Since the complaint submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and UN Special Rapporteurs by Jennifer Robinson and Veronica Koman with the support of TAPOL on 15th April 2020, seven more people have been detained on treason charges in Indonesia. 

On 25th April 2020, more than a hundred people participated in a peaceful rally commemorating the declaration of the South Moluccan Republic seventy years ago. As a result, at least 23 people were arrested on that day. Most of them were released except seven people detailed below.

Three people marched into the Maluku...

(London, 12 May 2020) TAPOL condemns the political decision to cancel the early release of five political prisoners that were arrested in Jakarta for demonstrating in favour of self-determination of West Papua.

On 24 April 2020, the Central Court of Jakarta sentenced Paulus Suryanta Ginting, Ambrosius Mulait, Dano Tabuni, Charles Kossay, and Ariana Elopere to nine months’ imprisonment; while Isay Wenda was sentenced to eight months. Isay Wenda was released on 29th April 2020 having served his full sentence.

The Ministry of Law and Human Rights implemented a new policy...

(London, 24 April 2020) TAPOL denounces the sentencing by the district court of Central Jakarta which found six political prisoners guilty of treason today and demands their immediate release. Paulus Suryanta Ginting, Ambrosius Mulait, Ariana Elopere, Dano Tabuni, and Charles Kossay were sentenced to nine months imprisonment, whereas Isay Wenda was sentenced to eight months imprisonment.

The six were arrested over their participation in a peaceful protest outside the State Palace in Jakarta on 28th August 2019, during which they flew Morning Star flags and chanted ‘Free West Papua1....

(London, Sydney, 15 April 2020) Sixty-three political prisoners detained on treason charges in Indonesia have made a joint urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and UN Special Rapporteurs.

The 63 political prisoners instructed Jennifer Robinson and Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, with the support of human rights organisation TAPOL, to bring their cases to the UN. The urgent appeal demonstrates that all 63 prisoners are being arbitrarily and unlawfully detained, in violation of Indonesia’s international human rights obligations...

43rd Session of the Human Rights Council

Item 4: General Debate

NGO Joint statement - 10 March 2020

Delivered by Ms. Latifah Anum Siregar

Madam President,

My name is Anum Siregar, a human rights lawyer from West Papua. I am delivering a joint statement of Franciscans International and Geneva for Human Rights with the support of the International Coalition for Papua, TAPOL and Aliansi Demokrasi untuk Papua (ALDP) and West Papua Netzwerk. The Indonesian Provinces of Papua and West Papua remain to be the key region of human rights...

March 1, 2020

Introduction

It has been more than two decades since a process of democratic reform was initiated in Indonesia under which the military stepped back from its political role. As part of the reforms, the military were gradually removed both from legislative posts that guaranteed it political representation and also posts in Indonesia’s civilian bureaucracy. 

However, in 2019, the military indicated its wishes to re-insert serving military officers into the...

March 1, 2020

Introduction

It has been more than two decades since a process of democratic reform was initiated in Indonesia under which the military stepped back from its political role. As part of the reforms, the military were gradually removed both from legislative posts that guaranteed it political representation and also posts in Indonesia’s civilian bureaucracy. 

However, in 2019, the military indicated its wishes to re-insert serving military officers into the...

TAPOL is extremely concerned by reports that the Indonesian military’s operations in Nduga Regency, West Papua, cost the lives of 243 people, 45 percent of whom were children, between 4th December 2018 and 8thFebruary 2019. Several hundred civilians fled their homes on 4thDecember 2018 when a joint police and military operation launched an attack on villages in Mbuwa district, Nduga Regency, in apparent ‘retaliation’ for the killing of 18 road construction workers two days earlier by West Papuan freedom fighters, the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) led by Egianus Kogeya. The...

TAPOL congratulates West Papuan lawyers Gustaf Kawer and Yohanis Mambrasar as the winners of Hukumonline Awards Pro Bono Champions 2019.  The awards for Pro Bono Excellence Hours and the Most Inspiring Lawyer in the Field of Pro Bono Non-Litigation respectively were given in Jakarta on Wednesday, 11 December 2019. 

