2) AI-U/A: ACTIVIST SHOT BY POLICE DENIED PROPER MEDICAL CARE: YAKONIAS WOMSIWOR
3) TAPOL and ETAN Joint Statement - UN General Assembly 73: Correcting the Record On Human Rights Violations in West Papua
4) Indonesia: Shackling Reduced, But Persists Oversight Crucial to End Abuse of People with Disabilities
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1) Lack of shackling data reflects Papua's poor mental health services
3:46 pm on 3 October 2018
Lack of data on Papua region in a new report on shackling across Indonesia highlights the dearth of mental health services in the eastern-most provinces.
Human Rights Watch's new report is titled Indonesia: Shackling Reduced, But Persists.
When its research began two years ago, the NGO found that 18,800 people with mental health conditions in Indonesia were shackled.
It said the number has since dropped to 12,800, as Indonesia's government has taken important steps to end shackling.
The NGO's disability rights researcher, Kriti Sharma, said it was telling that the government had no data on shackling from Papua.
"When we started the research we found that Papua and West Papua (provinces) were one of the areas where there was a real dearth in mental health services.
"There was a gap not only at the level of community mental health, but also at the level of psychiatric hospitals and mental health professionals. Two years later not much seems to have changed.
"The data is collected through grassroots community workers, and in the absence of those networks, they are unable to collect data," she explained.
In the absence of data, Ms Sharma admitted it was difficult to come to conclusions about the state of people with mental health conditions in Papua.
"But what we do find is as soon as there are no services where access is difficult, where there's a lack of mental health professionals, families do resort to shackling, and that's what I fear for Papua."
The practice has persisted in Indonesia despite a 1977 government ban on shackling, which the NGO said was because of stigma and the lack of community-based support or mental health services.
However, Human Rights watch has credited Indonesia's government with making serious efforts to counter shackling and the lack of community-based mental health services.
By the start of last year, the Health Ministry rolled out a community outreach programme in which health workers use a "family-based approach," going house to house to collect data, raise awareness, and provide services relating to 12 measures of family health, including mental health.
As of last month, the programme had reached 16.2 million - around 25 percent - of households across the country.
The data collected indicates, however, that only 16 percent of people with psychosocial disabilities surveyed have access to mental health services.
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2) INDONESIA: ACTIVIST SHOT BY POLICE DENIED PROPER MEDICAL CARE: YAKONIAS WOMSIWOR
Papuan political activist, Yakonias Womsiwor, has been suffering from severe pain in both his legs for more than two weeks after being shot by police. Despite being unable to stand as a result of the gunshot, proper medical care has been denied by police.
View report in English
UA: 177/18 Index: ASA 21/9186/2018 Indonesia Date: 3 October 2018
URGENT ACTION
ACTIVIST SHOT BY POLICE DENIED PROPER MEDICAL CARE
Papuan political activist, Yakonias Womsiwor, has been suffering from severe pain in both his legs for more than two weeks after being shot by police. Despite being unable to stand as a result of the gunshot, proper medical care has been denied by police.
On 15 September 2018, the local Mimika Police Force shot Yakonias Womsiwor in both legs when a joint police- military forces raided the office of the KNPB (National Committee of West Papua) Timika branch, a pro Papua independence organization. Nine members of KNPB were arrested.
During the arrest, the police shot two KNPB members, claiming they had threatened the police with sharp weapons. Yakonias Womsiwor suffered three bullet wounds to his thighs, two to his shinbones and one to the sole of his foot. The other KNPB member was shot in his right leg once. After the arrest, the police brought the two men to a hospital in Timika city to clean the wounds and put bandages on them. Three days later, the police brought them again to the hospital to clean the wounds and changed the bandages.
As a result of the gunshots, Yakonias Womsiwor cannot stand and, according to his lawyers, still suffers from severe pain, raising concerns that the wounds may have affected his bones. All requests by his lawyers for better medical care, have been rejected by the police.
The police released the other seven KNPB members, without charge, later on the day of their arrest. Yakonias Womsiwor and the other man who suffered a gunshot wound are being detained at the Mimika Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters and have been named as suspect on suspicion of possessing sharp weapons under Article 2(1) Law No. 12/1951 on Emergency and threatening a law enforcement official with violence under Article 214 of Indonesia’s Criminal Code.
