[Kabar-Irian] Irian News - 1/26/06
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- Christmas Island detention places Papuan families in direct murder danger
- Komnas-HAM probes Papuan asylum bid
- Members of U.S. Congress Expresses Concern About Papuan Refugees
- TNI to increase troops guarding Freeport and ExxonMobil
- PNG police guard Indonesian consulate
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Press Release: Project SafeCom
Christmas Island detention places Papuan families in direct murder danger
Friday, 27 January 2006, 10:10 am
"The fact that DIMIA has placed Papuan families, men, women and children
in staff housing, openly visible from the beach on Christmas island,
places them as well as their families and relatives in West Papua in a
direct 'line of fire' and in direct danger of being identified by
Indonesians who travel directly to the island under the guise of a holiday
visa on the weekly one-hour flight from Denpasar," WA Rights group Project
SafeCom said this morning.
Australian West Papua Association member Mr Ned Byrne, who lives in
Bunbury in Western Australia, is convinced that Indonesians want nothing
but the deaths of the families, while Christmas Island refugee advocate
Kaye Bernard 'arranged' for photos of some children to be taken from the
beach earlier this week. (photo available on request)
"Not only this, Mr Byrne also confirmed to Project SafeCom that a Priest
in Wamena, who was the first political prisoner in West Papua and who's
three children are amongst those who sailed to Australia two weeks ago,
has been approached by Indonesians with a list of names and was asked
whether this was the list of people who were indeed on the boat - and that
the Priest felt he had no choice but to admit to these facts and confirm
this list of names."
"Ms Bernard said that it was unbelievably easy to arrange photos to be
made from the families. This is how easy it is for Indonesians 'who arrive
on Christmas Island on a holiday' to photograph or film the families.
There are just two Federal police officers on the island while everyone on
Christmas Island is keen for Indonesians to frequent the island as
tourists. Last week Indonesian officials travelled as soon as they could
to Weipa to check up on the 43 Papuans who had just arrived - they were
just a few hours too late."
"Placing the West Papuans in detention on Christmas Island, although it
was slammed by the Commission of International Jurists, advocacy groups
and activists as disgraceful because the Papuans came to the nearest
country available to them, made themselves immediately available to
authorities and came in their own hand-made traditional vessel - and not a
vessel supplied by people smugglers - was endorsed by the Prime Minister
John Howard, and surely the Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone was also
directly ordered by the PM to transfer the families to Christmas Island,"
said Project SafeCom spokesman Jack H Smit.
"Mr Howard's view of Australia as a country that has balanced also the
influx of refugees is spin and self-aggrandisement and false, because his
central tenet is the false notion that it is "illegal" to arrive
unannounced on Australian shores, while those who do are claiming the
well-established international right reserved under the Declaration of
Human Rights and the UN Convention."
"Mr Howard's view of history is fabricated and manipulated; his skills of
manipulating the facts for political gain are indeed the greatest skills
he has - but it would be great if Australians on this Australia Day named
these skills for what they are: mean, devoid of heart, compassion and
generosity, and manipulative, skills that seek to delude the nation and
re-write history in Mr Howard's own image."
The issues connected with the arrival of the Papuans will be discussed
during a Forum in Fremantle at Kulcha Multicultural Association. In
addition to Project SafeCom's Mr Smit, Mr Byrne and Ms Bernard as well as
Greens Senator for NSW, refugee spokesperson for the Greens Kerry Nettle -
who will visit Christmas Island this weekend - will be part of th Forum.
Contact details for Mr Byrne and Ms Bernard are available on request.
Fremantle Forum details:
Kulcha Multicultural Association
South Terrace, Fremantle WA
Tuesday January 31, 7pm
More information at http://www.safecom.org.au/papuaforum.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National Scene
January 26, 2006
Komnas-HAM probes Papuan asylum bid
Jayapura, Papua: The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has
started investigating the cases of 43 Papuans seeking political asylum in
Australia and the shooting of three protesters, one fatally, in Waghete,
Paniai district.
Komnas HAM Papua branch deputy head Alberth Rumbekwan said in the Papuan
capital of Jayapura on Wednesday that two teams had been formed to
investigate the incidents.
The first team would be dispatched to Merauke to gather information on the
departure of 43 Papuans refugees to Australia for asylum.
The Papuans have told Australian authorities they faced political
persecution in Indonesia.
The second team would go to Waghete to investigate a Jan. 20 incident in
which armed police shot dead a 13-year-old boy and wounded two others in a
protest.
--JP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
Press Release
26 January 2006
Contact: Ed McWilliams (703) 237-3913 and
Emily S. Goldman (202) 463-7575 ext. 235
For Immediate Release
Members of U.S. Congress Expresses Concern About Papuan Refugees
(Washington, D.C., 26 January 2006) – The West Papua Advocacy Team at the
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Center welcomes the initiative of
Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Congressman Eni Faleomavaega and eight
other Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have appealed to
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on behalf of 43 Papuans who are
seeking human rights asylum and refugee status in Australia. These
Papuans, including seven children, undertook a five-day journey across the
open ocean in an outrigger canoe. They fled a rapidly deteriorating human
rights environment in West Papua where the Indonesian military has
committed human rights abuse on a broad scale for decades with impunity.
