Vanuatu's Prime Minister has told the United Nations about a lack of progress on human rights in West Papua.
Bob Loughman told the UN General Assembly that the indigenous people of West Papua continue to suffer human rights violations under Indonesian rule.
Friski Riana, Jakarta – The Indonesian Epidemiologists Association (PAEI) of Papua revealed a number of challenges faced in mitigating Covid-19 situations in Papua from various aspects. One of those aspects is culture.
"Many people still believe that disease is the work of evil spirits," PAEI chairman Hasmi said in an online discussion on Friday, September 24, 2021.
Lani Diana Wijaya, Jakarta – The Indonesian Epidemiologists Association (PAEI) of Papua said that five venues that would be used for the 20th National Sports Week (PON) in Papua are located in Covid-19 red zones. PAEI chairman Hasmi also said that not all cities and regencies in Papua have PCR testing equipment.
Jakarta – Residents in the remote town of Kiwirok in Papua have evacuated amid worsening security situation due to an escalation of attacks by rebels, a local government official said on Friday.
The United Liberation Movement of West Papua has blamed the Indonesian military over the attack at a hospital in Kiwirok, near the Papua New Guinean border, in which a nurse was killed.
Indonesia's military forces have been evacuating residents of Kiwirok district in Papua province's Pegunungan Bintang regency following more violence there.
An Indonesian soldier is the latest victim of violent exchanges between pro-independence West Papuan fighters and the republic's security forces in the regency's Star Mountains area.
[Newsroom Special Investigation: An Auckland property developer is involved in a company linked to carrying out deforestation in Indonesia, where virgin rainforest is being bulldozed to grow palm oil plantations. Watch Melanie Reid's video story above.]
Jakarta – Papua human rights activist and lawyer Veronica Koman says there are two versions of what happened during an attack by the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM) on health workers in the Kiwirok district, Star Highlands, Papua. During the incident, a healthcare worker named Gabriella Maelani (22) was killed.
Jakarta – Papua Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) Director Emmanuel Gobay says that West Papua National Committee (KNPB) international spokesperson Victor Yeimo is in a critical condition. The suspect in the 2019 riots in Jayapura is suffering from multi-drug resistance tuberculosis (TBC MDR), allegedly as a result of not receiving prompt treatment.
Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Papua province have killed a government soldier during a gunfight, the military says.
The fighting broke out after insurgents opened fire on soldiers guarding Kiwi airport in Kiwirok district, provincial military spokesman Colonel Reza Nur Patria said on Tuesday.
Agencies, Jakarta – A United Nations expert has urged Indonesia to provide proper medical care to a Papuan independence activist to "keep him from dying in prison", after reports emerged that his health had deteriorated, Reuters reported.
Victor Yeimo, 39, who is the international spokesman for the West Papua National Committee, was arrested in Jayapura in May.
Geneva – Indonesia must provide West Papuan human rights defender Victor Yeimo with proper medical care to keep him from dying in prison, a UN human rights expert said today.
Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta – Doctors in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua have demanded protection following an attack by gunmen on a clinic in which a nurse was killed and another seriously wounded.
Christopher Knaus – Human rights groups say revelations that Australia sat on its hands after learning of Indonesian military atrocities against West Papuan demonstrators are "deeply disturbing" and should prompt an independent investigation.
Evarianus Supar, Uyu Liman, Timika – A total of 1,500 military and police personnel will be deployed to secure the XX Papua National Sports Week (PON) in Mimika District, a senior official has said.
Tatang Guritno, Jakarta – Papuan civilians will continue to fall victim if the government continues to use a security approach to resolve the problems in the land of the Cenderawasih as Papua is known.
Christopher Knaus – In the pre-dawn light, beneath a water tower on the West Papuan island of Biak, Yudha Korwa lay bleeding in the dirt.
Four days earlier, the young high school student, full of hope in post-Suharto, Reformasi Indonesia, had joined hundreds of other independence activists to fly the Morning Star, the banned West Papuan flag, near Biak's harbour.
