Six West Papuans are to be charged with ‘subversion’ after peacefully raising the banned West Papuan independence symbol, the Morning Star flag. The protest took place in the town of Fakfak, which is 550 miles to the west of the capital, Jayapura.
Doctors fear that the number of Papuans living with HIV/AIDS far exceeds the government’s figures.
Indonesia’s foreign minister has defended his government’s policy of restricting access by foreign journalists and human rights monitors to the troubled province of Papua.
Fears are growing about the spread of cholera amongst tribal people in West Papua, Indonesia. Human rights and church workers report that in the last three months, 85 people have died from the disease.
Thirteen indigenous Papuans were arrested on 13 March in the town of Manokwari, West Papua, for taking part in peaceful demonstrations against the 2007 law banning the display of the Papuan Morning Star flag.
Sabar Iwanggin, a lawyer who defended Papuan students arrested in 2006 after demonstrations against the Indonesian regime, has been arrested and interrogated by Indonesia’s special anti-terrorism police force, Detachment 88.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the situation of human rights defenders has concluded her visit to Indonesia.
Indonesian police occupied the headquarters of the Indigenous Kingmi Church in Jayapura, West Papua yesterday. The church has been particularly vocal in speaking out against the terrible human rights violations in the region.
In recent weeks large numbers of Indonesian soldiers, including special forces, have been deployed to the Punkak Jaya region of West Papua, causing an estimated 5,000 tribespeople to flee into the jungle.
Indonesian police have unleashed a new wave of violence against the tribal people of Papua. Survival has received numerous reports of torture, mal-treatment and extra-judicial killings committed by the police this year.