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1) Govt Launches Community Health Care Program for Asmat Tribe

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2) UN Human Rights Chief ends visit to Indonesia – Full statement
3) UN rights chief to Indonesia: Stop LGBT crackdown
4) Papuan represents Indonesia at child conference in Sweden
5) Hopefully PIF Secretary General will raise West Papua

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HTTPS://EN.TEMPO.CO/READ/NEWS/2018/02/07/055915531/GOVT-LAUNCHES-COMMUNITY-HEALTH-CARE-PROGRAM-FOR-ASMAT-TRIBE
WEDNESDAY, 07 FEBRUARY, 2018 | 10:00 WIB
1) Govt Launches Community Health Care Program for Asmat Tribe

TEMPO.COJakarta - Following all out efforts involving several ministries, police and military, among others, measles outbreak and malnutrition problem in remote Asmat District in Papua Province, have finally been overcome.
Since the plague affected Asmat in September 2017, a total of 71 people, mostly children, had died due to malnutrition and measles outbreaks.
Based on data received from Asmat Humanitarian Task Force, until Jan. 30, there were still 26 inpatients in Asmat in which 19 people of them were treated in Asmat Regional Hospital, and seven patients were treated in the Hall of Indonesia Protestant Church of Asmat due to malnutrition.
Earlier, a total of 47 people had been treated in the church in which 40 people of them have returned home.
Health Minister Nila Moeloek on Jan. 31, 2018, said as many as 13,300 children in Asmat District, Papua Province have been vaccinated as an effort to control the epidemic of measles.
Not all sub-districts in Asmat District, however, get the vaccination due to difficult terrain.
The ministry has alternately deployed medical personnel and delivering aid packages every 10 days to handle measles and malnutrition in Asmat.
The medical personnel provided assistance in hospitals and church halls, Moeloek revealed.
"Some people have returned to their homes. However, if they do not get any health supervision from medical institutions, there could be recurrence of the disease," she explained.
The emergency situation has been considered overcome and now the Government is focusing on long-term community health care and improvement program in Asmat.
"We have reported to the President that we are now entering a stage of community health care and development there, because we have overcome the plague through an emergency response," Social Affairs Minister Idrus Marham said after accompanying President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in a meeting with Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the Institute for the Protection of Indonesian Children (LPAI), at the Presidential Palace, in Jakarta, on Feb 5, 2018.
Minister Marham planned to visit Makassar, South Sulawesi, to discuss cooperation with the University of Hasanudin in community health care and improvement in Asmat. The university will send a team of doctors to Asmat.
The minister believes that the problem solving in Asmat District must be integrated, cross-sectoral, comprehensive, and sustainable.
A number of ministries should work together to solve the problems of infrastructure, environment, education, health and others in the area.
Besides, the problem handling should be based on cultural and regional characteristics, he added.
"The involvement of Indonesian National Military and Police relates to humanitarian operation. All people who help solve the Asmat`s problems are heroes because we work together," he said.
Papua Provincial Police Chief Inspector General Boy Rafli Amar had earlier revealed that the number of people suffering from malnutrition in Asmat District of Papua had reached betweem 10 and 15 thousand.
He cited various factors that had contributed to cases of malnutrition in the district including its remote location; lack of access to nutritious food and health and transportation facilities; as well as low economic level.
"Some rivers depend on tidal waters, which makes it difficult for boats to pass through them at any time to distribute food," he explained.
Amar remarked that the community health centers (Puskesmas) in Asmat lack basic facilities, such as paramedics and medical doctors to head the center.
He called on the Police Headquarters` Health and Medical Center to send its physicians to health centers in Asmat.
"The young doctors program and internship in Papua is expected to fill the vacant posts, especially for the Puskesmas head," he pointed out.
According to the police chief, two to three thousand vials of measles vaccine are needed.
"For backup, we need some two thousand to three thousand vials of vaccines, so that we can continue to inoculate the kids in the near future," he remarked.
The Papua police and Cendrawasih military regional command will establish a health task force to map out areas that are prone to the diseases and visit the areas to address the problem.
"In some areas, we will trace it. We have information on the epidemics in some other areas, such as in the Bintang Mountains," he revealed.
The National Defense Forces (TNI) deployed several ships to provide transportation access to assist the TNI medical personnel operating in Asmat District.
The Indonesian military has considered the deployment of KRI Yos Sudarso as a hospital ship to help tackle measles epidemic and malnutrition in Asmat district of Papua, according to TNI Chief Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto.
The Military Chief, while visiting Asmat, ordered the integrated health task force to continue its services in Asmat until the next 270 days.
Hadi explained that the team has treated more than 600 children, who suffered from measles and malnutrition, during its humanitarian operation in Asmat.
It has given measles vaccine for 13,336 villagers, mostly toddlers, in 224 villages. The number of patients in Asmat hospital has dwindled.
Meanwhile, the central government has coordinated with the House of Representatives (DPR) to handle health problems in the hinterland areas of Asmat District.
"The health factor is not the only cause of malnutrition. There are many other downstream issues that trigger the problem," Minister Moeloek said in a hearing with the Parliament in Jakarta, recently.
Moeloek held a consultation meeting with the members and leaders of Commission VIII, IX, and X of DPR RI.
She explained that the health factor contributed to 20 percent of malnutrition and measles cases in Asmat. Meanwhile, other factors such as environment cleanliness, socio-cultural factors, and genetic factors contribute to 40, 30, and 10 percent of the cases, respectively.
ANTARA
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http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22637&LangID=E

2) UN Human Rights Chief ends visit to Indonesia – Full statement


JAKARTA / GENEVA (7 February 2018) – UN High Commissioner for Human
 Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein today closed his official visits to Indonesia from 
5 to 7 February.
“There are some dark clouds on the horizon but I am encouraged by the 
positive momentum and hope the common sense and strong tradition of
 tolerance of the Indonesian people will prevail over populism and political 
opportunism,” Zeid said in a statement at a press conference.
During his mission, Zeid met in Jakarta with President Joko Widodo and 
held discussions with top officials, Indonesia’s national human rights 
institutions and civil society representatives working on human rights 
issues, as well as religious leaders.
The UN Human Rights Chief also took part at the Jakarta Conversation, 
a Regional Human Rights Conference marking the 70th Year of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 25th Year of the Vienna 
Declaration and Programme of Action.
See below the full statement read by the High Commissioner at the

press conference.
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact 
In Geneva: Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9711 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Liz Throssell (+41 22 917 9466 / ethrossell@ohchr.org).
Travelling with the High Commissioner: Ravina Shamdasani (+41 79 201 0115 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org

This year, 2018, is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70thanniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: www.standup4humanrights.org.

Tag and share - Twitter: @UNHumanRights and Facebook: unitednationshumanrights


Opening remarks by UN High Commissioner for 
Human Rights 
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein at a press conference during his mission to Indonesia


Jakarta, 7 February 2018 
I would like to begin by thanking President Joko Widodo and the Government of Indonesia for inviting us to visit this remarkable, diverse country. Inviting us is, in itself, a testament to how seriously a State takes its human rights obligations. It demonstrates an openness to constructive dialogue and the willingness to collaborate to ensure the promotion and protection of the human rights of all. All countries have human rights obligations and many have achieved a great deal but all, without exception, have human rights challenges to grapple with.

During my visit, I have listened attentively to voices from across Indonesian society. I had the honour of meeting President Widodo and several other high-level officials, national human rights institutions and civil society members working on a wide range of issues in this vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands.
I am also grateful to the robust and dynamic representatives of civil society, some of whom travelled long distances to share their experiences and raise their voices in defence of their rights and those of their communities.

The farmer who spoke about her rights to land and her fear of dispossession due to extractive industries. The father from Papua whose son was shot. The wife of a human rights defender who was poisoned in 2004 but the authors of his murder remain at large. The minority worshippers who want their place to pray. The mother who, 20 years after she lost a child during the 1998 violence in Yogyakarta, still pines for him. The elderly woman who is fighting for justice 53 years after she was imprisoned and stigmatised as a “communist” during the 1965 tragedy. And the lawyer who has seen up close the judicial injustice that is the death penalty. They all asked me to help amplify their voices, and I thank them for their tenacity and grit and salute their courage.

I have raised in my meetings with the Government all of the situations they highlighted and will share with you in a moment my observations and recommendations.
But first, let us take stock of the achievements of the people of Indonesia. Indonesia has come a long way in a short time. Having emerged from more than 300 years of colonial occupation, followed by decades of restricted civil liberties, Indonesia has, since 1998, managed to transition to democracy and couple it with strong economic growth. Today, Indonesia is one of the most progressive States in the region on human rights. Its active engagement regarding the plight of the Rohingya Muslims is commendable and much needed.
The Government has embraced the Sustainable Development Goals, incorporating them into its National Human Rights Action Plan. Indonesia also has made considerable progress on the realisation of the right to health, expanding universal health coverage. And it has provided the space and resources for Komnas Ham and Komnas Perempuan to be strong, independent national human rights institutions. I encourage the Government to ensure that the important recommendations made by these institutions are implemented.

There are two important pieces of draft legislation that have been introduced to parliament that recognise and protect the rights of indigenous people and provide essential protection for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. I urge parliament to pass these important bills.
Indonesia has enjoyed continuous economic growth for several years and has a wealth of natural and human resources. However not all Indonesians have benefited from the dividends. The true measure of development and economic growth should be its impact on the most vulnerable, those who have the least to begin with. The President has taken many positive steps towards social equity. Nevertheless, gaps remain in the protection of the economic and social rights of Indonesians. Severe malnutrition has been reported in remote areas of the country, including in the highlands of Papua, and many still struggle with poverty and preventable diseases.
Civil society actors have told us how, from the islands of Sumatra to Papua, mining and logging by large corporations have been a source of serious human rights violations against farmers, workers and indigenous communities. By and large, these projects are approved and implemented without meaningful consultation with the local communities. Land grabbing, environmental degradation, contamination of water supplies and resulting health hazards have ensued. Having lost control over their natural resources to corporations that wield enormous power, people spoke to me about their great frustration. There is a clear need for inclusive dialogue and consultation and such projects must not be undertaken without the free, fair and informed consent of the affected communities. Civil society estimates suggest that some 200 land rights and environmental defenders were facing criminal charges as of August last year.
As I said at the Jakarta Conversation regional human rights conference on Monday, development can certainly bring with it access to fundamental services and goods that vastly improve many people's well-being. But if they cannot voice their concerns and participate in decisions, the resulting development may not increase their welfare. I urge the Government of Indonesia and the corporations involved in the extraction of natural resources, plantations and large-scale fisheries, to abide by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by ensuring that business activities are not carried out in violation of people’s rights.
I also appeal to the Government to ensure the protection of human rights defenders, in particular those advocating on land and environmental issues, and to see to it that they are not penalised or prosecuted for their exercise of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
I am also concerned about increasing reports of the excessive use of force by security forces, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions in Papua.
I am greatly concerned about the discussions around revisions to the penal code.
These discussions betray strains of intolerance seemingly alien to Indonesian culture that have made inroads here. The extremist views playing out in the political arena are deeply worrying, accompanied as they are by rising levels of incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence in various parts of the country, including Aceh.
At a time when it is consolidating its democratic gains, we urge Indonesians to move forward – not backwards – on human rights and resist attempts to introduce new forms of discrimination in law. Because these proposed amendments will in effect criminalise large sections of the poor and marginalised, they are inherently discriminatory. LGBTI Indonesians already face increasing stigma, threats and intimidation. The hateful rhetoric against this community that is being cultivated seemingly for cynical political purposes will only deepen their suffering and create unnecessary divisions.
Moreover, should the penal code be revised with some of the more discriminatory provisions, it will seriously impede the Government’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and would run counter to its international human rights obligations.  In a similar vein, I have also expressed to the Government my concerns about the implementation of the ill-defined blasphemy law, which has been used to convict members of minority religious or faith groups.
If we expect not to be discriminated against on the basis of our religious beliefs, colour, race or gender, if Muslim societies expect others to fight against Islamophobia, we should be prepared to end discrimination at home too. Islamophobia is wrong. Discrimination on the basis of religious beliefs and colour is wrong. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or any other status is wrong.
My Office last year brought together a diverse group of religious scholars and other faith-based and civil society actors in Beirut who articulated a “Faith for Rights” framework to set out the role of “Faith” in standing up for “Rights”. This Faith for Rights Declaration draws upon the common commitment in all religions and beliefs to “upholding the dignity and the equal worth of all human beings”, mirroring Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It affirms that “violence in the name of religion defeats its basic foundations, mercy and compassion” and sets out the responsibilities of religious communities, their leaders and followers to ensure that no one is subjected to discrimination by anyone.
The imperative to uphold the dignity of all human beings is also crucial in dealing with the difficult issues of drug-related crimes. Drugs can destroy individual lives, entire families and communities, but shooting dead suspected drug offenders is not the way to tackle this problem. Everyone has the right to a fair judicial process. All allegations of excessive, even lethal, use of force against suspected drug offenders also must be investigated. No judiciary is mistake-free and research shows that capital punishment is ineffective as a deterrent as well as being disproportionately applied against already disadvantaged communities. I have urged the Government to halt the use of the death penalty against those convicted of drug offences. Human rights jurisprudence has repeatedly affirmed that drug-related crimes do not fall within the category of most serious offences.
I would also like to urge the Indonesian Government to take steps towards accountability for the gross human rights violations of the past. This is a delicate but crucial undertaking.
Almost all countries have an extremely difficult time dealing with the darkest periods of their respective pasts, but it must be done. As one senior official told me, Indonesia is still stuck in 1965 – unable to reckon with the terrible events that took place then, including the killings of at least 500,000 people accused of being communists, and the detention of many more. But this country can move on – through truth-telling, reconciliation, investigations and prosecutions. The national human rights institution, Komnas Ham, has highlighted nine key cases of gross rights violations between 1965 and 2003 that need to be resolved. I urge the Attorney-General to tackle these cases, in particular by bringing the perpetrators to justice and affording victims long-overdue redress as a matter of priority.
When my predecessor as High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, visited Indonesia in 2012, she said she saw a country that showed great promise in transforming itself into a vibrant democracy. In many ways, Indonesia is living up to this promise. But of course all States are fragile and all of them works in progress. This country is no exception. There are some dark clouds on the horizon but I am encouraged by the positive momentum and hope the common sense and strong tradition of tolerance of the Indonesian people will prevail over populism and political opportunism.
I hope that during this 70th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Indonesia will go from strength to strength in advancing the rights of its people. I also hope my visit has set the stage for strengthened cooperation between my Office and the Government and people of Indonesia. In the course of our discussions over the past two days, the Government of Indonesia invited us to visit Papua and we will send a mission soon. I thank the Government for its invitation.
My representative in the UN Human Rights Regional Office in Bangkok will continue to build upon our partnership to do what we can to assist Indonesia in consolidating and furthering its human rights gains.
Thank you.****
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https://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/indonesia/bahasa/englishedition/195477-un-rights-chief-indonesia-stop-lgbt-crackdown

