1) Unable to access the hospital, a Maybrat displaced person dies

2) Papuan activist Victor Yeimo formally indicted on charges of treason in Jayapura

 

3) Come clean with UN, Papuan activist tells Indonesian govt

4) Palm oil firm hit by mass permit revocation still clearing forest in Indonesia

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https://en.jubi.co.id/unable-to-access-the-hospital-a-maybrat-displaced-person-dies/

1) Unable to access the hospital, a Maybrat displaced person dies

News Desk February 22, 2022 1:45 pm Republish term

Illustration of civilians from the village of Imsun in Kabupaten Maybrat, West Papua, displaced by entering the forest. - Doc. Team Coalition Of Civil Society Care For Refugees Regency

Jayapura, Jubi – West Papua National Committee (KNPB) spokesperson Rudolof Fatem reported that one of the Maybrat displaced people named Samuel Saisor (42) died in the evacuation camp.

“The death was a result of gastric disease and lack of blood. He died at 01.00 p.m. local time in the evacuation camp,” Fatem answered Jubi in a phone call on Sunday night, February 20, 2022.

Fatem said that Samuel Saisor was a farmer from the Tegemana Village, Far East Aifat District. Saisor died because he did not get access to treatment at the hospital. “The deceased left his wife along with four children, comprising three girls and one boy,” he added.

Fatem told that on September 2, 2021, there had been an attack at the Kisor Military Post. Shooting between the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Police took place. As a result, hundreds of people took refuge in the forest.

“Samuel Saisor and his family also fled to the forest. Saisor fell ill in October 2021. When he was about to get sick, we tried to take him out but couldn’t because all the ways out were blocked by the TNI and police,” he said.

His party had attempted to evacuate Saisor through Bintu, Maybrat, South Sorong. However, this access was strictly guarded by the security forces.

“We brought him back and tried to survive in the forest. He eventually got sick, he lacked blood and had a stomach ulcer. During some days in the forests, he did not eat well, his health kept deteriorating,” he said.

For this incident, Fatem hoped that all parties, including churches, NGOs, and teams from the National Human Rights Commission and the United Nations could visit Papua to witness in-person situations like this.

“We are civilians who fled our hometowns. How long do these people be able to live in the forest? We hope that there will be pressure from all elements so that the UN can see the situation of human rights violations occurring in Papua from 2018 to 2022, we ask the UN to go to West Papua to see the condition of the people. This is a serious humanitarian issue,” he said.

Meanwhile, head of the Papuan Office of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Frits B Ramandey said that the Indonesian government needed to remember that in certain situations, there could be major international intervention to Papua.

“The human rights mechanism indeed respects sovereignty. But when the UN has sent Special Procedures Mandate Holders, this is an intervention mechanism,” he said.

Ramandey said the issue of human rights could have legal implications and political implications. “Because, in the context of Papua, it is not ordinary violence. Therefore, the Indonesian government must respond to it,” he said.

Reporter: Hengky Yeimo
Editor: Syam Terrajana

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http://www.indoleft.org/news/2022-02-21/papuan-activist-victor-yeimo-formally-indicted-on-charges-of-treason-in-jayapura.html

2) Papuan activist Victor Yeimo formally indicted on charges of treason in Jayapura

CNN Indonesia – February 21, 2022

Jakarta – Papua activist and West Papua National Committee (KNPB) international spokesperson Victor Yeimo was formally indicted on charges of treason at the Jayapura District Court in Papua on Monday February 21.

The court hearing was registered under Case Number 376/Pid.Sus/2021/PN.Jap which was forwarded to the court on August 9, 2021. The preliminary hearing to read out the charges was held today after being postponed on several occasions since last year.

Announced on the Jayapura District Court Case Information Tracking System (SIPP), it stated that Yeimo has been charged under multiple articles and alternative charges.

In the first indictment, he is said to have committed makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) with the intent that [Papua separate from] the territory of Indonesia. This was committed together with others convicted and jailed in a separate case in 2020, namely Agus Kossay, Buchtar Tabuni, Fery Kombo and Alexande R Gobay.

"At a time which is not known exactly around 2008 up until August 29, 2019 or at the very least at a time between 2008 and 2019", read the indictment as quoted from the SIPP website on Monday.

In the second indictment, Yeimo is alleged to have committed criminal conspiracy to commit the crime of makar. In the third indictment, he is alleged to have tried to mobilise people to commit the crime of makar.

"(Second indictment) criminal conspiracy to commit the crime of makar", read the indictment.

Then finally, Yeimo is said to have allegedly committed a crime in public verbally or in writing by inciting people to commit violence against the authorities.

