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(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.
To organize or participate in a protest and to wave flags are internationally protected activities as freedom of expression and assembly are guaranteed under international law.
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.
We appreciate steps taken by the Government to free prisoners, particularly child prisoners, through the assimilation system, conditional release, conditional holiday and holiday for those approaching their release date. However, we also urge the Government to apply this decision in a fair and non-discriminatory manner.
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 violations and conflicts.
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 bureaucracy, in Ministries and Departments not directly concerned with military and security affairs. In this briefing, we address this issue by placing it in the context of broader military reform. We argue that, although some reforms after the fall of the New Order regime under President General Suharto were effective, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004-2014) avoided committing to further meaningful reforms, by cloaking military influence under the banner of ‘professionalisation’.
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 data was collected by a West Papuan civil society organisation, Yayasan Keadilan dan Keutuhan Manusia Papua (YKKMP).