3) UN rights chief to Indonesia: Stop LGBT crackdown


Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein: 'At a time when it is consolidating its democratic gains, we urge Indonesians to move forward - not backwards - on human rights'

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia must clamp down on rising intolerance against the LGBT community, the UN human rights chief warned Wednesday, February 7, as the persecuted minority face a wave of arrests and parliament moves to ban gay sex.


Government officials, religious hardliners and influential Islamic groups have lined up to make anti-LGBT statements in public recently, while police have used a tough anti-pornography law to criminalize members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

"The hateful rhetoric against this community that is being cultivated seemingly for cynical political purposes will only deepen their suffering and create unnecessary divisions," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told a press conference in Jakarta, as he wrapped up a 3-day visit.

Since the fall of dictator Suharto in the late 1990s, Indonesia has become one of the region's most progressive on human rights, he added.

"Indonesia has since 1998 managed to transition to democracy and couple it with strong economic growth," he said.

"At a time when it is consolidating its democratic gains, we urge Indonesians to move forward - not backwards - on human rights."

His remarks come amid a crackdown on the small LGBT community in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

Parliament is set to pass a sweeping amendment to its penal code that could make same-sex relations and sex outside marriage illegal.

Rights groups have slammed the proposed amendments, saying they amount to an unprecedented invasion of privacy.

"Any discriminatory provisions need to be removed," the rights chief said.

He said he raised the issue of LGBT discrimination with senior officials, including President Joko Widodo, after a spate of recent attacks against the community.

Last month, Google pulled one of the world’s largest gay dating apps from the Indonesian version of its online store in response to government demands.

Homosexuality and gay sex are legal in Indonesia – except in conservative Aceh province, which is ruled by Islamic law – but same-sex relationships are widely frowned upon and public displays of affection between gay couples almost unheard of.

In Aceh, police forcibly cut the hair of a group of transgender women recently and made them wear male clothing, sparking protests from rights groups.

The rights chief also said he discussed allegations of abuses in Papua, indigenous rights and the protection of minority religious groups. – Rappler.com

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https://en.antaranews.com/news/114528/papuan-represents-indonesia-at-child-conference-in-sweden

4) Papuan represents Indonesia at child conference in Sweden
Reporter:  

Wamena, Papua (ANTARA News) - A young Papuan from Wamena, Jayawijaya District, Papua Province, will represent Indonesia at a child conference in Sweden from Feb 9 to 18, 2018.

The First Assistant of Jayawijaya District Secretary, Wusono Wamono, stated here on Tuesday that 16-year-old Kristian Kogoya, who will be participating in the event, will gain and share information on the rights and protective measures on violence against children to his friends in Indonesia.

"This is the second time he will represent Papua and Indonesia at the international event. We hope he would share the knowledge gained from the event with other children," he remarked.

Kogoya will be accompanied by Kaleb Robinson Lau from non-profit organization Wahana Visi Indonesia of Papua. Kogoya noted that the child conference is an endeavor to end violence against children.

"UNICEF, the Swedish government, We Protect Alliance, and World Vision organizations invite Kogoya to represent Papuan and Indonesian children at the conference in Sweden, which will discuss the 2030 agenda to end violence against children," Robinson revealed.

Earlier, Kogoya had spoken on children issues at the International Forum held at the 8th Milestone in Ottawa, Canada, in October 2017.

"In Sweden, he will speak on cases that involve children," he concluded.

(T.SYS/B/KR-BSR/B003) 


Editor: Heru Purwanto
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5) Hopefully PIF Secretary General will raise West Papua
PINA News
4:22 pm GMT+12, 06/02/2018, Australia





 AWPA hopes the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretary General, Dame Meg Taylor who is in Canberra this week will raise the human rights situation in West Papua with Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
 
The Secretary General is in Australia for regional policy consultations and her discussions will focus on ensuring that people are at the centre of development across the Pacific region. The agenda over the next two days will focus on the role of the Pacific Islands Forum and the region more generally within Australian Foreign Policy.
 
Joe Collins of AWPA said "West Papua is a major foreign policy issue for the region and we thank the PIF leaders for discussing and raising concerns about the human rights situation in West Papua at recent Forum meetings. Ideally, we would like the Secretary General and Julie Bishop to discuss a PIF fact finding mission to West Papua as was suggested at the 46th PIF meeting in Port Moresby”, when "Leaders requested the Forum Chair to convey the views of the Forum to the Indonesian Government, and to consult on a fact finding mission to discuss the situation in Papua with the parties involved".
 
Governments and the Australian Government in particular continue to say that the human rights situation in West Papua is improving. However, 2018 began with the security forces intimidating and arresting 14 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) simply because they raised a KNPB flag (exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly). Although they were eventually released it indicates that the security forces continue to try and suppress any signs of what they term separatism.
 
The Indonesian President has said that West Papua is now open and the authorities are saying that the human rights situation is improving. If this is the case why not allow a PIF fact-finding mission to the territory?.

SOURCE: AWA/PACNEWS


1) UN Human Rights Chief to Examine Rights Abuses in Papua

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2) Papua Health Crisis Prompts International Scrutiny, Internal Review
3) UN urges Jakarta to hold the line on human rights
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1) UN Human Rights Chief to Examine Rights Abuses in Papua
By : Sheany | on 9:16 PM February 07, 2018
Jakarta. The United Nations high commissioner for human rights said on Wednesday (07/02) that he will send a mission to Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, following reports of abuses against its indigenous population.
"I am also concerned about reports of excessive use of force by security forces, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions in Papua," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told reporters in Jakarta during his three-day visit to Indonesia.
He added that the Indonesian government has extended an invitation to the UN to visit Papua — the country's poorest region.

"I think it's important for us to go and see ourselves what is happening there … and I hope we can do this as soon as possible," Al-Hussein said.

Accounts of rights violations in Papua have prompted concerns from activists and the larger international community. The government was earlier accused of restricting access for foreign correspondents to the region.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration has prioritized development in Papua through massive infrastructure projects aimed at boosting the province's economic growth.
More recently, dozens of Papuans – mostly children – died from malnutrition-related diseases in the province's Asmat district. The health crisis has led to allegations that the government's focus on development in the region does not serve the welfare of its population.

"They [the UN] can visit Papua. I told them that if they find faults, we will take action [to address them]," Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said after his meeting with Al-Hussein on Tuesday.
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2) Papua Health Crisis Prompts International Scrutiny, Internal Review
February 07, 2018 8:48 AM 

Twin crises of measles and malnutrition have recently afflicted Indonesia’s easternmost province, Papua, inciting foreign and media scrutiny as well as internal review from the Indonesian government. Papua is an impoverished but mineral-rich province with a history of separatist struggle, which has been quashed for decades by the Indonesian military. This week, the nation’s health ministry declared both crises to be under control, but 72 people have already died in Asmat regency.
In wake of the outbreaks, finance minister Sri Mulyani said that special autonomy funding for the province would be reevaluated. Per a 2001 law, the sometimes-contested provinces of Aceh, Papua, and West Papua were authorized to receive twenty years of special funding from the national budget. But Mulyani said the public health issues showed that the money was not being used well.
“This is a lesson for us, because throughout this time the special autonomy funds have been disbursed as a block grant to the provincial government — even though special autonomy has specific purposes,” she said last week.

Measles is preventable with a vaccine, and is actually covered by Indonesia’s national vaccination program for children. So the afflicted children in Asmat constitute an oversight. About 650 children there still have measles and at least 223 suffer from malnutrition according to the health ministry website. Papua has long lagged behind Indonesia on nearly every public health valence, with the country’s lowest life expectancy and highest infant, child, and maternal mortality rates.
Press freedom
Social issues in Papua are doubly hard to address because of constrained press freedom there. Last week, a BBC reporter, Rebecca Henschke, who went to report from Asmat, was detained by the military and local immigration after she tweeted photos of the food aid being delivered to malnourished children: biscuits, instant noodles. The military claimed the tweets were inaccurate and after being subjected to two days of questioning, Henschke and her team decided to return to Jakarta.

Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced when he came to office that journalists should feel free to travel to and report from Papua, but in practice, the likelihood of harassment and surveillance like the Henschke incident remain high.
“The current system pressures journalists to limit reporting on Papua, and signals to the military and police that journalists can be interfered with,” wrote Andreas Harsono, of Human Rights Watch Indonesia. “President Jokowi should insist on the implementation of his decision to end restrictions on access to Papua. He should also prohibit the security forces from arresting journalists for doing their jobs. After all, the government could simply have responded to Henschke with a clarifying tweet or statement, as opposed to detaining and questioning her.’’
Reevaluating Papua
The finance minister’s statement indicates publicity from the widely declaimed crises may have potential to harness public opinion to effect changes in Papua.
“Of course” these events will bring the social problems in Papua to greater light, said Harsono. Public pressure can work to impact government policy, he said, “but it should be bigger and longer than what it currently is.” He mentioned a 2005 malnutrition crisis in Yahukimo, Papua that received a degree of public attention. “Today, at least 14 regencies still have similar problems, malnutrition and low vaccination rates.”

Ruth Ogetay, a sometime Papuan activist who works as a nurse in Jakarta, was less hopeful. “This is not going to bring any social changes to Papua.” There are many structural issues with public health in the province, like a critical shortage of doctors in Asmat since the regency was established 15 years ago. But addressing such issues has taken a backseat to controlling protests and riots, particularly around the mines run by the American corporation Freeport-Mcmoran. The company runs the world’s largest gold mine, Grasberg, near Timika regency, and its work sites have attracted unrest since Indonesia announced plans to nationalize its resources last year. Just last week, Indonesian police fatally shot a 61-year-old woman in Mimika near a Freeport-Mcmoran cargo dock. Thus if any improvements to social services are made going forward, they will have to accommodate such a highly charged political climate.

