[ETAN-key] Please sign letter supporting human rights appeals from papua

[ETAN]

Please join the other organizational signers 
(list so far is at the bottom of this e-mail. 
Deadline is currently Monday. Thanks. - John

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

We are writing to urge you to sign a letter in 
support of appeals by organization in West Papua 
concerning human rights and justice.

In recent weeks two Papuan non-government 
organizations have spoken out to demand justice 
in a number of high-profile instances in which 
Indonesian security forces employed force against 
Papuans. In each of these instances, including 
many in which Papuans were killed, the Indonesian 
government has not pursued serious investigation 
or prosecution of those responsible for the 
violence. In a separate initiative, Papuan 
non-governmental and religious organizations, 
including the  two who sought justice for 
outstanding cases of state security violence 
against Papuans, have spoken out demanding action 
by the government in the face of repeated 
violence and threats targeting Papuan human rights defenders and journalists.

We are writing to ask your organization to join 
the letter below in support of the appeals by 
these Papuan groups. Non-Papuan organizations are 
urged to join the letter. The letter includes a 
pledge by signatories that they will urge 
their  respective governments to press Indonesian 
officials to respond positively to the Papuan 
appeals.  Please do not post this letter publicly 
or share with the media until it is formally 
released with the full list of signers.

The deadline for signing is end of day Monday 
July 11 (in eastern USA). Please send your 
agreement with the letter  or any questions or 
comments by then to etan at etan.org.

Thank you for your support.

West Papua Advocacy Team
TAPOL
East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)

---

In recent weeks, highly regarded West Papuan 
non-governmental and religious organizations 
which promote respect for human rights have 
spoken out forcefully regarding the deteriorating 
human rights situation in the territory. In two 
separate statements, the organizations decried 
the failure of the Indonesian government to 
ensure justice for or protect Papuans who have 
been the victims of security force brutality, 
including extra-judicial killing, torture, 
abduction and imprisonment. The organizations 
have also called for protection of human rights 
defenders. The continuing violation of human 
rights starkly demonstrates the limits of 'democratization' in Indonesia.

In a recent press conference, two human rights 
NGOs, BUK (United for Truth) and KontraS-Papua 
(Commission for the Disappeared and the Victims 
of Violence), underscored the failure of the 
Indonesian justice system to address endemic 
violation of human rights by the military and 
police. They noted that some cases have 
languished for over a decade and said that years 
of inaction by the Indonesian government 
regarding these cases have compelled them to 
appeal to "international mechanisms" to ensure 
that the Government of Indonesia brings these incidents before a court of law.

At their June 14 press conference in Jayapura, 
the NGOs, describing the consistent failure of justice in West Papua, said:

"With regard to the human rights violations that 
have been perpetrated in Papua at the hands of 
members of the Indonesian army (TNI) and the 
Indonesian police (POLRI), in all these cases, it 
has been virtually impossible to bring them 
before a court of law. In the case of those 
incidents that were actually taken to court, 
nothing was done to side with the victims; the 
perpetrators were protected with the argument 
that what had been done was in the interest of the security of the state."

The NGOs made specific reference to particularly 
egregious incidents in which Papuans were killed, 
brutally tortured or disappeared. These include 
the Wasior and Wamena incidents, a police rampage 
in Abepura, as well as repeated military 
"sweeping operations" in West Papua's central 
highlands in which civilians were driven from 
their homes into local forests where many died 
due to a lack of food, shelter and access to 
medical care. The NGOs also detailed policies and 
practices which subject "many Papuans to 
discrimination, intimidation and extra-judicial 
punishment based"¨on groundless charges by 
Government agencies that these Papuans, or their 
family ¨members are "separatists."

The two NGOs issued the following demands:

1. The President of Indonesia should immediately 
resolve the Wasior and Wamena cases and in doing 
so recognize the fact that Papuans are citizens 
of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia, NKRI which 
means that their standing and dignity within the 
state is in keeping with the values of the Papuan 
people as citizens of Indonesia.

2. The attorney-general's office should end its 
machinations with regard to the Wasior and Wamena 
cases and co-ordinate with other state 
institutions and in so doing halt their 
activities which have resulted in reinforcing the cycle of impunity.

3. The administration of the province of Papua, 
along with the DPRP (Provincial Legislature of 
Papua), KomnasHAM-Papua and the MRP (The Papuan 
Peoples Council) should act together as quickly 
as possible to ensure that the Wasior and Wamena 
incidents 
are brought before a human rights court in the Land of Papua.

4. A Papuan human rights court should be set up immediately.

5. If the government fails to deal seriously with 
the Wasior and Wamena cases, we, as 
representatives of all the victims of human 
rights violations in the Land of Papua, will 
bring these matters before an international court of law.

In a separate June 17 press conference, leading 
human rights and religious organizations which 
comprise the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders 
in the Land of Papua spoke out against "acts of 
violence and terror that have been perpetrated 
against human rights defenders as well as against journalists."

