RFK Center Letter
On May 25, 1998, leaders of three churches based in Mimika, Irian Jaya (West Papua) delivered a report to Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). The report contains detailed information of numerous human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, suspected disappearances, internal displacements of indigenous people and the widespread destruction of property, by the Indonesian military in Irian Jaya's Central Highlands.
Highlighting the Mimika churches' report, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights yesterday sent a letter to President Habibie of Indonesia, stating that these violations underscore the immediate need for the Indonesian government to scrutinize the impact of its policies and practices on indigenous communities throughout Indonesia, increase military accountability and eliminate obstacles to political participation by all Indonesian citizens, particularly those living in outlying areas such as Irian Jaya (West Papua), Aceh, Kalimantan, Maluku and Sulawesi. The RFK Center also expressed deep concern that the human rights violations in Irian Jaya (West Papua) may far exceed those the Mimika churches were able to document. The text of the letter, including specific recommendations to end human rights violations in Irian Jaya (West Papua), follows.
Please note:
English language copies of the report are available from the RFK Center for Human Rights. Broadcast quality interviews with victims of human rights abuses in Irian Jaya (West Papua) are also available.
For more information:
Ayesha Rekhi
tel 202/463-7575 ext.226
fax 202/463-6606
____________________________________________________________
BY FACSIMILE
27 May 1998
His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
Office of the President
Republic of Indonesia
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
Dear President Habibie:
The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights has monitored human rights conditions in Indonesia, particularly Irian Jaya (West Papua), since 1993, when Bambang Widjojanto, now head of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia), received the RFK Human Rights Award. The RFK Center's work has focused on the impact of Indonesian government and corporate policies and practices on the indigenous communities of Irian Jaya (West Papua) and other outlying areas as well as on general political developments and the nexus of human rights and environmental concerns.
The RFK Center is a nongovernmental human rights organization based in Washington, D.C., with consultative status at the United Nations. The RFK Center develops and implements projects to promote respect for human rights in the countries of recipients of the annual Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and to heighten awareness of these issues among policy makers, the media and the public. The Center's work is based on ongoing collaboration with RFK laureates and aims to strengthen and give international voice to the nongovernmental human rights movements in their countries.
We welcome the reform measures that you have announced and look forward to Indonesia's repeal of laws limiting political freedom and its transition to governance based on civilian-led political reform. Your government has an unprecedented opportunity to build a political system that promotes transparency, accountability, the rule of law, basic human rights, political pluralism, and sustainable development. As you begin the process of reform, we urge you to eliminate the obstacles to political participation by all Indonesian citizens and to consult with recognized, respected community leaders, particularly those living in outlying areas such as Irian Jaya (West Papua), Aceh, Kalimantan, Maluku and Sulawesi and in East Timor.
Recently publicized accounts of serious human rights abuses by the Indonesian military in Irian Jaya (West Papua) underscore the immediate need for the Indonesian government to increase accountability of the military, reexamine its "dwi fungsi" role in maintaining internal stability, and scrutinize the impact of Indonesian government policies and practices on indigenous communities throughout Indonesia.
As you may know, leaders of the Indonesian Evangelical Church, the Catholic Church and the Christian Evangelical Church - all based in Mimika subdistrict, Irian Jaya (West Papua) - met with Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Monday, May 25. They delivered a report detailing numerous human rights violations by the Indonesian military in Irian Jaya (West Papua)'s Central Highlands. Specifically, the report contains detailed information about 11 extrajudicial killings, 2 suspected disappearances, widespread destruction of property - including the burning by the military of 166 houses, 13 churches and two health clinics - and the internal displacement of an estimated 2,350 indigenous people from the communities of Bela, Alama, Jila and Mapnduma.
These abuses were carried out - or were the consequence of actions - by Kopassus forces under the command of Lt. General Prabowo Subianto and by other military units stationed in Timika, Mimika subdistrict. They were the result of ongoing operations by the military following the liberation of the "1995 Lorentz Team" hostages - scientific researchers from Indonesia, England, Germany and the Netherlands, who were held by the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM) from January 8 to May 15, 1996. The hostages were held in the area surrounding Mapnduma, a village east of Bela and Alama. The Mimika churches' report states that the military carried out these actions in order to crack down on the OPM and to secure PT Freeport Indonesia's mining operations, which are located in Timika and other areas of Mimika subdistrict.
We are deeply concerned that the actual number of deaths and other human rights violations may be far higher than the figures contained in the Mimika churches' report. The incidents described in the report represent only the information that researchers have been able to document thus far. Since January 1996, the region of the Central Highlands in which the documented violations have occurred has been a "closed military area." This has impeded monitoring and verification of events there. The military requires any resident seeking to move about or leave the area to obtain a travel permit (surat jalan). Non-residents are prohibited from entering the area. Church and relief workers have been unable to enter the region for more than two years.
The violations described in the Mimika churches' report come in the wake of a well-documented history of abuses by the military against the Amungme people and other indigenous groups living in the project area of the Grasberg mine, which is operated by PT Freeport Indonesia Inc., the Indonesian branch of the American mining corporation, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold.