Andita Rahma, Maudey K. Setyakusuma, Jakarta – The National Police Headquarters have prepared anticipatory steps to secure the National Sports event or PON in Papua to prevent possible terror threats from armed groups or KKB, as listed by the authorities.
Jakarta – A group of gunmen has attacked a remote district in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua targeting a clinic and other public facilities, leaving at least a medical worker dead, authorities said on Thursday.
London – Peaceful demonstrators, student activists, West Papuan and Indonesian political activist groups, human rights lawyers and defenders and individual civilians experienced extreme repression for their involvement in peaceful demonstrations and meetings which occurred in 2020 in West Papua and outside West Papua.
Ernes BK, Rahmad Nasution, Manokwari, W Papua – Home Minister Tito Karnavian highlighted "a specialty" pertaining to the public's aspirations in the Merauke, Boven Digoel, Mappi, and Asmat districts in Papua Province regarding a regional division to create South Papua Province.
Ronny Kareni, Canberra – For the last 20 years the 2001 Papua Special Autonomy Law has provided a cover for the expansion of a form of "guided democracy". With the House of Representatives' unanimous decision to pass the revision of the law on July 15, the last vestige of "local autonomy" has now been removed.
Jayapura – The West Papua National Committee (KNPB) says that based on their analysis the September 2 killing of four soldiers during an attack on the Kisor sub-district military post in Maybrat regency, West Papua province, the attack is being used as means to force the KNPB into a corner and to criminalise them.
Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton are attending the seventh Indonesia-Australia Foreign and Defense Ministers 2+2 dialog in Jakarta starting Thursday (before continuing on to visit New Delhi, Seoul, Washington and New York).
Indonesian authorities have been accused of adopting a strategy of deploying military force to drive thousands of Papuans from their homes to make way for powerful business interests.
Hengky Yeimo, Jayapura – The chairman of the Lay Apostolic Commission for the Manokwari-Sorong Diocese, Isak Bame, has reported that residents from five districts in Maybrat Regency are fleeing their villages after the attack on the military post in Kisor Village, South Aifat District on September 2, 2021, which led to security forces sweeping villages searching for the culprit.
Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Clearing of natural forests has been detected on land licensed to a subsidiary of South Korean paper company Moorim in Indonesia's easternmost region of Papua, indicating an increase in deforestation.
Reports from West Papua indicate thousands of people have fled their homes to the jungle after the latest deadly violence in Maybrat regency.
Pro-independence fighters with the West Papua Liberation Army have been blamed for killing four Indonesian soldiers on an attack on a military post in Maybrat last week.
A major bloc of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries has written to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights about their concern over West Papua.
The letter from the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States requests "an urgent mission to West Papua to provide an evidence-based, informed report on the human rights situation" there.
Hengky Yeimo, Jayapura – Rights defender and lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy, the director of the Institute for Research, Assessment, and Development of Legal Aid (LP3BH) Manokwari, has urged the commander of XVIII/Kasuari Military Command to release Maikel Yaam (17) and Simon Waymbewer (26) who were detained by soldiers of the Battalion 726/VYS and Kodim 1809 Maybrat in Kisor Villag
Jayapura – West Papua National Committee (KNPB) spokesperson Ones Suhuniap is asking the Papua regional police to retract a statement that the KNPB are planning to disrupt the 20th National Gamers (PON XX) in Papua next month. According to the KNPB, this is a public lie and intended to shape public opinion.
Igman Ibrahim, Jakarta – The Indonesian police have mapped out the main potential threats against the 20th National Games (PON XX) which will be held in Papua next October.
In the early hours of the 2nd September, The TPNPB-OPM raided the Kisor military post in the Maybrat regency, West Papua Province. Four soldiers were killed and two wounded.
The provincial military commander Maj. Gen. I Nyoman Cantiasa said."I have ordered my personnel to hunt down the group," adding that two platoons had been deployed for the task.
Reiner Brabar, Sorong – The Maybrat branch of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) has denied involvement in a September 2 attack on a sub-district military post (Posramil) in Kisor, South Aifat district, Maybrat regency, West Papua Province. They say that the two people arrested by the South Sorong district people are not KNPB members.
