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On November 28, East Timorese celebrate the anniversary of the day in 1975 when their country was declared an independent nation and they raised their flag for the first time. On December 1, West Papuans also remember the day in 1961 when they declared independence and their flag, the Morning Star or Bintang Kejora, was first raised. However it is likely that any celebrations there will be broken up with brutality by Indonesian security forces.
The newly independent nations of East Timor and West Papua were both crushed by Indonesia shortly after declaring independence. Australia turned a blind eye on both occasions, and continued to ignore the brutality by which Indonesia sought to keep control of both countries...
Indonesian paramilitary police have shot and killed one person and wounded a number of others at a protest in a West Papuan village, according to human rights groups and local witnesses.
Local human rights defenders in Yapen Island have reported that a special police force unit under command of Yapen District Police allegedly executed the head of the local armed independence group Maikel Marani (28 years) in the early morning hours of 27th March 2017 at Kontinuai Village, Angkaisera District, Yapen Islands Regency.
This week, activists across the world celebrated as the Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would not grant the permit for the Dakota Access pipeline to drill under the Missouri river. This followed campaigning efforts from local Standing Rock Sioux tribe and thousands of Native American supporters from across North America and further afield, who argued that if the pipeline was approved, their spiritual lands would be compromised and local waters would be contaminated, threatening their livelihood. With a message that resonated with indigenous rights activists and environmentalists everywhere, campaigners were successful in forcing officials to back down...
This report analyses political developments and human rights violations in West Papua by the Indonesian state in response to the West Papuan people’s aspirations for self-determination. It covers the period between January 2014, when a delegation of Melanesian Spearhead Group Foreign Ministers’ visited the territory, and 15 July 2016, the day after Melanesian Spearhead Group Special Leaders meet in Honiara and decided to defer a decision on the United Liberation Movement for West Papua’s application for full membership. That decision will now be made by MSG leaders in Port Vila, Vanuatu before September.
The recent race riots in Ferguson, Missouri put a spotlight on the militarization of police in the United States. A panel discussion at the School of International Service on “The Militarization of Policing in Comparative Perspective” addressed this trend at home and abroad, looking at the United States, Europe, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia...
As a child growing up in the remote highlands of West Papua, we often heard stories from the elders about how our ancestors' spirits lived in the mountains and forests. How they would cry if they saw what is happening today. Illegal logging is rife, and the world's largest gold and copper mine, Freeport, has caused permanent environmental devastation to our sacred lands that is visible from space.
Earlier this week, Indonesian security forces opened fire on striking workers at the Freeport mine. It left one person dead and several others wounded, leading Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific director, to say that "Indonesian police have not learned how to deal with protesters without resorting to excessive, and even lethal, force". Rough justice is nothing new to my people. Journalists are not permitted entry to Papua but raw footage from Papuans' mobile phones regularly documents Papuans suffering brutality at the hands of Indonesian security services...
Indonesia has won praise for cracking down on Islamist militants behind a string of deadly attacks and at the core of the fight have been the heavily armed black-clad officers of its anti-terrorism unit -- Detachment 88...
The story of the Amungme and Kamoro peoples and U.S. mining corporation Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold ("Freeport") offers one of the best-documented examples of how local communities have experienced and resisted the seizure of their traditional lands by government-backed multinational mining enterprises...