West Papua Advocacy Team
c/o PO Box 21873
Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873
wpat@igc.org
+1- 575-648-2078
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
via fax
Dear Secretary Clinton:
The West Papua Advocacy Team respectfully requests that you
raise the following concerns in your upcoming meetings with
Indonesian officials during your visit to Jakarta:
The Killing of Mako Tabuni
On June 14 in West Papua, Government of Indonesia security
elements
shot and killed Mako Tabuni, a prominent Papuan human rights
advocate. According to eyewitnesses, Mr. Tabuni was shot by
plainclothes officers after he eluded their attempts to force
him into an unmarked vehicle. Although he was badly wounded, the
plainclothes officers failed to take him to a nearby hospital
and instead brought him to a distant police facility where he
died. The appearance and modus operandi of the security
officials strongly suggest that they were members of the
U.S.-funded "Detachment 88."
This unit has been accused of human rights violations in West
Papua and elsewhere by reputable human rights organizations.
We strongly urge you to insist that the Government of
Indonesia conduct a thorough and transparent investigation of
the killing of Mako Tabuni.
The issue of impunity continues to prevail in Indonesia and Timor-Leste because the authorities of the two governments only want to improve diplomatic relationships and have neglected the human rights violations that occurred during the Indonesian occupation. |
Military Operations Impacting Civilians
For decades the Government of Indonesia has conducted
military operations in remote areas of West Papua purportedly
aimed at countering the activity of the small, lightly-armed
Papua Freedom Movement (OPM). These operations have severely
affected local civilians resulting in the destruction of homes,
places of worship and public buildings, and causing the flight
of civilians to nearby forests where they face life threatening
conditions. Invariably, security forces impede efforts by
humanitarian relief organizations to assist these displaced
civilians. Many civilians have died as a result of these
military operations. Currently such an operation is underway in
the Paniai region.
We strongly urge you to call on the Government of Indonesia to
cease resort to armed measures to address largely peaceful
Papuan protests and to permit humanitarian relief organizations
to respond to the urgent human need generated by these military
operations.
Provision of Vital Human Services to Papuans
Since assuming control of West Papua through the widely
discredited "Act of Free Choice" over 40 decades ago, the
Government of Indonesia has consistently failed to provide
minimally adequate health, education and other vital services to
the Papuan people. That failure has resulted in health and
education indices for the Papuan population that are
consistently among the lowest in Indonesia and the region and
have prompted charges that Jakarta's malign neglect of the
Papuan people's basic human needs amounts to genocide.
We strongly urge that you press the Government of Indonesia to
address the dearth of human services in West Papua and that the
U.S. Government increase its own assistance, particularly in the
areas of health, education and creation of employment
opportunities for the systematically-marginalized Papuans.
Papuan Political Prisoners
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch have repeatedly accused the Government of
Indonesia of incarcerating Papuans for peaceful activities
protected under international covenants assuring the right to
peaceful political activity and the right to assembly. Moreover,
these organizations and
a 2007 report by a UN Special Rapporteur determined that
conditions of incarceration for these (and other) prisoners and
detainees do not meet minimal international standards. Recently,
Papuan political prisoner (and Amnesty International Prisoner of
Conscience)
Filep Karma has suffered delays in the provision of crucial
medical services guaranteed him under international covenants to
which Indonesia is a signatory party.
We strongly urge you to raise with Indonesian officials concern
over the continued persecution of peaceful dissent by Papuans
and their mistreatment when in custody, including the Indonesian
government's failure to provide minimally adequate medical care
as required under international law.
U.S. Sale of Attack Helicopters to Indonesia
In March of this year, 90
international NGO's urged the U.S. not to sell AH-64 Apache
attack helicopters to Indonesia. These organizations argued
that provision of these helicopters would pose a direct threat
to Papuan civilians, who have suffered deadly TNI (Indonesian
military) assaults for many years. Specifically, the NGO's noted
that the heavily-armed AH-64 was a highly lethal weapon which
could be used to escalate conflict within Indonesia and in West
Papua as these aircraft would substantially augment the TNI's
capacity to prosecute its "sweep operations" in West Papua. The
consequence of this augmentation of the TNI arsenal would lead
to increased suffering among the civilian populations long
victimized by such operations.
We again urge that the U.S. government not approve the sale of
this weapon system to the Indonesian military and that you use
the occasion of your visit to inform the Indonesians that the
sale will not go forward.
Calls for Government of Indonesia-Papuan Dialogue
Respected Papuan leaders have long called on the Government
of Indonesia to engage in an internationally mediated dialogue
with the Papuan people regarding the future of West Papua. At
the July 2011 "Papua Peace Conference" which convened in
Jayapura with more than 1,000 in attendance, Papuan
representatives were selected for such a dialogue. The
Indonesian Government observed this conference at the
ministerial level.
Welcoming past U.S. Government support for a dialogue, we urge
you to reiterate U.S. Government encouragement for such a
dialogue.
Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.
Respectfully,
The West Papua Advocacy Team is a U.S.-based NGO composed of
academics, human rights defenders and a retired U.S. diplomat.
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