National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS) condemns the Papuan police decision to ban the plan to organise public demonstration in Papua to commemorate the transfer of administration of then West New Guinea (now Papua) from UNTEA to Indonesia on 1 May 1963.

Robert Isidorus & Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – Police in the restive province of Papua have arrested a man suspected of taking part in an attack at a police residential compound in the Yapen Islands district on Saturday that left an officer dead.

London – A new report by UK-based NGO, TAPOL, forcefully challenges the Indonesian government's repeated assertion that the country has "no political prisoners."

The report urges President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to open up democratic space in West Papua and order the release of all those jailed for expressing their legitimate opinions and aspirations.

Banjir Ambarita – A police officer was fatally stabbed in an early morning home invasion in Yapen Serui Island, Papua, police said on Saturday.

Brig. Jerfi Sesa, of the Yapen Police, was stabbed in the chest by a group of assailants with alleged ties to the militant Ruddy Orarey separatist group, Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya said.

Papuan leaders have voiced their concern at plans for more than a thousand Indonesian soldiers to build 1,500 km of new roads in the next two years to accelerate 'development' in West Papua.

Vicky Anggriawan, Jakarta – Scores of people from a number of difference social organisations that are part of National Papua Solidarity (Napas) held a protest action in front of the PT Freeport Indonesia central office in Jakarta.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – The Papua administration has announced that it will ask for a 10 percent stake in mining giant PT Freeport due to the fact that the company operates on Papuan soil but contributes little to regional development.

Six West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activists from Timika were each sentenced to one year in prison on Tuesday by judges from the Assembly District Court in a trial deemed as opaque and farcical by observers.

Yayat Supriatna and Michael Taylor – Workers at the Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc have refused to rule out a repeat of a 2011 strike that crippled the world's largest copper mine, trade union officials said in the run-up to pay negotiations next month.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-062-2013

Dear friends,

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papua Governor Lukas Enembe has pledged to embrace Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatists, expressing his will to build a bridge between the group and the government by involving them in the provincial development.

Jayapura – Today the Civil Society Coalition for the Upholding of Law and Human Rights in the Land of Papua, working together with a number of human rights NGOs in Jakarta and internationally will formally launch the Papuans Behind Bars website www.papuansbehindbars.org, or in Indonesian, 'Orang Papua Dibalik Jeruji.' The website is int

An expression of people's desire for freedom, cries of "Papua Merdeka" continue to ring out through the cities, mountains and forests of West Papua.

Defence witnesses have revealed the extensive and systemic use of casual torture and inhumane treatment by Indonesian police, whilst testifying at the Makar (treason) trial of two West Papuan peaceful political activists in Yapen District Court, Serui, on April 9.

A group of West Papuan students from Solidarity for Papua (SUP) held a demonstration in front of the Abu Bakar Ali Park in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on April 15.

Independent human rights workers in Puncak Jaya regency have reported that Indonesian police and army in the remote highlands district of Tolikara have been continuing to arbitrarily arrest civilians, allegedly to fill arrest quotas required for promotion, as part of routine crackdowns on civilians harbouring pro-independence thought in Papua.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Sixty-one residents of Samenage hamlet in Helenga district, Yahukimo, Papua, are reported to have died between January and March this year due to a variety of illnesses, some of which are related to malnutrition, a source said on Wednesday.

Robert Isidorus, Jayapura – Sixty-one people have reportedly died in the past three months in the Samenage district of Yahukimo, Papua, due to the lack of health-care facilities.

Nadya Natahadibrata and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta – A non-governmental organization (NGO), National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS), urged the government to investigate the cause of death of 95 people in Tambrauw regency, West Papua, saying that the Health Ministry neglected Papuans in remote areas.

Robert Isidorus & Dina Manafe, Jayapura/Surabaya – Activists in West Papua province say that up to 95 people have died of hunger in Tambrauw district since last November, with hundreds more still at risk.

Ezra Sihite & SP/Jeis Montesori – Indonesian government officials have denied a recent allegation that dozens of people in a Papuan district died after suffering from severe malnutrition.

Prodita Sabarini, Reportage – For Papuans, their graves are a reminder of the grief that besieges their land.

In front of the Justice and Human Rights Advocacy Network office in Wamena is the grave of Opinus Tabuni, a member of the Papuan Indigenous Council, killed in a military crackdown on World Indigenous Peoples' Day in August 2008.

Papua continues to be plagued by violence. Last month gunmen shot at an army helicopter, as the military was to evacuate victims of an ambush which killed eight soldiers and four civilians. Activists say the solution lies in a mediated comprehensive dialogue, but the government rejects any attempt to revisit history.

Prodita Sabarini – Papuans have been allowed to reject secrecy as one of the principles of general elections. The open-ballot system is permitted there, but customary leaders say the open election system as it stands in Papua today has no roots in tradition and could easily cause conflicts in the already restive province.

The Archipelago – The Papua Police reportedly has identified the gunmen who attacked a missionaries' helicopter in Puncak Senyum, Puncak Jaya, Papua.

The Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter was manned by a German pilot and was on a flight to pick up two missionaries from Lumo village. There were no fatalities in the incident, but two bullet holes were found in the front window.

Returning to the land may be one way to improve food security and welfare in Papua. The Jakarta Post's Prodita Sabarini was recently among a group of journalists invited by the Britsh NGO Oxfam to examine a few of their programs in Serui and Jayawijaya regencies in Papua. Below is her report.

Prodita Sabarini, Wamena, Jayawijaya – A mama walks barefoot under the skin-burning sun in a hamlet in Piramid district, Jayawijaya regency. With their traditional woven bags (noken) dangling from their heads, Papuan women, lovingly called mama-mama, dig into the earth to harvest sweet potatoes.

Rendi A. Witular, Papua – When it comes to realizing a massive road project, nothing could match what governor general Herman Willem Daendels did during the Dutch colonial era.

Rendi A. Witular, Jayapura – The government has taken on the near impossible: building 1,520 kilometers of new roads in less than two years on the harsh terrain of Papua and West Papua – the nation's least developed and isolated provinces.

Rendi A. Witular, Papua – The stakes are high when it comes to infrastructure development work in Papua.

Aside from the pervasive threat of malaria, construction workers deployed in remote areas also put their lives on the line amid the constant threat from Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatists.

Development in Papua, Indonesia's most eastern and underdeveloped province, has been hampered by extremely expensive logistics costs caused by the lack of transportation infrastructure. The Jakarta Post's Rendi A. Witular recently traveled to several remote areas of the province to find out more. This is the first of three reports about the development in Papua.

MI/Rommy Pujianto/ip, Makassar – Student Solidarity Concern for the Papuan People (SMPRP) along with advocacy and human rights groups held a protest action in front of the Mandala Monument Commemorating the Liberation of West Irian on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar on Monday March 25.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – The Papuan Traditional Council (DAP) has formed the Papuan People Mining Association as part of the council's supervision of mining activities, the fruits of which it the DAP says often bypass Papua province's indigenous people.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-045-2013

Dear friends,

Ongoing repression on peaceful dissent and acts of torture on civilians by Indonesian police (Polri) in Yapen has drawn a sharp reaction from West Papuan pro-independence guerrillas, who have captured and carried out an arrest of the local Police chief for human rights abuses committed under his watch.

Jayapura – Melanesian support for the independence of the West Papuan people has always been very strong.

The Vanuatu opposition leader, Edward Natapei, has called on the government to reverse its stance on West Papua ahead of the July summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

This comes after a Papuan activist, Benny Wenda, visited Port Vila on a regional tour from his exile in Britain.

Yosie Sesbania – After winning a case in the Constitutional Court over an election dispute, Lukas Enembe is now on his way to being sworn in as the governor of Papua.

Jakarta – When the government's moratorium on deforestation expires on May 20, forest areas in Papua province will be in peril, activists say.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – Newly elected Papua Governor Lukas Enembe has vowed to improve the implementation of Papua's Special Autonomy (Otsus) Law No. 21/2001. He said improvements were necessary as many Papuans continued to complain about the lack of benefits.

The Jayapura Military Court sentenced First Sergeant Irfan to 12 years in prison on Monday for killing his lover Frederika Metalmety, who was six months pregnant.

The verdict was read by Jayapura Military Court presiding judge Let. Col. Priyo Mustiko. The defendant was also dismissed from his unit. The verdict was lighter than the 15 years sought by military prosecutors.

This is a joint statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs/World Council of Churches (CCIA/WCC), Dominicans for Justice and Peace (Order of Preachers), Franciscans International (FI), the International Coalition for Papua (ICP), Survival International (SI), United Evangelical Mission (UEM), Vivat International (VI),

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-040-2013

Dear friends,

West Papua, the western territory of island of New Guinea, was placed under Indonesian control in 1963. The transfer of power from Dutch colonialism was supposed to be temporary.

Oktovianus Pogau, Jayapura – On 7 March 2013, members of the Wamena District Police reportedly arrested three civilians in Pirime, Lanny Jaya Regency, Papua. The civilians have been named as Tinius Kiwo (23), Wurin Tabuni (46), and Kiwenus Tabuni (30).

Local residents in Paniai regency are bracing for more repression in sweep operations by Indonesian security forces after two separate incidents across the Paniai have intensified ongoing crackdowns on West Papuan independence sentiment, torturing a local priest and even banning the possession of traditional music.

[Written up Pacific Scoop from Social Media Reports by West Papua Media.]

Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-003-2013. Re: AHRC-UAC-025-2013

Dear friends,

The killing of eight Indonesian soldiers in two separate incidents in Papua late last month was the bloodiest attack on security forces in the Indonesian province for two years. Those responsible have not been found or identified.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – Rev. Neles Tebay of Papua has been named the winner of the Tji Hak-Soon Peace and Justice Award for 2013 for mediating peace talks between Papuan separatists and the Indonesia government.