Jakarta, Indonesia – Attackers believed to be West Papua rebels killed four soldiers and wounded two others in an attack on a military post in Indonesia's troubled easternmost region, authorities said Thursday.
Raka Ibrahim, Jakarta – Nobody knows precisely how it all ended, but we know what came after. On April 26, 1984, the body of Arnold Ap was found riddled with bullets and stab wounds on a beach near Jayapura.
He had been mysteriously detained for four months. His family was in hiding, his friends forced into silence or exile and his legacy lost in a blazing inferno.
Ronna Nirmala, Jakarta – Suspected separatist rebels in West Papua killed four government soldiers and wounded two others during a pre-dawn raid on their post, an Indonesian military commander said, in the single deadliest attack on state security forces in the region this year.
Maria Baru, Kota Sorong – Papuan students studying in Bali say that the Indonesian state must release West Papua National Committee (KNPB) international spokesperson Victor Yeimo from all charges because it is inappropriate to prosecute victims of racism.
Antara, Jakarta – Military and police personnel under the Nemangkawi task force in Papua has apprehended one of the leaders of a local armed criminal group, Senaf Soll, on Wednesday. Soll was also a former soldier for the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI).
Theo Kelen, Jayapura, Jubi – The Jayapura District Court has rejected all motions filed by Victor Yeimo, the international spokesperson for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) and leader of the Papuan People's Petition, against the Papua Police and its unlawful move to detain and accuse him of provoking riots in the antiracism protest in 2019.
Antara, Jakarta – Vice President Ma'ruf Amin on Monday summoned Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian to discuss draft government regulations for Papua's special autonomy law.
Andita Rahma, Maudey K. Setyakusuma, Papua – As many as 6,000 National Police and Army (Polri-TNI) personnel were deployed to help secure the implementation of the XX National Sports Week or PON in Papua which will be held in October 2021.
Ronna Nirmala, Jakarta – The start of a Papuan independence activist's trial on treason charges was postponed Tuesday for a third time after he fell ill and had to be hospitalized for pulmonary and gastric problems, lawyers said.
Hengky Yeimo, Jayapura – Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Papua chief public prosecutor's office on Monday August 30 to demand that the Papuan chief public prosecutor immediately release West Papua National Committee (KNPB) spokesperson Victor Yeimo from detention so he can be treated in hospital.
Indonesian authorities have been accused of defying a court order to urgently hospitalise the West Papuan political prisoner Victor Yeimo.
Last week the District Court of Jayapura issued an order to hospitalise Yeimo, a leader of the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNPB), as a matter of utmost urgency.
Asrida Elisabeth, Project Multatuli – In Wamena, the city at the economic center of Papua's central highlands, a mother of two stays home to avoid contracting Covid-19. The woman who asked to be identified as AB reminds everyone – family or visitor alike – to wash their hands before entering. The number of coronavirus cases in Wamena has been increasing.
Jayapura – Former Papuan political prisoner (tapol) Filep Karma has also joined with activists and Victor Yeimo's family when along with Yeimo's lawyer they went to the private residence of the Papua chief public prosecutor in the Doc 5 area of Jayapura city on the evening of Saturday August 28.
Press Release by Veronica Koman, Sydney – The District Court of Jayapura issued an order to hospitalize imprisoned West Papuan pro-independence leader, Victor Yeimo, as a matter of utmost urgency, two days ago. Prosecutors have been deliberately defying this court order and Yeimo is still isolated in detention.
Jayapura, Jubi – The Coalition for Legal and Human Rights of Papua, who are Victor Yeimo's legal advisors, escorted Yeimo's family to the Chief Public Prosecutor's residence in Jayapura, on Saturday, 28th August, 2021.
Dwi Bowo Raharjo and Ria Rizki Nirmala Sari – West Papua National Committee (KNPB) diplomacy commissariat head Kobabe Wanimbo is appealing to the Papuan people to gather at the private residence of the Papua chief public prosecutor in the Doc 2 area of Jayapura city.