In the SIPP, it explains that the public prosecutor in the case is named Adrianus Y Tomana.

The next hearing will be held on February 25 and is scheduled to hear the defendant's demurrer or objections to the charges from the defendant's lawyer.

Yeimo was arrested by police in Jayapura in May last year after being on the police's wanted person's list (DPO) since 2019.

The arrest was because Yeimo called for a referendum on Papuan independence during anti-racism protests which ended in riots in Papua and West Papua provinces in 2019.

He is alleged to have committed crimes against state security or makar.

Yeimo was also indicted using the articles on insulting the national flag, language, state symbols and national anthem or incitement to commit a crime. (mjo/wis)

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Kasus Kerusuhan Papua, Jubir KNPB Victor Yeimo Didakwa Makar".]

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20220221175159-12-762068/kasus-kerusuhan-papua-jubir-knpb-victor-yeimo-didakwa-makar

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https://www.ucanews.com/news/come-clean-with-un-papuan-activist-tells-indonesian-govt/96207#

 

3) Come clean with UN, Papuan activist tells Indonesian govt

 

Human rights defender urges honest response to calls for an explanation into alleged abuses in restive region

 

Konradus Epa, JakartaPublished: February 22, 2022 08:44 AM GMT

 

A Papuan right activist has urged the Indonesian government to respond honestly and transparently to United Nations special rapporteurs seeking explanations to accusations of state violence, torture and enforced disappearances in the troubled region.

“Such actions are still taking place and more people are suffering,” Theo Hesegem, executive director of the Papua Justice and Human Integrity Foundation, said on Feb. 22.

He was speaking following the leaking last week of a document from the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to officials in response to the UN request.

 

It included a letter to the Indonesian government signed by Jose Francisco Cali Tzay, special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Morris Tidball-Binz, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

They said they had received allegations indicating several instances of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and inhuman treatment as well as the forced displacement of indigenous Papuans.

They mentioned cases including the death of a two-year-old child and the injuring of a six-year-old after being shot in a gun battle between security forces and the West Papua Liberation Army in Sugapa, Intan Jaya district, on Oct. 26, 2021.

 

“The growing number of internally displaced villagers has reportedly provoked an unknown number of deaths”

 

Also mentioned was the case in Sugapa of Samuel Kobogau, 31, who was reported as a victim of enforced disappearance by military personnel and whose whereabouts have not been known since Oct. 5, 2021.

They also asked for clarification regarding the increasing number of internally displaced persons — estimated at 60,000 to 100,000 — due to the conflict that has spread to at least seven districts in Papua.

“The growing number of internally displaced villagers has reportedly provoked an unknown number of deaths of villagers because of lack of food and medical care and the weather conditions,” the document said.

Hesegem said the government must answer, follow up and clarify these allegations to the UN to make sure it receives a true picture of the Papuan situation.  

 

“The government should immediately clarify and convey an honest and transparent explanation to the UN Human Rights Council so that there is no black mark against Indonesia and victims’ families and Papuan indigenous people are not ignored,” he told UCA News. 

He said the UN officials sent the request because “they have credible information coming from Papua.”

“As such the Indonesian government must not try to cover up such crimes or pretend they do not happen,” Hesegem said.

He said that on Feb. 17 last year he gave the names of 243 who died as a result of human rights violations in Nduga district to presidential secretariat officials in Jakarta, but Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD refused to accept it and questioned its authenticity despite various credible sources having been cited. 

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4) Palm oil firm hit by mass permit revocation still clearing forest in Indonesia

by Asrida Elisabeth, Philip Jacobson on 22 February 2022

• An Indonesian palm oil company stripped of its permit at the start of the year has since been actively clearing forest in its concession.
• PT Permata Nusa Mandiri was among 137 palm oil firms whose permits were revoked by the environment ministry on Jan. 6, but went on to bulldoze more than 50 hectares of rainforest since then.
• Environmental activists and local Indigenous communities have long opposed the company’s presence in Papua province, but the questionable legality of the government’s permit revocations means the firm could still be allowed to continue operating.
• The land clearance is taking place in the Jalan Korea area, a popular birdwatching and tourism destination.

JAYAPURA, Indonesia, and NEW YORK — A palm oil firm that was among more than 100 companies targeted in a mass cancellation of permits for plantations by Indonesia’s environment ministry on Jan. 6 has bulldozed more than 50 hectares (125 acres) of rainforest since that date. The finding underscores the limits of the policy and raises questions about how far President Joko Widodo’s administration is willing to go to rein in the nation’s chaotic land-use practices……….

https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/palm-oil-firm-hit-by-mass-permit-revocation-still-clearing-forest-in-indonesia/