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3) UN urges Jakarta to hold the line on human rights
  • The Australian

AMANDA HODGE South East Asia correspondentJakarta
The UN Human Rights chief has urged Indonesia not to go “backwards on human rights” by introducing laws banning sex outside marriage and gay sex, and warned of “rising levels of incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence” across the country.
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said while Indonesia was “one of the most progressive states in the region on human rights”, he was deeply concerned by proposed revisions to the country’s criminal code that would criminalise large sections of the poor, who did not have marriage certificates, and the marginalised.
“These discussions betray strains of intolerance seemingly alien to Indonesian culture that have made inroads here,” Prince Zeid said at the end of a three-day visit to Jakarta, where he met President Joko Widodo, senior ministers and activists.
“LGBTI Indonesians already face increasing stigma, threats and intimidation. The hateful rhetoric against this community that is being cultivated seemingly for cynical political purposes will only deepen their suffering and create unnecessary divisions,” he said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said he had discussed the issue with Mr Joko, who told him Indonesia would stand by its obligations to all its people but also that there was a “mood inside the country regarding LGBTI”.
“If we expect not to be discriminated against on the basis of our religious beliefs, colour, race or gender, if Muslim societies expect others to fight against Islamophobia, we should be prepared to end discrimination at home too,” Prince Zeid said, adding he did not accept the argument that “this is our culture”.
“If it is the culture, it would have been there from the very beginning. If it’s being introduced, now it has come from somewhere else,” he said.
Representatives from Indonesia’s 10 political parties will meet tomorrow to seek consensus on the legal revisions, which are among 800 amendments proposed by a parliamentary committee reviewing the country’s 100-year-old criminal code.
If all are agreed, the bill could be sent to the House of Representatives for a vote as early as this month.
The proposed laws are part of a wider wave of hostility towards the LGBTI community that increasingly has been targeted by Indonesian politicians seeking political advantage by appealing to rising conservative Islamic sentiments.
Last week police in Aceh, the only Indonesian province that enforces sharia law, raided transgender beauty salons, cut the hair of 12 transgender women and forced them to act “like men”.
Prince Zeid said other areas of concern were the country’s “ill-defined blasphemy law” — used to jail ethnic ­Chinese, Christian former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama — its drug laws, and human rights violations in West Papua province and against communities displaced by large-scale logging and mining interests.
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Church in Indonesia maps out future for indigenous Papuans

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https://www.ucanews.com/news/church-in-indonesia-maps-out-future-for-indigenous-papuans/81453

Church in Indonesia maps out future for indigenous Papuans 


Ryan Dagur, Jakarta  Indonesia 

February 8, 2018


New website aims for government to protect tribal land from growth of concessions for mining and palm plantations




A signpost written by the Mahuze community reads "This land belongs to Mahuze people, not for palm plantations." (Photo supplied)

The Catholic Church in Papua province and human rights groups have mapped the territories of indigenous people to encourage the Indonesian government to protect their environment.
The coalition launched the matapapua.org website on Feb. 5 with maps of territories and locations that have become concession areas for mining and palm plantations.
Sacred Heart Father Anselmus Amo, who heads Merauke Archdiocese's Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission, said they wanted the government to recognize indigenous people's land so as not to issue permits that engulfed their environment.
"The indigenous people and rich natural resources in Papua are not merely an object to be drained for the sake of the economy alone, whether in the name of development or the greed of large investors," Father Amo told ucanews.com.
He said the involvement of the archdiocese and dioceses in Papua in this program was part of a commitment to "defend indigenous people against the onslaught of investors entering through the government and escorted by security forces, both army and police."
In Merauke,Father Amo said, the Marind, Mandobo, Yei and Auyu tribal communities are threatened by the activities of palm oil companies.
"Their food and medicinal plants, as well as animals and plants that they normally consume, are also threatened," he said. "Water is also polluted. The big floods are now threatening because the forest is gone."
Franky Yafet Leonard, executive director of Pusaka, an NGO focusing on indigenous rights, said many concessions in Papua overlapped indigenous people's territories and did not involve them in the issuance of permits.
This, Leonard said, violates the 2011 Papua special autonomy law stating that the provision of customary land for any purpose must go through consultation with indigenous peoples.
"However, the government and corporations annex and seize land without the consent of indigenous people," he said.
Leonard said mining concessions occupy an area of 9 million hectares, followed by logging concessions at 7 million hectares and plantations at 2.1 million hectares.
In 2017, he said, the government issued new licenses for plantations covering 53,806 hectares and mining covering 63,858 hectares.
The government also transferred 2,318 hectares of protected forest on Botak Mountain, South Manokwari, into a production forest.
"This decision allegedly accommodates the interests of one of the sand mining companies," Leonard said.
Leonard said he hoped the mapping program would make the government more careful about issuing permits.
Bambang Supriyanyo, general director of the social forestry and environmental partnership at the Environment Ministry, welcomed the initiative.
"In April, we will discuss the issue of customary forests in several provinces including Papua in order to protect indigenous people," he said. 
"The mapping results will be one of our references."
Charles Tawaru, an indigenous Papuan who is also active in Papua Forest Watch, wants the government to legitimize the territories under the authority of indigenous communities.
"It's important as this will be used as guideline. When there is an attempt to annex indigenous people's land, we will have something to say," he said
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1) RSF’S DECRIES JOURNALIST’S EXPULSION FROM INDONESIA’S PAPUA REGION

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2) UN Human Rights chief notes struggles in Papua
3) ULMWP CONFIDENT PETER O’NEILL WILL SUPPORT FULL MEMBERSHIP OF MSG
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1) RSF’S DECRIES JOURNALIST’S EXPULSION FROM INDONESIA’S PAPUA REGION
                                             Illustration
Jakarta, Jubi/RSF – After the BBC’s Indonesia editor was expelled from the country’s easternmost Papua region last weekend over a tweet, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) again urges the Indonesian authorities to allow journalists to report freely in the troubled region, which continues to be an information black hole.
An Australian journalist based in Jakarta since 2006, the BBC’s Rebecca Henschke got a special permit to visit Papua with a crew to cover a military aid operation, but was arrested and expelled, shortly after arriving, on the grounds that she had “hurt the feelings” of soldiers in a tweet.
Accompanied by a photo of foodstuffs, the offending tweet said: “This is the aid coming in for severely malnourished children in Papua – instant noodles, super sweet soft drinks and biscuits.”
Henschke was one of several foreign journalists allowed to go to Papua to cover the military operation, aimed at relieving a malnutrition crisis exacerbated by a measles epidemic that has killed more than 70 children. Foreign journalists are not usually let into Papua, an impoverished region where separatist movements are active.
“It is intolerable that foreign reporters are still banned from Papua,”said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “All Rebecca Henschke did was send a photo taken in the field. This arbitrary decision by the Indonesian military gives the impression that they are acting as a state within the state, especially with regard to Papua.
“Must we remind President Joko Widodo of his promise to open up the region to the media? If he wants to maintain a minimum of credibility, he must give some clear evidence that he is doing this.”
In his search for a strategy for restoring peace in Papua, the president (also known as “Jokowi”) said in 2015 that he would review the restrictions that in practice prevent journalists from visiting Papua. But, three years later, the media’s ability to work there seems to depend as much as ever on military approval.
Defending Henschke’s expulsion, a military spokesman in Papua said her photo showed commercial food products, not the supplies brought by the military. Henschke later deleted her original tweet and posted another saying: “Adding important NOTE: Other sources say this is NOT aid but normal supplies. Huge relief effort underway here.”
Because of the serious media freedom violations in its two easternmost provinces, Papua and West Papua, Indonesia is still ranked no higher than 124th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2017 World Press Freedom Index.(rsf.org/en)
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2) UN Human Rights chief notes struggles in Papua
11:32 am on 8 February 2018 
The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner says his office has been invited by Indonesia's government to visit Papua region, or West Papua.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein yesterday concluded a three day-visit to Indonesia where he had discussions with President Joko Widodo and top officials, human rights institutions as well as religious leaders.
In a statement sumarising the findings of his visit, Zeid said that in recent years Indonesia had come a long way in a short time, following decades of restricted civil liberties
But the commissioner said gaps remain in the protection of economic and social rights of Indonesians, including in Papua where he said many still struggled with poverty and preventable diseases.
The commissioner said he was concerned about "reports of excessive use of force by security forces, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions in Papua".
Thanking Jakarta for inviting his office to Papua, he indicated he would send a mission there soon.
While in Indonesia, Zeid told reporters that he was concerned about "reports of excessive use of force by security forces, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions in Papua".
"I think it's important for us to go and see ourselves what is happening there," he said.

Zeid also noted civil society concerns that, mining and logging by large corporations have been a source of serious human rights violations against farmers, workers and indigenous communities in Papua.
"By and large, these projects are approved and implemented without meaningful consultation with the local communities," he explained.
Overall, while welcoming moves undertaken by President Widodo's administration towards social equity, the commissioner voiced concern about "extremist views playing out in the political arena".
He noted that they were accompanied by rising levels of incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence in various parts of the country, including Aceh.
"There are some dark clouds on the horizon but I am encouraged by the positive momentum and hope the common sense and strong tradition of tolerance of the Indonesian people will prevail over populism and political opportunism."
The commissioner urged Indonesia's government to "take steps towards accountability for the gross human rights violations of the past".
Zeid also encouraged Indonesia's parliament to pass two pieces of legislation that recognise and protect the rights of indigenous people and provide essential protection for victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
Following Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's visit to Indonesia, he headed to Papua New Guinea, before proceedng on to Fiji, for similar official visits.

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3) ULMWP CONFIDENT PETER O’NEILL WILL SUPPORT FULL MEMBERSHIP OF MSG
Port Moresby, Jubi – The Executive of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has complied with the request of the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, to unite and is confident that as the Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) next week, Prime Minister O’Neil will vote to support West Papua’s application to become a full member of MSG.
ULMWP Spokesman, Jacob Rumbiak, says its weeklong meeting in Port Vila has resulted in the spirit for West Papua to be more determined, organized and unified than ever before to end the genocide of their people in West Papua allegedly by Indonesia.
In its meeting, ULMWP has made changes in its leadership, structure, bylaws as well as membership.
The Spokesman goes further to say the executive has gone as far as producing clear job descriptions, agenda, action plan and tactic and strategic operation.
“The agenda was submitted by the executive committee, endorsed by the legislative committee and approved by its judicial committee,” the Spokesman adds.
While ULMWP Executive is attending the MSG Meeting in Port Moresby next week, Rumbiak says Papuans still die allegedly in the hands of Indonesian colonial power.
For instance (before) yesterday a young West Papuan Leader of the National Parliament of West Papua, Wendi Wenda, 20, died in a suspected poisoning incident after translating (into English) the current situation in West Papua to an international journalist, Rumbiak says.
Speaking for Vanuatu Free West Papua Association Executive Committee and Vanuatu Christian Council, Job Dalesa calls on all churches in Vanuatu to pray for West Papua.
“If West Papua is a global issue then it also requires active global engagement as well,” Dalesa says.
“Australia also has to rethink its foreign policy regarding its bilateral defense cooperation with Indonesia when we speak of global engagement because indirectly, Australia seems to be contributing towards reports of longstanding atrocities in West Papua.”
Dalesa also challenges PNG and Fiji to recognise the positions they have taken regarding West Papua.
In PNG Dalesa trusts that the PNG Council of Churches will now adopt a more pro-active role to support West Papua.
On the direct political front at European Union (EU) and Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) in Brussels, Dalesa calls on the Government to keep the momentum going by appointing an aggressive voice in the absence of former Ambassador to the EU, Roy Micky Joy, to keep knocking and voicing West Papua’s plight globally through the EU and ACP.
He wishes to remind the Government that the people of Vanuatu can do as much as they want here and in the region but that without concrete support from EU and ACP in Brussels, the West Papua issue won’t advance internationally as fast and as effectively.
AWPA hopes on Dame Meg Taylor
Meanwhile, Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) hopes the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretary General, Dame Meg Taylor who is in Canberra this week will raise the human rights situation in West Papua with Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
The Secretary General is in Australia for regional policy consultations and her discussions will focus on ensuring that people are at the centre of development across the Pacific region. The agenda over the next two days will focus on the role of the Pacific Islands Forum and the region more generally within Australian Foreign Policy.
Joe Collins of AWPA said “West Papua is a major foreign policy issue for the region and we thank the PIF leaders for discussing and raising concerns about the human rights situation in West Papua at recent Forum meetings. Ideally, we would like the Secretary General and Julie Bishop to discuss a PIF fact finding mission to West Papua as was suggested at the 46th PIF meeting in Port Moresby”, when “Leaders requested the Forum Chair to convey the views of the Forum to the Indonesian Government, and to consult on a fact finding mission to discuss the situation in Papua with the parties involved”.
Governments and the Australian Government in particular continue to say that the human rights situation in West Papua is improving. However, 2018 began with the security forces intimidating and arresting 14 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) simply because they raised a KNPB flag (exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly). Although they were eventually released it indicates that the security forces continue to try and suppress any signs of what they term separatism.
The Indonesian President has said that West Papua is now open and the authorities are saying that the human rights situation is improving. If this is the case why not allow a PIF fact-finding mission to the territory?(dailypost.vu/AWPA)
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1) INDONESIA: The Visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Should Bring Changes

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2) Lesson learned from Asmat
3) ULMWP for MSG full membership
4) Dutch-born Franciscan bishop dies aged 96 in Papua
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1) INDONESIA: The Visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Should Bring Changes
February 8, 2018
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply appreciates the visit to the Republic of Indonesia of Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. It took place between 4 to 7 February 2018. As a regional human rights organization in Asia, we work closely with our partners and various civil society groups in Indonesia. We expect that your visit will bring changes and enhance the protection, fulfilment and promotion of human rights in Indonesia. The AHRC is also thankful that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is willing to send a mission to visit Papua and the West Papua Provinces to learn and see further human rights situations on the ground. We welcome this progressive diplomacy. Accountability is urgently needed. The AHRC has already described and highlighted the human rights situation in Indonesian, including PAPUA in our Open Letter on submission on criminal justice reform and human rights.

