Friday, September 20, 2024

1) Separatist rebels say Indonesian army attacks threaten the safety of kidnapped New Zealand pilot


2) Human Rights Watch publishes new report: ““If It’s Not Racism, What Is It?”  Discrimination and Other Abuses Against Papuans in Indonesia

3) Yahukimo Police intimidate KNPB members in Yahukimo – House search carried out without warrant





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1) Separatist rebels say Indonesian army attacks threaten the safety of kidnapped New Zealand pilot

Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua region have warned that military attacks in recent days to rescue a New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage over a year ago could instead threaten his safety
ByNINIEK KARMINI Associated Press
September 20, 2024, 4:33 AM

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive Papua region warned Friday that increased Indonesian military attacks in recent days to rescue a New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage over a year ago could instead threaten his safety.

Independence fighters led by Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, stormed a single-engine plane on a small runway in Paro and abducted Philip Mark Mehrtens on Feb. 7, 2023. The pilot from Christchurch was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air.

His abduction reflected the deteriorating security situation in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia.

Kogoya initially said the rebels would not release Mehrtens unless Indonesia’s government allows Papua to become a sovereign country.

Despite promises from other leaders of the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, known as TPNPB, that they would let Mehrtens go, the pilot is still being held.

The rebels issued a proposal on Tuesday for freeing Mehrtens that outlined terms including news media involvement in his release. 

“The Indonesian Government appears to be ignoring the TPNPB Proposal for the release of the Susi Air Pilot from New Zealand,” rebel spokesperson Sabby Sambom said in a statement Friday. “Therefore, the NZ Government must be serious and urge their friendly country, Indonesia, to stop the Military operations during the process, because it endangers the life of the New Zealand Pilot Philip Mark Mehrtens.”

Sambom said the Indonesian government has deployed more troops in Nduga, a regency in Papua Mountains province known as a rebel hotbed, and launched airstrikes with helicopters since Monday on the TPNPB headquarters in Alguru village, where the pilot is believed to be held.

A spokesperson for New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry said Friday that officials were aware of the rebels' proposal, and that New Zealand would continue to work closely with all parties for Mehrtens’ release and would not discuss the details of its efforts publicly. 

In another statement on Thursday, Sambom said Indonesian soldiers with tanks were on their way from neighboring Wamena district to Alguru to rescue the pilot.


The Cartenz Peace Taskforce, the joint security force set up by the Indonesian government to deal with separatist groups in Papua, could not immediately be reached for comment on the rebels’ statements.

In April, armed separatists attacked Indonesian troops who were deployed to rescue Mehrtens. The group sent a letter the next month to Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Sambom said they received a response indicating that Widodo would negotiate with the TPNPB, but there was no further communication.

Indonesian authorities have said they are making efforts to free Mehrtens “by prioritizing persuasive aspects and approaches.”

In August, gunmen stormed a helicopter and killed its New Zealand pilot, Glen Malcolm Conning, after it landed in Alama, a remote village in the Mimika district of Central Papua province. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack, and the rebels and Indonesian authorities have blamed each other.

In 1996, the Free Papua Movement abducted 26 members of a World Wildlife Fund research mission in Mapenduma. Two kidnapped Indonesians were killed by their abductors. The remaining hostages were freed within five months.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot that was widely seen as a sham. Since then, a low-level insurgency has simmered in the region, which was divided into five provinces last year to boost development in Indonesia’s poorest region. Conflict has spiked in the past year, with dozens of rebels, security forces and civilians killed.


Associated Press writer Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.


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Human Rights Monitor


2) Human Rights Watch publishes new report: ““If It’s Not Racism, What Is It?” Discrimination and Other Abuses Against Papuans in Indonesia