In September 1995, Komnas HAM confirmed reports that the military had carried out serious human rights violations against local civilians in the Grasberg mine project area, including killings, disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention and destruction of property. In its findings, the Commission concluded that the violations "are directly connected to [the army]acting as protection for the mining business of PT Freeport Indonesia, [which is]classified by the Indonesian Government as a vital project."
Although four soldiers implicated in one incident were prosecuted in January 1996, we are concerned that the Indonesian government has not yet implemented Komnas HAM's recommendations, which include: 1) full investigation and prosecution of military personnel involved in committing documented human rights abuses; and 2) compensation to victims of these abuses and their families.
During the period covered by the Mimika churches' report, a severe drought struck Indonesia. Surveys conducted by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in November 1997 show that there has been a shockingly high 20 percent mortality rate in Bela and Alama since October 1997. According to the PMI-ICRC report, malnutrition has "greatly contributed" to susceptibility to malaria, dysentery and upper respiratory infections. The team found that 90 to 100 percent of the people were suffering from malaria - whereas traditionally there have been none in that area - and 60 percent were malnourished. Those sectors of the populace most severely affected by malnutrition were infants, lactating and pregnant women and the elderly (people more than 45 years old). The PMI-ICRC report also states that "those hardest hit by malnutrition and malaria are the people who fled the conflict areas [in 1997] for the lower-lying forests and valleys."
The Mimika churches' report supports this finding. It states that 126 people have died from malnutrition and disease as a result of having fled their homes out of fear of violence by the military. The report documents numerous incidents in which civilians attempting to return to their homes and food gardens were shot at - and in some cases killed - by troops.
Beginning in October 1997, the military allowed the ICRC to deliver humanitarian aid to villages with military checkpoints in the Bela and Alama region. We are concerned that, since late February 1998, the military has prohibited even these deliveries.
The findings of the PMI-ICRC team and the Mimika churches call for immediate and effective actions to end human rights violations and redress past abuses directed at the local people of the Central Highlands and to ameliorate their living and health conditions. We therefore urge your government to:
1) allow access to the Central Highlands area - in particular the Bela, Alama, Jila and Mapnduma regions - by church and relief workers and the resumption of delivery of food supplies and medicines by the Indonesian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross;
2) stop military operations in the Central Highlands region and withdraw the troops stationed there;
3) investigate and prosecute the members of the military responsible for committing both the acts documented in the report by the three Mimika-based churches and other incidents that may have occurred;
4) open the area to independent Indonesian and international human rights monitors;
5) provide compensation and a formal apology to the victims of these abuses and their families;
6) fully respect and protect the right of indigenous peoples to ownership of customary land; and
7) end military involvement in land disputes and in the establishment of large-scale, natural resource-use project; and
8) heed civil society calls for development projects and policies that incorporate principles of social and environmental sustainability, including: 1) recognizing, promoting and supporting community-based natural resource management systems; 2) canceling planned expansion and liberalization of large-scale plantation sector investment; and 3) ending policies and loans that have a negative impact on forests and indigenous communities.
As you may know, Robert F. Kennedy played an important role in the negotiations that resulted in the 1962 United Nations-brokered agreement between the Netherlands and the Republic of Indonesia that ultimately transferred sovereignty over West New Guinea (now Irian Jaya (West Papua)) to Indonesia. President Sukarno reportedly told Howard Jones, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia at the time, "It could not have been done without your government."
The RFK Center would welcome the opportunity to visit Irian Jaya (West Papua) soon to study the human rights situation in the province 35 years after its transfer to Indonesian sovereignty. We hope that you will welcome a delegation headed by Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and founder of the RFK Center for Human Rights. We will contact Indonesia's Ambassador to the United States Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and the National Commission on Human Rights in Jakarta to discuss this proposal further.
Thank you for your attention to these urgent matters.
Sincerely yours,
James J. Silk Abigail Abrash
Director Program Director for Asia and the Middle East
Center for Human Rights Center for Human Rights
cc: Prof. Dr. Muladi SH, Minister of Justice
General Wiranto, Minister of Defense and Commander of the Armed Forces (ABRI)
Marzuki Darusman, National Commission on Human Rights Ambassador Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, Embassy of Indonesia, Washington, DC
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Strobe Talbott, Deputy Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State
Wendy Sherman, Acting UnderSecretary for Global Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Stanley Roth, Assistant Secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, U.S. Department of State
John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State
Melinda L. Kimble, Acting Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy, U.S. Embassy/Jakarta
Gregory B. Craig, Director of Policy & Planning, U.S. Department of State
J. Brian Atwood, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
Sandy Berger, National Security Advisor
Eric Schwartz, Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights, National Security Council
Sandy Kristoff, Senior Director for Asian Affairs, National Security Council
James Gagnon, Director for Asian Affairs, National Security Council
David Sandalow, Office of the Vice President