A West Papua advocacy group is urging New Zealand and other Pacific nations to lobby Indonesian authorities for the immediate release of two French journalists.
Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, who were working for a French-German television station, were arrested in Indonesia's Papua province for allegedly violating their tourist visas.
The fate of two French journalists detained by Indonesian police for almost a week in the restive region of Papua remains uncertain.
Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, from the Franco-German television channel Arte, have been accused of reporting without valid visas.
AWPA has written to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop concerning recent troubling events in West Papua. AWPA is urging the Foreign Minister to raise concerns and the deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua with the Indonesian Government and Indonesia's President-elect Joko Widodo.
Reporters Without Borders deplores the detention of French journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat in the Indonesian province of Papua (on the island of New Guinea) since 6 August and calls on the local authorities to release them at once.
Jakarta – Indonesian Army spokesman Gen. M. Fuad Basya said that in six months the Army and the National Police lost at least 40 firearms in Papua.
Fuad told Tempo.co that officers lost their weapons while fighting members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM). On occasion, the officers reportedly also raid the OPM's weapons.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Jayapura Police have taken 21 civilians into custody for their alleged involvement with the separatist Free Papua Movement's (OPM) activities in Kampung Beraf, Nimbokrang district, Jayapura regency, Papua, on Sunday.
Jakarta – Papua Police said they arrested 21 alleged members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) as they intercepted a convoy of new recruits for the group's military wing on Sunday, Indonesian media reported.
Jayapura – Police in Papua and the French Embassy in Jakarta confirmed on Friday the arrest and detention of two French journalists in Papua.
UA: 199/14 Index: ASA 21/020/2014. Indonesia Date: 8 August 2014
On 8 August two Papuan students, including a child, were arbitrarily detained for their peaceful political activism in Indonesia's West Papua province. They are believed to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated by police.
Arnold Belau, Papuan, Jayapura – Two members of the Manokwari district West Papua National Committee (KNPB), Robert Helemaken (17) and Oni Weya (21) were arrested and severely beaten by Manokwari city municipal police on August 8.
Copper mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia aims to complete 7.5 percent of its smelter development in the coming months, although the company has not released details as to when it plans to start construction on the project.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc's Indonesia unit will complete on Thursday loading for its first copper concentrate export shipment since new mining rules were introduced in the Southeast Asian nation, the unit's CEO said.
Production at its Grasberg mining complex is already back to normal levels, FreeportIndonesia CEO Rozik Soetjipto said.
Jakarta – Award-winning human rights advocate Yan Christian Warinussy has suggested the establishment of a ministry to focus specifically on Papua.
Yan Christian, who was awarded with the Canadian John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2005, said a dedicated ministry was needed to handle all the problems in Papua under the next government.
The Free West Papua Campaign says a political prisoner Victor Yeimo has been released from jail in Indonesia after serving more than a year.
Mr Yeimo is the Chairman of the West Papua National Committee and was jailed in May 2013 for leading a peaceful demonstration. He will remain on parole until 2016.
The Vanuatu Prime Minister says a West Papua conference in Port Vila this month will provide a platform for delegates to decide together whether they want to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
Jayapura – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has called for a full investigation into violence in the Lanny Jaya regency of Papua and the use of an excessive security approach there.
Auckland (Pacific Media Watch) – Indonesia's ban on foreign journalists, torture and sexual assault by the military, and the New Zealand government's cosy relationship with Indonesia – one of "colonisers talking to colonisers", according to a Mana Party spokesman – were discussed at a weekend seminar.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – After being ambushed in the District of Pirime on Friday, Indonesian army personnel managed to kill five Papua insurgents who were subsequently deemed to have been responsible for the recent deaths of two police officers.
A journalist from Indonesia's Papua region says police discourage journalists from covering issues or stories involving the National Committee for West Papua, or KNPB.
According to Victor Mambor, the KNPB is the leading pro-independence organisation in West Papua and, as such, is the subject of much attention from security forces.
Support for a West Papuan bid to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group is strong in Indonesia's Papua region, according to a leading local journalist.
A formal membership application by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation was recently knocked back by the MSG whose leaders called for a more representative bid.
Auckland (Pacific Media Watch) – The first West Papuan journalist to visit New Zealand has made a call for freedom for West Papua, and for the Indonesian government occupiers to lift the ban on foreign journalists.
Indonesia's President-elect Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, has been urged to make good on a promise to allow Papua region to be opened up to foreign media.
Outside access to Papua and West Papua provinces remains restricted for foreign journalists as well as international humanitarian agencies and NGOs.
Nethy Somba, Jayapura – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) called on local officials to speak out against the continuing violence in Papua.
Sally Whyte – A West Papuan activist has fled to Australia in fear for her safety after giving testimony to an Australian tribunal into the 1998 Biak massacre by Indonesian forces.
A West Papuan activist says Australia and New Zealand must not abandon the indigenous people of her homeland.
Visiting New Zealand, Paula Makabori has met members of parliament pushing for the country to play a role in addressing human rights abuses in Indonesia's Papua region.
A resolution to call upon the new President of Indonesia to commit to genuine media freedom in West Papua has gained historic cross-party support in New Zealand's parliament.
