Papua Quarterly Report Q1 2025: Papua Quarterly Report Q1 2025: Bombardments & Displacement: Military Expands Civilian Reach and New War Doctrine Amid Protests
Summary
Human rights
Between January and March 2025, the human rights situation in West Papua was marked by a series of security force operations across various regencies in the central highlands, some of which were accompanied by aerial bombings near civilian settlements. The increased military presence and counter-insurgency operations led to new internal displacements in the affected areas (see conflict section) and also resulted in an unusually high number of torture cases during this reporting period (see table above). Armed violence significantly escalated in Intan Jaya, where the Indonesian military (TNI) reportedly conducted bombardments near civilian settlements in response to an attack by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). Meanwhile, the human rights community in West Papua has lost one of its most senior and prominent human rights defenders. Mr Yones Douw passed away in his home in Nabire on 2 February 2025.
During a visit to Indonesia in March 2025, Amnesty International Secretary General, Mrs Agnes Callamard, expressed concerns regarding the entrenched impunity in Indonesia, particularly in West Papua, where military and police actors routinely escape prosecution for extrajudicial killings, torture, and suppression of civil space, as law enforcement institutions fail to ensure accountability for human rights violations. Throughout the reporting period, courts acquitted perpetrators while ignoring incriminating witness testimonies and evidence, and the law enforcement processes in various cases of extrajudicial executions, torture, and the Molotov attack against the media outlet Jubi faced significant delays and a lack of transparency. Solidarity groups and human rights activists advocating for justice in such cases have faced suppression, intimidation, and physical assault.
In several regencies across West Papua, educational services are facing severe disruptions, with thousands of students unable to access basic education. Recent reports from multiple locations highlight a troubling pattern of abandoned schools, absent teachers, and students left without educational opportunities. Cases documented throughout the reporting period show that structural failures have also affected West Papua’s healthcare system. While the disparities between urban and rural areas regarding the availability, accessibility, quality, and adequacy of healthcare are a long-standing issue in the region, it is alarming that recent cases also indicate a growing deterioration of services in the urban areas. In the general hospital in Nabire, over 200 health workers at the Nabire General Hospital (RSUD), including doctors, nurses, and midwives, went on strike, demanding months of unpaid incentives dating back to late 2024.
Meanwhile, the extensive exploitation of West Papua’s national resources continues. Cases of mining are driving conflicts and destroying the environmentthat indigenous communities depend on as their source of livelihood. Government-driven agricultural mega-projects have become a major threat to the existence of many indigenous tribes across West Papua. The most prominent example is the Strategic National Project (PSN) in Merauke, where the government has planned to develop rice and sugar cane on 2 million hectares of customary land without the free, prior, informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous communities. The indigenous Marind Anim people of South Papua, alongside hundreds of indigenous activists from across Indonesia, have issued a powerful rejection of the PSN that threatens their land, culture, and livelihoods. The implementation of the PSN was handed over to the TNI and started in September 2024. It is highly concerning that the military and the police keep pushing into civilian spaces, particularly in the field of agriculture. In a controversial move, the Indonesian National Police (Polri) launched a large-scale corn cultivation project targeting 1.7 million hectares of land across the country, including in Jayapura.
Conflict
As of 1 April 2025, more than 86,886 people in West Papua remain internally displaced as a result of armed conflict between Indonesian security forces and the TPNPB. HRM documented 24 armed attacks and clashes throughout the first quarter of 2025. The figure of IDPs has risen again after Indonesian security forces intensified operations in the regencies of Nduga, Pegunungan Bintang, and Puncak in January and February 2025.
Hostilities in Intan Jaya increased significantly after TPNPB fighters attacked an Indonesian military convoy in the Janamba village on 27 March 2025. Thereupon, the Indonesian military launched counterinsurgency operations across multiple districts, targeting what they claimed were insurgent positions. Evidence collected by local human rights defenders indicates that civilian areas were indiscriminately bombarded, resulting in widespread displacement and at least one civilian death. On 23 March 2025, TPNPB members attacked teachers and health workers in the Angguruk Village, Yahukimo Regency, killing one of them and leaving seven others injured.
