Jakarta, Jubi – Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Stef Blok told the Dutch parliament recently that the country considered a visit by United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights to Papua "important".

Victor Mambor, Jayapura – Papuan Humanity Team on Case of Violence against Religious Figures in Intan Jaya regency, or Humanity Team, has completed the documentation of alleged extrajudicial killings against Protestant pastor Yeremia Zanambani on Sept. 19, 2020. This report documents facts surrounding the killing of Pastor Yeremia.

The head of the Papuan People's Assembly says it has rejected Indonesia's plans on special autonomy for his region.

Indonesia's government is seeking to extend the Papuan provinces' Special Autonomy Law which expires this year after two decades.

Jeff Armstrong – The Indonesian-occupied nation of West Papua has called for urgent international intervention against Indonesia's intensification of what a 2016 report called "slow motion genocide."

Benny Mawel, Jayapura – Human rights activist Ambrosius Mulait plans to report five powerful politicians to the police for alleged racism in their statements.

Nabiha Shahab – Indonesia's easternmost region of Papua arguably has the richest biodiversity in the country, offering potential for sustainable eco-tourism, eco-education and conservation opportunities.

Medan – Scores of students from the Papuan Student Association (IMP) in Medan, North Sumatra, held a protest action in front of the North Sumatra University (USU) Rectorate Bureau Building on Tuesday February 2 protesting racism allegedly committed by USU Professor Yusuf Leonard Henuk.

Muhsidin, Rahmad Nasution, Jayapura, Papua – Population in the Indonesian province of Papua currently reached 4.30 million, or rose by some 1.47 million, from that in 2010, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

Leon Langdon – In December 2020, Benny Wenda told TIME Magazine, "I'm on a mission. I'll finish my mission and then I will rest." Wenda, an activist for Papuan independence, was declared president of the Provisional Government of West Papua in a statement released by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) on December 1.

Hendrina DK, Rahmad Nasution, Jayapura, Papua – The Papuan Customary Council has appealed to native Papuan communities in the province to not be provoked by Ambroncius Nababan's alleged racist remarks against noted Papuan human rights defender, Natalius Pigai.

Adi Briantika – A group of Papuan students in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building in Jakarta, who were planning to hold a protest action opposing the extension of Papuan Special Autonomy (Otsus), were arrested and taken to the Metro Jaya regional police headquarters on Wednesday January 27.

Antara, Jakarta – Representatives of the Batak community in Papua have appealed to the National Police to initiate action against Ambroncius Nababan, saying his 'racist' remarks against a noted Papuan human rights defender have marred the Bataknese image.

Pacific Media Watch – More leading Indonesian figures have made racial slurs against Natalius Pigai, former chair of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) – and all West Papuans, says United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) interim president Benny Wenda.

The National Police's Cyber Crimes Division has arrested a man for hate speech after he allegedly compared a Papuan activist to a gorilla.

Jayapura, Jubi – A number of Catholics in Papua, calling themselves "One Voice of Catholic Laypeople in Papua", declared a vote of no confidence in all the bishops in Papua and in the Bishop Council of Indonesia (KWI).

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – An Indonesian politician has come under fire after making racist comments about a former Papuan member of the country's National Human Rights Commission.

Ambroncius Nababan, who unsuccessfully stood as a candidate in a Papuan constituency in the last national assembly elections, is accused of likening Natalius Pigai, a Catholic, to an ape.

Jakarta – Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) Director Arif Maulana has confirmed the view that the state has played a role in perpetuating racism against Papuans.

Jayapura, Jubi – Merauke District Court in Papua held a pre-trial hearing to judge whether the arrest of 14 West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activists in Merauke last month was legal or not.

Jayapura, Jubi – Since Dec. 24 last year, 18 Nduga residents who had been taking refuge in Jayawijaya regency in Indonesia's Papua had died after being denied access to healthcare, a volunteer reported.

Jakarta – Indigenous people in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province are protesting against a company that's preparing to raze their ancestral forest for a plantation megaproject plagued by allegations of irregularities and wrongdoing.

Following the announcement of a Provisional Government of West Papua and rejection of Jakarta's 'Special Autonomy' renewal, the Indonesian state has pursued its strategy of aggressive arrests and violence against peaceful demonstrations for independence.

Pacific Media Watch – The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader.

A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the Intan Jaya regency, Papua province.

Michael Kabuni – The United Liberation Movement for West Papua has announced that it is forming the West Papuan Provisional Government. This comes as Indonesia has refused to extend the Special Autonomy provision granted to West Papua 20 years ago, which is set to expire next year. Across the border, support for West Papuan independence in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been growing.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Merauke Archdiocese in Indonesia's Papua province is set to receive billions of rupiah through a collaboration with an environmentally controversial palm oil company, sparking strong protests from local Catholics.

Reiner Brabar, Kota Sorong – On Monday January 11, hundreds of protesters from the Papuan People's Front (FRP) who oppose the extension of Special Autonomy (Otsus) held a long-march from Kilometre 9 to the Sorong City Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) carrying a coffin with the message "The late Otsus".

Ans K in Merauke, Papua – Mama Elisabeth Ndiwaen, one of the Papuan landowners who has been strongly critical of highlighting oil palm investment in Merauke regency in Papua province has urged the Archdiocese of Merauke to stop collaborating with PT Tunas Sawa Erma (Korindo Group).

