Indonesia Police Watch has cautioned the National Police against increasing the presence of its anti-terrorism unit in Papua, saying that move would instead worsen conflict in the restive province.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The streets of Abepura and Sentani in Jayapura regency looked deserted on Friday, a day after riots erupted in nearby Waena district after the death of local activist Mako Tabuni.

Banjir Ambarita & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jayapura – A day after the president described the scale of violence in Papua as "small," a coalition of Papuan churches called the situation in the province an emergency and urged the international community to intervene.

Friends and comrades, all the people of Indonesia, are you aware of the escalating violence that has been taking place in West Papua over the last few days. Terror, violence and intimidation have become the daily face of life for the Papuan people. Just in May and June, as many as 25 people have been killed and scores injured in "mysterious" shooting incidents.

Yuliana Lantipo, Jakarta – Humanitarian Solidarity for Papua (Skup) is urging the central government to form an independent fact finding team to conduct a fast and effective investigation to uncover the truth and who is behind the recent violence in West Papua.

Jakarta – Humanitarian Solidarity for Papua (Skup) is urging all government institutions to end the stigmatisation of the Papuan people as separatists in responding to developments in West Papua.

Jayapura – Human rights activists on Friday slammed Indonesian police for the killing of a prominent Papuan independence leader who was allegedly involved in a series of mysterious shootings.

Following the assassination of Mako Tabuni, the deputy chairman of the KNPB (National Committee of West Papua), the police are now alleging that the man they murdered was responsible for seven cases of violence perpetrated by the KNPB, and say they are now conducting investigations to see whether he was responsible for seven acts of violence including the shot fired against a German

Margareth S. Aritonang and Rabby Pramudatama, Jakarta – Papuans condemned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's statement, which downplayed the escalating violence in the province and considered the recent deaths from shooting incidents as relatively minor in comparison to conflicts in other parts of the world.

Angry scenes have reportedly erupted in Jayapura and across West Papua after officers from the Australian- funded and trained Detachment 88 counter-terror troops shot dead the secretary-general of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), Mako Tabuni, during a botched arrest attempt while he was chewing betel nut at a kiosk in Abepura, West Papua early on Thursday morning.

Margareth S. Aritonang and Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta - The National Police confirmed Thursday that the deputy chairman of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB), Mako Tabuni, died after its members shot him in Abepura, Jayapura regency earlier on Thursday morning local time.

Angry residents of Indonesia's resource-rich Papua island burned cars and shops on Thursday after an independence activist was shot and killed, police and human rights activists said.

A low-level insurgency for independence has simmered on Indonesia's easternmost island for decades.

Vitalis Yogi Trisna, A. Wisnubrata, Jakarta – West Papua is a region of Indonesia that is extraordinarily rich in natural resources and culture. Parts of Papua have even been designated as "a heaven that has been lost" because of its beauty.

ALRC-CWS-20-08-2012

Human Rights Council
Twentieth session
Agenda Item 3
Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression

A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status.

By keeping Papua behind a curtain, the Indonesian government is fostering impunity among military forces and resentment among Papuans. It needs to let the media and civil society shine a light on conditions in the province. – Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director

Puji Utami, Semarang – Scores of Papuan students from National Papua Solidarity (Nasional Papua Solidaritas, Napas) held a protest action in front of the regional police headquarters (Mapolda) in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang on Wednesday June 13.

Arientha Primanita – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono admitted on Tuesday that security officers had overreacted with their handling of the security situation in Papua, where violence has escalated for the past couple of weeks.

Alex Rayfield – West Papua is roiling. In the last two weeks a spate of shootings, killings and military violence has surprised even seasoned Papua watchers. But as West Papua bleeds, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono remains silent.

Arientha Primanita – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday warned police officers and soldiers on the ground in Papua to abide by the law and follow proper procedures while attempting to maintain order in the restive province.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A senior legislator has blamed unnamed foreign parties for the deteriorating security condition in Papua province amid speculation about the involvement of security forces and separatist rebels in a recent series of shootings there.

Margareth S. Aritonang and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta/Jayapura – The government, once again, is blaming the deteriorating security situation in Papua on its usual suspects: the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and foreign interests intent on instigating conflict.

Violent conflict in West Papua is not a new thing. A Half century, since Indonesia controlled the region, West Papua has been a killing field and the exploitation of natural resources.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The government has been urged to be more active in beginning an initiative for a peace dialogue for Papua to avoid international intervention.

Yoseph Hary, Yogya – Responding to the brutal actions by Indonesian security forces against Papuan civilians, Papuan students in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta are to hold a peaceful action and long-march from the Papuan student dormitory on Jl. Kusumanegara No 119 to the zero kilometer point in the centre of the city this afternoon.

