The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), established in 1979 on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Peoples’ Rights, and in compliance with its Statute, has opened a procedure to investigate the environmental impacts of development in West Papua and the human rights violations linked to those practices. The PPT was asked by some of the most important human rights organisations based in West Papua and Indonesia, alongside the most prominent international human rights and environmental NGOs working in this area, and coordinated by the Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice based at Queen Mary University, London. The session will take place at Queen Mary University of London Mile End Campus, from 27th to 29th June 2024 (see the program here).
During the public hearings, the PPT will examine a body of evidence on environmental impacts of development in the region, and the persecution, human rights violations and extra-judicial killings committed against West Papuans, who have been engaged in a struggle for their right to self-determination since colonisation by the Netherlands in 1898. In particular, the requesting organizations asked that the Tribunal explores evidence of the mass displacement of indigenous people, the depletion and poisoning of water supplies and the destruction of local ecosystems related to logging, palm oil plantations and mineral extraction.
According to the Indictment, the subject of the charge “is rooted in fundamentally unequal social and economic relationships that enable Indonesian industrial policy to be imposed on the people of West Papua against their will. The militarised techniques of social control that accompany it ensure the continuation of those unequal social and economic relationships”. As requested, the Tribunal will move beyond the legal paradigms in order to explore, and restore, from the perspective of the West Papuan people, the relationship between the rights of the people and the rights of the earth.
According to its Statute, the PPT has notified the Indictment to the Indonesian authorities to fully recognize their rights to defence.
The panel of judges, convened by the PPT President and the PPT General secretariat, is integrated by, in alphabetical order: Teresa Almeida Cravo (Portugal), Donna Andrews (South Africa), Daniel Feierstein (Argentina), Marina Forti (Italy), Larry Lohmann (UK), Nello Rossi (Italy) and Solomon Yeo (Solomon Islands).
The link for registration, both online and in person, is here.
Should you have any further question, please contact ppt@permanentpeoplestribunal.org
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The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) is an international opinion tribunal that is competent to judge any type of crime committed causing injury to peoples and minorities. It was established in Bologna in 1979 thanks to the intuition of jurist and politician Lelio Basso, on the basis of the framework defined in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of People (1976). Established as a direct continuation of the Russel Tribunals on Vietnam (1966-67) and Latin America (1973-76), it was then transformed into a permanent institution, able to give a voice and visibility to those people facing a lack of their rights, and impunity. The Tribunal is built around a network of internationally recognized experts, who are then appointed for the PPT panel of judges for each session. Through its sessions and judgments, the Tribunal has given visibility to several cases of serious human rights violations, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. It has recently expanded the scope of its competence to include economic, ecological, and systemic crimes. The PPT is based in Rome, at the Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso, Via della Dogana Vecchia 5.
