Indonesia, West Papua – On 20 October 2024, Prabowo Subianto was sworn in as president of Indonesia, having won the election in February 2024 with close to 60 per cent of the vote. Many civil society organisations (CSOs) and human rights activists expressed their deep concern, since before he became a politician, Prabowo was a military officer who was dishonourably discharged in 1998 for his involvement in the abduction of political opponents of former President Suharto. Thirteen of those abducted remain missing, yet Prabowo has never faced trial.
The CIVICUS Monitor, a civil society platform that tracks civic space around the world, has documented a decline of civic freedoms in Indonesia since Prabowo came to power. His presidency has seen attacks on media freedom, attempts to silence dissent and the targeting of human rights defenders (Human Rights Defenders) with attacks, harassment, intimidation and prosecutions. It has brought a severe crackdown on protests with arrests and excessive force and an escalation of repression in the Papua region. It has come with censorship, the passing of restrictive laws and ongoing impunity for past crimes.
Due to this, Indonesia's civic space is rated as obstructed by the CIVICUS Monitor. In July 2025, Indonesia was added to the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, which tracks countries where civic space is rapidly deteriorating.
These civic space violations are inconsistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Indonesia ratified in 2005. The ICCPR imposes international obligations on the state to respect and protect civic freedoms, including freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly. These rights are enshrined in Indonesia's constitution.
Indonesia's actions are also inconsistent with recommendations made by states to the government in November 2022 at its Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council. The government was urged to ensure the rights to freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly and media freedom and to take measures to foster a safe, respectful and enabling environment for civil society and Human Rights Defenders, particularly in the Papua region.
Further, Indonesia's civic space restrictions are at odds with the concluding observations issued by the UN Human Rights Committee during the review of Indonesia's implementation of the ICCPR in October 2024. The committee urged the government to ensure that any restrictions on the rights of peaceful assembly comply with the ICCPR, all allegations of excessive use of force, harassment, intimidation and surveillance are investigated promptly, thoroughly and impartially and those found responsible are prosecuted. The committee also called on the government to adopt measures to effectively protect people who exercise their freedom of expression and conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all reports of harassment, intimidation and reprisals against Human Rights Defenders.
Human rights situation in West Papua
In the Papua region, at the east end of the Indonesian archipelago, there have been reports of gross human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrest of activists by security forces under the pretext of suppressing separatism. Although the government continues to promise to address the grievances of Papuan people, they face ongoing discrimination, exploitation and repression. The authorities have also restricted access to Papua for international CSOs and observers.
In the last two years, the CIVICUS Monitor has continued to document incidents of civic space repression in the region, including arbitrary arrests, the disruption of protests with excessive force and intimidation of Papuan activists.
– Download PDF Report here: https://civicusmonitor.contentfiles.net/media/documents/Indonesia-ResearchBrief-October2026.pdf