Feature story
The report was released by Human Rights Monitor, an EU-based international group promoting human rights through documentation and advocacy. The group works in collaboration with the World Council of Churches on conflict and human rights issues in West Papua.
The report found that, as in previous years, the ongoing armed conflict in West Papua caused persistent violence and human rights violations in the affected areas. In 2022, Papuan human rights defenders continued to report cases of torture, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances–and many of such cases were directly related to actions by the military and security forces.
“The enduring practice of impunity among members of the police and military aggravated this pattern of violations,” reads the report. “As in previous years, cases of extrajudicial killings and torture were rarely processed.”
Public awareness and media reporting appeared to positively influence efforts to hold perpetrators in the police and military accountable. “However, perpetrators were usually charged through internal mechanisms of their institutions, which lack transparency and independence,” the report notes. “Armed violence statistics and a series of recent attacks indicate that the conflict in West Papua reached a new level of escalation throughout 2022.”
In early 2022, the Indonesian government sought to present “a more gentle approach” to the conflict, involving the military and police in development programs, according to the report. “According to that approach, the military and police is to be engaged in providing healthcare and education services as well as agricultural programs,” reads the report. “At the same time, the government was determined to increase the security force presence and push economic growth in West Papua.”
The report notes that the deployment of security forces, even under the new security approach, is predicted to bring a new level of tension into the conflict during 2023. Not only does it increase the potential for armed clashes near civilian settlements, but it will also inevitably limit access to healthcare and education services for Indigenous Papuans, many of whom are afraid of the Indonesian military and the police, responsible for atrocities and human rights violations since the Indonesian takeover of West Papua in 1969.
“The information on armed violence showed that the conflict turned more violent in 2022,” notes the report. “While the number of attacks in 2022 does not indicate a substantial increase in armed clashes compared to the previous year, the aggravation of the conflict is reflected in the number of killed civilians.”
In 2020 and 2021, the number of fatalities among civilians during armed clashes or raids was 27 and 28 civilians, respectively. In 2022, the number of killed civilians was 43.
The report concludes with a series of recommendations that include, among others, calling for access to the territory for independent observers; engagement by the Indonesian government in dialogue with the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to peacefully resolve the political and historical conflict; allowing humanitarian access to West Papua for the International Committee of the Red Cross; withdrawing all ‘non-organic’ police and military forces deployed in West Papua; and facilitating and guaranteeing the safe and voluntary return of internally displaced people to their villages.
Human Rights Monitor: West Papua Annual Report 2022 – Human rights and conflict situation