The AHRC is grateful to the Indonesian Government for giving and providing open access to the large civil society (human rights groups), victims and the families of victims of various human rights cases. There was direct dialog and communication with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein during his visit in Indonesia. We note that Government openness is an important milestone, which should be immediately followed up with a concrete policy and program on the enhancement of human rights standards in Indonesia.
Therefore, we do hope that the Government of Indonesia is not merely interpreting the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as normative and ordinary diplomacy. The Government should knowingly consider that human rights must be incorporated and included in every Government policy, particularly those related to national development. It is common knowledge that since President Joko Widodo’s inauguration in October 2014, development of infrastructure and the economy is his major concern. In the last two years, massive infrastructure developments such as roads, ports and airports have been constructed in various provinces of Indonesia, including Papua. Under President Joko Widodo, the Government issued Presidential Decree No. 3, 2016 regarding strategic projects. This encompasses the following: 52 railway projects, 19 train projects, 17 airport projects, 13 port projects, 10 clean water projects and 60 reservoirs.
Ensuring that human rights are included in the Policy of Development is very important, as development will be nothing without human rights. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated this in his opening remarks:

"As I said at the Jakarta Conversation Regional Human Rights Conference on Monday, development can certainly bring with it access to fundamental services and goods that vastly improve many people's well-being. But, if they cannot voice their concerns and participate in decisions, the resulting development may not increase their welfare. I urge the Government of Indonesia and the corporations involved in the extraction of natural resources, plantations and large-scale fisheries, to abide by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by ensuring that business activities are not carried out in violation of people’s rights."

However, to date, we have not seen the Government incorporating human rights in its Policy on development and economic investment. There are instances of human rights violations which occurred while the Government was pushing these massive developmental projects: 1# Development of New Yogyakarta International Airport in Kulon Progo Regency; the development of the Airport continues despite lack of an environmental permit and with rampant violence (for further chronology: AHRC-UAC-202-2017); 2# Development of the West Java International Airport (BIJB) in Kertajati, West Java Province. Ten villages in Kertajati sub-district had been effectively dispossessed to facilitate the development of the West Java International Airport. (For further chronology: AHRC-UAC-148-2016); 3# Development of Geothermal Power Plant (PLTPB) conducted by the Sejahtera Alam Energy Company which operates in Slamet Mountain, Central Java Province. Despite massive protests from environmental activists and local communities and demands to protect the environment in Slamet Mountain, the Government, in particular the Police, did not address the matter. The Police forcibly dispersed a peaceful protest, arresting 24 protesters (for further chronology: AHRC-UAC-195-2017).
All the above-mentioned examples are just a few cases of human rights violations that occurred under President Joko Widodo’s administration. We do believe that the examples are representative enough. They explain the form and the pattern of widespread human rights violations due to a lack of human rights standards within Government Policy on development and investment.
In addition, the AHRC also received information that land conflict is still dominating a number of human rights violations in Indonesia. We take as reference the data of the Indigenous People's Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), a national human rights organization. In 2017 the number of land conflict cases was 659 and resulted in 261 indigenous people being criminalized.
To enhance its stance, the Government should re-evaluate its policy priorities on human rights cases which remain unaddressed until now. Past human rights abuses which took place under former dictator Suharto remain unresolved. Consider the 1965-1966 Massacre. Although there has been some information related to the case, such as the US Embassy Document on the alleged involvement of the Indonesian Army, it has not been ultimately taken into consideration. Religious intolerance needs to be recognized and resolved. Minority religions and beliefs must be treated equally. The investigation into the murder of Munir Said Thalib, a prominent human rights activist, poisoned by an agent of the Indonesian Intelligence Agency (BIN) remains at a standstill. Included must be current development in the human rights situation in Aceh and other Provinces. They must be the main priority that the Government deals with.
Therefore, the AHRC is calling for the Indonesian Government to open access to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, especially his special, mission visit to Papua. We should like to emphasize that President Widodo’s administration critically implement recommendations of the latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of 2017. Government needs to review all of its regulations, both local and national. They must ensure that the regulations are not in violation of International Human Rights Standards. Indonesia is a state party to key international human rights Treaties. Government should be acutely aware that human rights are part of their obligation within the Duty of Care for their citizens. It is mandatory that Government fulfils this duty. Human Rights should not be treated simply as a tool of diplomacy to protect the image of Indonesia in the international forum of relationships.
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2) Lesson learned from Asmat
Reporter:  
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Asmat, a district in the Indonesian province of Papua, has caught local and foreign media attention over the past few weeks. 

But, this time, the world`s print and electronic media attention has nothing to do with Asmat tribe`s excellent works of wood carvings or other cultural heritage.  

Instead, the media organizations have turned their attention to the district, which has be described by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2011, after a measles outbreak and cases of malnutrition that had caused the deaths of at least 71 children. 

Due to the negativity of this human tragedy, several media do not just provide their readers and audience with news and feature stories that they quote from news wire services. 

They also deploy their own journalists to the district to enable them to see the real conditions and to gather information from various sources on the ground. The media play their role in meeting the people`s rights to know about this devastating reality. 

As a result of emergency response and hard work of the local and central governments, along with various related parties, the extraordinary incident of the measles epidemic status in the district has been lifted. 

However, the central government`s endeavors to deal with the malnutrition problem continued, in which the Indonesian Health Ministry pledged to continue its community-based nutrition program called "Family Nutrition Improvement Program" there. 

This devastating reality is indeed a wake-up call for all related parties within the government bodies and the Asmat tribe members. For the district and provincial governments, this human tragedy has revealed that the huge amount of the special autonomy funds, which the central government has been disbursing to them over these past years, remain unable to make Papuan people prosperous and create a high human development index.

The fact that the ill-fated residents of Asmat District face serious health problems, as indicated by the recent measles outbreak and malnutrition cases, may not only be triggered by their unhealthy habits but also by the shortage of paramedics and medical doctors. Therefore, this human tragedy is indeed a lesson learned for Indonesia. 

Both local and central governments must be able to ensure that such a tragedy will never recur in the district, whose areas are spread from the sub-districts of Agats, Atsj, Akat, Fayit, Pantai Kasuari, and Sawa Erma to the sub-districts of Suator, Kolf Brasa, Unir Sirau, and Suru-suru.

As recently suggested by Social Affairs Minister, Idrus Marham, a comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable solution needs to be sought to root out all factors that have triggered the extraordinary outbreaks of measles and malnutrition.

The significance of this integrated, comprehensive, and sustainable solution is obvious by considering other challenges that have contributed to the occurrence of this tragedy, including the remote location; lack of access to nutritious food and health and transportation facilities; as well as low economic level of the indigenous people. 

For a short-term solution, the government`s family nutrition improvement program and presence of police and military doctors as well as a team of resident doctors, who have been deployed by the Hasanuddin University, for instance, to assist the needy in the district, are indispensable. 

However, this effort is far from enough if it is not followed up by deploying sufficient number of full-time doctors and medical specialists in the community health centers in all sub-districts all over Asmat District. 

As part of the Indonesian citizens, the Asmat people`s misery is shared by their fellow countrymen living far away from Papua Province. The University of Indonesia`s (UI) Student Executive Board (BEM UI) Chairman Zaadit Taqwa has shown his concerns over the deaths of malnourished children in Asmat District. 

Apart from the fact that his controversial way of showing his concerns, by blowing a whistle and raising a yellow book in front of President Joko Widodo attending a commemorative event to mark UI`s 68th anniversary, has triggered pro and con views, the message is clear: the Asmat people are not left alone. 

This human tragedy is expected to raise the awareness of local leaders and elites of the Papuan people about the dire need of working together for the sake of improving the welfare of their people. 

Nicolaas Jouwe, a well-respected Papuan figure who left the Netherlands for residing in Indonesia after tens of years of his struggle for an independent Papua, has ever uttered: "One thing that I wish is working together with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, the governor of Papua, and the people of Papua to increase the development of Papua Province and prosperity of its people." (Jouwe, 2012: xvi). 

(T.R013/INE)
(T.R013/A/KR-BSR/A014) 
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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3) ULMWP for MSG full membership
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“Indonesia said, ‘The Papuans are our citizens but they are your people’, referring to their rightful place in Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG)."
Paula Makabory of ULMWP makes the statement at the end of their weeklong meeting in Port Vila last Sunday.
She alleges Indonesia’s statement is clear that Jakarta recognizes West Papua’s rightful place in MSG.
With the count down now on towards the opening of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, next week, the confidence is also rising among Leaders of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua that all Melanesian member countries are now more than ready to vote West Papua to full membership of MSG.
Paula Makabory says, "The MSG nakamal is the right place to sort out our problems so West Papua must be accepted into this nakamal to sort out its problems”.
Makabory also touches on the current land development on the border with Papua New Guinea for palm oil and children reportedly dying in large numbers of measles. “The urgent focus now is for Melanesian leaders to recognise and act decisively to safeguard the right for Papuans to live on their own land in their own country," she says.


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4) Dutch-born Franciscan bishop dies aged 96 in Papua

Outspoken human rights champion was said to be suffering from cancer

Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta  Indonesia February 8, 2018
A Franciscan bishop emeritus from the Netherlands known as a vocal defender of human rightspassed away in Papua province, Indonesia on Feb. 7 at the age of 96.
Bishop Herman Ferdinandus Maria Munninghoff of Jayapura was treated for a month at a hospice in his native Netherlands recently. He was said to be suffering from cancer.
Special Masses were held for Franciscan communities on Feb. 8 in the capital of the Indonesian province he served.
Bishop Emeritus Munninghoff was born in Woerden in the central Netherlands on Nov. 30, 1921.
He was ordained a priest in 1953 and installed as the bishop of Jayapura in 1972 — a role he inhabited until 1997.
Prior to being appointed bishop he served as secretary to the first bishop of Jayapura, Rudolf Joseph Manfred Staverman OFM.
Father Gabriel Ngga leads the Franciscans in Jayapura said he visited the bishop at the hospice two weeks ago. 
"When I asked him if he was being well taken care of, he said: 'I am happy to stay here. All the staff are good. But I can feel my death is imminent,'" he said. 
Father Ngga said the Papuan people would remember him fondly.
"He was an outspoken bishop who often spoke out about human rights violations in the region," he said.
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Indonesia, West Papua invited to MSG

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Indonesia, West Papua invited to MSG

INDONESIA and the United Liberation Movement for West Papua have been invited to attend the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting in Port Moresby starting tomorrow.
Indonesia is now an associate member of the MSG. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua and Timor-Leste are observers.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the country was looking forward to welcoming the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group for their summit beginning tomorrow.
“MSG leaders will consider reports and updates since the 2015 Summit and 2016 Special Summit which will first be presented through the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers,” O’Neill said.
“The MSG is an important forum for our region with a number of significant issues on the agenda that matter to our people and communities.
“Papua New Guinea looks forward to welcoming MSG leaders, ministers and delegates again to our country.
“2018 is a very important year for Papua New Guinea’s international engagement that will conclude with the Apec Leaders’ Summit in November.
“There are many challenges before the global community today, and the best way to overcome them is for all countries to work together in the interest of our people.”
The theme is ‘strengthening trade and sustainable development for an inclusive Melanesia’.
It will be held from Feb 10 to 15 at the Stanley Hotel in Port Moresby.
The leaders confirmed so far are the prime ministers of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the FLNKS (Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste). Fiji will be represented at the ministerial level.
Timor-Leste and the United Liberation Movement for West Papua have also been invited to attend.
The summit is to be preceded by meetings of senior officials and foreign affairs ministers.
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1) 21st MSG Leaders’ Summit set to go in PNG