The deployments to conflict areas in the central highlands are part of the military’s (TNI) new combat tactics in West Papua. TNI General Agus Subiyanto announced in late January 2025 that he would make fundamental changes to its war doctrine, allowing the TNI to be more adaptive and capable of dealing with the guerrilla war in West Papua. General Subiyanto elaborated that the change would include technical adjustments, improving soldiers’ tactical capabilities, and modernising combat equipment.
The period between January and March 2025 was marked by a high number of fatalities among both Indonesian security forces and civilians. Ten members of the security forces were killed, and one was injured during this period. In contrast, the TPNPB reportedly lost no combatants during hostilities. The armed hostilities between the conflicting parties also affected civilians, with four civilians killed and eight injured by the TPNPB, and two killed and four wounded by security force members during armed clashes or counter-insurgency operations.
The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) condemned the use of public facilities such as schools, district offices, and churches as security posts by the TNI and police in West Papua, stating that it constitutes a human rights violation. According to local human rights observers, the TNI continues to occupy public facilities in the Maybrat, Nduga, and Pegunungan Bintang regencies.
Political developments
The Indonesian President, President Prabowo Subianto, launched the ‘Free Nutritious Food’ Project (Makanan Bergizi Gratis, MBG) across Indonesia, with a large-scale rollout scheduled for February 2025. In West Papua, thousands of students in the regencies of Jayawijaya, Yalimo, Jayapura, Paniai, Deiyai, and Nabire held peaceful protests against the program, criticising the involvement of the military and demanding free education instead of free lunch meals. Security forces violently suppressed protests in Wamena, Yalimo, Timika, Jayapura, Sentani, and Nabire, including the use of tear gas, beatings, mass arrests, and intimidation of students inside schools.
On 10 March 2025, TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto disclosed a list of government institutions legally authorised to appoint active-duty TNI soldiers to civilian posts, based on Article 47 of Law No. 34 of 2004 concerning the TNI. These agencies include key strategic institutions, including the Supreme Court. According to the Indonesian human rights organisation ‘Imparsial’, approximately 2,500 active TNI soldiers currently occupy civilian positions in direct violation of the same TNI Law.
A closed-door meeting on the amendments held at the Fairmont Hotel in Jakarta on 15 March became controversial when three civil society activists protesting the secretive process were reported to the police by hotel security, allegedly for disturbing public order. On 20 March 2025, the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) officially adopted amendments to Law Number 34 of 2004 on the Indonesian National Army (TNI). Widespread protests across Indonesia erupted in response to the government’s controversial revision of the law. Student-led demonstrations in various cities were met with forceful responses from security forces, raising serious concerns about police violence, the stifling of civil society participation, and the erosion of democratic freedoms in Indonesia.
International developments
The Pacific state of Vanuatu, in cooperation with the Federated State of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Samoa, delivered a joint statement on the situation of human rights defenders in West Papua during the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders on 6 March 2025 at the 18th Meeting of the 58th Session of the Human Rights Council. Christian Solidarity International (CSI) delivered another statement at the UN Human Rights Council on 28 March 2025, warning of the Indonesian government’s plans to expand its military presence and exploit natural resources in West Papua.
The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is a policy designed to ensure that products entering the EU market are deforestation-free as part of the European Union (EU) target to reach climate neutrality by 2050. The EUDR mandates that companies conduct rigorous due diligence to verify that their supply chains are free from deforestation, forest degradation, and associated human rights violations. It holds profound implications for West Papua and Indonesia, where agribusiness expansion and related investments have been linked to widespread environmental destruction and human rights abuses.
Over 120 civil society organisations from Europe and Indonesia, including Human Rights Monitor, have called on the European Union and Indonesia to end negotiations on a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The EU-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) being developed will likely pose significant risks to environmental and human rights, particularly for indigenous peoples and other vulnerable groups in the Indonesian archipelago. The EU is particularly interested in finalising an agreement due to Indonesia’s vast nickel reserves, which are key components of electric vehicle batteries.
Full Report
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