The Leader of Solomon Islands Opposition, Hon. Matthew Wale condemns in the strongest term revelations that the Indonesian government intends to remove the indigenous people of West Papua out from their motherland, the Solomon Star reports.

[Special Report: By Victor Mambor in Jayapura – final article of a three-part investigation into the Pastor Yeremia Zanambani assassination.]

Maria Baru, Kota Sorong – The Papuan people in greater Sorong reject all attempts by the Papuan political elite to extend Special Autonomy (Otsus) in Papua. This opposition was expressed during a march on the Sorong City Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on Monday January 11.

[Special Report: By Victor Mambor in Jayapura – second of a three-part investigation into the Pastor Yeremia Zanambani assassination.]

The atmosphere on Saturday morning, 19 September 2020, in the courtyard of the Elementary School for the Education and Schooling Foundation of Evangelical Churches in Tanah Papua or YPPGI Hitadipa was tense.

West Papuans are facing the start of 2021 with sorrowful news about the death of Mispo Gwijangge, a victim of accusations and torture over alleged crimes he did not commit.

Some human rights advocates and lawyers, including Amnesty International Indonesia, have expressed their condolences for his death in Wamena on January 6, reports Tabloid Jubi.

President-elect of the self-styled Republic of West Papua Benny Wenda called for continued support for the cause of the freedom of his people, warning that the new year has begun with renewed Indonesian repression.

Jayapura – Several people from villages in Biak and Supiori, Papua, were reportedly arrested between January 4-7 by a joint unit of TNI (Indonesian military) and Indonesian police (Polri) without arrest warrants.

Ronna Nirmala and Imran Vittachi, Jakarta and Washington – Separatist rebels set fire to an airplane operated by an American-Christian humanitarian organization and shot a helicopter contracted by a U.S.-Indonesian mining company in separate attacks in Indonesia's Papua province, security officials said Thursday.

Jakarta – The non-government organisation (NGO) Green Papua claims that 654,561 Papuans have signed a petition opposing the extension of Special Autonomy (Otsus) for Papua.

Green Papua Chairperson Yohanes Giyai said that the petition is evidence that the Papuan people reject the Indonesian government's plan to extend Papuan Special Autonomy which will expire this year.

[Special report by Victor Mambor in Jayapura – first of a three-part investigation into the Pastor Yeremia Zanambani assassination.]

Yesterday in an interview, General Hendropriyono, a retired Kopassus general and former head of the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency declares his proposal to forcibly remove 2 million Papuans from their homeland and replace them with Indonesians.

Benny Mawel, Jayapura – The enforcement of human rights and the resolution of various cases of human rights violations in Papua in 2020 has worsened, say advocates.

Indonesia is being urged to immediately ratify the Rome Statute so that various cases of human rights violations in Papua can be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.

Jakarta – Opposition by Tambrauw regency residents in West Papua province against the establishment of the Tambrauw 1810 District Military Command (Kodim) has attracted support from a number of different parties.

Benny Mawel, Jayapura – "Merry Christmas, 25 December 2020," says the graffiti displayed in the yard of the Nduga student dormitory in the study city of Jayapura.

Hundreds of eyes stared at the writing, then they moved forward lighting Christmas candles.

"We want Christmas light," said Arim Tabuni, a senior student who attended the joint event.

Jakarta – Pastors in Papua asked bishops in Indonesia to break their silence over the violence in the region. Church leaders must push for dialogue and reconciliation in order to end the conflict.

Klas Lundstrom – Fly River, western Papua New Guinea. The chocolate brown water not only bears its colour due to high concentration levels of humus, it is also the result of centuries of floating timber transports and decades of spilled waste from the Ok Tedi mine mill, situated near the river's source.

Military Police have named nine soldiers suspects in a case pertaining to the killing of two Hitadipa villagers in Intan Jaya regency, Papua.

The soldiers are suspected of torturing two civilians identified as Luther Zanambani and Apinus Zanambani to death and burning their bodies to hide their crime, Military Police commander Let. Gen. Dodik Widjanarko said.

On Christmas Eve, the body of Catholic seminarian Zhage Sil, was found in a ditch in Jayapura, in the Indonesian province of Papua. According to the local police, the perpetrators of the crime are still unknown.

The commander of the Indonesian Army Military Police (Danpuspomad), Lieutenant-General Dodik Widjanarko says TNI AD soldiers in Papua have committed acts of violence, including burning bodies to erase traces of their killing.

Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) is urging the Attorney General and the Judge Advocate General to immediately to push for the shooting cases in Intan Jaya, Papua, to be heard in civilian courts.

Jakarta – Military Police have named nine soldiers suspects in a case pertaining to the killing of two Hitadipa villagers in Intan Jaya regency, Papua.

The soldiers are suspected of torturing two civilians identified as Luther Zanambani and Apinus Zanambani to death and burning their bodies to hide their crime, Military Police commander Let. Gen. Dodik Widjanarko said.

Jakarta – The family of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani, who was shot dead in Hitadipa district, Intan Jaya regency, Papua, on September 19, are asking that the case be tried in a human rights court. They oppose having the trial being taken to a military tribunal.

Laurens Ikinia – As late South African President Nelson Mandela said: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Papuan Governor Lukas Enembe also believes this.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military on Wednesday (Dec 23) named nine soldiers as suspects in the killing in April of two civilians in the country's Papua region, as part of a state probe into violence this year in an area beset by separatist conflict.