On the morning of 16 September 2025, a racist slur allegedly directed at an Indigenous Papuan student at SMA Negeri 1 Yalimo in the town of Elelim, Yalimo Regency, Highlands Papua Province, triggered a schoolyard altercation. Attempts at mediation reportedly failed, tensions spilled beyond the school, and groups moved towards shops believed to belong to non-Papuans linked to the alleged perpetrator.
According to the information received from local sources, one indigenous Papuan was fatally shot and four others injured by bullets during the subsequent crowd control operations (see photos below, independent HRDs). Acts of horizontal ethnic violence against Non-Papuans reportedly resulted in the death of nine-year-old Arsya Dafa, 10-year-old Atifa, and Mr Nasir Daeng Mappa, 44. Incidents of this pattern have become more frequent in West Papua throughout the past years as a result of historically ingrained injustice and marginalistion of indigenous Papuans.
As the situation escalated, crowds set fire to stores and civil infrastructure near the school and other locations in Elelim. Joint security forces responded with teargas and live ammunition. From 08:00 am, witnesses reported live fire by security personnel to disperse crowds. Mr Sadrak Yohame, 30, sustained a fatal gunshot wound during the crowd control operations, while at least four other Papuan civilians, including 16-year-old Siro Wandik, sustained gunshot injuries to limbs. Several police officers were reportedly injured by stones and arrows during the unrest.
Clashes subsided in the late afternoon around 6.30 pm, but damage was extensive. Material losses reported between 16-20 September 2025 included dozens of shops and residential houses owned by non-Papuans burned to the ground. The crowd st one military vehicle, one military guard post, one police vehicle, four police barracks, and an officers' mess on fire. Several heavy construction equipment and the Abenaho District Office were reportedly burnt on 20 September 2025.
Authorities reported the displacement of several hundred persons from Elelim, mainly consisting of non-Papuans. As of 18 September 2025, the Papua Police Public Relations Head, 684 Elelim residents had fled to Wamena for safety between 17-23 September 2025, with initial reception (food, basic health checks) facilitated at the Jayawijaya Police Headquarters and onward sheltering by families and community groups.
Human rights analysis
The right to life of Mr Sadrak Yohame, as stipulated under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), was violated during the crowd control operation in Elelim. The reported use of live ammunition against civilians, including a 16-year-old minor during crowd control, engages the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Force must be lawful, necessary, and proportionate, with lethal force only as a last resort to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Authorities must employ graduated, non-lethal means and exercise caution in planning and controlling operations. Firing live rounds in a populated town, resulting in limb gunshots and one fatality, indicates a breach of the necessity and proportionality principles and inadequate precautionary measures, such as containment, de-escalation, and controlled stand-off distances.
Specific reference to the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms. Reports that security forces used live fire to disperse crowds contravene key provisions:
- Legality & necessity (Principles 4-5): Force must be strictly necessary for a legitimate law-enforcement aim. Crowd dispersal alone does not justify the use of lethal force.
- Proportionality & precaution (Principles 5, 13): Operations must minimise damage and injury, with planning and equipment (e.g., shields, barriers, loud-hailers, less-lethal options) to avoid resorting to firearms.
- Firearms (Principles 9, 10): Firearms may be used only in self-defence or defence of others against imminent threat of death or serious injury; intentional lethal use only as a last resort.
- After-action duties (Principles 6, 22): Authorities must ensure medical aid, reporting, and accountability mechanisms; all incidents of death/injury must be reported and investigated.
Under the Minnesota Protocol (2016), any potentially unlawful death involving state agents requires a prompt, effective, independent, impartial, and transparent investigation, capable of identifying individual and command responsibility. Injuries from firearms require proper medical documentation and forensic assessment consistent with international standards.
The presence of injury and deaths of children engages the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) obligations (best interests, protection from violence, and special care in law-enforcement operations involving children). The racist trigger and subsequent failure to prevent discriminatory violence engage Indonesia's obligations under ICCPR articles. 2, 20, 26, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICERD), requiring effective protection from discrimination, prompt investigation, and remedies. The widespread arson – including attacks on migrants' property, public offices, and security facilities – constitutes a serious criminal act and violates the rights to security of person and property, which the state is obliged to prevent, investigate, and prosecute with due regard to non-discrimination and the rights of defence.
Table of victims of security force violence during civil unrest in Elelim, Yalimo Regency, on 16 September 2025 (see original document)