The West Papua Separatist: An Actor Who Made Human Rights Violations In West Papua
In reality, the West Papua separatist is an actor who often violates human rights in west papua.
We don’t deny there were also human rights violations in the past. But we are now changing. We put a lot of effort into tackling and solving human rights issues in West Papua.
Beside that, the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia guarantees the protection of human rights of all Indonesian people without exception.
The Indonesia Government takes seriously the issue of resolving cases and allegations of human rights abuses and of safeguarding the protection of the rights of Papuans and other Indonesians.
President Joko Widodo also has personally directed for the relevant authorities to take actions to bring justice to human rights cases in Papua.
In 2020, the GOI set up a National Joint Team under the Coordinating Minister of Political, Law and Security Affairs consisting of representatives from many agencies and stakeholders. The Team is tasked to address past violations of human rights cases, including in Papua. In its first task to investigate the murders of two civilians (one of them a pastor) and two security personnel, after a thorough investigation, the Team made the following conclusion:
The information and facts gleaned from the ground point to the involvement of armed criminal group in the murders of two security personnel:
a). Chief Sergeant Sahlan and Chief Private Dwi Akbar Utomo and a civilian, Badawi on 17 September 2020.
b). On the death of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani on 19 September 2020, information and facts on the ground point to the involvement of a security personnel. These cases will be resolved according to prevailing laws, both criminal laws and state administrative laws.
The swift action by the Team above shows the seriousness of the GOI and Indonesia’s judicial system to bring justice to the above cases of human rights violations and other cases.
The Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has set up Papua’s Representative Office led by Frits Ramandey, to facilitate with the effort to promote and protect human rights.
