Indonesia, West Papua – This 10-page report lists cases and developments, including human rights violations and their patterns; developments in the armed conflict and its impact on civilians; significant political shifts in Indonesia affecting West Papua; and international responses and initiatives.
Human rights
One of the most significant developments during the third quarter of 2026 was an apparent increase in restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Documented cases indicate that Jayapura City and Sentani, Jayapura Regency, remained hotspots of police repression. The pattern of cases indicate that particularly Jayapura city and Sentani, Jayapura Regency, remain hotspots of police repression. Activists in these areas were forcibly dispersed and subjected to ill-treatment during peaceful demonstrations or while distributing leaflets for such events. A study entitled 'Ever Shrinking Civic Spacetime in Papua', developed by researchers from Universitas Gadjah Mada and the Papua Democratic Institute, described the particularly violent restrictions affecting civic space in West Papua. Meanwhile counter-insurgency operations in the central highlands continued in Yahukimo and Intan Jaya, reportedly resulting in civilian casualties and new incidents of internal displacements (see Conflict section below).
The number of individuals recorded as affected by documented human rights concerns rose from 121 in the second quarter to 828 in the third quarter. This increase was largely driven by a single mass food poisoning incident under the government-funded Free Nutritious Meals programme, in which 543 people received medical treatment. Several incidents in which large numbers of protesters were subjected to police violence during the dispersal of peaceful demonstrations further add to the increase. Moreover, the growing rush for customary lands in West Papua threatens the livelihood of entire local communities. Acts of landgrabbing involving private companies but also the military such as in Biak, Merauke, or Teluk Bintuni affect indigenous communities, depending on their land for food security, cultural practices and traditional medicines (see table above). Two reports published in August 2026 by the Pusaka Foundation and Satya Bumi document what their authors describe as widespread violations of indigenous peoples' rights caused by the National Strategic Project (PSN) for the Food and Energy Estate Area (KPPE) in Merauke Regency, South Papua.
In early August, Indonesia's Supreme Court imposed a death sentence on Karel Fatem, a Papuan prisoner allegedly affiliated with the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). Lower courts had sentenced him to life over the 2022 shooting of a soldier. Protesters gathered outside Sorong prison on 12 August. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) condemned the ruling, warning that carrying out the death sentence would set a dangerous precedent for Papuan political prisoners
Accountability for security-force violence remained rare, particularly if human rights violations occurred in remote conflict areas in the central highlands. Numerous cases from Dogiyai, Puncak, Mimika and Intan Jaya, and a Sorong torture complaint stalled for sixteen months unresolved. Authorities failed to initiate prompt investigations or identify suspects, adding to the climate of widespread impunity in West Papua. An exception is the death of 18-year-old Pendite Weya in a June explosion in Lanny Jaya. A police team returned to the scene on 11 August to examine the site of the crime and question witnesses.
Conflict
Between July and September 2026, the armed conflict in West Papua remained highly escalated while spreading into new or renewed geographical clusters of violence and civilian harm. The most pronounced new escalation occurred in Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province, following the killing of US pilot Nicholas F. Goselin by members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) on 2 July. Subsequent troop deployments and joint ground-and-air operations extended from Sobaham District into the Korowai area bordering Yahukimo, Boven Digoel and Pegunungan Bintang regencies. The Intan Jaya Regency, Papua Tengah Province, meanwhile remained a protracted conflict hotspot, with continuing military operations, alleged drone attacks, civilian casualties and mass displacement. The developments indicate a broader trend towards geographically dispersed counter-insurgency operations involving drones, helicopters and increasingly dense military deploymentsm in the central highlands.
According to Human Rights Monitor's (HRM) estimates, at least 127,031 people remained internally displaced by armed conflict and military operations across West Papua as of late August 2026. Separately, on 7 July 2026, Deputy Human Rights Minister Mugiyanto Sipin acknowledged preliminary government figures indicating approximately 122,000 internally displaced persons. The Yahukimo Regency, Highlands Papua Province, saw a sharp escalation of armed conflict and displacement in July and August 2026, centred on the Korowai area. In addition, increasing armed violence in Dekai town and military deployments to the Sobaham district in late July 2026, reportedly caused indigenous Papuans to flee their homes.
