Indonesian Govt Must Take Action To Address Papua Violations
INDONESIA: The Indonesian Government Must Take Action To
Address
Serious Violations Of The Freedoms Of
Assembly And Expression In The
Papuan
Provinces
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
wishes to alert the Human Rights
Council (HRC) to the
human rights situation in Indonesia’s Papuan
provinces, notably concerning the freedoms of
expression, opinion and
assembly, as these are under
consideration during the HRC’s 20th
session. The ALRC
warmly welcomes the work of both Special Rapporteurs
working on these issues and hopes that the GoI will
cooperate fully with
their mandates, including by
enabling country visits without delay and
which include
full access to Papua.
The freedoms of expression and
assembly are a core battle-ground between
State
repression, exercised through abusive prosecutions, violence
and
heavy military deployment, and the legitimate
aspirations of indigenous
Papuans for peace, security,
development and human rights. Human rights
and political
activists in Papua are being arrested and detained by the
Indonesian authorities for expressing political views,
while
demonstrations are being met with excessive and
disproportionate force,
including beatings and even
fatal shootings of participants.
The ALRC recalls that, in
establishing the Special Procedures mandate on
the
freedom of association and assembly in October 2010, the
Human
Rights Council reaffirmed the rights to freedom of
peaceful assembly and
of association; recognizing these
freedoms as essential components of
democracy, providing
individuals with invaluable opportunities to
express
their political opinions; and recognizing further that
exercising the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly
and of association
free of restrictions is indispensable
to the full enjoyment of these
rights, particularly
where individuals may espouse minority or
dissenting
religious or political beliefs.
According to London-based
NGO TAPOL, which focusses on political
prisoners in
Papua, at least 77 Papuans have been detained and charged
with treason or other related charges since 2008.
Despite a number of
persons deemed internationally to be
political prisoners continuing to
be detained in Papuan,
Indonesia’s Minister of Law and Human Rights,
Amir
Syamsuddin, told to the media “there is no political
prisoner in
Papua,” after a visit to Abepura
correctional facility last March.
According to the
Minister, those being detained are simply “unlucky
citizens, as they have committed illegal activities.”
A similar
statement was delivered to the press in
December 2011 by the
Coordinating Minister for
Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Djoko
Suyanto.
The political prisoners whom Amir Syamsuddin
and Djoko Suyanto labelled
as ‘criminals’ were
charged with treason (makar) and other
treason-related
crimes under Articles 106, and 110 paragraph (1) of the
Indonesian Penal Code (KUHP). These articles are open to
abusive use by
the authorities, notably to punish
persons engaging in exercising their
rights to the
freedoms of assembly and expression. Article 106 comprises
vague terms enabling the authorities to sentence persons
to life
imprisonment - a maximum of twenty years
imprisonment - for any attempts
undertaken with the
intent of bringing the territory of the state wholly
or
partially under foreign domination or to separate parts
thereof.
Article 110 (1) allows for a maximum of six
years imprisonment for
conspiracy to commit ‘crimes
against the security of the state’ under
articles 104
to 108. KUPH Article 160 concerning incitement to use
violence against state officials carries a maximum
punishment of six
years imprisonment and is frequently
being abused to prosecute human
rights and independence
protesters.
The ALRC has documented a number of cases that
show a pattern of
repression against persons
participating in peaceful demonstrations or
seeking to
express their political views, as well as persons working in
favour of human rights. For example, the ALRC condemns
the arrests and
shooting of persons participating in the
Third Papuan People’s Congress,
which began on October
17, 2011 and lasted for three days. The Congress
was
attended by more than 4000 indigenous Papuan participants at
the
Taboria oval (Zaccheus Field) in Abepura, Papua. On
the final day of
this peaceful assembly, a declaration
concerning the right to
self-determination of indigenous
Papuans was read out, following which
security personnel
started violently dispersing Congress participants.
They
beat participants and arrested a number of them, including
Forkorus
Yaboisembut, Edison Waromi, August Kraar,
Dominikus Sorabut and Selfius
Bobii, who were charged
under articles 110 paragraph (1), 106 and 160 of
the
KUHP. On March 16, 2012, the Jayapura District Court found
them
guilty of makar under article 106 and sentenced
them to three years
imprisonment.
The arrests, trials
and convictions violate these persons’ human rights,
including the freedom of expression, as they were based
on overly vague
provisions that unduly restrict this
freedom. The Siracusa Principles on
the Limitation and
Derogation of Provisions in the ICCPR as well as the
Human Rights Committee in its concluding observations on
Belarus in 1997
have reaffirmed that laws restricting
freedom of expression should be
clear and any vague
provisions which limit such a right represent
violations
of Article 19 paragraph (3) of the ICCPR. Moreover, their
arrest and detention amount to the violation of the
right to liberty
which requires states to ensure that
the deprivation of liberty is
conducted in accordance
with law that is precisely formulated and only
when
there are objective and reasonable
justifications.
Furthermore, the ALRC has received
credible information from KontraS and
other local
sources regarding the arrest of fourteen people in Sentani
on May 2, 2012. On that day, a demonstration
commemorating the 49 years
of annexation of West Papua
by Indonesia was held. Protesters marched to
Sentani
where the grave of Theys Hiyo Eluay, a former Papuan leader
who
was assassinated by the army in 2001 with impunity,
is located. There
they attempted to raise the Morning
Star flag, which is a symbol of the
Papuan identity
permitted under the 2002 autonomy law, but they were
stopped by the officers of Jayapura District Police, who
arrested
fourteen of them. Twelve of these were later
released, but the two
others were charged under KUHP
Article 106 paragraph (1). In other
instances where
individuals have raised the Morning Star flag, armed
soldiers and police officers have attacked their
villages. On September
5, 2009, officers burnt 30 houses
and killed livestock in Jugum Village,
Bolakme District,
local villagers raised the Morning Star Flag and
refused
to take it down.
