archive

Groups Urge U.S. Not to Sell Attack Helicopters to Indonesia (4 Apr 2012)
ETAN - More than ninety organizations today urged the U.S. government and Congress not to provide deadly attack helicopters to Indonesia. Indonesia has announced that it plans to buy eight AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from the United States. The groups warned that the helicopters will escalate conflicts in Indonesia, especially in the rebellious region of West Papua: "Providing these helicopters would pose a direct threat to Papuan civilians."

Victims still waiting for truth and justice for past human rights violations (30 Mar 2012)
Amnesty International - Public Statement - As the world marks the International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, in Indonesia victims of serious human rights violations, including unlawful killings, rape and other crimes of sexual violence, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment continue to call for truth, justice and reparation for past crimes.

PRESS RELEASE (21 Mar 2012)
16 March 2012 - The Jayapura State Court today found five Papuan leaders guilty of treason, sentencing them to three years imprisonment. TAPOL, the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Faith-Based Network on West Papua, Franciscans International and the West Papua Netzwerk seriously regret the verdict and question the fairness of the trial proceedings. The verdict is another example of the severe restrictions by the Indonesian authorities on the right to freedom of expression of the Papuans. We call upon Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to order that all convictions which do not reflect international legal standards be overturned and the prisoners be immediately released.

Urgent Appeal (21 Mar 2012)
Indonesia: Threat to prosecute human rights defender, Mr Gustav Kawer - Dear Mrs Sekaggya, We are writing to you on behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Australian West Papua Association, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, the Faith-based Network on West Papua, Franciscans International, the Indonesia Human Rights Committee, KontraS, and the West Papua Advocacy Team, in relation to threats made against human rights lawyer Mr Gustav Kawer by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Jayapura, Papua Province, Indonesia.

Statement: Torture and extrajudicial execution still take place in Papua (21 Mar 2012)
Franciscans International, Faith Based Network on West Papua and TAPOL would like to draw the attention on torture and extrajudicial execution still taking place in Papua. Our organisation is deeply concerned that, despite the fact that Indonesia ratified the UN Convention against Torture in 1998 and is therefore legally bound to prohibit torture and all other forms of ill-treatment, the use of torture continues unabated. Provisions have yet to be made in the military and civilian penal codes to criminalize torture so the Indonesian security forces still carry out this practice with impunity. The military regularly conducts anti-separatist sweeping operations to flush out alleged Free Papua Movement (OPM) supporters. These often involve the burning of villages, killing of livestock, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and torture. The people who suffer most from this military action are innocent civilians.