The Congressional letter follows below.
______________________________
Prime Minister John Howard
c/o Embassy of Australia to the United States
1601 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036-2273
Dear Mr. Prime Minister:
We write to you in regards to the asylum appeals of the 43 Papuan men,
women and children who arrived at Port York on January 17. These
refugees reached the Australian mainland after an extraordinarily
dangerous 220 mile voyage in a small, open boat. We commend the
Australian government for its timely and successful efforts to assist
these men, women, and children after their harrowing journey; however, we
strongly feel that it is equally important that they now be accorded the
full rights and privileges which accrue to their refugee status.
Their decision to undertake the arduous ocean voyage during the monsoon
season could not have been taken lightly, and reveals the increasingly
desperate plight of Papuans facing unacceptable human rights abuse in
Papua, Indonesia. The U.S. State Department's most recent Human Rights
Report notes that in Papua, "security force members murdered, tortured,
raped, beat and arbitrarily detained civilians..." and that the Government
of Indonesia "did not report any progress in prosecuting those responsible
for acts of torture" committed in Papua.
Facing continuing human rights abuse by Indonesian security forces, these
Papuans have risked everything in a flight to freedom. We hope that the
Government of Australia will reject public demands by the Indonesian
Government to return these refugees to the control of the very same
security forces from which they fled.
We respectfully appeal to the Government of Australia to carefully examine
these refugees' claims for asylum status and grant asylum to those that
meet the international and Australian standards.
Sincerely,
Patrick Kennedy (D - Rhode Island)
Eni Faleomavaega (D - American Samoa)
Tammy Baldwin (D- Wisconsin)
Sam Farr (D - California)
Chaka Fattah (D - Pennsylvania)
Raul Grijalva (D - Arizona)
Jim McGovern (D - Massachusetts)
Dennis Kucinich (D - Ohio)
Donald Payne (D - New Jersey)
Christopher Smith (R - New Jersey)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sinar Harapan
TNI to increase troops guarding Freeport and ExxonMobil
January 24, 2006
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Emmy Kuswandari, Jakarta -- After a period of reducing the number of
military personnel tasked with guarding vital installations such as
ExxonMobil and Freeport, the TNI (Indonesian military) will again be
increasing troops numbers assisting these companies. The increase in
troops is based on a request submitted by the national police that up
until now have had the duty of guarding vital installations.
In accordance with a regulation issued in 2004, the provision of security
for vital installations is the responsibility of the companies themselves.
If there is threat that is beyond their capacity to deal with, the company
can ask for assistance from the police. According the law on the national
police the provision of security for vital installations is the police's
responsibility, the TNI only provide assistance.
"Only after the national police believe that TNI assistance is needed, is
there an invitation to the TNI so that that our presence there has
legitimacy", said TNI chief General Endriartono Sutarto after a security
meeting on providing security to vital installations that was held at the
offices of the coordinating minister for political, legal and security
affairs on Monday January 23.
Security Minister Widodo AS, Police Chief General Sutanto, the Minister
for Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and a representative
also attended the meeting from the Department of Home Affairs.
The meeting also discussed TNI personnel that are guarding vital
installations such as Freeport and ExxonMobil. Certainty over the TNI's
position will remove the impression that the TNI are paid mercenaries.
"Because indeed it is not the TNI's duty to guard such things", said
Sutarto.
When asked whether large amounts of money are given to the TNI to provide
security to vital installations, he rejected this. "What there is, is when
the TNI is asked to guard [an installation], it turns out the government
does not have the funds to accommodate the posts and other things", he
said.
According to Sutarto, there was an agreement between the government and
companies where the companies agreed to bear the entire cost of the
facilities and accommodation for the units providing security, including
operational assistance.
He added that the order to provide security to vital installations is
based on an order that flows out of a work contract. In order to provide
security at Freeport the TNI already has one battalion in place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NineMSN.com.au
PNG police guard Indonesian consulate
Thursday Jan 26 11:28 AEDT
Papua New Guinea police are guarding Indonesia's consulate compound in the
border town of Vanimo after its gate was rammed by a vehicle and a boat
damaged.
Police have reported that they have brought a suspect in for questioning
following Tuesday night's attack.
Indonesian Consular-General Kristanyo Hardojo told PNG's newspaper The
National that the identity of the attackers was not known.
But sources in Vanimo told the newspaper that relatives of a local
businessman who disappeared on the Indonesian side of the border last
month could have been responsible for the attack.
Relatives of Constant Nere, who moved from West Papua to PNG more than 30
years ago during high tensions over the Indonesian takeover, fear he was
kidnapped on his first trip back over the border.
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