Human Rights Watch is calling on Papuan militants to stop unlawful killings, after a massacre of Indonesians took place in the Highlands region.
The West Papua Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the murders of at least 16 construction workers and a soldier this month. The Liberation Army said the workers were Indonesian military in disguise.
Four civillians have reportedly been killed in Papua province as Indonesian security forces continue their pursuit of the West Papua Liberation Army.
The Liberation Army claimed responsibility for killing as many as 31 Indonesians, mainly road construction workers, earlier this month in the Highlands region.
West Papuan rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly have been defended by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a response to the mass arrests of Papuan protesters during flag raising ceremonies earlier this month.
The bodies of 16 people were retrieved from the Highlands region last week, after a group of Indonesian construction workers were massacred. The West Papua Liberation Army, which has claimed responsibility for the killings, has claimed the workers were Indonesian military in disguise.
Auckland – West Papua Action Auckland is calling on the New Zealand Government to cut all military ties to the Indonesian security forces. Violence cannot solve the problems in West Papua.
Jakarta – Indonesian police should investigate a Papuan armed group's killing of at least 17 people, including a soldier, at a construction area in Nduga in Papua's densely forested Central Highlands on December 2, 2018, Human Rights Watch said today.
Jakarta – A spokesperson for the Indonesian Military's (TNI) Cendrawasih Military Command, Lt. Col. Dax Sianturi, denied reports that a joint team of military and police personnel involved in a rescue mission to save victims of recent mass shootings in Nduga, Papua, had carried explosives or fired guns during the process.
Philip Jacobson – The Indonesian government must put an immediate halt to land clearing in the Tanah Merah project, a vast stretch of land in Papua earmarked to become the world's biggest oil palm plantation, environmental advocates and anti-graft watchdogs say.
In response to the latest shooting in the Yall District, Nduga Regency, in West Papua, the Indonesian security forces are undertaking a military operation to find those deemed responsible
Jakarta – Rebels in Indonesia's troubled Papua province demanded that the government hold negotiations on self-determination for the province and warned of more attacks.
Taufiq Siddiq, Jakarta – Former commissioner of National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), Natallius Pigai, opined the Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's administration did not have thoughtful planning to carry out the Trans Papua project in the conflict-prone area. Thus, he added, it became one of the conflict triggers that caused casualties.
Karina M. Tehusijarana, Jakarta – At least 20 people have been killed in Nduga regency, Papua, by an armed group with ties to the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
Ray Jordan, Lampung – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo insists that work on the Trans Papua road project will continue despite the recent shooting of construction workers in Nduga regency, Papua.
Widodo is asking that all infrastructure projects and Trans Papua workers always be accompanied by security personnel.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua says a separatist group which killed dozens of people earlier this week is not criminal.
The bodies of 16 people have been recovered from the Papua highlands, where a massacre of at least 24 Indonesian construction workers is believed to have taken place on Sunday.
Arjuna Pademme – Over the last few years the online media in Papua has grown rapidly. In concert with this, online "ghost" media sites have also emerged which appear to present journalistic reports but it is unclear who is responsible, who the journalists are or what there address is.
In response to the latest shooting in the Yall District, Nduga Regency, in West Papua, the Indonesian security forces are preparing to undertake a military operation to find those deemed responsible.
Joe Collins of AWPA said, "there have been many conflicting reports in relation to the incident including the number of those killed which varies between 19 and 31 dead".
Helen Davidson – The exiled leader of the West Papuan independence movement has called for calm after independence fighters attacked and killed up to 31 people in a remote West Papuan district on Sunday.
Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has urged the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the government to be transparent in investigating the mass killing of construction workers in Nduga regency, Papua.
Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo pledged on Wednesday that the government will press on with the construction of various projects in Papua, including the trans-Papua road project, following the killing of 19 workers and one soldier by the Free Papua Movement in Nduga regency, Wamena.
The West Papua Liberation Army is claiming responsibility for the killings of at least 24 Indonesian construction workers in Papua.
The claims confirmed initial blame placed on the separatist group by Indonesian authorities, and marked a deadly escalation of conflict in the restive region unseen in recent years.
Helen Davidson and agencies – Deadly violence has escalated in West Papua following the shooting deaths of up to 31 construction workers in a central district of the region and the reported killing of an Indonesian investigator.
Karina M. Tehusijarana and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Jakarta/Surabaya – Police in Surabaya, East Java, ordered 233 members of the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) to leave the Papuan student dorms on Jl. Kalasan where they were staying on Monday following a rally that turned violent on Saturday.
Indonesian authorities say independence supporters in the restive province of Papua have slaughtered up to 31 people who were working at a state-owned construction company.
Papua police spokesman Suryadi Diaz said 24 workers were killed when gunmen stormed a government bridge construction project in a remote mountainous village in Nduga district.
Jakarta – The National Police have said that an armed group linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has reportedly massacred 31 workers of state-owned construction company Istaka Karya in Nduga regency, Papua.
Arnold Belau, Jakarta – The government in Jakarta has decided to suspend construction work on some parts of the trans-Papua road project following reports that armed Papuan rebels have allegedly killed dozens of workers in Nduga regency, Papua.
