UN rights panel concerned by extrajudicial killings in Indonesia’s Papua

GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. Human Rights Committee said on Thursday it was concerned by extrajudicial killings in Indonesia’s Papua province, where separatists and Indonesian troops have been fighting for decades.

“The Committee is concerned by multiple reports of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of indigenous peoples in Papua, which have not been investigated despite the state party’s commitment to do so,” it said in a report.

The Committee said it welcomed a Supreme Court decision to uphold the conviction of six law enforcement officers for the premeditated murder of four Papuan people in the city of Timika, but stressed there was a lack of information on other cases.

The Committee recommended that Indonesia promptly investigates “all human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, and extrajudicial killings…”

It also called on Indonesia “to strengthen efforts to end impunity and hold perpetrators accountable for previous violations”.

Resource-rich Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost region, has experienced violence between armed separatists and troops since the former Dutch territory was brought under Indonesian control in a vote overseen by the United Nations in 1969.

The conflict has escalated significantly since 2018, with pro-independence fighters mounting deadlier and more frequent attacks.