Article 10(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights obliges states parties, including Indonesia, to treat all prisoners humanely. The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) provide that prisoners needing treatment not available in the prison hospital, clinic or infirmary must be treated by an appropriate civil institution, and that all healthcare treatment must be free of charge.
Please write immediately in English, Bahasa or your own language urging Indonesia authorities to:
- Ensure that Yakonias Womsiwor immediately and fully receives all medical treatment he may require;
- Ensure that Yakonias is protected from torture and other ill-treatment and is provided with regular access to
his family and lawyers.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 9 NOVEMBER 2018 TO:
Papua Regional Head of Police
Irjen Martuani Sormin
Papua Regional Police Headquarters Jl. Sam Ratulangi No. 8
Irjen Martuani Sormin
Papua Regional Police Headquarters Jl. Sam Ratulangi No. 8
Papua Province
Indonesia 99115
Fax: +62 96 753 3763
Twitter: @HmsPoldaPapua Salutation: Dear Inspector General
Indonesia 99115
Fax: +62 96 753 3763
Twitter: @HmsPoldaPapua Salutation: Dear Inspector General
Head of Presidential Staff Office (KSP) General (Retired) Moeldoko
Gedung Bina Graha
Jl. Veteran No. 16 Jakarta Pusat
Gedung Bina Graha
Jl. Veteran No. 16 Jakarta Pusat
DKI Jakarta Indonesia 10110 Twitter: @KSPgoid
Fax: +62 21 345 0009
Email: webmaster@ksp.go.id Salutation: Dear General
Fax: +62 21 345 0009
Email: webmaster@ksp.go.id Salutation: Dear General
And copies to:
Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM)
Mr. Ahmad Taufan Damanik
Jl. Latuharhary No. 4B, Menteng
Mr. Ahmad Taufan Damanik
Jl. Latuharhary No. 4B, Menteng
Jakarta Pusat, DKI Jakarta Indonesia 10310
Fax: +62 21 392 5227
Email: info@komnasham.go.id
Fax: +62 21 392 5227
Email: info@komnasham.go.id
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Over the last few years the KNPB (National Committee of West Papua) have organised mass demonstrations in several cities in Papua to call for self-determination for Papuans, including possible independence from Indonesia through a referendum. KNPB claims their political strategy is non-violent, but some reports indicate that their members have engaged in violence.
Amnesty International has also documented the use of unnecessary and excessive force and firearms as well as torture and other ill-treatment against political activists and others accused of being linked to pro-independence groups, including members of KNPB. Accountability for such acts is rare, and at most security personnel receive disciplinary sanctions.
The Indonesian authorities have an obligation under international law to treat all prisoners humanely, including by providing them with adequate medical treatment. Similarly, Article 17 of the Indonesian Government Regulation No. 32/1999 on terms and procedures on the implementation of prisoners’ rights in prison requires the prison authorities to provide access to adequate medical treatment.
Name: Yakonias Wamsior Gender m/f: m
UA: 177/18 Index: ASA 21/9186/2018 Issue Date: 3 October 2018
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3) TAPOL and ETAN Joint Statement - UN General Assembly 73: Correcting the Record On Human Rights Violations in West Papua and the 1969 UN Resolution Regarding ‘Act of Free Choice’
2 OCT 2018
London, New York, 2 October 2018
TAPOL and the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) condemn yet another wave of mass arrests1 during the opening week of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The mass arrests clearly contradict the statement of the Republic of Indonesia in their first “right of reply” during the General Assembly that there are not “frequent and systematic human rights violations” in West Papua.2 We also disagree with Indonesia’s claim that UN Resolution 2504 of 19693 has settled the issue of West Papua’s political status.