Human Rights News / Indonesia, West Papua / 20 September 2024 





Summary

Nineteen-year-old Alfa Hisage was arrested on August 30, 2019, for joining a student-led protest against anti-Papuan racism in Jayapura, a city in the Indonesian territory of West Papua. He told Human Rights Watch that at the police station, officers beat and racially abused him, particularly for his dreadlocks. “They pushed my head on the table,” he said. “And they used a bayonet to cut off my hair.”
The Indigenous Papuan population of Indonesia has long encountered racial discrimination based on their ethnic origin, including from government agencies and institutions, as well as in laws and regulations. Ever since the Netherlands turned over West Papua to the newly independent government of Indonesia following a deeply flawed United Nations resolution in 1969, many Papuans have sought independence – primarily peacefully but also through the force of arms – from Indonesian rule.
The Indonesian government has responded with numerous grave abuses by the government security forces, the isolation of West Papua from the rest of the world, and the arrest, prosecution, and long prison terms for Papuan activists who have peacefully called for independence or other forms of self-determination. The Indonesian authorities have encouraged tens of thousands of non-Papuan families to work and to settle in West Papua, which has driven many Indigenous Papuans from their land.
The resistance of Papuans and many non-Papuans in Indonesia to discrimination took on a new dimension following an August 17, 2019 attack by security forces on a Papuan student dormitory in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, in which the students were subjected to racial insults. The attack renewed discussions on anti-Papuan racial discrimination and sovereignty for West Papua. Papuan students and others acting through a social media movement called Papuan Lives Matter, inspired by Black Lives Matter in the United States, took part in a wave of protests that broke out in many parts of Indonesia. Alfa Hisage was among the many students who joined the demonstrations.
The Indonesian government responded by detaining hundreds. Papuans Behind Bars, a nongovernmental organization that monitors politically motivated arrests in West Papua, recorded 418 new cases from October 2020 to September 2021. At least 245 of them were charged, found guilty, and jailed for joining the protests, with 109 convicted of “treason.” However, while in the past, Papuans charged with political offenses typically were sentenced to years – in many cases, 10 years or more – of imprisonment, in the recent cases, perhaps because of international and domestic attention and pressure, the courts handed down much shorter sentences, and many of those convicted were soon released because they had already served much of their term in pretrial detention.
Victor Yeimo, a prominent Papuan rights activist and spokesperson for the West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB), was arrested on May 9, 2021, but had to be hospitalized for tuberculosis three months later. He was eventually detained again in January 2023 to face trial for treason, and was convicted. When he was released after completing his one-year jail sentence (including pre-trial detention) on September 23, 2023, he was welcomed at a large public gathering, where he called on Papuans to resist racial discrimination: “It is imperative that the Papuan people learn that the annexation of this region is based on racist prejudice.”
West Papuan independence campaigners have largely protested peacefully against repression by Indonesians authorities. However, since the 1960s a small Papuan separatist insurgency has mainly targeted Indonesian security forces, but has also at times targeted Indonesian settlers to West Papua, foreign workers and corporations, and others they claim to be “spies.” The Indonesian military has been deployed in West Papua in large numbers to counter the insurgents. Secessionist demands have also been fueled by countless government and security force human rights violations.
Human Rights Watch takes no position on claims for independence in Indonesia or in any other country. We support the right of everyone to peacefully express their political views, including for independence, without fear of arrest or other forms of reprisal. The Indonesian government has legitimate security concerns in West Papua stemming from Papuan militant attacks. But these provide no justification for the government’s failure to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law prohibitions against arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and ill-treatment of persons in custody, and unlawful killings.
This report profiles cases of Papuan activists convicted after the Papuan Lives Matter protests, and also describes ongoing human rights violations rooted in racial discrimination, in particular, the right to education and to the highest attainable standard of health. We also documented recent abuses by security forces and Papuan militants during the ongoing conflict.


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Human Rights Monitor


3) Yahukimo Police intimidate KNPB members in Yahukimo – House search carried out without warrant

Cases / Indonesia, West Papua / 19 September 2024 
On 14 August 2024, members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) in the Dekai District, Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province, experienced acts of intimidation and unauthorised search by members of the 1715 Kodim (military district command) and Brimob (mobile brigade corps). The operation was led by Yahukimo Police Chief, Commissioner Heru Hidayanto. Six KNPB members were present at their office when the security forces arrived, resulting in a tense confrontation and forceful entry into the KNPB office.
The incident began with surveillance activities on 13 August 20214, with two vehicles monitoring the KNPB office. On August 14, the surveillance intensified. At 3:20 pm, a large contingent of security forces, comprising nine vehicles including armoured cars and patrol vehicles from various units, arrived at the KNPB office. Despite attempts by KNPB members to negotiate and clarify that no demonstrations were planned for 15 August 2024, the security forces forcibly entered the office without providing a warrant. They searched the office and took photographs of the premises. The operation concluded around 3:40 pm when the forces withdrew. 
The incident raises serious concerns about respect for civil liberties, freedom of association, and the use of intimidation tactics against political activists in West Papua, Indonesia.

Security force vehicles approaching the KNPB office in the Dekai District, Yahukimo Regency, on 14 August 2024

Detailed Case Data
name of the location: Dekai (-4.874653772472966, 139.48856096842403)
administrative region: Indonesia, Papua Pegunungan Province, Yahukimo Regency, Dekai District
total number of victims: six
period of incident: 14.08.2024
perpetrator: police, other security forces
perpetrator details: 1715 Kodim and Brimob
Issues: freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, indigenous peoples, intimidation 
Sources: 
Further HRM News:
NumberName, DetailsGenderAgeGroup AffiliationViolations
6unknownunknownunknownindigenous, activistfreedom of assembly, freedom of expression, intimidation

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