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1) 21st MSG Leaders’ Summit set to go in PNG

2) MELANESIAN ARTS FESTIVAL COMMITTEE RESUMES PRE-FESTIVAL PLANNING PROCESS
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1) 21st MSG Leaders’ Summit set to go in PNG
PREPARATIONS are under way in earnest in Port Moresby to welcome Melanesia Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders for their 21st biennial summit on Wednesday.
Senior officials from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the FLNKS in New Caledonia are meeting over the weekend ahead of the Leaders’ Summit to finalise issues to go before MSG Leaders for their decision.
The Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Saturday and Sunday will kick-start a series of meeting in the lead up to the 21st biennial session, which has the theme, “Strengthening Trade and Sustainable Development for an Inclusive Melanesia.”
Speaking to PACNEWS, MSG Secretariat Director General, Ambassador Amena Yauvoli said the senior officials meeting will discuss policies, work program and budget for the coming two years.
“These policy issues will require the endorsement of Foreign Ministers as well as Leaders. On Sunday senior officials will discuss the 2018 Work Programme and Budget.
On Monday, Foreign Ministers will convene to endorse reports that will form the agenda of the Leaders meeting on Wednesday.
“We will be reporting to Leaders on the reform status of the Secretariat as mandated by the Governing Council in December 2016. Also a number of reports will be presented to the Leaders. These include the report on PNG’s 2017 National Elections, report on Arms Trade Treaty, report on the MSG inshore fisheries and an update on membership guidelines, said Ambassador Yauvoli.
He said the criteria for Observers and Associate Members and New Membership Guidelines will be tabled directly to the Leaders on Wednesday for their consideration.
“The decision for new membership is solely the prerogative of Leaders and will be discussed on Wednesday, said the MSG Director General.
A key event will be the traditional hand-over of the MSG chairmanship to the host country Papua New Guinea from Solomon Islands.
“A traditional handing over ceremony will be held on Tuesday evening at the Sir John Guise Stadium to mark the official hand-over of the MSG leadership between the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Mr Rick Houenipwela to his Papua New Guinea counterpart, Mr Peter O’Neill.
Ambassador Yauvoli is confident of a strong leadership from Papua New Guinea as it takes over the helm of the sub-regional organisation in the coming two years.
“The revamped Secretariat will need durable and innovative leadership and we are confident that Papua New Guinea will provide that as the Secretariat attempts to serve the needs of members in a most efficient and effective manner. We look forward to working with PNG in the next two years.
“We hope there will be growth in the organisation’s strength to deal with sensitive issues in the region, said Ambassador Yauvoli.
The MSG director general also acknowledged the strong leadership of the group by Solomon Islands and the former Prime Minister, Mr Manasseh Sogavare.
“Hon Manasseh Sogavare’s strong and dedicated leadership took the MSG out of the difficult situation it was in to where it is now, said Ambassador Yauvoli.
The Port Moresby Leaders’ Summit will be the first for Solomon Islands Prime Minister, who came to power in November last year.
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Mr Charlot Salwai and his foreign affairs minister, Mr Ralph Regenvanu will be in Port Moresby for the MSG Leaders’ Summit, while the FLNKS delegation will be led by Victor Tutugoro…
Fijian Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama will be represented by the country’s Defence and National Security Minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.
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2) MELANESIAN ARTS FESTIVAL COMMITTEE RESUMES PRE-FESTIVAL PLANNING PROCESS
09 February 2018 1 2 3 4 5 Author  Editor





The Solomon Islands Melanesian Arts Festival National Organizing Committee (MAFNOC) has resumed its pre-festival planning process for 2018 this week.
Solomon Islands will host the 6th Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival (MACFest) from July 1 to 10 this year on the theme “Past Recollections; Future Connections.”  The event is programmed to coincide with the country’s 40th Independence Anniversary.

MACFest was one of the outcome resolutions of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Ministers meeting in Honiara late last year. During Ministers summit the group also agreed upon MSG countries to provide assistance to support the host country.

The main Committee will be supported by a number of technical sub-committees in various areas including Events, Accommodation, Catering, Health, Security, Quarantine & Customs, Media & Promotions, Protocol, Finance and Logistics.

MAFNOC Chair and Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Andrew Nihopara said the Committee is working hard to ensure that all tasks are completed a month before the event.

This week the Committee has focused attention on its budget to ensure the limited funds provided by the Government are strategically spent to host a better and successful festival.

Approximately 2000 delegates from the five MSG countries (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia) will be attending the event. The Solomon Islands will have 300 delegates. Also there will be invited delegates from West Papua, Timor Leste, and Torres Strait Island of Australia. West Papua has been granted an observer status at the MSG meeting.

The Solomon Islands was the first MSG country to host the Melanesian Arts Festival in 1998. After this inaugural event, the festival has been held every four years on rotational basis in the five Melanesian Countries.

The Festival was conceived in 1995 by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to promote and preserve Melanesian cultures, traditions, values and contemporary arts in the region.

Festival Timelines:

1998 – Solomon Islands

2002 – Vanuatu

2006 – Fiji

2010 – New Caledonia (Kanaky)

2014 – Papua New Guinea

2018 – Solomon Islands
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Final Declaration

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http://dailypost.vu/news/final-declaration/article_cce0f97b-2c19-5a28-a484-aa4558145f02.html


Final Declaration

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Faces of West Papua struggle from left to right: Andy Ayamiseba, Benny Wenda, Barak Sope, Rex Rumakiek, and Paula Makabory pose with final declarations
“I as the founder of the Free West Papua Movement or Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) want to acknowledge and support the United Liberation Movement of West Papua that it is a political organisation that carries the spirit of OPM that will continue the struggle and fulfill its final mission, which is establishing the full independence and sovereign Republic of West Papua."
The statement has been sent by Jacob (Yakob) Prai from his home away from home in Sweden on December 28 of 2017, after meeting the Chairman of ULMWP, Benny Wenda.
The statement under official OPM letterhead states, “Therefore, in the name of God, this holy struggle, the ancestors of Papua, all our fallen heroes, the tears and suffering of the people of West Papua that continue to struggle from the jungles of New Guinea, mountains, valleys, islands, prisons, refugee camps as well as all those who live in exile in many parts of the world, that I as the leader of OPM and the founder of the struggle of free Papua, fully support and give full mandate to Mr. Benny Wenda as the leader of ULMWP and the political wing of OPM, to carry out the task as the leader of the nation of Papua.
“I thank the leaders and the people of West Papua, I hope that this recognition serves as a guideline to free the nation of Papua from Indonesian colonialism."
His statement has received unanimous endorsement by the ULMWP Executive in the lobby of the Grand Hotel in Port Vila.
In a separate statement to support Jacob Prai’s historic confirmation of support for ULMWP, Executive members Andy Ayamiseba (for Legal CounseL) and Rex Rumakiek (for National Liberation Army of WP) declare, “We, the undersigned senior members of the independence movement of West Papua, the OPM recognise the importance of national unity in our struggle for independence.
“We also recognise the role undertaken by respected leaders of Vanuatu to bring about unity in the West Papuan struggle.
"Two national leaders in particular need commendation.
"They are the current Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Joe Natuman and former Prime Minister Barak Maautamate Sope."
The statement reminds the world about how West Papua’s first application to join MSG was deferred on the grounds that the movement lacked broad based support.
Deputy Prime Minister Natuman requested the formation of a West Papua Unification Committe that brought together West Papua leaders to Vanuatu where the Saralana Declaration of Unity was signed by all representatives of West Papua factions present.
Another historical leader, Barak Maautamate Sope has a long history of uniting different factions of the West Papua independence movement. In 1985 he invited two key leaders of OPM, Jacob Prai and (now deceased) Brigedier General Seth Rumkorem led by (now deceased) Theys Elluay, to Vanuatu where they signed a memorandum of understanding to work together. In 2000 he (then Prime Minister Barak Sope) included the two groups in his delegation to the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York. The Vanuatu Mission at the UN also facilitated an audience with the Decolonization Committee of 24.
The signing ceremony of the Port Vila Declaration was also witnessed by Andy Ayamiseba and Rex Rumakiek, who also signed the 'Statement in support of Mr. Jacob Prai on his recognition and support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua'.
Barak Sope also graced the signing ceremony at the Grand Hotel.
Asked to update the readers on what it was that prompted him and the late Father Walter Lini and other leaders of the Independence Struggle to take the stand that they took, he said the colonial history of all Pacific Islands were similar - cruel. "This is why Father Lini and all of us declared that Vanuatu would not be completely free until West Papua was free because today it is still colonised by Indonesia," Sope says. 
He criticizes Australia and Indonesia for alleged human rights abuse on West Papuans. "East Timor was the same and Vanuatu stood firmly for the freedom of the Timorese. Last year my wife and I were invited to Dili by the President of East Timor who awarded me the Order of East Timor for Vanuatu's stand with its people for their freedom," he says,
In addition he says Portugual had colonised East Timor and later Indonesia annexed it until under international outcry, it gave in to its freedom. Now Indonesia is doing exactly the same thing to West Papua. 
When Sope was secretary general of the Vanua'aku Pati and Secretary of Foreign Affairs, he was mandated by Father Lini to unify FLNKS of New Caledonia and West Papua. "Now FLNKS is a member of MSG and yet, all the processes were done even before MSG was born. To get Prai and Rumkorem to come together, I had to travel to Europe to invite them to come to Vanuatu along with Brother Andy and Brother Rex," he recalls.
He says Prai and Rumkorem were afraid of each other but at the end of it all, they agreed to unite and the Port Vila Declaration was signed at his family home on Ifira in 1985. "So today I am proud to know that Jacob Prai and the miltary arm of West Papua have agreed to become one with ULMWP," Sope concludes.
ULMWP leaders say its endorsement signals their final declaration ending approximately 50 years of independence struggle as they prepare to attend the Melanesian Spearhead Group Meeting in Port Moresby next week, to hear the outcome of their application for full membership to join MSG. In fact they have already left and VCC representative Job Dalesa confirms the Chairman of ULMWP, Benny Wenda and Octavianus Mote have been allowed to attend the MSG meeting next week.
Meanwhile Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ralph Regenvanu says as far as he was aware on Tuesday this week, West Papua was not on the MSG proposed agenda.
He has since written to the relevant authorities to make sure that West Papua is included, and promised to follow up on the issue with a phone call to his Papua New Guinea counterpart yesterday afternoon.
The Minister says after three o'clock yesterday afternoon that he was not able to get through to his PNG counterpart on the phone but that he has written to the MSG hosts to remind them to make sure that West Papua is on the agenda. "I am leaving for PNG tomorrow (today) and I will make sure that West Papua is included on the agenda", he concludes.
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MSG meeting in Papua New Guinea, will ULMWP win 'full membership'?

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A google translate. Be-aware google translate can be a bit erratic.
Original bahasa link at

MSG meeting in Papua New Guinea, will ULMWP win 'full membership'?

Papua No. 1 News Portal | Jubi,
Minggu, 11 Februari 2018 — 20:19





The MSG Summit is underway in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 10-15 February 2018, ULMWP is optimistic it will win full membership - Photos: Facebook Page The Kreative Savage


Jakarta, Jubi - Updates related to the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) membership guidelines will be discussed at the next MSG Leadership meeting on Wednesday (14/2/2018) at Stanley Hotel, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The criteria for the Observer and Associate Members status and the new Membership Guidelines will be submitted directly to the MSG Leaders' discussion table for their consideration in deciding.

"The decision for a new membership is the prerogative of the Leaders forum that will be discussed Wednesday," said Director General of the MSG Secretariat, Ambassador Amena Yauvoli to PACNEWS in Port Moresby, Saturday (10/2).

In addition, the secretariat will also report to the Leaders forum regarding the status of the Secretariat's changes as mandated by the Governing Council in December 2016, "including other reports regarding the 2017 PNG election, the Arms Trade Tracts report, offshore fishing and updates on membership guidelines, "Said Ambassador Yauvoli.



The meeting that has been open from 10 to 15 February 2018 at Stanley Hotel, Port Moresby, PNG was attended prime by the new Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Rick Houenipwela; Prime Minister Vanuatu, Charlot Salwai and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ralph Regenvanu; and the delegation of FLNKS (Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste) led by Victor Tutugoro.

While Fiji will be attended by deputy ministerial level, Minister of Defense and National Security, Queen Inoke Kubuabola.

The delegation of West Papua, in this case the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) with the Observer status has also been present. Similarly, Indonesia is an Associate Member. East Timor, which has the status of the Observer, is also reported to be present.