West Papua Action Auckland,
Box 68419,
Newton
West Papua Action Auckland is shocked that that Ministers Coleman and Tolley have decided against giving even a brief time to meet with visiting Papuan journalist Victor Mambor (Chair of the Papua Chapter of the Association of Independent Journalists, AJI).
Auckland (Pacific Media Watch/Scoop/CBS/Radio Australia) – New Zealand police minister Anne Tolley and defence minister Dr Jonathan Coleman must meet with the first West Papuan journalist to visit New Zealand, says a spokesperson for West Papua Action Auckland.
The Pacific Islands Forum leaders in Palau have been urged to discuss human rights violations in West Papua.
The Australian West Papua Association says the leaders need to make a public statement of concern in its official communique, just as the MSG leaders did at their meeting in Noumea last year.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – Three soldiers suffered from gunshot injuries on Monday morning following an attack against a military post in the Tingginambut area of Papua's Puncak Jaya district, alleged to have been lead by a separatist group.
The 45th Pacific Islands Forum and related meetings will be held from 29 July to 1 August 2014 in Koror, the Republic of Palau.
Police Minister Anne Tolley and Defence Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman have a rare opportunity this week to gain first-hand knowledge about Indonesian police and military activities in West Papua.
West Papua is all but closed to international journalists and other independent observers so police and military atrocities don't make our headlines.
Raras Cahyafitri and Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – Less than three months before the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is due to leave office, it sealed a strategic deal on Friday with the local unit of US giant miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc., which ensured the company would continue to operate after its license expires in 2021.
The West Papuan political prisoners known as the Jayapura Five have been released after serving almost three years in jail in Indonesia.
Among the five is Forkorus Yaboisembut, the President of the organisation that calls itself the Federal Republic of West Papua.
Max Horder – Home to 3.5 million people, daily life in West Papua is characterised by widespread violence, intimidation and political suppression. On July 9, a boycott against the Indonesian presidential election was organised by activists – 14 of whom were reportedly tortured by the military and now reside in prison.
Jayapura – Newly appointed Papua Police chief Yotje Mende said he would take stern action against armed criminals in the province because their actions threaten the stability of the nation-state.
The organisation called the Federal Republic of West Papua is urging the Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Spearhead Group to address ongoing abuses in Indonesia's Papua region.
We, the undersigned organizations, are concerned about the serious and ongoing violations of Human Rights that are taking place with impunity in the easternmost provinces of Indonesia Papua and West Papua. The violations of Human Rights have been well-documentedi and have been brought to the attention of Indonesia during the second round of the UPR process.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – One person was killed and two were injured when a 10-car convoy traveling in a remote area of Papua's highlands was ambushed by armed attackers on Wednesday afternoon.
According to reports from police and a local resident, the attackers intercepted the convoy, which was carrying food from Wamena to Mulia, in Donggobak village.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his running mate Jusuf Kalla garnered 96,780 votes, in comparison to the 69,220 votes rivals Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa gained in the provincial capital of Papua, Jayapura, in the July 9 presidential election.
[In-depth Investigation from West Papua Media team, our stringers in Jayapura and local sources.]
Admin MS, Yogyakarta – Insisting that the annexation of West Papua into the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) through the 1969 referendum (Pepera) was done undemocratically and was a gross human rights violation, the Papuan Students Alliance (AMP) has held peaceful actions in several university cities in Java.
An academic specialising in West Papua says Indonesian presidential candidate Joko Widodo is likely to be more Papua friendly than his opponent Prabowo Subianto.
Indonesia is holding its elections today amid calls from West Papuan leaders for Papuans to boycott the elections in protest.
Sally Whyte – Tomorrow's Indonesian election will be especially tense in West Papua, where activist groups are calling for a boycott of the poll, and some have been arrested by the Indonesian military.
Rebecca Lake, Jakarta – England could hardly be any further from the Indonesian province of West Papua but for the exiled leader of the Free West Papua movement, Benny Wenda, the people in his homeland absorb almost all of his energy and thoughts – now more than ever.
Katherine Gregory – Free West Papua protestors have demonstrated outside the Indonesian consulate in Darwin as the Northern Territory's Indonesian community went to the polls.
The group, Territorians for a Free West Papua, says it was protesting in support of Papuans fighting for their independence from 51 years of Indonesian rule.
The security forces in West Papua have raised the security level in the territory to "Siaga Satu" (full alert) leading up to the presidential election on the 9 July, Maj. Gen. Christian Zebua said in Jayapura on Sunday.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – With just three days left before the presidential election, the Regional Military Command (Kodam) XVII/Cendrawasih in Papua has raised the province's security level to "Siaga Satu" (full alert) as an armed civilian group has urged a boycott of the upcoming election.
The National Committee for West Papua, the KNPB, is saying that another seven of its activists were captured by the Indonesian military on Friday.
The Papua separatist group, the National Committee for West Papua, or the KNPB, has reported that six of its members were arrested, beaten and taken to the Jayapura Police Station onn Thursday.
The KNPB claims the six were arrested because they were distributing leaflets calling on West Papuans to boycott next week's presidential election.