2011 a Busy Year for Human Rights Investigations in Papua

2011 a Busy Year for Human Rights Investigations in Papua
January 04, 2012

Jayapura. The Papua office of the National Commission on Human Rights looked into 58 alleged violations of human rights in 2011, and was anticipating investigating at least that many cases in 2012.

Julles Ongge, the head of the Papua office of the commission known as Komnas HAM, said on Wednesday that the majority of those cases involved officers in the military and National Police.

“In almost 65 percent of human rights violation cases in Papua, the perpetrators are TNI [Indonesian Armed Forces] and National Police members,” Julles said.

Papua officially became part of Indonesia in 1969 and since has seen a low-level insurgency. Rights groups have repeatedly condemned security forces that are charged with killing civilians and imprisoning peaceful activists.

Of the 58 cases reviewed last year, two of the most serious — regarding the persecution of civilians in Puncak Jaya and the deadly crackdown on the Papuan People’s Congress in Abepura in October — have been forwarded to Komnas HAM Jakarta for further investigation.

“The Papua branch of Komnas HAM doesn’t have ‘pro justicia’ authority, so important cases are submitted to [Jakarta] to be handled,” he said.

Julles said the vastness of the Papua and West Papua provinces often made it difficult to look into every allegation of rights violations, but that Komnas HAM was seeking the help of local people in reporting new cases.

He also predicted that the number of cases investigated by the commission would rise in 2012.
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