An Australian advocacy group supporting West Papuan self-determination has appealed to International Minister Penny Wong to press Indonesia to halt all navy operations within the area following new allegations of Indonesian atrocities reported in The Guardian newspaper.
In a letter to the senator yesterday, the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) protested in opposition to the report of torture and killing of civilians in West Papua.
In accordance with an investigative report by Mani Cordell in The Guardian on Monday, Indonesian safety forces tortured and burned to demise a 17-year-old highschool pupil, Wity Unue.
Quoting Raga Kogeya, a West Papuan human rights activist, the report stated:
“Wity had been interrogated and detained together with three different boys and two younger males below suspicion of being a part of the troubled area’s insurgent military.
“They have been taken by particular forces troopers who rampaged via the West Papuan village of Kuyawage, burning down homes and a church and terrorising locals.
“Transported by helicopter to the regional navy headquarters 100km away, the group have been crushed and burnt so badly by their captors that they now not seemed human.
“Kogeya says Wity died a painful demise in custody. The opposite 5 have been solely launched after human rights advocates tipped off the native media.
“‘The children had all been tortured and so they’d been tied up after which burned,’ says Kogeya, who noticed the surviving boys’ accidents first-hand on the day of their launch.”
The AWPA letter by spokesperson Joe Collins stated: “Quite a few experiences have documented the continued human rights abuses in West Papua, the burning of villages throughout navy operations and the focusing on of civilians together with youngsters.”
The newest cited report was by Human Rights Monitor titled “Destroy them first… discuss human rights later” (August 2023), “brings to consideration the stunning abuses which might be ongoing in West Papua and must be of concern to the Australian authorities”.
Quoting from that report, the letter acknowledged:
“This report offers detailed info on a sequence of safety drive raids within the Kiwirok District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province (till 2022 Papua Province) between 13 September and late October 2021.
“Indonesian safety forces repeatedly attacked eight indigenous villages within the Kiwirok District, utilizing helicopters and spy drones. The helicopters reportedly dropped mortar grenades on civilian houses and church buildings whereas firing indiscriminately at civilians.
“Floor forces set public buildings in addition to residential homes on hearth and killed the villagers’ livestock.”
The AWPA stated Indonesian safety drive operations had additionally created hundreds of inner refugees who’ve fled to the forests to flee the Indonesian navy.
“It has been estimated that there are as much as 60,000 IDPs within the highlands dwelling in distant shelters within the forest and so they missing entry to meals, sanitation, medical therapy, and schooling,” the letter acknowledged.
In mild of the continued human rights abuses within the territory, the AWPA referred to as on Senator Wong to:
- urge Jakarta to right away halt all navy operations in West Papua;
- urge Jakarta to provide assist and well being care to the West Papuan inner refugees by human rights and well being care organisations trusted by the native individuals; and to
- rethink Australia cooperation with the Indonesian navy till the Indonesian navy is of a typical acceptable to the Australian individuals who care about human rights.
A New Zealand advocacy group has additionally referred to as for a right away authorities response to the allegations of torture of kids in West Papua.
“The New Zealand authorities should converse out urgently and strongly in opposition to this youngster torture and the state killing of kids by Indonesian forces in West Papua this week,” stated the West Papua Action Aotearoa community spokesperson Catherine Delahunty.