UN Experts urging Humanitarian Aid to the Indigenous Papuan people

14-03-2022

Maggie Mc Coy 

Indonesian Human Rights Researcher 

Global Human Rights Defence 

More and more allegations concerning the killing, torture, and disappearance of thousands of Indigenous Papuans including children by security forces. Experts ask for urgent humanitarian aid to the region and compel the Indonesian government to have an investigation into the situation. Since December 2018 the situation has increasingly gotten worst, and the number of displaced people has grown from 60,000 to 100,000. Most of the indigenous population that has been displaced have not been able to return to their homes or have been living in temporary shelters and thousands even live in the forest now as the security forces and armed conflicts are not allowing them to return. 

Humanitarian relief aid has been blocked by authorities even church workers were not able to visit some of the displaced indigenous Papuans shelters. Experts are worried that the incidents since late 2018 have now reached such high numbers that many might be overlooked and have become more intense such as the shooting of two children age, two and six, in late October. Advocates have urged the Indonesian government and international communication and are asking to let autonomous monitoring bodies and journalism have access to the region to report on the situation at hand. These investigations must show the people responsible for the human rights violations and bring them to justice. 

Sources and further readings: 

United Nations (2022, March 1). Indonesia: Shocking abuses against indigenous Papuans, rights expert report. UN News Global perspective Human stories. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113062