1) UN General Assembly’s Papua Discussion Should Prompt Indonesia to Reflect

2) Families Urge UN Special Rapporteur to Visit Victims of Paniai Shootings

3) Government Seen Not Serious in Addressing Papua Human Rights Issue 

4) Solomon’s urges Indonesia to allow Papua scrutiny

5) FLJS Policy Brief Calls on UK to End Political Conflict in West Papua

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http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/un-general-assemblys-papua-discussion-prompt-indonesia-reflect/

1) UN General Assembly’s Papua Discussion Should Prompt Indonesia to Reflect

20 September 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – The submission of Papua human rights and political issues to the UN General Assembly’s plenary meeting is a historical fact that can not be avoided and should be a self-reflection for the Government of Indonesia, said the Chairman of Evangelist Church Synod in Papua the Rev. Benny Giay on Sunday (18/9/2016) in response the widespread of Papua issues in Pacific and the enforcement of the Pacific coutries leaders to take the West Papua issue to the UN General Assembly.

“For me, when the issue of Papua get to the UN General Assembly by the Pacific countries leaders, it justifies the view that it is the time for change,” said Giay, who also argued that after 50 years Papua in the hands of Indonesia, it’s time to change history.

“I think the voices of struggle of Free Papua is finally get to the UN General Assembly Plenary Meeting is natural. It should be. Because we are in the church believe that every 50 years the history must be reflected, as well as the Indonesian Government to reflect their action and progress of their civilization for 50 years that not taken any goods in Papua,” said Giay.

Benny Giay felt optimistic that the expectation of Papuan people who fight for their self-determination is undergoing a revival, especially because it is driven by resurgence in Pacific.

“What is happening in Pacific is the revitalization of human awareness. In my mind, the solidarity for the political right (independence) could be done professionally. But the revival in the Pacific is beyond that,” said Giay who further said this revival was referred to a great concern that Papuan nation would be extinct.

“The awareness of the extinction of a human nation and civilization underlined the profound solidarity for humanity in Pacific. We are in the church support it,” he said.

Papua Becomes Issue of State

Meanwhile, director of Elsham Papua Ferry Marisan said the progress of advocacy in Papua today until the UN General Assembly depends on the party who conducted the advocacy, which is the State.

“If advocacy for Papua human rights issues in Geneva, Switzerland was conducted by civilians, now Vanuatu and Solomon and even Tonga did it, the advocacy has risen to New York by the hands of the State,” said Marisan.

When Papua issue submitted to the UN General Assembly in New York, it means, said Ferry, it could become a discussion among other countries in addition to the Pacific.

“It’s not the first time because in the previous meeting Vanuatu talked about Papua issue. But the different in this year is the representative from Fiji would become one of the leaders of the hearings in the meeting. So we expect it could affect another countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America.”

Fiji Ambassador for UN who recently appointed as the President of the General Assembly Plenary Meeting on Tuesday (12/9) open the 71st session of the plenary meeting attended by 193 countries.

“We wait the result, which countries that would give supports, not only to the human rights issue but also on Papua referendum and the agenda to register Papua to Committee 24 of Decolonization,” he said.

Separately Victor Yeimo, KNPB General Chairman and ULMWP Working Group, thought it’s time for the UN to take the responsibility concerning to Papua political right. “UN must take the responsibility to resolve the political status of West Papua. Because it is the people power in ULMWP, together with the Pacific countries in Pacific Coalition for West Papua, it would endorse this issue to the UN Decolonization Committee to be able facilitating the referendum,” he said.

He also added that through that process, Indonesia would also be urged to stop the crime against humanity that continuously occurred in West Papua.

However, Ferry Marisan also reminded that this is the long time process and could be taken years for persuading another countries to support Papua. “Nevertheless, this recent achievement has opened the way to get there,” he said.

Both Marisan and Reverend Giay were not worried about the long process. According to Giay, in this globalization era, it is the time to get bigger opportunity because many eyes would witness what is happening. “The revival of the current solidarity is a sign of the human awakening and it is happened in the globalization era that could be recognized by all people through social media. I welcome it with optimistic,” said Giay. (*/rom)

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http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/families-urge-un-special-rapporteur-visit-victims-paniai-shootings/

2) Families Urge UN Special Rapporteur to Visit Victims of Paniai Shootings

20 September 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – Church leaders and the families of the victims of the shootings in Paniai are still waiting justice for the perpetrators.

“Many teams have come to Paniai. They promised to uncover the shooting perpetrators occurred at the Karel Gobay quarter. But where is the result up to now? Big zero. In fact the perpetrators were hidden. They even twisted the fact to safe the Indonesian Government’s image,” said the Rev. Nikolaus Degei, Sth to Jubi on Monday (19/9/2016).

According to him who also one of the victims’ relatives of the incident, Paniai people, in particular the victims’ families, are concluding the Indonesian government deliberately covered up the incident that killed their children and this hurt their families’ feelings. That this case would never been processed for the justice for the victims’ family because the perpetrators were military personnel.

Our people in Paniai respectfully asked the countries which are members of the Pacific Islands Forum to immediately from a fact-finding team to find the truth,” continued the Rev. Degei expressing the aspiration of people in Enarotali, Paniai.

Separately, the human right activist in Nabire, Yones Douw said the Paniai people requested that the Special Rapporteur for the Freedom of Expression or Torture to come to Paniai in order to find the truth over this shooting incident.

“Victims’ family and witnesses would no longer accept any team related to this case, whether it was individuals, local institutions, fact-finding team under Luhut Pandjaitan, local, national or international human rights institutions that involving the Indonesian Government,” said Douw.

