2) LBH Papua receives 57 reports of sexual assault in 2021
3) Indonesia dismisses UN experts' call to probe alleged abuses in Papua
4) Podcast: The Trans-Papua Highway could lose billions and deforest millions of hectares
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1) Long inactive due to armed conflict in Intan Jaya, YPPK Bilogai Elementary School opens
News Desk March 2, 2022 1:36 pm
A number of displaced people around the Office of Regent of the Intan Jaya receive food aid on Sunday (14/11/2021). - Doc. Bernardus Kobogau
Jayapura, Jubi – Elementary School teacher Stefanus Zondegau says the school where he teaches, the YPPK Bilogai Elementary School, has reopened teaching and learning activities, which had been suspended for a long time due to the armed conflict in Intan Jaya Regency, Papua. Teaching and learning activities at the elementary school located in the Sugapa District have started on January 17, 2022.
The process of reopening school began with parents cleaning the YPPK Bilogai Elementary School building and yard on January 10.
“Before starting our teaching and learning activities, we clean the school environment. Ever since shootings occurred between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Police and the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), school activities have been completely paralyzed. We clean the schoolyard so that the children can return to school,” said Zondegau when contacted by telephone on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
According to Zondegau, most of the schools in Intan Jaya were closed, and the teachers fled to Nabire, Timika, or Paniai. Until now, the teachers of YPPK Bilogai Elementary School have not returned. Therefore, since January 17, Zondegau has taught with the assistance of Pastor Silvester Dogomo.
“All schools, whether elementary, junior high and high school have not opened. Currently, Pastor Silvester Dogomo and I are trying to reopen the YPPK Bilogai Elementary School. Only Pastor Silvester Dogomo and I teach grades 1 to 6. We are still here, waiting and expecting [other teachers] to arrive,” he said.
Zondegau said that if the armed conflict continued, Intan Jaya Regency could lose its golden generation because the education there was neglected. It is this awareness that has made Zondegau seeks to reopen teaching and learning activities in his school.
“Intan Jaya’s future generation must be able to compete later. If we let [armed conflict and learning halt] continue, it will destroy Intan Jaya’s golden generation,” he said.
Zondegau said the number of YPPK Bilogai students was 354 students but not all students had returned to school. “Since we opened the school in January, more than 200 students have attended,” he said.
Zondegau said many students from YPPK Bilogai Elementary School were still in refugee camps. He hopes that the Intan Jaya Administration will find a way so that students in Intan Jaya can return to school.
“If the children are not returning to Intan Jaya Regency, they will not go to school in the refugee camps. That’s even more ironic because they are safe there, but their right to education is not being fulfilled. It’s a shame,” said Zondegau.
Head of the Intan Jaya Student Association in Jayapura Yanuarius Weya said the Intan Jaya Administration must find a way to restore teaching and learning activities to all schools. “We have to move quickly to return teachers and refugees home,” he said.
Weya said that the Intan Jaya generation must be saved from the conflict in Intan Jaya. “We as students are part of the agents of change, we will continue to monitor all parties to make Intan Jaya better in the future,” he said. (*)
Reporter: Hengky Yeimo
Editor: Aryo Wisanggeni G
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2) LBH Papua receives 57 reports of sexual assault in 2021
News Desk March 2, 2022 3:13 pm
Jayapura, Jubi – Novita Opki, a member of the Women’s and Children’s Team of the Civil and Political Division of the Papua Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua), said that throughout 2021, her party received 57 allegations of violence against women and children. Of the 57 cases, 20 cases were online gender-based violence.
“The 57 cases we have assisted are varied. We provide consultation, as well as litigation and non-litigation advocacy,” Novita Opki told Jubi in Jayapura City on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.
Opki explained there was a trend towards increasing cases of violence against women and children online. “Such as the distribution of photos without the photo owner’s consent on social media or messaging services, as well as unsolicited messages with sexual nuance that attack women,” she said.
“After receiving the report, we immediately reported it to the Cyber division of the Papua Police,” Opki added.
