UN body questions Indonesia on Papua, land-grabbing and human rights
A Joint Press Release by Franciscans International, the International Coalition for Papua, VIVAT International, Watch Indonesia!, and the West Papua Netzwerk
UN body questions Indonesia on Papua, land-grabbing and human rights
A Joint Press Release by Franciscans
International, the International Coalition for Papua, VIVAT
International, Watch Indonesia!, and the West Papua Netzwerk.
(Geneva, May 1st, 2014) On April 30 and
May 1st, 2014, the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
in Geneva assessed the level of implementation of these rights in
Indonesia. The review process covered
access to health care and education, the problem of land-grabbing, and
the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. In the discussion the
Committee showed particular concern to the situation in Papua.
After the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (English, Indonesian)
came into force in 1966, Indonesia ratified the treaty in 2005. As a
party to the covenant it is required to present its implementation
report every five years. The Committee was now able to conduct its first
review of Indonesia after Jakarta had submitted its initial report with
years of delay.
The Committee asked Indonesia about the
considerable poverty gap between the two Papuan and other Indonesian
provinces. The Head of the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in
Papua and West Papua (UP4B), Mr Bambang Darmono, as a member of the Indonesian delegation,
explained the increase of the number of regencies as an indicator of
success. He also referred to the reduction of the percentage of poor
people in the Papuan provinces over the past number of years.
He did not explain that the influx of
migrants has largly contributed to the change in numbers while
indigenous Papuans continue to suffer from a high level of poverty and
lack of access to education. Since the enactment of the Special Autonomy Law for Papua in 2001 the
number of regencies has increased from 9 to the present number of 42,
creating an inflated and highly corrupt public administration. Mr
Amirrudin of the Indonesian delegation alleged that most of these
regencies are governed by freely elected Papuans, sweeping the massive
corruption in the allocation of posts in Papua under the carpet.
In regard to the allegation of
land-grabbing in Papua for development projects, the delegation argued
that indigenous Papuans have been consulted and given a special
provision for benefit sharing. This included the development projects of
the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), PT Sinar Mas in
Jayapura, PTP II Kerong and PT SDIC in Manokwari.
The Committee asked the delegation how
it conducts human rights impact studies before providing licenses for
extractive industries. It questioned how the government ensures the
application of the process of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
when corporations appropriate land from traditional communities. The
Indonesian delegation explained that the FPIC principles have been
incorporated in the existing laws, including the Special Autonomy Law
for Papua. However, the delegation was not able to provide further
explanations on the methodology and implementation of the FPIC
principles.
The Committee took into account the
Constitutional Court decision and its possible effect on the affected
communities and FPIC mechanisms in the future. Mr Zudan Arif from the
Ministry of Home Affairs emphazised that the decision is legally binding
but did not explain why it was not implemented on the ground.
Regarding the recognition of Masyarakat Hukum Adat,
the delegation of the government of Indonesia rejected the concept of
indigenous as applicable to Indonesia. The delegation explained that due
to the historically static demographic composition of ethnic groups
they “consider all indonesians as indigenous”. They emphazised that Masyarakat Hukum Adat
is not referring to a minority or marginalized group and that the
special legal systems used by these communities are respected by the
government of Indonesia.
To the question of the Committee that in
many areas in Papua 50% of the teachers do not turn up for work,
Bambang Darmono explained that 95 districts in 21 regencies have been
classified as isolated. He went on to explain that local authorties had
been asked to give more attention to those units. Four hundred teachers
were sent to Papua in 2012 and another 900 in 2013, while at the same
time fresh high school graduates shall address the lack of trained
village teachers. Darmono did not present a strategy to ensure that
employed teachers are actually turning up for work. He admitted that in
areas like Puncak, teachers would often not be prepared to work under
the present conditions. UP4B plans to provide access to 17.000 children
in the 95 isolated districts by 2014. Cooperation with religious
institutions shall be another strategy to provide education through
boarding schools.
Indonesia also explained that it does
not plan to ratify any of the international treaties that would allow
indonesian nationals to launch individual complaints to UN mechanisms.
It thereby referred to its national complaint mechanisms, which human
rights groups had exposed to be inadequate.
The Committee will issue its concluding observations and recommendations around May 23rd on the OHCHR website.
The government of Indonesia is expected to implement the
recommendations of the international Committee to protect the human
rights of its citizens. Source: http://www.humanrightspapua.org/news/83-cescr2014prl
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