1) Million hectares of Merauke forest lost and converted

2) ‘Bloody Paniai Trial should be in Jayapura, not Makassar Court’: KontraS

3) Prasad criticises NZ, Australia over not addressing democratic deficit in Pacific region  

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https://en.jubi.id/million-hectares-of-merauke-forest-lost-and-converted/

1) Million hectares of Merauke forest lost and converted 

Forest Loss - News Desk 26 July 2022

Merauke, Jubi – In the last two decades, or during 2001-2021, 925,000 hectares of forest area in Merauke Regency have been lost, while 2,652,335 have been converted “for development and growth” during the same period.

Reports on the loss of forest areas in Merauke are produced through the Hansen Global Forest Change v1.9 2021 satellite image – the Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA dataset accessed via Google Earth Engine on Monday, July 25, 2022.

Using remote sensing data developed by the University of Indonesia’s Geographical Lecturer Masita Dwi Mandini Manesa, the data shows that 59.4 percent of Merauke’s total forest area of 4,461,166.92 hectares is used for plantations, agriculture, and food crops such as oil palm, industrial forests plantations (HTI), and food barn projects. Forest loss covers 20.73 percent of the total forest area. The Merauke Regency itself has an area of 46,792 square kilometers.

Monitored through satellite imagery, the lost forest area of Merauke is spread over 20 districts. Ulilin District is the area that has the most forest loss, namely 300,000 hectares, and 991,366 hectares of its forest areas have been converted.

Kaptel District lost 100,000 hectares of forest and had 199,233 hectares converted. Waan District lost 75,000 hectares and had 114,007 hectares converted. Meanwhile, Sota District lost 6,000 hectares and had 28,622 hectares converted; Kurik District lost 20,000 hectares and had 62,194 hectares converted; Okaba District lost 40,000 hectares and had 137,059 converted, and the Animha district lost 30,000 hectares, as well as having 79,220 hectares of its forest converted.

In Kimaam District, 60,000 hectares of forest area were lost while 97,641 hectares were converted. Malind District lost 6,000 hectares and had 27,202 hectares converted, while Muting District lost 60,000 hectares and had 211,770 hectares converted.

Furthermore, Ngguti District lost 60,000 hectares and had 217,421 hectares of forest area converted. Tubang District lost 15,000 hectares and had 30,741 hectares converted. Ilwayab District lost 15,000 hectares and had 38,235 hectares converted. Jagebob District lost 40,000 hectares and had 59,046 hectares converted. Tabonji District lost 10,000 hectares and had 23,616 hectares converted. Elikobel District lost 60,000 hectares and had 205,349 converted. Semangga District lost 4,000 hectares and had 20,861 hectares converted. Naukenjerai District lost 7,500 hectares and had 36,345 hectares converted. Tanah Miring District lost 15,000 hectares and had 64,100 hectares converted. Finally, the least forest area lost is in Merauke District, the capital city of Merauke Regency, which was 1,500 hectares while the converted forest area was 8,703 hectares. (*)

Writer: News DeskEditor: News Desk

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https://en.jubi.id/bloody-paniai-trial-should-be-in-jayapura-not-makassar-court-kontras/

2) ‘Bloody Paniai Trial should be in Jayapura, not Makassar Court’: KontraS 

Bloody Paniai Trial - News Desk 26 July 2022

Jayapura, Jubi TV – Impunity Monitoring head of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Tioria Pretty said an Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for the Bloody Paniai case should be established at the Jayapura District Court. Tioria said she was surprised that the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) delegated the case file to the Makassar District Court.

The delegation was based on Article 45 paragraph (2) letter c. Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts. Tioria said it was incorrect to base the delegation on that article because the provision actually stipulates that the first Papua human rights trial be tried at the Makassar Human Rights Court. “The next trial should be held in Jayapura,” she said during a discussion held by the Alliance for Democracy for Papua (AlDP) on Friday, July 22, 2022.

