Indonesia accused of undermining Pacific push for UN human rights mission to Papua

go through Stefan Armbruster, Victor Mambol and BenarNews Staff

A top Pacific diplomat made a low-profile visit to Indonesia’s Papua province, drawing criticism as he was accused of undermining United Nations efforts to send a human rights mission to the region, where pro-independence rebels have fought Indonesian rule for decades.

Leonard Louma, director general of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, has not yet responded Bernal News Questions were raised about the brief visit, which came days after the latest clashes between Indonesian troops and Papuan militants that left four people dead and forced hundreds of civilians to flee their homes in Paniai regency in central Papua province.

Indonesia used the visit earlier this month to paint a positive picture of its governance of the disputed Melanesian territory, often referred to as West Papua. Indonesian state news agency Antara said Loma had declared Papua to be in a “stable and favorable” state.

Highly Criticized UN Human Rights Commission Report A report on Indonesia released in May highlighted “systematic reports of the use of torture” and “extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of indigenous peoples in Papua.”

Hipo Wange, an Indonesian foreign policy researcher at the Australian National University, said the Indonesian government’s sponsorship of the visit was “another attempt to dilute global calls, including from the MSG, to allow the UN Human Rights Committee to visit Papua and assess its human rights situation”.

“It is also another attempt to allay concerns about entrenched discrimination against Papuans in the region,” he told Bernal News.

For years, Indonesia has rejected requests from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an independent fact-finding mission in Papua.

The Pacific Islands Forum, a regional grouping of 18 countries, has called on Indonesia to allow the operation to go ahead since 2019. A similar call was made by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), whose members include Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Kanak independence movement in New Caledonia.

It is not clear whether Louma’s remarks between and a statement from the Indonesian government are all his own words. The Antara article published on June 19, in English and Indonesian, is largely identical to a statement released by Indonesia’s Ministry of Information and Communications.

Papua has been under Dutch rule since Indonesian troops invaded the region in the early 1960s. Papua has been under Dutch rule since 1945, when Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands.

Indonesia argues that its annexation of the mineral-rich territory is legal under international law because it was part of the Dutch East Indies Empire, which is the basis of Indonesia’s modern borders.

Papuans, who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the rest of Indonesia, say they have been denied the right to decide their own future and are now marginalized on their own land. Indonesia formally took control of Papua New Guinea in 1969 through a UN-supervised referendum in which just over 1,000 Papua New Guineans were allowed to vote.

The Indonesian statement said Lockheed Martin, its executive adviser Christopher Nisbet and his entourage arrived at the Sku-Uthong border by land from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea on June 17. They were greeted by Indonesian diplomats and then accompanied by Indonesian officials to Jayapura.

On 19 June, they attended a meeting organized by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, purportedly to address security issues in Melanesia.

Yones Douw, a Papuan human rights activist based in Paniai, said a proper visit by the Melanesian Vanguard Group would have received wide public attention and met with churches, traditional leaders, journalists and civil society organizations including the independence movement.

“This visit was like a thief, sneaking around. I suspect the comments submitted to the mass media were the language of the Indonesian government, not the language of MSG,” he told Bernal News.

“This approach will undermine the unity of the Melanesian people,” he said.

The United Liberation Movement of West Papua, an umbrella group for the independence movement, said it should have been notified of the visit because it has observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Indonesia is an associate member.

“We have not been informed by the MSG secretariat. This is a secret visit initiated by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Markus Haluk, executive secretary of the ULMWP. “We will lodge a protest with the MSG chairperson, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai.”

Over the years, Indonesia has stepped up efforts to eliminate support for the West Papua independence movement in the Pacific, particularly from Melanesian nations that have ethnic and cultural ties to Papuans under Indonesian rule.

It succeeded in ending direct criticism from Pacific island governments – many of which had used the UN General Assembly as a forum to voice concerns about human rights violations – but grassroots support for self-determination in Papua remains strong.

Wange, a researcher at the Australian National University, said that since Loma took office as director-general of the Melanesian Regional Coordination Group Secretariat in 2022, the Indonesian government’s cooperation with Melanesian countries has been particularly active.

At the same time, he said, the government has also avoided talking about ongoing abuses in Papua provinces and the militarization of the region.

In March, the Indonesian military issued a rare apology to Papuans after videos showed soldiers repeatedly slashing an indigenous man with a bayonet and forcing him to stand in a drum filled with water.

These initiatives include the Indonesian police’s promotion of a regional security conference, the establishment of the Indonesia-Pacific Development Forum by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the provision of fisheries training, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ provision of diplomatic training for young diplomats from Melanesian countries and the Secretariat of the Melanesian Special Representatives Group.

Wange said the MSG last year appointed Fijian Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape as special envoys to Indonesia on West Papua, but this has not been productive.

The two leaders met Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whose second five-year term ends in October, at a global summit in San Francisco in November. He said no dialogue on West Papua was reached after the meeting.

Marape will pay an official state visit to Indonesia in mid-July.

“One thing is clear: the Indonesian government will buy more time by taking more false actions to cover up the pressing issues in West Papua,” Wange said.

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