementation of Papua’s Special Autonomy Law.

The Jakarta Post reports that Mr Enembe said improvements were necessary as many Papuans continued to complain about the lack of benefits from being granted Special Autonomy status in 2001.

The Special Autonomy Law was intended to guarantee the delivery of basic services in Papua region.

However despite large budgets to the region’s bureaucracies, Special Autonomy has been poorly implemented and broadly rejected by West Papuans.

Mr Enembe said his first priority as Governor was to handle the obstacles holding Special Autonomy back.

He says he has informed Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about his plans.

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