Indonesia Human Rights Committee
Box 68-419
Auckland

Rt Hon Helen Clark,
Prime Minister,
Parliament Buildings,
Wellington

Fax 04-473-3579

11 July, 2007

Dear Helen Clark,

We note that you will be meeting with the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. We appeal to you to take this important opportunity to raise New Zealand’s concerns about the ongoing human rights crisis in West Papua.

We urge in particular that you address the issue of impunity for past human rights abuses and ask the Indonesian Government to open West Papua so that human rights monitors and the international media can visit freely.

We draw to your attention the following issues which we recently raised with Foreign Affairs Minister, Winston Peters:

1. Human Rights Watch has just released a very disturbing 96-page report detailing serious human rights abuses, including killings, in the central highlands of West Papua which have taken place since 2005. The report documents widespread abuses by police especially the BRIMOB (Mobile Brigade Police) in this remote area and the authors conclude that impunity prevails in the absence of any outside observers. There are first hand accounts of many vicious beatings, torture and of rape cases. There are also accounts of military ‘sweeping’ operations during which villagers were forced to flee their homes and crops to go into the mountains, where they tried to survive on foods such as nettles and bananas. Informants reported that several people have died from lack of food and medicine following their forced displacement.

Only one low ranking soldier has faced prosecution for any of the abuses and he served a mere 8-month prison term for killing a 16-year-old boy.

2. In the same week that the Human Rights Watch Report was released US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega was denied permission to visit West Papua despite having an invitation to attend a Tribal Council/Dewan Adat meeting there. Congressman Faleomavaega chairs a Congressional subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. We believe this ban confirms a suspicion that Indonesia has much to hide from the outside world.

3. Following the Dewan Adat Conference Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian, Commander of the Jayapura sub-regional military command, has made belligerent threats to the Tribal Council after the new Council Chairperson expressed support for independence. In June Col. Siagian reportedly said that he would ‘destroy’ anyone who ‘betrayed’ Indonesia.

Alarmingly, eight participants in the Tribal Council were subsequently arrested and taken in for interrogation, although we understand that they have now been released.

Col. Siagian has been indicted twice in absentia by the UN backed Special Panel in East Timor for crimes against humanity. His responsibility for organising militia forces in Bobonaro in 1999 prior to the independence referendum has been well documented. The indictments include detailed witness evidence of Col Siagian’s responsibility for the murders of 7 people, 4 of whom were disposed of in the sea after being transported there in his car. Col Siagian has also been implicated in the bloody massacres, such as the massacre at the Maliana police station that followed the referendum vote.

Over 30 Papuan, Indonesian and international human rights organizations (including our own) have recently called for Col Siagian to be withdrawn immediately.

4. There have been credible reports from West Papua of ongoing attacks, intimidation, surveillance and death threats against human rights defenders. These threats occurred in mid June 2007, following the visit of Ms. Hina Jilani, the UN Special Representative to the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders. It is feared that members of the Indonesian military (TNI) are targeting people who met with Ms. Hina Jilani during her visit to Indonesia and who informed her about human rights abuses in West Papua.

We therefore urge you to appeal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to
1. to carry out independent investigations into the human rights abuses detailed in the Human Rights Watch report and other recent documents. Those found responsible for abuse must be held to account.
2. to lift the cordon of secrecy which is hiding West Papua from the outside world. The province should be immediately opened up for visits from international human rights organisations, UN fact-finding missions and the international media.

We look forward to hearing about your representations and advocacy on behalf of our West Papuan neighbours.
Yours sincerely,
Maire Leadbeater
(for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee)

ENDS

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