PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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The following letter was sent by the West Papua Association - UK to the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the EU Presidency, the EU Commissioner for External Affairs, the UK Government and others on 26 June 2003

See also press release dated 26 June 2003

Kofi Annan
UN Secretary General
UN Headquarters
New York
NY10017
USA

26 June 2003

Dear Secretary General,

Impunity and militarisation in West Papua

We are writing to you on behalf of the international solidarity movement for West Papua, which met in Brussels on 7/8 June, and in support of our friends in West Papua, to express our grave concern about the proceedings in Indonesia's ad hoc human rights court on East Timor and their likely impact on the unaccountable power of the Indonesian military, TNI.

The proceedings are likely to end soon following the extraordinary decision by the prosecution to request the acquital of the highest-ranking suspect, Major General Adam Damiri. Damiri has already demonstrated his contempt for the legal process by missing several days of his trial to help prepare the TNI for its military offensive in Aceh.

We support the views of many independent observers and legal experts that the trials in the ad hoc court have been a travesty of justice designed to protect senior military officers responsible for gross violations of human rights in East Timor. It is our concern that the process has undermined efforts to end military impunity and improve respect for the rule of law throughout Indonesia.

We fear that increased militarisation and violence in areas such as West Papua and Aceh will result from the legal system's failure to challenge the power of the military. The ending of impunity is key to resolving the conflicts in these areas. In our view, sustainable peace will not be achieved as long as the authorities persist in pursuing the military solution to political problems and do nothing to bring the perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.

In West Papua, the TNI continues to engage in activities which undermine peace and stability in the territory. In April of this year, Indonesian special forces personnel (Kopassus) and other army units (Kostrad) launched a widespread operation following an incident in the central highland town of Wamena. Many Papuans have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, beaten and tortured. Massive sweeping operations through highland villages have led to the killing of civilians and the destruction of homes, schools and crops. Around 1,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and hide in the forests. There they have no access to food, and are vulnerable to extreme conditions and widespread starvation. To date, sixteen people, including a twelve-year-old boy and a baby, have died either at the hands of the TNI or due to exposure or starvation. The military is refusing access to church groups, humanitarian aid and human rights workers.

The former military commander in West Papua, Mahidin Simbolon, who played a leading role in establishing violent militia groups in East Timor, facilitated the activities of the militant Muslim Laskar Jihan militia group and provided army backing to the local Satgas Merah Putih militia. There is widespread concern that these militias will be used against local communities and activists, replicating the disastrous role of militia forces in East Timor.

Sadly, the people of West Papua have a complete lack of faith in the administration of justice because of the failure of the authorities to conduct credible investigations and prosecutions in numerous cases of serious crimes. The extent of the crisis in the Indonesian justice system in general was recently made clear by the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers in his report to the 59^th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights.

In April, a military tribunal handed out lenient sentences to Kopassus officers involved in the killing of Papuan leader Theys Eluay. The authorities failed to identify the senior military officers who ordered the assassination and the case was regarded as part of a long-established pattern whereby lower-ranking officers are punished lightly for serious crimes while the truth about state involvement in the crime at a higher level is covered up. In a blatant endorsement of impunity, the army chief of staff, Ryamizard Ryacudu, praised those involved in the killing as heroes.

In December 2000, a student was shot dead and around 100 people were arrested following police raids on student hostels in Abepura. Many of the detainees were tortured and two died in police custody. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) reported that members of the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) were responsible for gross violations of human rights. The case is now being delayed by the Attorney General's office allegedly because of the need for budgetary approval for it to proceed.

Other unresolved serious crimes include: the killing of one Indonesian and two American teachers inside the project area of the Freeport copper-and-gold mine; the killings and acts of torture committed during Brimob operations in and around the town of Wasior in 2001, the killing of 13 Papuans at Wamena during police operations to take down West Papuan flags in October 2000, and the killing and wounding of an unknown number of people during an attack by armed troops on dozens of people surrounding the West Papuan flag in Biak harbour in July 1998.

We believe it is intolerable that this unjust situation is allowed to continue and we therefore call upon the British Government to press the Indonesian Government:

1. To end the current military operations in the central highlands of West Papua and renew efforts to resolve the conflict in West Papua by peaceful means in accordance with the call by local people for West Papua to be made a Land of Peace;

2. in relation to the killing of Theys Eluay, to instruct Komnas HAM to investigate the killing under its powers to investigate gross violations of human rights and to provide it with full powers to question witnesses from within government and the security forces and to have unfettered access to government documents related to the killing, and to investigate the disappearance of Theys' driver, Aristoteles Masoka, who has not been seen since the killing;

3. in relation to the Abepura case, to ensure that the case proceeds to trial before the designated human rights court without further delay;

4. in relation to crimes committed during the current operations in the central highlands and all other cases of serious crimes, to conduct credible investigations and prosecutions according to international standards of justice and fairness; and

5. to fully implement the recommendations of the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers in his recent report.

We are grateful to you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Barber
On behalf of West Papua Association UK

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