The coalition includes KomnasHAM-Papua, the Synod 
of the Kingmi Church in Papua, the Synod of the 
Baptist Church in Papua, Foker NGO (NGO Working 
Group) Papua, KontraS Papua, LBH - Legal Aid 
Institute in Papua, and BUK. The organizations 
were especially critical of the Indonesian 
military whose members were involved in five 
recent incidents of violence against Papuan 
civilians and whose actions they noted, 
contradict claims that the Indonesian military is 
engaged in a process of reform.

The Coalition of Human Rights Defenders in the 
Land of Papua therefore issued the following statement:

1. Protection is needed for human rights 
defenders in Papua in carrying out their 
humanitarian activities throughout the Land of 
Papua. Such protection can be provided by the 
introduction of a special law, while at the same 
time setting up an independent commission at 
state level for the purpose of monitoring and 
advocacy as well as taking sanctions against 
those individuals who commit violence against human rights defenders.

2. As a short-term measure, we regard it as 
important to set up a special bureau within 
KomnasHAM to focus on the protection of human rights defenders.

3. In view the many acts of intimidation and 
violence perpetrated by members of the armed 
forces, we urge the military commander of 
Cenderawasih XVII military command (in West 
Papua) to take firm measures in the law courts 
and administration against all violations 
perpetrated by members of the TNI on the ground.

4. To provide moral guidance to all officers of 
the armed forces as well as disseminate an 
understanding of human rights so as to ensure 
that acts of violence perpetrated by members of 
the armed forces are not committed against civil 
society or against human rights defenders in the Land of Papua.

Indonesia has clearly failed to ensure justice in 
multiple cases of gross violations of human 
rights in West Papua and to protect Papuans 
defending their human rights violate the 
Indonesian government's legal obligations 
contained within international agreements to 
which it is party, including the International 
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 
and the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights. It also contravenes the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, notably articles 6, 7 and 8.

These abuses, policies and practices, as well as 
others not mentioned specifically by the NGOs and 
religious organizations have been carefully 
documented and condemned in United Nations 
reports, reports by other governments,and by 
leading international human rights organizations.

These international reports also include accounts 
of egregious government abuse, including the 1998 
Biak tragedy and the Indonesian government's 
incarceration of scores of political prisoners. 
Many of these political prisoners experienced 
targeted abuse and mistreatment that exceeded 
even the brutality meted out to criminal 
prisoners. International accounts of the failure 
of justice in Indonesia have also condemned the 
continued use of provisions of the Indonesian 
criminal code which form the basis for charges of 
"subversion" (such as Article 106 of the code). 
This was a legal tool of the Suharto dictatorship 
to repress freedom of speech and has its antecedents in Dutch colonial rule.

We, the undersigned organizations express our 
strong solidarity with and support for  these 
courageous appeals made by these Papuan 
non-governmental and religious organizations. We 
pledge to pressure our individual governments and 
international organizations to press the 
Indonesian government to act positively and 
immediately on these demands for justice and the 
protection of human rights defenders.

Signed:

Tapol
East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
West Papua Advocacy Team (USA)

International League for Human Rights
Land is Life
Asia-Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC)

West Papua Action Network, Canada
Pax Christi Australia
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Justice and Peace Centre , Australia
Campaign for Peace and Democracy (USA)
Seattle International Human Rights Coalition (SIHRC)  (USA)
East Timor Religious Outreach (USA)
Pax Christi Aotearoa-New Zealand
Syracuse Peace Council (USA)


Baltimore Nonviolence Center (USA)
Foundation Pro Papua, The Netherlands
Luta Hamutuk Institute (Timor-Leste)
Indonesia Human Rights Committee, Auckland (New Zealand)
Asia Pacific Support Collective (Australia)
Urban Poor Consortium, Indonesia
Swedish East Timor Committee
People's Empowerment Consortium (PEC), Indonesia



THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy (USA)



Philippine Workers Support Committee (USA)Asia Pacific Action (USA)
Fellowship of Reconciliation (USA)
Madison-Ainaro (East Timor) Sister-City Alliance, Madison, WI (USA)
Indonesian Solidarity (Australia)Pax Christi, New Orleans  (USA)
Swedish Association of Free Papua
Office of the Americas (USA)
East Timor Action Network / Portland, Oregon (USA)
Foundation Dr. F.C. Kamma, the Netherlands
Green Delaware (USA)
Catholic Agency For Overseas Developm (CAFOD) (UK)
War Resisters League (USA)

===

John Feffer, co-director, Foreign Policy In Focus*
Sharon Silber, U.S. Representative, Society for Threatened Peoples

Eileen B. Weiss, Co-Founder, Jews Against Genocide (U.S.)

Shulamith Koenig, People's Movement for Human Rights Learning
  (PDHRE)



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East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
Phone: +1-718-596-7668  Mobile phone: +1-917-690-4391
Email: john at etan.org Skype: john.m.miller
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