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| Ana Maria Gomez, one of EU Parliament member who signed the letter (rigth), with Victor Mambor, Chairperson of The Alliance of Independent Journalist on West Papua (Jubi) |
Jayapura, 31/3 (Jubi) – Members of
European Union parliament urged Indonesia to allow independent
observers including those from the EU and the United Nations to monitor
elections in Papua.
Sixteen members of EU parliament have sent a letter to the EU High
Representatives for Foreign and Security Affairs, Catherine Ashton
following a hearing on Papua in January and the parliament’s vote on a
memorandum of understanding between Indonesia and the European Union.
The parliament members asked Ashton to push Indonesia to actively begin a
dialogue process with the people of West Papua as an effort to resolve
the conflict peacefully as demanded by some activists in Papua and
Jakarta.
The parliament members also asked Indonesia to provide access for
independent observers including the observers from the EU and the UN
Human Rights Council and to protect the freedom of the local media in
Papua.
Leonidas Donskis, an EU parliament member from Finland, wrote to Jubi
on Monday (30/3) that the letter also urged Indonesia to release all
political prisoners and to end the practice of accusing Papuans involved
in peaceful political activities of treason.
The European Union parliament also expressed strong support for reforms
in Indonesia to ensure that security forces responsible to the human
rights violations would brought to justice by reforming the military
court system.
“Local NGOs have reported that the Indonesian Army
continues to commit atrocities against civilians in West Papua while
some European Union member countries are selling weapons to Indonesia.
It is not possible to monitor whether those weapons have been used
against civilians since there is limited access to Papua,” wrote
Donskis.
The letter to Ashton, a copy of which was received by Jubi on Saturday
(29/3), also mentioned that several articles of Special Autonomy Law
have been violated. Other government initiatives such as the
establishment of the Development Acceleration Unit for Papua and West
Papua (UP4B) and the proposed draft of Special Autonomy Plus Law
involved very few indigenous people, it said.
The letter said Jakarta’s approach to the situation of West Papua only
revolves around economic issues and budgets were mostly spent on health
services and education but health and education facilities were not well
functioning. It also noted that people who express their political
opinions and exercise freedom of speech peacefully have subjected to
persecution and some activists have been arrested and sentenced to up to
20 years in jail.
The parliament members also expressed concerns that foreign observers
and humanitarian and rights organizations as well as independent
journalists have been banned from visiting and faced serious
restrictions in Papua. Human rights organizations and the Church
continuously report about extrajudicial killings, tortures and detention
and limited access of education and health services for the indigenous
Papuans, the letter said.
The European Union parliament has invited Mr. Norman Vos from the
International Coalition for Papua, Ms. Zelly Ariane for National Papua
Solidarity and Mr. Victor Mambor from the Alliance for Independent
Journalist of Kota Jayapura to speak about the current issues of Papua
on 23 January 2014. (Jubi/Benny Mawel/rom)
“Local NGOs have reported that the Indonesian Army continues to commit atrocities against civilians in West Papua while some European Union member countries are selling weapons to Indonesia. It is not possible to monitor whether those weapons have been used against civilians since there is limited access to Papua,” wrote Donskis.
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