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Papuans fleeing Indonesia a 'forgotten people'

Source
Reuters - May 6, 2003

Michael Perry, Sydney – Tens of thousands of Papuans who fled Indonesia into neighbouring Papua New Guinea fearing abuse by the military have become a forgotten people, living in a stateless limbo for two decades, according to a new report.

The report by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said the bulk of Papuans who began fleeing in the mid-1980s remain unprocessed as refugees, living substandard lives in jungle camps, fearful of eventual repatriation.

Margaret Piper, executive director of the Refugee Council of Australia and one of the authors of the report, said on Tuesday the international community had forgotten the Papuans as attention shifted to refugees in places like Rwanda and Bosnia.

"For the best part of two decades people have crossed the border and been left in a state of legal limbo – a state of not being able to enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights, their rights to a livelihood, education and proper health care," Piper said at the release of the third ICJ report on the Papuans.

Indonesia's resource-rich eastern province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, is a separatist hotspot, but Jakarta has ruled out independence, determined to keep the world's most populous Muslim nation united.

Amnesty International has accused Indonesian forces of grave human rights violations in Papua. Seven members of Indonesia's elite special forces were jailed in April for involvement in the killing of Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay in 2001.

Some 12,000 Papuans crossed into Papua New Guinea in the 1980s when separatists and the Indonesian military clashed and the flow of border crossings continues.

"The human rights situation in West Papua is such that this problem of West Papuans seeking refuge in Papua New Guinea will not go away for some time," said another author Elizabeth Evatt.

The ICJ report "Seeking Refuge: The Status of West Papuans in Papua New Guinea" said tens of thousands of Papuans now lived in scores of authorised and unauthorised jungle camps inside the Indonesian-PNG border. It said thousands of children had been born stateless in the camps since the first crossings.

Jakarta wants the Papuans repatriated, arguing many are separatists or rebel supporters, but PNG has so far refused.

"The most important recommendation of this ICJ report is to stress there should be no forced repatriations of any border crossers who may be at risks of human rights violations," Australian politician and ICJ member Duncan Kerr told reporters.

The ICJ said administrative problems in cash-strapped PNG, a South Pacific nation struggling with political and economic woes, had stalled the processing of Papuans seeking refuge.

The ICJ said 3,600 Papuans lived in one camp of 34 square kilometres, with the nearest hospital 13 hours away. Another 12,000 live in 11 settlements scattered from the Ok Tedi River to the Fly River, establishing small gardens on land made available by local PNG villagers who see them as "Melanesian brothers", but disputes frequently arose over land and pigs.

"The situation is fragile. The situation is potentially disastrous – there is a lack of land, an economic base, and there is tension between local landowners...," said Kerr.

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