Indonesia

Trial Update: Four military members found guilty of premeditated murder – two defendants sentenced to life imprisonment

On 15 February 2023, judges at the Military Court III-19 in Jayapura have found the four military members, Private Rahmat Amin Sese, Private Risky Oktav Muliawan, Private Robertus Putra Clinsman, and Private Pargo Rumbouw guilty of killing four indigenous Papuans and subsequently mutilating their bodies in the town of Timika on 22 August 2022.

West Papua Annual Report 2022 – Human rights and conflict situation

Two major developments with a significant effect on the human rights situation in West Papua throughout 2022 were, firstly, Jakarta’s plans to amend the Papuan special autonomy law and establish new provinces in West Papua. This has caused widespread rejection among indigenous Papuans. In July 2021, the central government unilaterally amended the Papuan Special Autonomy (Otsus) Law without the participation of the Papuan Peoples Assembly (MRP) and the provincial government. Secondly, the ongoing armed conflict in West Papua causes a climate of persistent violence, particularly in the conflict areas. Papuan human rights defenders kept reporting cases of torture, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances – many of such cases are directly related to armed conflict.

Man dies during detention at Mamuju Police Station in West Sulawesi

A rape suspect, 30-year-old Salamah, died in the Central Mamuju Police Office, West Sulawesi Province, on 24 February 2022. The bruises on Salamah’s body indicated that he had been tortured. This allegation of torture was reinforced by the post-mortem results, which stated that Salamah had been subjected to violence.

Human Rights Council calls for access to West Papua during UPR

On 9 November 2022, Indonesia was reviewed for a fourth time by the UN Human Rights Council’s (HRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a review in which the members of the Human Rights Council discuss the overall human rights situation in Indonesia, including in West Papua. During the three hours session in Geneva, Indonesia presented its human rights record from the state’s perspective after it had submitted its national report for this review.