PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Tel +44 (0)20 8771 2904 Fax +44 (0)20 8653 0322
Email tapol@gn.apc.org Website http://www.tapol.org

< NEWS & STATEMENTS

Letter to UK Foreign Secretary demanding withdrawal of UK weaponry from West Papua

28 November 2005

Jack Straw MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A

Open letter from TAPOL, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and Free West Papua Campaign, Oxford

Dear Mr Straw,

Deployment of Tactica water cannons to West Papua
We are gravely concerned to have received information that two British-supplied Tactica armoured personnel carriers fitted with water cannons have been deployed to West Papua. As you are probably aware, the matter was reported in yesterday's Observer newspaper (27 November 2005).

We are especially concerned that the water cannons might be used against Papuans on 1 December, when many public events, demonstrations and flag-raisings take place to celebrate West Papua's national day. Celebrations in previous years have been marked by violence by the security forces; last year a number of people were injured when police attempted to seize a flag raised by independence supporters. This year's celebrations are likely to be particularly tense and the potential for a crackdown by the security forces is high following the publication on 15 November of the critical Dutch report into the 1969 Act of Free Choice, which led to West Papua's incorporation into Indonesia.

Tension in West Papua has already increased markedly with the recent deployment of large numbers of additional troops to the Jayapura area. According to information from reliable sources, a meeting of senior officials was held several weeks ago, chaired by the Governor, to discuss the possibility that a number of public actions would take place in November and December. It was decided that troop reinforcements were needed. A statement issued by the Traditional Communities Coalition in West Papua on 21 November expressed alarm at this development and provided detailed information about the posting of around 15 additional territorial command troops and/or police personnel to each of a number of villages in the Jayapura area.

We have also received disturbing reports that large numbers of Kostrad combat troops have arrived in Jayapura in the past few days.

These deployments will increase the atmosphere of terror and oppression during a period of heightened political activity. We believe that the potential for human rights abuses involving the Tactica vehicles is extremely high. You may recall that Tacticas were used in Indonesia on many occasions in the 1990s against the pro-democracy movement opposed to the Suharto dictatorship.

Our source has told us that the two water cannon vehicles were sent to the West Papuan capital, Jayapura, from Aceh at the beginning of August. They were present during the large demonstrations against special autonomy on 12 August and again at a protest against the establishment of the Papuan People's Assembly at the Governor's office on 31 October. They may also have been present at other protests and public events.

According to our informant, a salt/liquid soap solution has been added to the water in the cannons to produce an irritant with a tear gas-like effect on those targeted.

Water canons are clearly designed for use against protesters, and the deployment of these weapons runs counter to UK policy that UK-supplied equipment should not be used in the abuse of human rights. The very presence of the vehicles at demonstrations is a powerful deterrent to Papuans wishing to exercise their rights to freedom of assembly and expression and is in itself an abuse of their human rights.

• In the circumstances, we call upon you to demand the immediate withdrawal of the Tacticas from West Papua and to insist that that the vehicles must not used or deployed at any public events on 1 December.
• We also urge you to express grave concern at the increasing militarisation of West Papua, to call for the immediate withdrawal of non-organic troops and newly-deployed territorial command troops, and to condemn all acts of violence and intimidation by the Indonesian military and police which prevent the Papuans from exercising their democratic right to peacefully protest and express their political aspirations.

Failure of end-use monitoring procedures
Our concern in this matter is heightened by the fact that the Foreign Office did not know about the presence of the Tactica vehicles in West Papua. In an answer to a parliamentary question by Mike Hancock MP on 22 November, the minister, Ian Pearson, stated that the Foreign Office was not aware of any UK-supplied equipment currently deployed in Papua.

We understand that the human rights officer at the British Embassy in Jakarta visited West Papua in September. It is highly regrettable that she did not apparently investigate and find out about the presence of the vehicles in Jayapura. This casts serious doubt on the effectiveness of end-use monitoring procedures in Indonesia.

• We call upon you to investigate why the monitoring procedures did not work in this case, to let us know what guidelines on end-use monitoring are issued to embassy officials, and to send us a copy of the report made by the human rights officer following her visit to West Papua.

Unenforceability of assurances
We note your statement in your answer to Mike Hancock that assurances concerning the end-use of British equipment are unenforceable. We have always maintained that such assurances are worthless, but we were persistently ignored. In our view, the UK government has in the past cynically used Indonesian assurances to disregard the concerns of human rights groups and victims of Indonesian military violence so that arms companies could continue with business as usual.

We welcome the official recognition that the assurances have no value, but this is of no comfort to the people of West Papua who are the latest to see UK-supplied armoured vehicles on their streets. The UK government must do all it can to ensure that previously-exported UK equipment is not in future used in violation of human rights in West Papua or elsewhere.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
Paul Barber

On behalf of TAPOL, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and Free West Papua Campaign, Oxford

News & Statements archive

top