Violations of the freedoms of assembly
and expression in Papua are not
restricted to the misuse
of articles under the penal code, but also take
place
through a wider climate of fear that is created as a result
of
acts of violence, including killings. Alongside the
arrests of fourteen
people for attempting to raise the
Morning Star flag, other protesters
who had participated
in the commemoration were shot while on their way
home
in the area between Koramil 1701 Jayapura and the
Headquarters of
the Indonesian National Military (TNI
AD). One of them, Terjoli Weah,
was shot in the stomach
and was taken to the nearest hospital, but died
as a
result of his wounds. There has been no effective
investigation or
suspect named by the police to
date.
Such killings of persons who have participated in
peacefully
demonstrations have been documented
elsewhere. For example, workers of
PT Freeport Indonesia
in Timika conducted a strike which began on
September
15, 2011, asking the company to adjust their wages. The
management of the company, with the help of the police,
intimidated the
workers. PT Freeport Indonesia later
fired the striking workers. On
October 10, 2011, the
fired workers came to the office of the company to
protest the arbitrary termination of their employment.
Over 1000 workers
participated in the peaceful
demonstration, but they were blocked by
officers of the
Timika District Police, who opening fire against the
protesters, resulting in the death of Peter W. Ayamiseba
and the
injuring of nine other protesters.
Journalists
are also under threat and attack in Papua. Ardiansyah
Matra’is, a former journalist of Tabloid Jubi and a
local TV station in
Merauke, was found dead on July 30,
2010 in the Maro River, Merauke,
after having received
threats and intimidating messages for publishing
videos
and articles on illegal logging and land rights issues.
Despite
wounds indicating that Matra’is had been
subjected to physical violence
before his death, the
police claimed he had committed suicide.
The GoI continues
to restrict access by foreigners to the Papuan
provinces; they require police travel permits in order
to travel outside
of the Papuan capital Jayapura.
Special visas are required for foreign
journalists
seeking to report from Papua and mobile phone communication
is reportedly monitored by the intelligence services. In
2010, two
French journalists were detained after filming
a public rally. During
his visit to Indonesia in
February 2009 the German Federal Commissioner
for Human
Rights was not able to visit Papua. Cordaid and the ICRC are
also prevented from operating in Papua. German biologist
Pieper was shot
at on May 29, 2012 in Papua by unknown
persons.
During Indonesia’s Universal Periodic Review on
May 23, 2012, a number
of states expressed concern and
made recommendations with regard to the
Papuan
provinces. France urged the GoI to fully guarantee freedom
of
expression and ensure free access for civil society
and national
journalists to the Papuan provinces. The
United Kingdom noted an
increase in violence in the
provinces. Australia recommended that the
GoI uphold
freedom of expression, including political expression…for
all
its citizens, including by ensuring effective state
protection for
minorities. Germany recommended that the
GoI ensure that provisions of
the Indonesian Criminal
Code, such as articles 106 and 110, are not
misused to
restrict the freedom of speech.
While the government of
Indonesia accepted the recommendations made
above, the
following did not enjoy its support. Japan called on the GoI
to immediately halt reported human rights violations by
military and
police officers and address the general
climate of impunity in Papua.
The United States of
America called for the GoI to end prosecutions
under
Articles 106 and 110 of the criminal code for exercising the
internationally protected right of freedom of
expression, and
re-evaluate the convictions and
sentences of individuals prosecuted for
those actions.
Canada called on the GoI to take steps, particularly in
Papua, to increase protection for human rights defenders
against
stigmatization, intimidation and attacks and to
ensure respect for
freedom of expression and peaceful
protest, including through a review
of regulations that
can be used to restrict political expression, in
particular article 106 and 110 of the criminal code, and
the release of
those detained solely for peaceful
political activities.
The fact that the Government chose
not to accept recommendations that
are amongst those
that are most likely to directly and positively
address
these human rights violations, speaks to the government’s
unwillingness to tackle these violations
effectively.
Given the above, the ALRC requests the
intervention of the Human Rights
Council and its expert
mechanisms in order to urge the government of
Indonesia
to:
a. Fully cooperate with and invite the Special
Rapporteur on the
promotion and protection of the right
to freedom of opinion and
expression, as well as the
Special Rapporteur on freedom of association
and
assembly, to conduct country visits to Indonesia, with full
access
being granted to the Papuan provinces in
particular. Both of these
mandates have requested
visits, and Indonesia’s credibility concerning
its
assertions made during the UPR, in which it “reaffirmed
its absolute
and total commitment to…respect and
promote freedom of expression,” will
be measured by
its willingness to take such actions;
b. Revise articles
106, 110 paragraph (1) and 160 of the Penal Code in
accordance with international human rights laws and
standards, and
prevent any further abusive use of the
law as a tool to target and
punish human rights, the
media and independence activists in the Papuan
provinces;
c. Take credible steps to tackle impunity,
notably by impartially and
effectively investigating all
allegations of human rights violations,
including the
excessive use of force by security personnel that has
resulted in the death and injury of protesters as well
as activists in
Papua, and by punishing those
responsible in civilian courts, in a
transparent
manner.
# # #
*/About the ALRC/*/: The Asian Legal
Resource Centre is an independent
regional
non-governmental organisation holding general consultative
status with the Economic and Social Council of the
United Nations. It is
the sister organisation of the
Asian Human Rights Commission. The Hong
Kong-based group
seeks to strengthen and encourage positive action on
legal and human rights issues at the local and national
levels
throughout
Asia./
ENDS