From 10-12 February the 21st MSG Summit was initiated by a meeting of senior officials (Senior Officials Meeting-SOM) and foreign ministers. On Sunday (11/2) senior officials discussed Work Program and Budget; Monday (12/2) the Foreign Ministers will convene to set up reports that will be on the agenda at the Leaders meeting on Wednesday.

On Tuesday (13/2) the main event will be filled by the submission of MSG leadership to host Papua New Guinea from the Solomon Islands.

"The traditional handover ceremony will take place Tuesday afternoon at the Sir John Guise Stadium marking the official delivery of MSG's leadership from Solomon Islands Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela to Papua New Guinea's PM Peter O'Neill.

Reported by The National PNG (9/2), the summit, entitled "Strengthening trade and sustainable development for inclusive Melanesia", is one of the important forums in the Pacific region that addresses issues directly related to Melanesian communities and communities in the Pacific.

"There are a lot of challenges we must face together with today's global society, and the best way to handle them is to work together for the benefit of our people," PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said ahead of the opening of the MSG Summit.

Support ULMWP full membership

Previously speaking to Vanuatu Daily Post (ULT), the ULMWP Executive represented by his spokesperson, Jakob Rumbiak, said he believes PM Peter O'Neill as Chair of the MSG forum will support the full West Papers' full membership application through ULMWP.

The ULMWP executive, according to Rumbiak, has fulfilled the request of the PNG PM to be more united, as evidenced by the results of last week's ULMWP meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, which he called has strengthened his resolve and made ULMWP more organized.

At the meeting, said ULMWP has made some changes in its leadership, structure, rules and membership.

The optimism of ULMWP's full membership status was also revealed by other ULMWP leaders, Paula Makabory.

Reported by Vanuatu Daily Post (7/2), Paula quoted Indonesia's statement which according to him is a manifestation of Jakarta's recognition of West Papua's position in MSG.

"Indonesia says that 'Papuans are our citizens but they are your people, referring to the legal place (people of Papua) in the MSG,' said Paula.

He also stressed that the MSG nakamal (a traditional meeting place in Vanuatu-wikipedia ed) is a great place to solve the West Papua problem, "so that the people of West Papua should be accepted into the nakamal for the sake of solving their problems."

Vanuatu Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Ralph Regenvanu was quoted as saying Vanuatu Daily Post (10/2), as far as he was monitoring until last week, West Papua has not become the agenda of the proposed discussion of MSG.

Since then he said he had written letters to the authorities to ensure West Papua was included in the talks, and promised to ensure it shortly after arriving at PNG. 

"I will make sure West Papua is put on the agenda (discussion)," he said.

On Saturday (10/2), the SOM meeting took place which was marked by the handover of SOM leadership authority from Peter Keni-lore jnr, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Solomon Islands to Executing Officer of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of Commerce of PNG, Babara Age.

It was also mentioned that the West Papuan delegation had been present as Observer at the MSG SOM meeting on that Saturday.

Support weir effort

In Jakarta, late last January, a Working Meeting of the House of Representatives Commission I, TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu discussed specifically the efforts to prevent support from the Free Papua Organization (OPM) to the international community.

Reported by Tirto.id (29/1), Vice Chairman of Commission I, Hanafi Rais confirmed that the meeting is keen to give serious and continuous attention to the support of Papua Merdeka.

"We want the government, especially Kemenhan and TNI Commander to have serious and continuous attention, not only on the basis of cases," said Hanafi at the DPR Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Hanafi also revealed that the meeting also discussed the deterrence of foreign support for the Free Papua Movement, especially from the South Pacific countries, New Zealand, Australia and the United Nations.

On that occasion, Defense Minister Ryamizard once again expressed his indignation over the involvement of other countries in the Papua issue.

"I used to say in Australia, to Australia, the Solomon Islands, I never interfere or interfere with the affairs of other countries.If other countries interfere my country, I do not want," Ryamizard said as quoted tirto.id Monday (29 / 1). (*)

1) MSG leaders to discuss membership matters

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2) PM heads for MSG summit 



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1) MSG leaders to discuss membership matters
Leaders of Melanesian Spearhead Group member states are to deliberate on long-pending membership matters this week in Port Moresby.
2:04 pm today 

Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama is expected to join other MSG leaders for discussions at the Port Moresby summit. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades

Papua New Guinea's prime minister Peter O'Neill, who is taking on the MSG chairmanship, is hosting the leaders in his country's capital.
Leaders of all the other independent Melanesian states are expected to join Mr O'Neill for this week's summit. This includes Fiji's Frank Bainimarama, Rick Hou of Solomon Islands and Vanuatu's Charlot Salwai. New Caledonia's FLNKS Kanaks Movement, is represented by Victor Tutugoro.
They are due on Wednesday to discuss criteria for membership guidelines that leaders asked the secretariat for clarification on in 2016. Their request stemmed from an impasse on whether to accept a bid for full membership in the group by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
The Liberation Movement already has observer status in the group. But sources within the MSG suggest the group is not about to give the West Papuans full membership.
Mr O'Neill was staying quiet on the matter ahead of the summit, yet indicated that matters pending since 2016 within the MSG would be considered.
"The MSG is an important forum for our region with a number of significant issues on the agenda that matter to our people and communities," he said in a statement.
But it's understood that Indonesia, which has associate member status at the group and has lobbied strongly to oppose the Liberation movement's bid, has the support of Fiji and PNG.
However, on the eve of the summit, the Liberation Movement remained outwardly confident that the MSG would gain full membership.
"The time is right to see the Melanesian community welcome their brothers and sisters in West Papua as equals," said Benny Wenda, the Movement's chairman who appealed to activists and solidarity groups in PNG to voice their support to his group at this time.
Mr Wenda also appealed to Melanesian leaders to remember the MSG's founding principles of advocating for the right to self-determination of all Melanesians.
"We call on them now to also acknowledge the political aspirations of the West Papuan people, who have, in vast numbers expressed their will for self-determination and assistance from the international community, via their petition to the United Nations."
In other matters, MSG leaders would be considering the renewed policy, work programme and budget outlook for the coming two years under Mr O'Neill's chairmanship.
According to the MSG secretariat's director-general Amena Yauvoli, leaders would also pore over reports on PNG's 2017 National Elections, an Arms Trade Treaty and another on MSG member states' inshore fisheries.
Following senior officials sessions at the weekend, meetings of MSG foreign ministers today and tomorrow will precede the leaders summit proper on Wednesday.
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2) PM heads for MSG summit 



 
                                         Prime Minister Rick Hou leaves today for Port Moresby for the MSG summit.

 Leaves on Monday with 7-member delegation

12 February 2018
Prime Minister Rick Houenipwela leaves today for the 21st Melanesia Spearhead Group (MSG) summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

He is leading a seven-member delegation.

In Port Moresby, Houenipwela is expected to hand-over the MSG chairmanship to his PNG counterpart Peter O’Neill.

This traditional handing over ceremony will be held on Tuesday evening at the Sir John Guise Stadium.

PNG has invited both Indonesia and the United Liberation Movement for West Papua to the summit.

Indonesia is now an associate member of the MSG.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua and Timor-Leste are observers.

O’Neill said his country was looking forward to welcoming MSG leaders at this year’s summit.

 “MSG leaders will consider reports and updates since the 2015 Summit and 2016 Special Summit which will first be presented through the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers,” O’Neill said.

 “The MSG is an important forum for our region with a number of significant issues on the agenda that matter to our people and communities.

 “Papua New Guinea looks forward to welcoming MSG leaders, ministers and delegates again to our country.”

Meanwhile, the senior officials meeting started on Saturday and will continue on Monday.

Officials are meeting ahead of the Leaders’ Summit to finalise issues to go before MSG Leaders for their decision.

MSG Secretariat Director General, Ambassador Amena Yauvoli said the Senior Officials meeting will discuss policies, work programme and budget for the coming two years.

“These policy issues will require the endorsement of Foreign Ministers as well as Leaders. On Sunday senior officials will discuss the 2018 Work Programme and Budget.

“We will be reporting to Leaders on the reform status of the Secretariat as mandated by the Governing Council in December 2016.

“Also a number of reports will be presented to the Leaders.

“These include the report on PNG’s 2017 National Elections, report on Arms Trade Treaty, report on the MSG inshore fisheries and an update on membership guidelines.”

Ambassador Yauvoli said the criteria for Observers and Associate Members and New Membership Guidelines will be tabled directly to the Leaders on Wednesday for their consideration.

“The decision for new membership is solely the prerogative of Leaders and will be discussed on Wednesday.”

The Port Moresby Leaders’ Summit will be the first for Prime Minister Houenipwela, who came to power in November last year.

Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai and his foreign affairs minister, Ralph Regenvanu will be in Port Moresby for the MSG Leaders’ Summit, while the FLNKS delegation will be led by Victor Tutugoro…

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is not attending, and will be represented by his country’s Defence and National Security Minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.

MSG members are Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the FLNKS of New Caledonia.

By LESLEY SANGA
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1) What to expect at the Melanesian Spearhead Group summit

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 2) Imakulata Emakeparo was shot, the quality of police personnel questioned 
3) INDONESIAN MILITARY SENSITIVITY SENDS BBC JOURNALIST PACKING FROM PAPUA
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The Interpreter
1) What to expect at the Melanesian Spearhead Group summit
By  Tess Newton Cain
12 February 2018 14:59 AEDT
The last time the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) got together was in 2016, for a special leaders summit held in Honiara. A number of key issues were left unresolved after that meeting, most notably whether to endorse the next iteration of the MSG Trade Agreement, and who should qualify as group members.
We should expect the membership issue to take up most of the group’s political and diplomatic energy again this week when its leaders convene on Wednesday for a summit in Port Moresby. The discussion centres on how the group will deal with the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), and whether it should be made a full member of the MSG.
The ULMWP currently holds observer status in the group. Of the five full members of the MSG (Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste, or FLNKS), the ULMWP has the unwavering support of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the FLNKS. The inability to reach consensus on membership arises from the ambivalence and prevarication exhibited by PNG and Fiji, reflecting influence from Indonesia. Indonesia’s ability to influence the MSG and frustrate the ambitions of the West Papuans has been enhanced since it was made an associate member of the group in 2015.
The ULMWP is optimistic that its bid for membership will be accepted by the MSG leaders when they meet. The movement claims to have addressed all the issues that PNG’s Peter O’Neill raised in 2015, which included a stipulation that the ULMWP – at the time known as the the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) – strive to unify all pro-independence groups, and that the movement should consult with Indonesia on MSG membership.
Since then the organisation has undergone a significant period of consolidation, restructuring and overall professionalisation. This includes a recent change in leadership, with Benny Wenda taking on the role of chairman in 2017.
The government in Vanuatu has also donated the ULMWP an office building. This gives it a physical base in the heart of Melanesia, and essentially places the ULMWP cheek by jowl with the MSG, whose secretariat is also in Port Vila. Wenda is expected to attend the leaders summit in Port Moresby, at the invitation of O’Neill. The government of Vanuatu has indicated that it wishes to include Octovianus Mote, another senior figure from the ULMWP, as part of its official delegation.
Much more prosaically, the 2018 MSG Leaders Summit will need to address ongoing challenges associated with the group’s finances. This summit will mark the transfer of its chair from Solomon Islands to Papua New Guinea, a move due to have taken place in the middle of last year but delayed because of the PNG elections. There was no MSG leaders meeting during 2017.
A lot of strategic planning for the MSG and its secretariat has been undertaken. There are papers tabled that address restructuring of the secretariat and a remuneration review.
However, this all turns on the question of political will. There is a long-standing issue around the inability or unwillingness of the sovereign state members to pay their share of funding on time, or even at all. Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu are all facing fiscal constraints.
Yet the real issue is politics. If the organisation is hamstrung because of impasses such as the membership issue, it is difficult for leaders to demonstrate, both to their governments and electorates, that supporting the MSG is a good use of precious resources.
Of course, Indonesia could offer to pick up the bill for MSG running costs, which would be of little consequence to them financially. But the political sensitivities around that option make it unlikely.

The past few years have seen the MSG move from a renaissance period to one of frustrated inertia. The situation is such that a couple of years ago I suggested the Gordian knot as a suitable logo for the organisation. There are a number of strands to the tangle in which the MSG finds itself, and there have been several attempts to unravel them. The test for this summit will be whether the knot tightens or finally starts to give way. 