However, Opki said, in some cases of sexual violence, the perpetrators were law enforcement officers, regional officials, and state civil servants.
Perpetrators got impunity
There are many obstacles in advocating cases of violence against women and children in Papua and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
“If the perpetrators are people in power or have certain positions, it is usually difficult to bring the case to the court,” she said.
Opki said that if cases of violence against women and children involve officials, law enforcement officers often ask the case be resolved amicably. “There is a power relation between the perpetrator and the victim that the case is unable to be processed by law, even though the case is serious,” she said.
Opki also assessed that law enforcement officers in Papua did not yet have the perspective of victims in handling cases of violence against women and children. It also complicates efforts to bring perpetrators to justice.
“For example, if there is domestic violence, we usually take the case to the police but they say that it is a family matter and encourage amicable resolution. In fact, domestic violence is a crime. There are more than 20 cases in 2021,” said Opki.
She also said the LBH Papua had difficulty accompanying women who were wives of security forces. “There are police officers and soldiers who commit domestic violence against their children and wives, whether it’s physical violence or family neglect. There are several cases that we are still pushing, some have reached the courts but some others have been stuck because of the interest of [law enforcement officers] to protect each other,” Opki said.
KabarPapua.co on January 21
released a statement from the Head of Public Relations of the Papua Police, Sr. Comr. Ahmad Mustofa Kamal, saying that the Papua Police handled 221 allegations of violence against women and children throughout 2021.
“It consists of 54 cases of physical and psychological violence against children, 69 cases of rape, 23 cases of sexual abuse against children, 53 cases of abuse against women, four cases of beatings, six cases of neglect, and 12 cases of adultery. A total of 221 cases of violence against women and children were handled by Sub-Directorate IV of Youth, Children, and Women of the Directorate of General Criminal Investigation of the Papua Police,” said Kamal, as quoted from
KabarPapua.co.
Kamal said the Papua Police was collaborating with the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) to provide assistance to women and children victims of violence. He said that the police also had a special service unit to handle cases of violence against women and children.
“I encourage the public to report cases of sexual violence they have experienced or have occurred in their neighborhood. The National Police has a Women and Children Service Unit (PPA) which specifically handles crimes of violence against women and children. Please don’t be afraid or hesitate to report,” he said. (*)
Reporter: Hengky Yeimo
Editor: Aryo Wisanggeni G
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3) Indonesia dismisses UN experts' call to probe alleged abuses in Papua
Reuters Jakarta ● Wed, March 2, 2022
Reuters Jakarta ● Wed, March 2, 2022 Indonesian has dismissed a call by United Nations human rights experts for independent investigations into reports of "shocking abuses" against indigenous Papuans, saying that the government has already tackled the accusations.
Separatists have waged a low-level campaign for independence in the resource-rich region for decades, saying a 1969 vote overseen by the United Nations that brought the former Dutch colony under Indonesian control was illegitimate. In a statement on Tuesday, three independent UN experts said that between April and November 2021 they had received allegations that indicated several instances of extrajudicial killings, including young children, enforced disappearance, torture and enforced displacement of at least 5,000 Papuans.
Describing the UN experts' statement as "biased", Indonesia's permanent mission to Geneva in a statement said the news release disregarded "verifiable data and information" that has already been submitted by Indonesia on the same allegations. It denied authorities had obstructed aid or carried out forced displacements and said people had been displaced due to a range of factors including natural disasters and tribal conflict. The statement said security forces needed to be deployed in some areas because of attacks against civilians by "armed criminal groups.”
The statement from the UN experts cited estimates that 60,000 to 100,000 people had been internally displaced in Papua since an escalation of violence in December 2018.
"Thousands of displaced villagers have fled to the forests where they are exposed to the harsh climate in the highlands without access to food, healthcare and education facilities," said the experts. In a letter sent to Indonesia's government on Dec. 27, the experts also highlighted increasing violence since 2021 and said there has been a "surge" in raids to capture armed separatists that led to arbitrary arrests and detentions.
One of the cases cited was that of a two-year old who died after a gunfight, though separatists and security forces had differing accounts as to how the child died. Citing reports that aid to displaced Papuans was being obstructed, the experts called for humanitarian access and for independent monitors and journalists to be allowed access.
