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| Joint Press Release by civil society organization at Geneva (IST) |
Geneva, 2/5 (Jubi) – A Joint Press Release by Franciscans
International, the International Coalition for Papua, VIVAT
International, Watch Indonesia! and the West Papua Netzwerk was released
yesterday. This press release noted some questions by UN Committee on
Economic Social and Cultural Rights to Indonesia’s delegation.
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.
The delegation of Indonesia included representatives of the Ministry
of Law and Human Rights, Unit for Development Acceleration for Provinces
of Papua and West Papua, Ministry of Development of Disadvantaged
Regions, Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of
Health, National Agency for Border Management, Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration, Ministry of National Planning Development and the
Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the United Nations Office at Geneva. (Jubi/Victor Mambor)
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