In late September, Indonesian security forces arrested 89 West Papuans and many more were beaten.4 One West Papuan is being investigated for treason. Their alleged crime was to have peacefully demonstrated their support for the United Liberation Movement of West Papua and for the Republic of Vanuatu which planned to speak about human rights and the right to self-determination at the UNGA session. (An additional 39 Papuans were detained in Malang, East Java on 30 September for demonstrating in support of self-determination.5) This problematic trend of unlawful mass arrests of peaceful protesters was highlighted two years ago, when the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination delivered two early warnings to Indonesia.6 These warnings arose from 5,361 unlawful arrests of West Papuan peaceful protesters in just one year alone.7 No other group has suffered such treatment at the hands of the Indonesian state. Hence, there have been systematic human rights violations in West Papua in the past, but they continue.
A total of 221 West Papuans were arbitrarily arrested this past September.8 Five people were tortured by Indonesia’s security forces,9 including one killed while in police custody in the same month.10
West Papuans are not only discriminated against in their own ancestral territory of Papua, but in other provinces of Indonesia. There have been racially motivated attacks by state-backed gangs against West Papuan student dormitories in Surabaya,11 Yogyakarta12 and Malang,13 as well as assaults by security forces in Manado and Tomohon.14 West Papuans are routinely prevented from holding public discussions and peaceful protests in Java and other non-Papuan parts of Indonesia.
Those who seek to document violations and defend the victims of human rights in West Papua live in fear. These human rights defenders face a range of physical threats and other measures, aimed at obstructing their work. Indigenous human rights activist, seeking to protect ancestral lands in South Sorong15 or Boven Digoel,16 expose illegal mining in Koroway, or publicising military sweeps, house-burnings and other severe human rights violations in remote villages in Mimika or Nduga risk criminalization by Indonesian authorities.17
Several past cases of serious human rights violations in West Papua have been highlighted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo for resolution. These have been investigated by Indonesia’s own National Commission on Human Rights, yet those responsible have gone unpunished. These include the 1998 Biak Massacre of more than 15018; the torture, rape and killing of 50 West Papuan in Wasior in 200119; and the military sweeping of villages in Wamena in 2003.20
Indonesia has also failed to protect the social, economic, and cultural rights of West Papuans. Five tribes in Papua’s Keerom Regency were declared extinct in August.21 Earlier this year, the Indonesian government reported that almost one hundred West Papuan children had died from malnutrition22 and an estimated 15,000 West Papuans currently suffer from malnutrition.23 A BBC journalist was expelled from West Papua while she was covering this tragedy.24 Not long after that, an Australian student was blacklisted from entering Indonesia due to her previous study on West Papua.25 A Polish tourist charged with treason is currently sitting in jail in Jayapura awaiting trial,26 and a West Papuan is facing the same charge merely for meeting him.27
Indonesia has still not fulfilled its promise to invite a team of UN Human Rights investigators to visit West Papua.28
It is long-overdue for the UN to revisit its unfulfilled obligation to ensure a proper decolonization of all peoples with regards to West Papua. Contrary to Indonesia’s delegate claim, the 1969 UN Resolution on West Papua29 did not have universal support. It was debated at great length over three sessions and the final vote was marked by 30 abstentions. This was because the coerced ‘Act of Free Choice,30 was recognised to have been procedurally flawed. UN members voted to acknowledge the agreement between Indonesia and the Netherlands regarding West Papua. The process allowed West Papua’s fate to be dictated by two foreign colonising governments. The West Papuans were props in a charade; no real effort was allowed to ascertain their true wishes.
The UN has an obligation to revisit this morally unacceptable outcome, arrived at through an event in which only 1,026 handpicked West Papuans were pressured to raise their hands in assent to a proposition they had no hand in drafting.31 That deeply flawed process was a stark abrogation of the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority’s responsibility to oversee a just decolonisation. The UN should have ensured that process adhered to the universally recognised standard of one person, one vote.
*TAPOL and ETAN take no official position on the political status of West Papua. We support the right and aspirations for West Papuan people to decide their own future.
TAPOL : info@tapol.org
ETAN : etan@etan.org
References:……..
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4) Indonesia: Shackling Reduced, But Persists Oversight Crucial to End Abuse of People with Disabilities
Human Rights Watch
October 2, 2018 12:00AM EDT
(Jakarta) – The Indonesian government has taken important steps to end the practice of shackling people with mental health conditions, Human Rights Watch said today. But many people remain locked up in institutions instead of being able to live in the community………….
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