Jason Abel – The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) in partnership with the Vanuatu West Papua Association and the South Moluccas association have joined in with West Papuans around the globe to commemorate the West Papua Day, celebrated annually on the 1st of December at the Chiefs Nakamal compound yesterday morning.
Jakarta – An Australian was among hundreds of pro-Papuan independence activists arrested across Indonesia at the weekend, police and rights groups said Monday (Dec 3).
The Solomon Islands prime minister Rick Hou says his government wants nothing to do with West Papua.
In his most public comments on the subject to date the Solomon Star reported Mr Hou saying West Papua was a domestic one issue for Indonesia to deal with.
Jakarta (Antara) – The East Java Police clarified that the Surabaya Police resort has not arrested 233 college Papuan students and civilians in Surabaya on Sunday, December 2.
Jakarta (Antara) – Papuan Students Alliance activist Alince Tekege said that the 233 students arrested in Surabaya had been sent home. The students had been taken by the Surabaya Police for their safety.
"They have all returned to their respective hometowns," Alince said via text message, Monday, December 3.
A human rights activist says New Zealand needs to rethink its policy towards West Papua in the wake of violent demonstrations and mass arrests over the weekend.
Saturday marked the 57th anniversary since the Papuan Morning Star flag was first flown officially, and rallies took place across Indonesia.
Supporters of West Papuan self determination gathered for the province's symbolic independence day over the weekend.
December 1st marked 57 years since West Papuans first raised their Morning Star flag as the symbol of forthcoming independence from Dutch colonial rule.
Dominic Godfrey caught up with the movement's supporters outside New Zealand's parliament.
Arnold Belau and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Jayapura/Surabaya – More than 500 Papuans in several cities were arrested following rallies on Dec. 1 to commemorate what some Papuans claim to be the birth of West Papua nation in 1961.
On 1 December peaceful demonstrations for West Papua's freedom in many centres were met with a harsh crackdown by Indonesian security forces.
Toyiban, Manokwari, W Papua – West Papua Governor Dominggus Mandacan has said the province was safe for investment, and thus, invited investors to invest in the area.
"Indonesia is included in the list of the top 10 safest countries in the world, and West Papua ranks first as the safest in the country," the governor remarked here on Friday.
Tony Firman – A protest action by the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya on December 1 demanding self-determination for West Papua has been attacked by a group of ormas (social or mass organisations) who demonstrated on the west and eastern sides of Jl. Pemuda.
AWPA condemns the raid by the Indonesian Security forces on the KNPB Headquarters in Jayapura yesterday afternoon the 30 November. The security forces also arrest a resident who was simply gardening.
Today across West Papua over 300 people have been arrested.
In several regions of West Papua peaceful non-violent demonstrations took place in Jakarta, Surabaya, Palu, Kupang, Ternate, Makassar, Manado, Ambon, Poso, Sula, Timika, Meruake, Waropen, and Tobelo.
Jakarta and Surabaya – Around 300 members of the Papuan Students Alliance in Surabaya, East Java, staged a protest on Saturday, nearly clashing with a separate group that appeared to be staging a counter-protest.
There have been mass arrests of people demonstrating in cities across Indonesia to mark the anniversary of a declaration of independence by West Papuans.
It's 57 years since the Papuan Morning Star flag was first flown officially when the indigenous people of the former Dutch New Guinea declared independence.
Jakarta – Police stopped hundreds of activists from the Indonesian Front for West Papua (FRI-WP), the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and the Papuan Central Highlands Indonesian Student Association (AMPTPI) from leaving the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) offices in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Saturday December 1.
Arnold Belau, Jayapura – As many as 96 activists from the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) in Ternate, North Maluku, were arrested after police forcibly broke up a rally in front of the Barito Market.
Hundreds of Papuan students faced off with counter-protesters in Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya today in a rally calling for the Melanesian region's independence while pro-independence sources reported more than 300 people arrested in West Papua.
On behalf of the West Papuan people, the ULMWP calls for a National Day of Prayer in West Papua to take place on 1st December 2018. This day will commemorate the 57th anniversary of the day the West Papuan flag was first raised, and our national symbols were first recognised.
Devy Ernis, Jakarta – The Papua National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Movement (TPN-OPM) General Coordinator Lambert Pekikir pressured the Indonesian government to immediately solve human rights violations in Papua.
"That is the duty of the government," said Lambert to Tempo on Wednesday, November 21.
Alison Bevege – The Greens party has broken decades of political silence, directing members to raise the banned West Papuan flag on December 1 in a move sure to infuriate Jakarta.
Australia's third largest political force sent a message to supporters including state and federal MPs to raise the Morning Star to mark their independence day.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Indigenous Papuans and activist priests have met Indonesian government officials in Jakarta to seek support in their fight against plantation companies who they say seized their ancestral land.
Representatives from six tribes, accompanied by church and environmental activists, met officials from the agriculture and environment ministries.
Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta – Over 100 pro-independence activists were arrested on Nov. 19 in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's Papua province, as they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB).
Karina M. Tehusijarana, Jakarta – Papua Police dispersed on Monday a National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) meeting in Jayapura and held the 107 members in attendance for questioning.
The United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) demands the MSG immediately reviews Indonesia's status in the inter-government forum after yesterday's unwarranted arrest and incarceration of ULMWP Executive Director Markus Haluk, and dozens of students during a commemorative prayer meeting in Jayapura.