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 2) Imakulata Emakeparo was shot, the quality of police personnel questioned 
Jayapura, Jubi – Member of the Papuan House of Representative on Legal, Human Rights and Security Commission (Commission I) Wilhelmus Pigai questioned the quality of police personnel, after the death of Imakulata Emakeparo (55), a resident of Karaka Island, Mimika Far East District, Mimika District, Papua allegedly hit by bullets by members of Brimob, Sunday (February 4).
“I am concerned of the situation facing by my community in Mimika. I question the quality of police there in neither enforcing the law nor protecting society,” said the representative legislator from Papua Mimika, Thursday (February 8).
He asked Papua Police to investigate the shooting incident at Cargo dock Portsite Amamapare owned by PT Freeport Indonesia in the Far East Mimika District.

“Is it according to standard operating procedure (SOP) of the police or not?” he said.
According to him, the results of the investigation should be submitted to public in order to get legal certainty against the alleged perpetrators.
Head of Public Relations of Papua Police, Senior Commissioner AM Kamal said that his team has conducted a ballistic test, to make sure whether the bullet that hit the victim’s head really came from the firearms used by members of Brimob.
“Papua Police Chief is very serious to investigate this case, said Police Chief AM Kamal.
According to him, the investigation of the shooting incident involved a joint team of Papua Police General Investigation and Criminal Directorate, Propam Polda Papua, and Mimika Resort Police.
” There were six personnel at the scene. Four members of Brimob and two internal security officers of PT Freeport,” he said. (tabloidjubi.com)
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3) INDONESIAN MILITARY SENSITIVITY SENDS BBC JOURNALIST PACKING FROM PAPUA

Jakarta, Jubi/Crikey – West Papua has shown once again that freedom of speech is only for those who follow the rules.
The arrest and expulsion of Australian journalist Rebecca Henschke from the Indonesian province of (West) Papua over the weekend again highlights the sensitivities of the Indonesian military, the TNI, and its desire for over the territory.

It also shows, again, that while Papua is more open to journalists than in the past, that openness remains limited, reflecting the TNI’s deep paranoia about separatist sentiments in the mineral-rich province.
Henschke, a BBC correspondent in Jakarta, was arrested after tweeting that malnourished children in Papua were to be given “instant noodles, super sweet soft drinks and biscuits” and that children in hospital have chocolate biscuits to eat “and that’s it”.
Henschke also tweeted a picture of Indonesian soldiers with a bird in a cage, which could have been interpreted as illegal wildlife smuggling.
Colonel Muhammad Aidi said that Henschke’s tweets were defamatory because they implied wrongdoing or lack of care. Aidi said that goods being unloaded at a dock to which Henschke referred were ordinary merchant’s supplies and not emergency aid for the severely malnourished people of Papua’s Asmat province.
West Papua’s two provinces of Papua and West Papua are the poorest in Indonesia, despite the massive wealth generated by natural resources, including the world’s largest gold mine and the second largest copper mine at Grasberg near Timika. The standard of living of the territory’s ethnic Melanesians is significantly lower than that of other Indonesians in the territory.
A low-level separatist conflict has been underway in Papua since the mid-1960s and last September about 70% of the territory’s Melanesian population signed a secret petition calling for a free vote on independence. Last November and December, there was a spike in violence near Timika, with five villages being occupied by people claiming to be separatists.
Comments by Indonesian Lieutenant-General (ret.) Kiki Syahnakri — which incorrectly attributed responsibility to your correspondent for organising that violence — received extensive coverage in the Indonesian media. Syahnakri was previously the senior TNI commander responsible for East Timor during the TNI-controlled militia mayhem that destroyed more than 70% of the country and left over 2000 dead.
Despite a continuing military and paramilitary police “security” presence in Papua, the military continues to believe that the territory remains close to breaking away from Indonesia.
As well as suppressing independence sentiments in Papua, the TNI was involved in legal, “grey” and illegal business activities throughout the territory. The businesses included transportation, construction, logging and mining. The TNI also had a history of providing “protection” to the territory’s rich mines, as well as running brothels, gambling and smuggling operations.
An Indonesian military spokesperson said that Henschke’s tweets had “hurt the feelings” of soldiers delivering aid, hence her arrest. Such “sensitivities” are an unusually delicate blind for the limiting of media access, in turn limiting reporting about the plight of Melanesian Papuans.(Crikey international affairs commentator)
*Damien Kingsbury is Deakin University’s Professor of International Politics. He has been banned from entering Indonesia since December 2004
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Indonesian soldier shot dead by Papua separatists: military

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-papua-violence/indonesian-soldier-shot-dead-by-papua-separatists-military-idUSKBN1FW0VU?il=0


Indonesian soldier shot dead by Papua separatists: military

REUTERS STAFF FEBRUARY 12, 2018 / 9:27 PM / UPDATED 25 MINUTES AGO


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Armed separatists shot dead an Indonesian soldier on Monday during a gunfight at a market place in the remote easternmost province of Papua, a military spokesman said. 

Papua has suffered a simmering separatist conflict since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969 and remains one of the poorest regions in Indonesia.


“Five members of the separatist criminal group, armed with pistols and machetes, attacked members of the Indonesian military,” Papua military spokesman Muhammad Aidi said in a statement received by text message. 

One soldier was killed in the attack at a market in Sinak, Puncak Jaya regency, it said. 

Rights groups have urged Jakarta to end rights violations and improve media access to the area, where a group linked to the Free Papua Movement recently targeted mining operations of Freeport McMoRan Inc. 


Members of Indonesia’s security forces have been accused by rights activists of abducting and torturing Papuans and using deadly force to quell protests. 

Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Ed Davies and Nick Macfie

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1) Papua priest puts life on the line to fight injustice

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2) 21st MSG Leaders’ Summit set to go in PNG  
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1) Papua priest puts life on the line to fight injustice



Death threats don't deter Father Djonga from defending the poor or acting as a broker between the army and insurgents
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta Indonesia
February 12, 2018




Father John Djonga, a 59-year-old priest of Jayapura Diocese in Papua, is known for his bravery in speaking out on behalf of the underprivileged. (Photo by Ryan Dagur/ucanews.com)
Death threats, difficult terrain and police interrogations for suspected treason last year have not dented the spirit of Father John Djonga to render service in Indonesia's restive province of Papua. 
The 59-year-priest of Jayapura Diocese has more than 30 years of service in the region's remote areas, which are not only difficult to reach but also greatly impoverished despite the area being rich in natural resources.
Djonga arrived as a catechist in 1988 from his home on Flores, east of Komodo Island. Inspired by a shortage of priests in the area, he attended a seminary in Jayapura Diocese in 1990 and was ordained a priest in 2001.
Risky business
Performing religious duty in Papua is a risky business. The Christian-majority region has emerged as a conflict hot spot since it was annexed by Indonesia over 50 years ago.
A pro-independence group has stepped up its insurgent attacks in 
recent years, leaving a trail of casualties in its wake despite police reporting numerous arrests.
One report by the International Coalition for Papua found that arrests had quadrupled from 1,083 in 2015 to 5,361 in 2016, mostly during peaceful protests in support of the group.
Recent reports suggest the government's claims that human rights are improving in Papua are not accurate.
Djonga, who now serves as a parish priest at the Christ the King Church in Wamena, said he often runs into people who claim they have been persecuted by local security forces. Some report being tortured — and the priest is not afraid to demand soldiers be disciplined when they step out of line.
"I chose to be a priest not only for [believers] but also for pro-independence groups, most of whom hide in the forests," he told ucanews.com.
Few priests choose to fraternize with the insurgents, he said.
"They are also my flock and are in need of service regardless of their political affiliations," he said.
"I am close to them. I'm also close to the soldiers and to the police," he added. 
He said he hopes to help scale down the attacks by playing something of an intermediary role.
"Though military personnel or some pro-independence group are Muslims, when I talk about humanity there are no barriers between us," he said.
However, he admitted he receives death threats and other forms of intimidation on a regular, sometimes daily basis.
After complaining to the Papua governor in 2007 about how the military was using tactics to intimidate local people, he said he received a terrifying phone call from an unidentified military man.
"[He] told me I would be buried alive 700 meters deep," Father Djonga said.
"But I'm not scared as I know this is the risk attached to my ministry."
In 2016 he was questioned by the police for leading a prayer service attended by members of an alleged Papuan separatist group. He was later released without charge.
"I told the police that whether they are pro-Indonesian or if they want to be independent, I must serve them. That is my duty," he said.
Beyond the violence
Diet-related health risks and low levels of education are among other issues that plague the region, Father Djonga said.
Over 72 children in Asmat district, a remote area in the country's easternmost province, have died in recent months due to malnutrition while about 650 have contracted measles, said local district chief Elisa Kambu.
Medical and military teams were sent to the district in response and a state of emergency was declared on Jan. 15, according to media reports.
For Father Djonga, such stories of tragic deaths are nothing new.
Last year he was involved in an investigation with a group of volunteers to document the mass deaths of nearly 100 people in Yahukimo district. The deaths occurred over a period of months.
"Tragic deaths like this are an oft-repeated story here and yet we are not seeing any truly monumental effort to stop it," he said.
Infuriated by what he sees as the state's lackluster efforts, he went on a national TV station last month and criticized the government.
His comments on MetroTV sparked a fierce debate with a government minister who appeared on the same show.
"I told him my remarks are based on real experience. There are clinics in Papua but no nurses and medicines. How can the government promise it will improve the situation if it doesn't even consider basic problems like this?" he said.
He said children are being robbed of a decent standard of education by similar shortfalls that result in shortages of staff and resources.
"School buildings exist but there are no teachers, let alone books," he said.
"I have worked here for 30 years but there has been no significant change," he lamented.
An 'ideal shepherd'
Father Djonga said involving himself in social issues is part of answering God's calling.
"As a pastor I serve my flock with the sacraments. But that is a standard task. I also feel obliged to be directly involved with the everyday issues and problems they face," he said.
He urged greater church involvement in Papua given the huge challenges the people there now face.
"This is a field that needs liberation missions," he said.
He believes Jesus would have encouraged those of faith, and who are able, to get involved and help out in the troubled province, now deeply mired in social and political problems.
In recognition of his struggle, Father Djonga received the Yap Thiam Hien Award in 2009. He shared Indonesia's most prestigious human rights award that year with a Chinese lawyer who was a renowned activist.
His best friend, Rev. Benny Giay of the Synod of Christian Churches in Papua, said one of Father Djonga's strengths is his ability to mingle with people across the whole social spectrum.
"He is an ideal shepherd," Rev. Giay said. "He is a pastor who wants to drown in the swamps of people's suffering."
"He can also instruct people. He tells people: 'Let's get out of this situation,'" he said.
Theo Hesegem, chief of the Advocacy Network for Law Enforcement and Human Rights, said Father Djonga is not afraid to put his life at risk as he fights to improve people's lives.
"We work together a lot and his commitment is clear," he said.
"He is a great example of a pastor who wants to stand on the front line to fight for justice.”




































































































































































































































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http://news.pngfacts.com/2018/02/21st-msg-leaders-summit-set-to-go-in-png.html

2) 21st MSG Leaders’ Summit set to go in PNG  


By Makereta Komai, PACNEWS Editor in Port Moresby,PNG 

Preparations are in earnest in Port Moresby to welcome Melanesia Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders for their 21st biennial summit on Wednesday (14 February).

Senior officials from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the FLNKS in New Caledonia met over the weekend ahead of the Leaders’ Summit to finalise issues to go before MSG Leaders for their decision.

The Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Saturday and Sunday will kick-start a series of meeting in the lead up to the 21st biennial session, which has the theme, “Strengthening Trade and Sustainable Development for an Inclusive Melanesia.”

Speaking to PACNEWS, MSG Secretariat Director General, Ambassador Amena Yauvoli said Senior Officials meeting discussed policies, work programme and budget for the coming two years.

“These policy issues will require the endorsement of Foreign Ministers as well as Leaders. On Sunday senior officials will discuss the 2018 Work Programme and Budget.

Today, Foreign Ministers will convene to endorse reports that will form the agenda of the Leaders meeting on Wednesday.

“We will be reporting to Leaders on the reform status of the Secretariat as mandated by the Governing Council in December 2016. Also a number of reports will be presented to the Leaders. These include the report on PNG’s 2017 National Elections, report on Arms Trade Treaty, report on the MSG inshore fisheries and an update on membership guidelines, said Ambassador Yauvoli.

He said the criteria for Observers and Associate Members and New Membership Guidelines will be tabled directly to the Leaders on Wednesday for their consideration.

“The decision for new membership is solely the prerogative of Leaders and will be discussed on Wednesday, said the MSG Director General.

A key event will be the traditional hand-over of the MSG chairmanship to the host country Papua New Guinea from Solomon Islands.

