Indonesia has dismissed a call by UN human rights experts for independent investigations into reports of “shocking abuses” against indigenous Papuans, saying that the Southeast Asian nation has already tackled the accusations.
Separatists have waged a low-level campaign for independence in the resource-rich Papua Province for decades, saying that a 1969 vote overseen by the UN that brought the former Dutch colony under Indonesian control was illegitimate.
In a statement on Tuesday, three independent UN experts said that from April to November last year, they had received allegations that indicated several instances of extrajudicial killings, including young children; enforced disappearance; torture; and enforced displacement of at least 5,000 Papuans.
Photo: AFP
UP TO 100,000 DISPLACED
The statement from the UN experts cited estimates that 60,000 to 100,000 people had been internally displaced in Papua since an escalation of violence in December 2018.
“Thousands of displaced villagers have fled to the forests where they are exposed to the harsh climate in the highlands without access to food, healthcare and education facilities,” the experts said.
In a letter sent to the Indonesian government on Dec. 27 last year, the experts also highlighted increasing violence since earlier in the year, and said there has been a “surge” in raids to capture armed separatists that led to arbitrary arrests and detentions.
One of the cases cited was that of a two-year-old child who died after a gunfight, although separatists and security forces had differing accounts as to how the child died.
Citing reports that aid to internally displaced Papuans was being obstructed, the experts called for humanitarian access, and for independent monitors and journalists to be allowed access.
“The experts called for urgent humanitarian access to the region, and urged the Indonesian government to conduct full and independent investigations into abuses against the indigenous peoples,” they said.
Describing the experts’ statement as “biased,” Indonesia’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, said in a statement that the news release disregarded “verifiable data and information” that has already been submitted by Indonesia on the same allegations.
It denied that authorities had obstructed aid or carried out forced displacements, and said that people had been displaced due to a range of factors, including natural disasters and tribal conflict.
The statement said that security forces needed to be deployed in some areas because of attacks against civilians by “armed criminal groups.”
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