Hukumonline.com is an internet portal established in Indonesia at the turn of the millenium by lawyers and legal practitioners to provide educational information and training about law and legal matters. Since 2018, the prize of Pro Bono Champion is being awarded annually...

West Papuans have been commemorating their National Day on 1st December every year since 1961. This has often resulted in violent repression by the Indonesian security forces.

TAPOL is very alarmed by the security forces’ crackdown in the lead up to the 1st December commemoration day this year. In particular, we are concerned with the use of treason charges against those commemorating the National Day, and others. The security forces arrested 126 people, resulting in 61 new political prisoners who have been charged with treason. This follows a spate of arrests for treason between...

TAPOL congratulates Veronica Koman for receiving the Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights Award for her work on West Papua. Ms. Koman is a human rights lawyer and activist who advocates for the rights to freedom of expression and self-determination. The award was given by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) on Wednesday 23 October 2019. 

ACFID created the award in 2002 to honour the legacy of Sir Ron Wilson AC KBE CMG QC, who served as a judge on the High Court of Australia, as President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission until 1997 and...

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have expressed their concern at the Indonesian government increasing the presence of police and military personnel in West Papua and continued crack down on human rights defenders using criminal law  over reporting on West Papua.

On Monday 16 September, the UN human rights special experts made an appeal to the Indonesian government for immediate measures to protect freedom of expression and stop the harassment, intimidation, restrictions and threats against those who report on the protests in West Papua. To...

Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman has been consistent in defending West Papuan activists, and Free West Papua activist Surya Anta has been consistent in fighting for the right to self-determination for the indigenous West Papuan population. Veronica Koman protects activists who speak about West Papua across Indonesia, and Surya Anta has supported the right to self-determination with various groups and networks. This is extremely rare, as there are very few non-Papuan Indonesian lawyers and pro-democracy activists who are ready to take on this kind of work. Both Vero and Surya Anta have...

(London, 16 August 2019) Peaceful protesters across Indonesia and West Papua took to the streets yesterday to commemorate the 1962 New York Agreement and to support the West Papua delegation at the Pacific Islands Forum Summit. The groups protesting were from  the Action Committee of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (Komite Aksi ULMWP), the Papuan Students Alliance (Aliansi Mahasiswa Papua / AMP), Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (Front Rakyat Indonesia untuk West Papua / FRI-WP), and Papuan Students Community (Komunitas Mahasiswa Papua / KMP).The day was marked with...

In June 2019, TAPOL and Jubi made a written submission to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. The Commons Select Committee has opened up an inquiry into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Global Media Freedom. TAPOL and Jubi's submission highlighted the current state of media freedom in West Papua in particular. Over the last 10 years, journalists and news organisations have faced serious threats to their personal security, as well as being targeted by digital disinformation campaigns that aimed to disrupt the work of legitimate news sources and reporting. The death...

TAPOL and the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) are calling attention to an application for judicial review of the “Act of Free Choice” by the Indonesian Constitutional Court. Recently filed by human rights lawyers on behalf of West Papua customary leaders and churches, the submission states that the highly contested self-determination “referendum” held in 1969 must be deemed contrary to the rights granted under Indonesian constitution, including the rights to freedom of thought and conscience, right to life, right to feel safe, and the right to not be tortured.

Both the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nduga and worsening clampdown on freedom of expression and assembly in West Papua were significant issues raised during the recent convening of the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (25 Feb. - 22 Mar. 2019).

TAPOL, along with several collaborating West Papuan and international NGOs, co-hosted a side event entitled “Indonesia: Ensuring the survival of indigenous Papuans”on 7 March at Palais des Nations, Geneva. The objective of this event was to bring the discussion of the human rights situation in West Papua to Geneva,...

14 March 2019

To

The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.

CC:

The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance

URGENT ACTION: Indonesian Security Forces use treason laws to restrict rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in West Papua

TAPOL, Franciscans International, International Coalition for Papua, Watch Indonesia!, West Papua Netzwerk and Geneva for Human Rights Global Training would like to draw your attention to the cases of the violation of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression as well as the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association of the members of West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat - KNPB)1 in Mimika...