HRM documented 42 violent attacks and armed clashes throughout the third quarter of 2026, a slightly higher number than in the previous quarter, counting 36 clashes. The majority of armed hostilities during the reporting period occurred in Yahukimo, with 21 armed clashes and attacks, followed by the regencies Intan Jaya and Jayawijaya, with 4 armed clashes and attacks, each. Repeated armed hostilities were also documented from the regencies of Tolikara and Nduga. Isolated incidents of armed violence occurred in the regencies Sorong, Paniai, Maybrat, Puncak Jaya and Mimika.
HRM counted 25 civilians killed and 3 injured by the TPNPB. Eleven civilians, including six children, died in a fire in Enarotali, Paniai Regency, on 7 September 2026. The TPNPB subsequently claimed responsibility for setting fire to buildings in the area, although the circumstances and direct cause of the victims' deaths have not been independently established. Meanwhile, 7 civilians were killed, and 10 were wounded by security force members during armed clashes or counter-insurgency operations. Concerning the combatants, 17 security force members were killed, and 8 were injured during this period. In contrast, the TPNPB reportedly lost 12 combatants, with 6 guerrilla fighters being injured during armed clashes. The conflict casualty figures are presented separately from Table 1, which records alleged extrajudicial killings attributed to state actors. The two datasets may contain overlapping cases and should not be added together.
Comprehensive data on armed conflict violence in West Papua is available in the HRM 2025 annual report, published in March 2026.
Political developments
On 9 July 2026, President Prabowo Subianto announced that a scientific expedition in the Papua mountains had found "very large" gold and other mineral reserves. The expedition, made up of the National Research and Innovation Agency (Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional, BRIN) and several universities with support by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI), had been under way for only two or three weeks. He gave no location or size. Prabowo presented the find as part of a broader push for resource and economic self-reliance, alongside the B50 biodiesel launch and crackdowns on smuggling and corruption.
On 6 August 2026, Prabowo met about 150 BRIN researchers at the Presidential Palace, where agency head Arif Satria said Indonesia must build nuclear capabilities now so that it is not merely a technology buyer when it adopts nuclear power. BRIN cited potential reserves of 89,000 tonnes of uranium and 143,000 tonnes of thorium. BRIN also reported progress in uranium purification technology. Separately, a livestream of Prabowo's 31 July speech to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) was interrupted while he was discussing other countries' nuclear weapons. The video reportedly disappeared for a time and returned in edited form, prompting questions online about what was cut.
Over July and August 2026, Indonesia deepened defence ties across multiple partners: it signed a BrahMos supersonic missile deal with India during PM Modi's visit, agreed with Thai PM Anutin to expand military cooperation, held talks with senior U.S. defence official Elbridge Colby, and reached an agreement with China to boost military links and cooperate on minerals, energy and technology.
International developments
Pacific leaders from the Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu have used the 81st UN General Assembly in New York to renew calls for Indonesia to allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua. The demands are a response to re-appearing reports of serious human rights violations in West Papua over the past decades. Indonesia rejected the criticism in its right of reply, stating that credible allegations would be taken seriously and addressed through national institutions and legal mechanisms, including the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
Indonesia is coming under growing regional pressure to allow a visit by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to West Papua, after Melanesian leaders warned that Jakarta's standing in their regional bloc could be reviewed if the long-standing invitation does not go ahead. Meeting on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders' summit in Koror, Palau, on 31 August 2026, the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) asked its current chair, Fiji, to write to Indonesia requesting access for the High Commissioner's office so that a report on the human rights situation in the territory can be tabled at the next MSG summit in 2027. The MSG Secretariat formally conveyed the long-standing call for a United Nations human rights mission to West Papua, Indonesia, to the UN in Geneva during the 19th session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), held in Geneva from 13 to 17 July 2026.
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