Jayapura – Victor Yeimo, the international spokesperson of the KNPB, the National Committee of West Papua, has announced that members of the KNPB will soon be surrendering enmasse to the police in Papua.

Supporters of slain Papuan rights activist Mako Tabuni convened in Jayapura on Thursday night to express their sorrow and frustration over his death, which has been muddied by conflicting accounts from eyewitnesses who identified with his cause and from the police officers who shot him dead.

Farouk Arnaz – Police in Papua have detained 25 people in relation to a violent, multi-day clash among residents of Kwamki Lama village in Timika, an officer said on Friday.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The National Police say the shooting of a Papua Police Mobile Brigade Officer is not related to any recent shootings that have occurred in the easternmost province.

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar has confirmed that a Papua Police Mobile Brigade officer who was injured in a shooting incident was not hit by gunfire.

Misti P., Mojokerto – Scores of activists from the United Indonesian Labour Movement (PPBI) went to the 0815 Mojokerto District Military Command Headquarters in the East Java city of Mojokerto on June 21 to demand an immediate resolution to all the forms of violence and human rights violations that are taking place in West Papua.

Kontras Papua, SKPKC and BUK believe that there has been speculation about the killing of Mako Tabuni on 14 June.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The government says that it has been in talks with the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) since last year – months before the start of the latest wave of violence in Papua that has killed 17.

Farouk Arnaz & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The National Police denied on Monday that it was planning to send counterterrorism unit Densus 88 to Papua, saying the recent spate of deadly violence there qualified purely as criminal activity.

Michael Bachelard – Police in West Papua say the independence activist they killed in the streets last week was carrying the same gun used to shoot a German tourist last month.

But the police spokesman, Senior Commissioner Johannes Nugroho, confirmed the weapon was a police-issue Taurus.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A Papuan pastor calling for justice and an end to the violence in the restive province told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday that a dialogue between Papua and the Central government is urgently needed.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Margaretha Aritonang, Jayapura/Jakarta – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto ruled out a military operation to tackle the escalating violence, which claimed another two lives in Mimika on Monday.

Banjir Ambarita, Arientha Primanita & Ismira Lutfia – The National Police have issued warrants for five people allegedly behind the recent series of shootings in Papua's provincial capital Jayapura, adding to three people that were earlier arrested and another who was shot dead in a raid last week.

AHRC-UAC-103-2012

Dear friends,

Margareth S. Aritonang and Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The government has rejected criticism that it lacks coherent policies to deal with the volatile situation in Papua, saying that bringing peace to the region had become the main objective of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration.

Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – Following recent shootings and arson incidents in Papua, police are likely to intensify the role of its Densus 88 anti-terror squad in the province - a move that could provoke a negative reaction from local residents, the Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) says.

Jakarta – Government today sends team to investigate a series of shootings of civilians in Papua. The team, headed by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Djoko Suyanto will depart this morning.

Ezra Sihite & Ismira Lutfia – A major human rights group has refuted the police account of Thursday's killing of Papuan activist Mako Tabuni in Jayapura, saying there were no indications that he attempted to resist arrest when he was gunned down.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Riots erupted in the West Papuan provincial capital of Jayapura on June 14 after a leading pro-independence activist was shot dead during an arrest reportedly led by members of the Australian-funded counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88.

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.