On 7 July 2022, two members of the military intelligence unit in Nabire (Intel Kodim Nabire) questioned residents and journalists in Nabire to collect information about Papuan human rights defender Mr Yones Douw. The military members explicitly asked for his mobile phone number and home address. Mr Douw understood this action as an attempt to intimidate and prevent him from carrying out his work as a human rights defender.
According to information received, the soldiers randomly questioned members of the indigenous Me community in Mr Douws’s neighbourhood, including one of his neighbours, asking for his current address. Around 3:00 pm, military members called Mr Rein Windesi, a journalist working for the local media outlet TV Nabire, and asked for Mr Douw’s address and phone number.
Mr Douw is leading the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Desk of the Papuan Tabernacle Church (JPIC Kingmi Papua) and has been actively involved in dozens of investigations into allegations of human rights violations in West Papua, including cases of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture. He has been supporting victims of the 2014 Paniai Case and their relatives. The case is the first serious human rights violation in West Papua to be processed through a human rights court since the Abepura Case on 7 December 2000. The Abepura case trial took place in 2004 – both defendants were acquitted.
Detailed Case Data
Location: Nabire
Region: Indonesia, Papua Province, Nabire, Nabire
Region: Indonesia, Central Papua, Nabire, Nabire
Total number of victims: 1
#
Number of Victims
Name, Details
Gender
Age
Group Affiliation
Violations
1.
1
Yones Douw
male
unknown
Indigenous Peoples, Activist, Human Rights Defender (HRD)
freedom of expression, intimidation
Perpetrator: Indonesian Military (TNI)
Perpetrator details: unknown
Issues: human rights defenders