Do not insult the Pacific, churches tell Indonesia

Indonesia must seriously address human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings in Papua, Pacific churches said today.

The call came after the killing of a student in Timika and Indonesia’s denials at the United Nations General Assembly of human rights abuses in the territory it annexed in 1961.

Pacific Conference of Churches General Secretary, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, said the situation in Papua was made worse by Indonesian denials when the evidence of abuse was clear.

“Social media makes it impossible for Indonesia to hide the atrocities committed by its security forces on a people who want to determine their political future for themselves,” Rev Pihaatae said.

“Papuans are killed and tortured – 500,000 have died since 1961 – merely because they want self-determination, a right guaranteed by the United Nations of which Indonesia is a member.’’

Rev Pihaatae said that despite the obvious, overwhelming evidence, the Indonesian government insulted the intelligence of Pacific people by its denials.

“Now they send a minister who tells the women of Fiji that Papuans are being treated well by the Indonesian government when we can see that they are being systematically killed,” he said.

“And Indonesia continues to relocate non-Papuans to Papua in an act of genocide which the world refuses to see.”

Rev Pihaatae said visiting Indonesian Minister for Women, Dr Yohana Susana Yembise, should be ashamed for misleading the people of Fiji during her attendance of the National Women’s Expo.

“As a Papuan woman in a position of power, she should stand up for the people of Papua and use her influence to end these atrocities,” Rev Pihaatae said.

“The latest shooting in which one student was killed and another seriously injured took place in Timika where Dr Yembise’s youngest child studies.

“There is no way she cannot be aware of the incident.”

Rev Pihaatae said it was imperative that Pacific leaders – especially those who had welcomed Indonesia into the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Development Forum – spoke out against human rights violations.

He said the MSG and PIDF provided perfect platforms for leaders to address the plight of Papuans.

“Our leaders’ silence will not make the issue go away,” Rev Pihaatae said.

“In the name of humanity we, the Pacific churches, call on our leaders to end this bloodshed and bring injustice in Papua to an end.”

At the last UN General Assembly, Indonesian representatives rejected claims of human rights abuses in Papua, claiming they were misleading.

Source: PACNEWS