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The National Intelligence Agency (BIN) has accused the Free Papua Movement (OPM) of being behind the recent shootings in the country's easternmost province.

BIN chief Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman said Monday that members of the OPM, who he said normally operated in rural areas, had dared to run its armed operations within city limits.

Ezra Sihite – The head of Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency (BIN) said on Monday that the separatist group the Free Papua Organization (OPM) are behind the runaway violence Jayapura.

Jubi and the PMC news desk – In the wake of many shootings that have occurred this month in the West Papuan region capital of Jayapura and its environs, the human rights group Kontras has challenged the role of the Indonesian military and police and questioned the work of the state intelligence agency.

Jakarta – Police in Papua have arrested three people in connection with the escalating violence in the country's easternmost troubled province.

Deputy chief of the Papua Police, Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, said the three people were now being detained in two different locations.

Imparsial, the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor, has expressed concern about the many acts of terrorism such as shootings by OTK – Orang Tak Dikenal – in Papua.

Ezra Sihite – Amid ongoing attacks in Papua, a lawmaker on Monday called for the president to focus on solving the problem in the restive region.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ezra Sihite – Complacency by the authorities is allowing a spate of shooting incidents in Papua to go unchecked and unsolved, underscoring President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's weakness in addressing problems in the province, observers say.

Two pro-independence activists were arrested in Indonesia's restive Papua province for holding "anarchic protests", national police said Friday.

One of those arrested was Bukhtar Tabuni, head of the West Papua National Committee, who had left prison last year after serving three years for organizing a 2008 rally, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman said on Friday law enforcement and military officers had begun screening for weapons after identifying that armed groups had infiltrated Papuan cities.

Bagus BT Saragih and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura/Jakarta – Armed groups were believed to have infiltrated cities and towns in Papua as calls for tougher measures grew in the wake of escalating violence in the easternmost province.

Arientha Primanita – The head of Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency has spoken of the need for a sweep of Jayapura for armed civilians following heightened violence in the capital of Papua province for more than a week now.

Credible and trusted West Papua Media sources have provided video clips (below) that show the extent of destruction caused by the rampage of soldiers from the Indonesian Army (TNI) Battalion 756 in Wamena on June 6.

Information has been received from human rights sources on Yapen Island alleging that major security sweeps and blockades of villages home to non-violent political activists are causing mass [text missing].

London – Today UK human rights campaigners called for an immediate ban on all arms sales to Indonesia, following Wednesday's brutal rampage by Indonesian security forces in the troubled Papua region.

Dear friends,

Index: ASA 21/020/2012

The Indonesian authorities must ensure a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into reports of unnecessary and excessive use of force including firearms by security forces in Wamena, Papua province.

AWPA has written to the Australian Foreign Minister urging that he contact the Indonesian President asking the President to control the security forces in West Papua and urging that the security forces be returned to their barracks as a way of avoiding further escalation of the situation and avoiding possible bloodshed.

The Indonesia Human Rights Committee is calling on the New Zealand Government to respond to the latest escalation of deadly violence and destruction in Indonesian-controlled West Papua.

Matt Brown, Jakarta and – At least a dozen people have been shot in a string of bloody incidents in Indonesia's Papua province.

While Indonesian officials blame Papuan separatists, local activists say the security forces themselves are responsible.

In the latest incident, soldiers are accused of going on a shooting spree at Wamena in the Baliem Valley.

Erwida Maulia – Ten people were killed when the Indonesian Military (TNI) opened fire in an alleged retaliatory attack on a village in Wamena, Papua, on Thursday, a human rights activist in Jayapura said on Friday.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Rabby Pramudatama, Jayapura/Jakarta – Two civilians were killed in separate incidents in Papua in separate incidents on Wednesday and Thursday involving Indonesian Military (TNI) members and police officers in Papua as security in the nation's easternmost province continue to deteriorate.

Camelia Pasandaran & Banjir Ambarita – Violence continued to escalate in Papua on Thursday as gunmen shot a woman and a police officer in the latest incidents of separate shootings in the restive province this week.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Bagus BT Saragih, Jayapura/Jakarta – Violence gripped Papua on Wednesday with a soldier killed and – in separate incidents – two people injured by gunshots.

Jakarta – A civil servant of the Cendrawasih Military Command XVII was shot to dead by an unknown assailant in the city of Jayapura, Papua, on Wednesday night.

Jakarta – Another resident of Jayapura, Papua is dead and is suspected of having being shot and killed at 8:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, barely hours after a unknown shooter had taken the life of a civil servant the night before.

Jakarta – The Jayapura Police finally confirmed on Thursday afternoon that one of their members had killed a resident of Jayapura, Papua earlier this morning after previously denying the allegation.