2) Palace denies 2014 Papua killings constitute gross human rights violation
3) Signs of influx of West Papuans into PNG
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1) Indonesia military to blame for 2014 Papua killings: rights commission
Published on 17.02.2020 at 09h54 by AFP
Indonesia’s military shot dead four students in the country’s restive Papua region during 2014 protests and carried out “gross human rights violations”, a commission investigating the uprising concluded Monday.
Komnas HAM issued its findings five years after the high-school students were gunned down in Paniai, a central area of insurgency-wracked Papua province, which shares a border with independent Papua New Guinea.
“This incident constitutes crimes against humanity,” the commission’s chief investigator Muhammad Choirul Anam told AFP in a statement Monday.
The military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Komnas HAM said it had forwarded its dossier on the unrest to the country’s attorney general for possible prosecution.
The probe was hampered by long delays due to attempts by unnamed individuals to hide evidence, the human rights commission said.
Rank-and-file soldiers and their superiors should shoulder the blame for the deaths of the students, aged 17 and 18, as well as “torturing” another 21 demonstrating Papuans, it said, without elaborating.
The protests were sparked by the alleged beatings of other Papuan youths by the army. Security forces eventually opened fire on a crowd after demonstrators threw stones at a military office.
The commission interviewed two dozen witnesses, analysed documents and visited the scene to determine whether the military was involved in the deaths.
So far no-one has been charged.
Indonesia’s military has been accused of committing atrocities against Papuan civilians during a decades-long rebel movement aimed at gaining independence for the province.
The Southeast Asian nation took control of mineral-rich Papua in the 1960s following a vote to stay within the archipelago that was widely viewed as rigged.
Papua has seen several spasms of deadly violence in recent months, including unrest partly linked to a fresh push for independence and ethnic tensions.
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2) Palace denies 2014 Papua killings constitute gross human rights violation
Marchio Irfan Gorbiano and Budi Sutrisno The Jakarta Post
Jakarta / Mon, February 17, 2020 / 07:05 pm
Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko has expressed his disagreement with the National Commission on Human Rights’ (Komnas HAM) recent declaration that the shootings in Paniai, Papua in December 2014 were a “gross human rights violation”.
“We need to look at [the case] correctly. It must be seen properly because it was not a structured, systematic event. There were no direct orders from those in charge,” Moeldoko told journalists at the Presidential Staff Office in Central Jakarta on Monday.
The incident, also referred to as the Bloody Paniai case, occurred when security forces opened fire at a crowd of demonstrators in the Karel Gobay Field in Madi district, Paniai regency, after the demonstrators threw stones at a military office. The protests were sparked by allegations that Army personnel had beaten local youths.
Four high school students were killed instantly and one died later in hospital. They were Otianus Gobai, 18, Simon Degei, 18, Yulian Yeimo, 17, Abia Gobay, 17, and Alfius Youw, 17. Twenty-one other civilians were injured in the incident.
Moeldoko, who was the Indonesian Military (TNI) commander at the time of the shooting, said that he did not think that the actions of the military personnel involved had been premeditated.
“In my opinion, what the security forces did was a sudden reaction because they were attacked, which caught them by surprise. There was no policy to do such a thing. We need to look at it carefully and not come to inaccurate conclusions,” he said.
Five years after the high-school students were shot, Komnas HAM issued its findings that the authorities had carried out “gross human rights violations” by killing and persecuting civilians.
“This incident constitutes a crime against humanity,” the commission’s chief investigator Muhammad Choirul Anam said in a statement on Monday, as reported by AFP.
The commission interviewed two dozen witnesses, analyzed documents and visited Paniai to determine whether the military was responsible for the deaths.
Komnas HAM said it had forwarded its dossier on the incident to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) for possible prosecution.
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3) Signs of influx of West Papuans into PNG
From Dateline Pacific, 5:02 am on 17 February 2020
There are signs of a fresh influx of West Papuans into Papua New Guinea amid a protracted conflict across the border.
The porous land border has long been easily traversable for people fleeing Indonesian rule on the western half of New Guinea.