"The experts called for urgent humanitarian access to the region, and urged the Indonesian government to conduct full and independent investigations into abuses against the indigenous peoples."
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Mongabay Series
4) Podcast: The Trans-Papua Highway could lose billions and deforest millions of hectares
by Mike DiGirolamo on 2 March 2022
- Set to run some 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) and being built over the course of decades, the Trans-Papua Highway cuts across the entire length of Indonesian New Guinea’s two provinces.
- While nearly complete, it has not yet fully interlinked major cities, and has raised concerns among experts that it could open up the world’s third-largest swath of tropical rainforest to further deforestation. Tanah Papua has already lost 750,000 hectares of forest cover (1.85 million acres) over the past 20 years.
- A study published last September warns that if the Trans-Papua Highway spurs a similar spate of development on Papua as the Trans-Kalimantan Highway did on Borneo, the region could lose up to an additional 4.5 million hectares (11.12 million acres) of forest cover by 2036.
- For this episode of the Mongabay Explores podcast, we interview David Gaveau, who founded The TreeMap (a forest loss monitoring platform), and distinguished professor at James Cook University, Bill Laurance to discuss the impacts the Trans-Papua Highway could have for Indonesian New Guinea.
The fourth episode in the New Guinea series of Mongabay Explores uncovers the massive Trans-Papua Highway, the potential it has to deforest the largest protected area in Southeast Asia, and potential pathways forward for conservation. Listen here:
This week we interviewed David Gaveau, research associate at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and founder of The TreeMap. Gaveau was an author of a study published in September detailing the potential of forest loss that the Trans-Papua Highway could inflict on New Guinea.
We also spoke with Bill Laurance, distinguished professor and director of the Center for Tropical, Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Australia. Laurance explained the environmental, financial and social costs of the project, which runs through Indonesia’s Lorentz National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Gaveau and his team at The TreeMap found positive correlations between the expansion of the Trans-Papua Highway and the expansion of oil palm plantations during the peak building phases of the road. While deforestation related to oil palm has declined for four consecutive years, both Gaveau and Laurance worry that’s about to change. Gaveau emphasized the urgent need for the central government to recognize Indigenous territories and center any development around the needs and desires of Indonesian New Guinea’s local inhabitants, as outlined in the 2018 Manokwari Declaration signed by the governments of Papua and West Papua provinces.
Mongabay Explores is an ongoing episodic podcast series about the world’s unique places and species. Each season dives into new areas of amazing natural heritage to environmental challenges and conservation solutions. This season, it’s exploring the great conservation and cultural richness of New Guinea. If you missed the first three episodes in this season, you can listen to them here.
If you want to hear our previous episode on the birds-of-paradise, and the potential for ecotourism to provide economic development to Papua’s original inhabitants listen here:
Related Reading:
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Sounds heard during the intro and outro include the following: rusty mouse-warbler, growling riflebird, raggiana/lesser bird-of-paradise, superb fruit-dove, long-billed honeyeater, little shrike-thrush, brown cuckoo-dove, black-capped lory. Special thanks to Tim Boucher and Bruce Beehler for identifying them.
Soundscape credit: recorded in the Adelbert Mountains in Papua New Guinea by the communities of Musiamunat, Yavera and Iwarame in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Zuzana Burivalova/Sound Forest Lab.
Banner Image: A part of the Trans Papua highway that snakes across Indonesia’s easternmost provinces Papua and West Papua. Photo courtesy of Public Works and Housing Ministry.
Mike DiGirolamo is Mongabay’s audience engagement associate. Find him on Twitter @MikeDiGirolamo, Instagram, or TikTok via @midigirolamo.
Citation:
Gaveau, D. L. A., Santos, L., Locatelli, B., Salim, M. A., Husnayaen, H., Meijaard, E., … Sheil, D. (2021). Forest loss in Indonesian New Guinea (2001–2019): Trends, drivers and outlook. Biological Conservation, 261, 109225. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109225
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