Indonesian authorities
should independently investigate recent riots in Wamena, Papua that resulted in
33 deaths, Human Rights Watch said today. Since September 29, 2019, at least
8,000 indigenous Papuan and other Indonesians have been displaced from
their homes in Papua.
 |
| Burnt out vehicles stretch across a parking lot from Monday's violent protest in Wamena, Papua province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. |
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham) should
lead an investigation into the deaths and review the government’s policing
policy. The Indonesian government should also immediately allow the United
Nations human rights office unfettered access to Papua and West Papua provinces
to investigate the situation.
“At least 33 people died during
riots in Wamena in unclear circumstances,” said Brad Adams, Asia director
at Human Rights Watch. “An independent investigation is needed to examine the
role of the security forces and to prosecute anyone responsible for
wrongdoing.”
Human Rights Watch spoke with two
well-informed government officials and three indigenous Papuan men who had been
detained briefly by the Wamena police.
In August, Papuans took part in
protests across at least 30 cities in Indonesia that were preceded by an attack
by Indonesian militants on a West Papuan student dorm in Surabaya on August 17.
On August 18, a new teacher allegedly made racist taunts at Papuan students at
a public high school in Wamena.
The protests turned to pro-independence rallies, some of which
became deadly. At least 10 men, including an Indonesian soldier, were killed in
August in Deiyai and Jayapura in Papua.
In Jayapura, Indonesian settlers,
mostly ethnic Makassar, set up
checkpoints and attacked indigenous Papuans with clubs and
machetes. On September 1, a group of settlers attacked a student dorm in
Jayapura, most of whose residents were from Wamena, killing one student and
seriously wounding two others. The incident raised tensions between the two
different racial groups.
On September 23, Wamena students
protesting outside the Jayawijaya regent office were joined by a larger crowd
that burned the office. Violence escalated. Many shops, mostly owned by
Indonesians from other islands, burned down. Many of those killed were
found trapped inside their burned houses. The burning and some
killings continued on September 24.
The government shut down the
internet from September 23 to 29 in the vicinity of Wamena. The police listed
the names and origins of the 33 people who died. They included 8 Papuans,
including 2 children, and 25 people from elsewhere in Indonesia, including 3
children.
On September 27, Indonesia’s
National Police chief replaced the Papua police chief, Rudolf
Alberth Rodja, a non-Papuan, with Paulus
Waterpauw, an ethnic Papuan who had been the Papua police chief from
2015 to 2017.
In Wamena, the main city in the
area, the riots caused thousands of Papuan and non-Papuan residents to flee the city amid
the deterioration of security and rumors of an increased Indonesian military
deployment, ostensibly to prevent further violence.
More than 5,000 residents, both
Papuans and non-Papuans, have sought safety in several refuge points in
Jayawijaya regency, including the police station and two military posts. Some
are staying in churches. An Air Force officer said 2,000 evacuees had reported to
the military to leave Wamena on a Hercules transport plane.
Last December, Papuan militants
killed 17 Indonesian workers in Nduga, near Wamena. It prompted the Indonesian
military and police to initiate a security operation, displacing thousands of
indigenous Papuans. Thousands of them are still seeking refuge in Wamena and
Jayapura.
News about the recent deaths of
non-Papuans in Wamena has angered many Muslims in Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Java.
The Islamic Defenders Front, one of the largest Muslim militias in Java, had
started to call on Muslims for “jihad” against predominantly Christian Papuans in
the two provinces.
Human Rights Watch has long
documented human rights abuses in Papua’s central highlands, where
the military and police have frequently engaged in deadly confrontations with
armed groups.
Indonesian security forces have
often committed abuses against the Papuan population, including arbitrary
detention and torture. A lack of internal accountability within the security
forces and a poorly functioning justice system mean that impunity for rights
violators is the norm in Papua. The failure to appropriately punish serious
abuses by Indonesian security forces has fueled resentment among Papuans.
The Indonesian security forces
should exercise care when operating in Wamena, directing all security personnel
to treat residents in accordance with international standards. They should transparently
investigate and hold accountable anyone implicated in a criminal offense.
Both
the military and the police should allow journalists to operate independently
in the area. The government should lift the decades-long official restriction on foreign media access
to Papua.
“The situation in Wamena is
tense, yet it’s difficult to verify the circumstances because no journalists
can independently go into the area to interview witnesses,” Adams said. “Having
independent monitors on the ground will help deter abuses by both the militants
and security forces, which would benefit all Indonesians.”
No comments:
Post a Comment