But provincial and church authorities in PNG provinces abutting the border with Indonesia are anticipating a new wave of displaced people from West Papua.
Johnny Blades reports.
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Since 2018, there's been a surge of violent exchanges between the West Papua Liberation Army and Indonesian security forces in Papua province.
Thousands of West Papuans have been displaced from the conflict's epicentre in the Highlands region of the Indonesian-ruled province.
Additionally, according to Amnesty International Indonesia's Usman Hamid, Papuans are being criminalised for peacefully expressing their opinion.
"Last year, due to racial slurs in Surabaya (that) triggered massive demonstrations across Papua and also some demonstrations in Jakarta, it led to the arrest and detention of more student activists and also political activists charged with treason. And there are at least 57 (arrested and detained) that we can verify last year. And this is maybe the highest number in terms of political prisoners or prisoners of conscience under (Indonesian president) Joko Widodo's administration."
In the wake of the protests, hundreds of West Papuans studying in Java returned home to Papua over security fears.
But some of the students say they're being targeted by security forces there.
Displaced from their homes, a number of them end up in the jungles of New Guinea, moving across the border to PNG, including into Vanimo electorate.
A secretary for Vanimo's MP Belden Namah, Bonny Kaiyo, says the students are seeking asylum in regional countries
"They're the ones that are leading the demonstration... mainly led by the students from Wamena to do awareness and so they're the ones who are in all the demonstrations, they're on the frontline of the struggle."
Mr Kaiyo says he knows of a group of about 50 students want help getting out of West Papua permanently.
"They want to settle in Australia, New Zealand or the countries in the MSG and the Pacific islands Forum. I think they don't want to go to America or Europe,. They want to stay in the region."
Vanimo landowner Dorothy Tekwie confirms some of those displaced by West Papua's recent surge in conflict have fled across the border and ended up in her village.
"The numbers in the camps on the PNG side have increased. On my own particular land the number of young people, young men I've never seen before... there is an influx of people coming in, and they feel they are able to slide back in again."
The main land access point between Indonesia and PNG is at the Wutung border post on New Guinea's north coast.
A busy terminus for people travelling between the West Papuan capital Jayapura and PNG's Sepik region, Wutung is tightly guarded by Indonesian military forces on the lookout for Papuans who campaign for independence.
Henry Samosir, an information, social and cultural affairs officer from Indonesia's consulate in Vanimo town, 40 minutes drive from the border, says he hasn't seen evidence of a recent influx.
But he admits that the nature of the porous nature of the border means it is possible for people to move back and forth undetected.
"Since our border with PNG, you can imagine, it's almost 800km and people they are free to do whatever they like and sometimes nobody can see what they are doing."
Many Papuans cross the border further south in the rugged mountainous central region, ending up in places like Kiunga in PNG's Western Province.
Ms Tekwie says those who end up in PNG are generally able to blend in easily, being fellow Melanesians
"I don't know how they get through, but these are mountain people, they walk and live off the land; they know how to hunt; so if it's getting too much on the other side, they just move over here. After all, this is just one island. There is no brick or cement border mark fencing from one end to another, it's just open forest."
There's an estimated 10,000 West Papuan refugees residing in PNG.
While they may blend in, most of them do not have citizenship, leaving them marginalised from land and public services.
In both PNG's Western and West Sepik provinces, the Catholic church often plays a role in caring for Papuan refugees.
The Bishop of Vanimo Francis Meli recalls one West Papuan couple with health problems who his diocese helped.
"The diocese of Vanimo, we actually paid fares for them to go to Port Moresby, assuming that they will get treatment there because Vanimo said the case was complicated and difficult, so Moresby would be able to do that."
When he was in Moresby recently, the bishop caught up with the pair.
"They are struggling to stay in Moresby. Because their status was not very clear, the government would not even allow them to go to the hospital to get treatment."
West Papuans are part of a record number of displaced people around the world, approaching 71 million as of last year.
Amnesty International Indonesia has urged Jakarta to allow an impartial investigation into the number of internally displaced people affected by conflict in West Papua.
The concern is that, left unchecked, the numbers of displaced will swell, and the spillover impacts will grow for PNG.
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