Arbitrary Detentions, Torture and State Oppression in the Indonesian Province of Irian Jaya (West Papua)

Oral Statement by the Society for Threatened Peoples
The Society for Threatened Peoples is exceptionally concerned at the increase in arbitrary detentions, torture and state oppression in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya (West Papua). In unfair trials held in the town of Wamena on 10 March 2001 five Papuan "separatists" were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms of up to four and a half years. Given the inadequate evidence and the unfair nature of the l proceedings the Society for Threatened Peoples International is calling for the detainees to be released immediately. On the same day another 17 Papuan demonstrators were sentenced in Wamena to prison terms of up to three and a half years. While in detention they were subjected to frequent beatings in their cells by members of the Police Mobile Brigade. All the trials were held under conditions of exceptionally rigorous security. We particularly deplore the fact that international observers were not allowed to attend the trials. Other prominent Papuans are due shortly to be sentenced on similar charges. The imprisonment on 1 December 2000 of Theys Eluay, a leader of a Papuan independence movement, and four of his colleagues led to a further escalation of violence in West Papua.

While representatives of the independence movement are being criminalized and Papuan human rights workers intimidated and obstructed in their work by the Indonesian security authorities, at the same time extra judicial executions and other crimes by the security forces continue to go unpunished. Such impunity has fostered a climate of unaccountability and lawlessness, making the chances of establishing a dialogue between the Indonesian government and leading representatives of civil society in West Papua unnecessarily more difficult.

We are particularly concerned at the continuing use of torture in West Papuan prisons. According to statements from credible eyewitnesses, torture is being used in police stations and detention centers on a routine basis in order to extract confessions and obtain information about supposed organizers of the demonstrations. Deaths from torture of individuals in the custody of the security forces have also occurred. We appeal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to send a UN Special Rapporteur to Irian Jaya (West Papua) to investigate accusations of torture and extra judicial executions. We also appeal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to call on the Indonesian Government to put an immediate halt to official persecution of suspected members of the independence movement and to resume a credible dialogue with the leading representatives of civil society in West Papua in order to achieve a just and peaceful solution to the Papuan issue.