She further said that Article 3 of the Human Rights Court Law should instead be the main basis for determining which District Court should establish the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for the Bloody Paniai case. “The Human Rights Court Law itself mandates that the trial of the Human Rights Court is held where the case occurred. The Attorney General’s Office should have noticed the article,” said Tioria.

Tioria also assessed that the AGO’s move to delegate the Bloody Paniai case file to the Makassar District Court proved that the Special Autonomy Law had failed to promote and spread human rights in Papua. That is because Article 45 of the old Papua Special Autonomy Law No. 21/2001 actually mandates the government to establish a Human Rights Court in Papua.

“From 2001 until now there has been no change in terms of justice for human rights violations that have occurred in Papua,” she said.

Meanwhile, United for Truth secretary Nehemia Yarinab said the state must give justice to the victims of human rights violations and their families, including the Bloody Paniai tragedy.

“The Indonesian government should not only seek a good name. If the government’s motivation is only for a good image, the process of resolving human rights violations will never be completed, and the victims and the victims’ families will continue to be hurt,” he said. (*)

Writer: News DeskEditor: News Desk

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https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/471647/prasad-criticises-nz-australia-over-not-addressing-democratic-deficit-in-pacific-region

3) Prasad criticises NZ, Australia over not addressing democratic deficit in Pacific region

7:05 pm on 26 July 2022  

A Fijian political leader is calling out the Australian and New Zealand governments on their "deafening silence" on human rights issues in the region.

The leader of the opposition National Federation Party in Fiji, Biman Prasad, has called out the two countries for not acknowledging what he described as 'the declining standards of democracy, governance, human rights, media freedom and freedom of speech issues in some Pacific countries.

Prasad said the recent 2022 Pacific Islands Leaders' Forum ended with prime minister Anthony Albanese and Jacinda Ardern refusing to speak up on the decline in the standards of democracy.

"What concerns me is that the Pacific Forum is an important leaders' meeting and both Australia and New Zealand are members," Professor Prasad told RNZ Pacific.

"One would have expected, even to the dislike of some within the forum, at least some mention of how the Pacific Forum is going to deal with declining standards of democracy, good governance, human rights, media freedom and freedom of speech," he said.

"[But] no word from leaders, particularly Australia and New Zealand, was a bit concerning."

The Forum leaders' meeting, he said, failed to address glaring issues, such as, the Fiji government's spat with the head of the regionally-owned University of the South Pacific, questionable governance practices and attacks on free speech in Solomon Islands, a judiciary under siege in Kiribati, ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua, and the deterioration of decolonisation arrangements in New Caledonia.

According to Prasad, Albanese and Ardern refused to discuss these in Suva because they feared it would push Pacific nations "further into the arms of China".

Such a stance gives credibility to the claim that "Australia and New Zealand are preoccupied with their own strategic interests first, before the interests of Pacific Island countries," he wrote in a Development Policy Center blog last week.

"I can speak about Fiji more specifically. As leader of opposition political party in parliament, I experienced first-hand the bullying, the intimidation by this government and the declining standards of democracy, of transparency and accountability," he said.

"Fiji continues to behave in the guise of championing climate change around the world that everything is hunky dory in Fiji, it is not and that is why the forum is important."

He said "appeasing autocratic leaders" to keep Beijing at bay was unacceptable and the sooner Canberra and Wellington realised appeasement was not the best strategy, the better it would be for the region.

RNZ Pacific contacted both the Australian and New Zealand governments for comment.

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had no comment to make on Prasad's blog.

While a spokesperson for Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia had a long-standing history of supporting work to strengthen regional action in support of human rights.

"Our focus was on the contributions we can make as a member of the Pacific family, rather than what others may be doing," it said.

"Australia will talk to partner governments directly where we have concerns about democracy, transparency and the rule of law."

Australia will be contributing up to A$7.7 million ($8.6 million] over the next four-and-a-half years to support the Pacific Community in implementing the Human Rights and Social Development Division Business Plan to strengthen human rights in the region.

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