JAKARTA—The acquittal by an Indonesian human rights court of a retired army officer from charges over the killing of four Papuan teens in 2014 was a sign of impunity, a representative of the families said.
The families called for the case to be reopened after a human rights court in Makassar, in South Sulawesi province, acquitted Isak Settu on Thursday from charges of “crimes against humanity”.
An earlier Indonesian human rights commission found that the military had shot the four high-school students during protests in Paniai, a central area of Papua province where a long-simmering insurgency has often flared into violence.
“We, the victims’ families and witnesses, see that the country commits impunity, and protects the perpetrators of the case of gross human rights violations in Paniai,” Yones Douw, who represents the victims’ families, told AFP late on Friday.
Settu faced 10 years in jail over his alleged role in the incident, when Indonesian security forces opened fire on a crowd protesting against the beatings of Papuan youths by the army.
The earlier human rights commission found that rank-and-file soldiers and their superiors were to blame for the deaths of the students, aged 17 and 18, as well as wounding another 21 demonstrating Papuans.
The incident constituted “gross human rights violations”, the commission, known as Komnas HAM, concluded in 2020.
Settu was the only officer brought to trial over the incident and was acquitted of all charges in Thursday’s hearing, which was live-streamed.
He was a liaison officer during the incident and the court ruled he did not have effective command of the local military office when the shooting occurred.
Two of the five judges dissented from the ruling, arguing that Settu was the highest-ranking officer there at the time and thus could be held responsible for failing to control the conduct of the troops.
“This verdict is yet another slap in the face not only for victims and families of victims of the Paniai shootings, but also for victims of other gross human rights violations in Indonesia who for years have demanded justice and accountability,” Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia executive director, said in a statement.
Usman also said it was hard to believe that only one officer had been brought to trial.
The human rights trial, a special jurisdiction, was the first in Indonesia since 2004. No perpetrators were punished in the three previous human rights trials.
The victims’ families also sent a letter, seen by AFP, to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Volker Türk, asking for help in pushing the Indonesian government to reopen the case.
Indonesia’s military has been accused of committing atrocities against Papuan civilians during a decades-long insurgency seeking independence for the mineral-rich province.
A former Dutch colony, Papua declared itself independent in 1961 but neighbouring Indonesia took control two years later. A subsequent vote in favour of staying part of Indonesia was widely considered a sham.
Rights activists in Indonesia’s Papua region have demanded a re-investigation into the 2014 Paniai shooting that killed four Christian students after a court acquitted the only defendant in the case.
The United Nations has expressed concern over threats to civil liberties posed by Indonesia's new criminal code, warning the revised laws could result in the erosion of press freedom, privacy and human rights in the world's third-largest democracy.
The House of Representatives approved the legislative overhaul on Tuesday, part of a decades long process to replace its colonial-era penal code.
The criminal code includes laws that make it an offence to insult the president, the national flag and state institutions.
The laws also require people to get a permit to hold a protest and bans spreading fake news and views counter to state ideology.
Other articles which officials say aim to uphold "Indonesian values" in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation criminalise sex outside of marriage, cohabitation between unmarried couples, the promotion of contraception to minors and abortion for non-rape victims.
"The UN is concerned that several articles in the revised Criminal Code contravene Indonesia's international legal obligations with respect to human rights," the UN's local office said in a statement released on Thursday.
"Some articles have the potential to criminalise journalistic work… Others would discriminate against, or have a discriminatory impact on, women, girls, boys and sexual minorities," it said.
The code could also affect reproductive and privacy rights and exacerbate gender-based violence based on sexual orientation and identity, the statement said.
Civil society groups have slammed the new laws saying the changes constitute a huge democratic setback, and pose a particular risk to LGBT people, who could be disproportionately impacted by the so-called morality clauses.
"Same-sex couples cannot marry in Indonesia, so this clause also effectively renders all same-sex conduct illegal," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Responding to criticism of the criminal code, the Law and Human Rights Ministry noted the morality laws, which will not come into effect for another three years, can only be reported by limited parties, such as a spouse, parent or child.
"Investors and foreign tourists don't have to worry about investing and travelling inIndonesia, because people's privacy is still guaranteed by law," the ministry said in a statement.
The visit was organized jointly with officials from the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR/BPN) and the Ministry of Agriculture and facilitated by Analisis Papua Strategis (APS), according to FAO Indonesia's statement on Saturday.
One of the main objectives of the visit was to look at opportunities to promote and diversify local food production in Papua from various sources, including non-timber forest products.
"This is an opportunity to explore possible areas of collaboration to support the resilience of local farmers by building on their ongoing efforts and improving their livelihoods," Aryal remarked.
He noted that food systems in the world were affected by several problems, such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate changes, and ongoing conflict in Ukraine that had chiefly affected food systems at the global level.
"We are facing the 5F crisis -- food, fuel, finance, feed, and fertilizer -- and this is the time to look for innovative approaches to transform the agri-food systems. Indonesia has alternative crops that can be further explored," he explained.
"Sago has the potential as an alternative flour as gluten-free products, and this could also be in the interest of the local population. Sago is a part of the life of the local people here," he explained.
In Papua, Aryal paid a courtesy call on the heads of Jayapura and Yahukimo regencies, conducted field visits, and held a technical discussion with Papuan intellectuals at Cendrawasih University and the Papua regional development agency.
The discussion mainly focused on boosting the farmers' resilience, diversifying food production and consumption, strengthening food reserves, conducting technical know-how transfer, and promoting agricultural exports with masyarakat adat as the new platform.
Aryal said that working with the indigenous community remains the key in Papua, and the FAO has wide experience in doing so.
"We need to work together with the communities, relevant authorities, international development partners, and other stakeholders to provide direct benefits to the communities. Coordination and harmonization therefore remain extremely crucial in this endeavor," he stated.
Papua is an inland in Indonesia that is located at the eastern tip of the country's territory, with natural resources that have high economic and strategic value.
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