Both Degei and Dowu similarly said the Paniai people want all teams that came to Paniai could reveal their findings immediately. “Those findings must be presented to the international public in the Pacific or in the UN forum, because people no longer trust the Indonesian Government’s efforts to settle this case,” said Douw. (*/rom)

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http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/government-seen-not-serious-addressing-papua-human-rights-issue/

3) Government Seen Not Serious in Addressing Papua Human Rights Issue 

19 September 2016

Sorong, Jubi – The Central Government has not been serious in resolving the allegations of human rights violations in Papua up to the mid September and towards the end of 2016, said the director of Study, Research and Legal Aid Institute (LP3BH) Manokwari, Yan Christian Warinussy

A country based on the rule of law, Indonesia has legal instruments such as the Law No 39 Year 1999 on the human rights and the Law No. 26 Year 2000 on the Human Rights Court, Warinussy said.

“President Joko Widodo in one part of his speech in the national Christmas event on 26 December 2014 in Mandala Stadium has stated that he personally would solve the human rights violations in Papua, but up to now, those cases are apparently stagnant,” he told Jubi by phone in Sorong, Sunday (18/9/2016).

According to him, in turn this lack of seriousness showed by Widodo’s administrative would affect to a number of the world’s leaders who would give their speech in front of the 77th UN General Assembly Plenary Meeting in New York, the United States and raise a topic of allegation of the severe human rights in West Papua.

“This must increasingly put the position of the Indonesian Government in the international spotlight as one of the countries which allegedly accused as perpetrator of the crime against humanity in the world, in particular in Papua for more than the last 50 years,” he said.

He even mentioned the works of the official institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission that has not yet showed any progress in the investigation of the cases of the alleged human rights violation in Papua. For example, there are the cases of Wasior (2001), Wamena (2003) and Enarotali-Paniai (8 December 2014).

Therefore it could be said that the human rights settlement in Papua in the era of Joko Widodo to the end of 2016 is actually ‘dead’.

The human right activist from Fakfak, Papua Barat, Fredi Warpopor also has similar opinion that the settlement of human rights violation is stagnant. “The settlement of sexual harassment against children that occurred in the Fakfak Police Headquarter is also not clear until now. “It seems the case was drowned; it needs a more serous study,” he said. (*/rom)

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http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/313863/solomons-urges-indonesia-to-allow-papua-scrutiny

4) Solomon’s urges Indonesia to allow Papua scrutiny

3:05 pm today 

Solomon Islands has again called on Indonesia to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council to allow a UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to visit its Papua region.

The call was made by a Solomons official Barrett Salato at the Human Rights Council Meeting in Geneva.

Mr Salato said there was a worrying trend by member states resisting human rights scrutiny by the Council.

He said some large democracies professed to uphold universal human rights values but evaded scrutiny of their domestic practices by claiming non-interference in their sovereign affairs.

Mr Salato said Solomon Islands had consistently raised its concerns about human rights violations in West Papua and called for independent investigations of the reports.

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http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/fljs-policy-brief-calls-uk-end-political-conflict-west-papua/

5) FLJS Policy Brief Calls on UK to End Political Conflict in West Papua

17 September 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society is pleased to announce the publication of a Policy Brief in conjunction with the University of Warwick Politics of Papua Project, which presents 14 recommendations for the United Kingdom to help bring an end to the political and constitutional conflict in the West Papua Region of Indonesia. 

Since West Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, it has been de facto controlled by the Indonesian military, and Papuans have been subject to a number of human rights violations, including arrests for peaceful protests against Indonesian rule. Government restrictions have been imposed on access to West Papua by the foreign media, international observers, and NGOs, and a number of political prisoners remain behind bars.

The policy brief, entitled Political and Constitutional Conflict in the West Papua Region of Indonesia: Overview and Recommendations for the UK and the International Community, calls on the UK government to leverage its strong economic and political ties with Indonesia to play a more active role in the solution of the conflict in West Papua. Among a number of recommendations made by the authors, the policy brief calls for:

• the release of all political prisoners in West Papua;
• free access of media, NGOs, foreign academics, and foreign observers in West Papua;
• an end to all UK military training and equipment to Indonesian military and police forces until reliable mechanisms are put in place to verify their adherence to human rights standards; and
• measures to encourage key Indonesian political and economic actors to engage in an open discussion to peacefully resolve the situation in West Papua.

The policy brief is drawn from a full-length report published by the University of Warwick Politics of Papua Project, which was presented in Parliament earlier this year and endorsed by Jeremy Corbyn.

Associate Professor Keith Hyams, who leads the Politics of Papua Project, said, ‘We are delighted that the Oxford Foundation for Law, Justice and Society is releasing this summary of our work on the politics of West Papua. Our original report, which was released in the House of Commons in May 2016, has now been downloaded over 20,000 times and has been endorsed by a number of prominent politicians, including Jeremy Corbyn, who committed to make the issues raised in the report “central to the [Labour] party’s policies in the future”.

This new summary by FLJS will allow these crucial issues to reach an even wider audience and help to ensure that the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in West Papua receive the attention of policymakers that they so urgently require.’

The FLJS policy brief provides a summary of the 14 key recommendations and highlights the unique position of the United Kingdom to take effective leadership to resolve the conflict in West Papua. Britain provides training and delivery of military equipment to Indonesian forces, including units deployed in West Papua. The UK has also granted asylum to Benny Wenda, current spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.

The policy brief is published by the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, an institution affiliated with the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Wolfson College at the University of Oxford, as part of its mission to bridge the gap between academia and policymaking and to promote an understanding of the role of law in society. (*)

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