“A traditional handing over ceremony will be held on Tuesday evening at the Sir John Guise Stadium to mark the official hand-over of the MSG leadership between the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Rick Houenipwela to his Papua New Guinea counterpart, Peter O’Neill.

Ambassador Yauvoli is confident of a strong leadership from Papua New Guinea as it takes over the helm of the sub-regional organisation in the coming two years.

“The revamped Secretariat will need durable and innovative leadership and we are confident that Papua New Guinea will provide that as the Secretariat attempts to serve the needs of members in a most efficient and effective manner. We look forward to working with PNG in the next two years.

“We hope there will be growth in the organisation’s strength to deal with sensitive issues in the region, said Ambassador Yauvoli.

The MSG director general also acknowledged the strong leadership of the group by Solomon Islands and the former Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare.

“Hon Manasseh Sogavare’s strong and dedicated leadership took the MSG out of the difficult situation it was in to where it is now, said Ambassador Yauvoli.

The Port Moresby Leaders’ Summit will be the first for Solomon Islands Prime Minister, who came to power in November last year.

Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Charlot Salwai and his foreign affairs minister, Ralph Regenvanu will be in Port Moresby for the MSG Leaders’ Summit, while the FLNKS delegation will be led by Victor Tutugoro.

Fijian Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama will be represented by the country’s Defence and National Security Minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.


SOURCE: PACNEWS
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1) Indonesia's Papua province children starving in a land of gold

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2) Health Workers Leave Health Centers Empty in Asmat
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Note.  Photos in article
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42985439
1) Indonesia's Papua province children starving in a land of gold
  • 5 hours ago

A measles and malnutrition crisis has killed at least 72 people, mostly children, in Indonesia's remote province of Papua, home to the world's biggest gold mine.
As Rebecca Henschke and Hedyer Affan report, the crisis has put the spotlight on a region closed off to journalists for decades and revealed serious government failings.
Just two months old, Yulita Atap's life has already been brutally hard. Her mother died in childbirth. Her father gave her up for dead.
"In the cloud of grief he wanted to hit her, to bury her with her mother," says her uncle, Ruben Atap.
"I said, don't do that, God will be angry, he became calm and was grateful that we wanted to take care of her, but we are now struggling to keep her alive." 
She lies limply on a bed in the only hospital in the Asmat regency, a jungle-covered area the size of Belgium. Her ribs exposed, nearly piercing through her skin, her stomach bloated, she floats in and out of sleep.
Her uncle stares constantly at her tiny body.
Government health workers helped him make a two-day journey on a speedboat up a river to get here. The rivers are the highways, weaving like snakes through the thick jungle.
On the next hospital bed is Ofnea Yohanna's family. Three of her children, aged four, three and two, are severely malnourished.
She married when she was just 12 years old. Still in her twenties, she has six children.
"We eat when there is food, when there isn't we don't. We don't have a boat at the moment to go fishing in," she says.

While we talk her daughter stares emptily off into the distance, her eyes hollow and lifeless. She picks at a packet of sweet biscuits, a pile of plain white rice on brown paper sits uneaten next to her. 

A proud tribe 

Traditionally, the Asmat tribe has lived on sago starch extracted from palms, and fish from the rivers and sea.
"Asmat is, in its way, a perfect place. Everything you could possibly need is here," wrote Carl Hoffman in his 2014 book about the disappearance and presumed death of New York socialite, Michael Rockefeller, in Asmat in the 1960s.
"It's teeming with shrimp and crabs and fish and clams and sago palm, whose pith can be pounded into a white starch and which hosts the larvae of the Capricorn beetle, both key sources of nutrition," he wrote.

Michael Rockefeller, the child of a New York governor and from one of America's richest families, came across the world to Asmat to collect the tribe's elaborate and impressive art that includes stylised giant wood carvings.
The art of the Asmat people is found in top museums across the world and is prized by collectors. 
Rockefeller's black and white photos from his journey to visit the Asmat people, at the time cannibals and head-hunters, amazed the Western world. 

Changing diets, fading traditions 

The semi-nomadic Asmat tribes used to spend months in the forest to make sago and find enough food to live. 
Cultural changes began happening in the 1950s with the arrival of Christian missionaries, and in recent years diets have dramatically changed with increasing number of migrants from other Indonesian islands coming here.
The nearest city of Timika, an hour's flight away, serves as a centre for the US-owned Freeport mine, the world's largest gold mine.

Timika has one of the fastest population growths in Indonesia.
"People increasingly buy imported food and because in some places the forests have been logged they have to go further to get sago," says local health researcher, Willem Bobi. 
"So now the quickest thing is to buy instant processed food; government money has come in and made our people dependent."
A native Papuan, Willem Bobi travelled across the vast jungle-covered area and described the dire health situation in a book, The Asmat Medicine Man, which was published last year.
"I knew a crisis like this would come. I saw there was a lack of clean water and a serious lack of health facilitates. I saw health clinics where the only doctors had been on leave for months but were still being paid wages. 
"The crisis we are seeing now has happened many times before but it has never been as bad as now," he says. 
"It's happening because the health authorities have not dealt with this seriously enough." 
Aid brought in 
As news spread about the measles outbreak, President Joko Widodo ordered military and medical teams to bring supplies to remote villages.

Health workers and paramedics vaccinated more than 17,300 children, and authorities now say the measles outbreak is under control.
The military says it is now running a year-old monitoring operation in the area to find out where problems are. 
However, the head of the military medical teams acknowledged that Jakarta's response was slow.
"Let's be honest, maybe the local and national governments became aware of this [outbreak] late," Asep Setia Gunawan, the military's medical taskforce chief, told AFP. 

The military has been accused by rights groups of gross human rights abuses in its attempts to suppress any dissent. 
Until recently foreign journalists were not allowed to report here. I had to get special permission from the police to travel here. 
There was unrest while we visited; a women was shot dead. Police said she was among villagers who tried to help a man escape arrest. 
He was accused of selling ore concentrate, which he had allegedly taken from the cargo dock of US mining company Freeport-McMoRan. 
The women's family say she was an innocent bystander. And now police are conducting an internal investigation. 
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, on a visit last week to Indonesia, said he was concerned "about increasing reports of the excessive use of force by security forces, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions in Papua".
He said the Indonesian government had invited the United Nations to send a mission to the province, something it would do soon.

New funds, new problems 

In an attempt to ease tensions, Papua was granted greater autonomy in 2001, and there has been a significant increase in government funds for the region, with Jakarta vowing to bring prosperity to the people of Papua. 
But Ruben Atap, like many Papuans I met, suggests the wave of cash has mainly benefited a select few. 
"Our local leaders take the money and use it for themselves. They don't think of their people and fill their own bellies," he said.

Historical issues 

Papua has been a sensitive region since it became part of Indonesia in the 1960s following what some historians allege was a flawed UN-supervised vote. 
Just 1,063 people were selected to vote. The province is incredibly resource rich, home to the world's biggest gold mine, which is one of Indonesia's largest taxpayers.
The government says Papua is an integral part of Indonesia and that this has been recognised by the United Nations. But a low-level separatist movement, fighting for independence, continues to this day.

In wake of the outbreaks, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that special autonomy funding for the province would be re-evaluated to make sure it was being used for development. 
"This is a lesson for us, because throughout this time the special autonomy funds have been disbursed as a block grant to the provincial government - even though special autonomy has specific purposes," she said last week.
The Regent of Asmat, Elisa Kambu, said the problem had wider issues. 
He said people in Jakarta "just talk about money, that lots of money comes to Papua; money alone cannot solve this problem".

Wake-up call 

"Asmat is a wake-up call for us all," said presidential advisor, Yanuar Nugroho.
He said a number of other areas in Papua could face the same health crisis and Asmat was just the tip of the iceberg.
"The problem lies with the local government," he said.

Willem Bobi, the health researcher, thinks the solution lies perhaps in less government. 
"Maybe then it will not be easy to get money anymore and people will go back to the old natural ways of finding food," he says, laughing.
"But of course that's going to be very hard, because now it's easier [to] buy instant food."
A proposal President Widodo to relocate Asmat people scattered throughout the jungle into a town, so they could be close to medical services, was immediately rejected by local leaders. 
"Moving people is not as easy as that because we have culture, customs, land rights and connection to the land," says the regent, Elisa Kambu.

President Widodo has visited Papua more than six times since his election in 2014, working hard to demonstrate Jakarta's commitment to developing the province, prioritising infrastructure construction. 
And in the wake of the crisis the government has vowed to invest more in health facilities across the remote area as well as schools. 
Ruben Atap says he hopes one day his tiny niece will go to school. 
"What do you hope she will do after that?" I ask. 
He laughs nervously.
'I don't know what her future will be like, we are just trying our best to help her survive." 
————————————————————

MONDAY, 12 FEBRUARY, 2018 | 13:48 WIB
2) Health Workers Leave Health Centers Empty in Asmat

TEMPO.COJakarta - The Ministry of Health said the local administration is the most responsible for the death of 72 people due to measles and malnutrition in Asmat, Papua.
Director General of Public Health Anung Sugihantono said there was inaction in informing the case that occurred in last September.
According to him, it occurred because the vaccination program did not reach all residents. In fact, the Ministry of Health has sent the vaccine to the Provincial Health Office.
Asmat Regent, Elisa Kambu, actually blamed the residents. There is an access problem of the distant health centers. But they have no awareness to visit.

In early February, they claimed the health workers never came. Victor Paya, Kelapa Kampung As, Pulau Tiga District, said the vaccination was just done after the government established the extraordinary event. Until February 4, 17,337 children have been vaccinated.
The health center in Kampung As and Atat, Pulau Tiga District were empty. There was only one patient. According to Victor, the staff escaped for no apparent reason. “It's been a year since the staff left, Victor said.
Regent Elisa Kambu admits the residents’ behavior who often blamed the staff when there is a severe illness causes them to escape.
She said that the biscuits from the Ministry of Health's aid were only received after the extraordinary event.
Health problems not only occurred in Asmat. Tempo Investigation Team found that health services in Papua are still poor. The mortality rate of patients in hospitals became the highest in Indonesia.
ERWAN HERNAWAN TNR
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1) MSG Foreign Ministers Conclude talks in Port Moresby

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2) Papuan Liberation Army claims responsibility for dead Indonesian soldier
3) A skeleton wrapped in skin
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1) MSG Foreign Ministers Conclude talks in Port Moresby




The 21st Melanesian Spearhead Group Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) concluded in Port Moresby on Tuesday (13 February) with a number of decisions to be considered by Leaders, who will convene on Wednesday 14 February 2018 for their Retreat.
Key amongst the decisions are the reform of the MSG Secretariat, its Corporate Plan 2018-2020 and the Work Programme and Budget for 2018.
The MSG Secretariat in Port Vila, Vanuatu had undergone a major review exercise in 2017 with the revision of its Corporate Plan, which is now reduced from five to three years to correspond with the term of the Director General, who will lead the implementation of the Plan.
Foreign Affairs Ministers from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and FLNKS were presented with reports on the 2017 National Elections in Papua New Guinea, Report on the 3rd MSG Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and UN Programme of Action (UnPoA) on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SAWL) Workshop, Report on MSG Roadmap for Inshore Fisheries and the Status of the Signing of the MSG Trade Agreement.
The Ministers also received an Update from the FLNKS on the 2018 Referendum for Self-Determination.
Opening the 21st Foreign Ministers Meeting, Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister, Mr Rimbink Pato said PNG’s assumption of the chairmanship of the MSG comes at a significant year for the host country – when it will host the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit in November this year.
“It’s not only a special year for PNG but for Melanesia and the Pacific. It will be the first APEC in PNG and the sub-regional group. The eyes of the world will be on PNG and the sub-regional group.
“APEC will bring heads of Asian Pacific countries, leaders of the world’s most populous countries from China to Russia, the United States and our long standing friends from Japan and Indonesia and our Commonwealth friends of Australia and Canada”. said Mr Pato.
He urged his fellow counterparts from the MSG sub-regional group to use the strength gained from its solidarity in the past 30 years as a group to advance a positive and prosperous agenda for the region and to be mindful of the changes taking place that have shaped the geopolitics of the region.
The MSG Foreign Ministers present at the meeting are Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Hon. Rimbink Pato, Fiji’’s Defence and National Security Minister, Hon. Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, Solomon Islands Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Hon, Milner Tozaka, Vanuatu’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Co-operation, Hon. Ralph Regenvanu and FLNKS Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr Michael Forrest.
The Official Opening and Traditional Hand-Over of the Chairmanship of the MSG from Solomon Islands to Papua New Guinea will be held this afternoon (February 13, 2018) at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby before the Leaders go into their Retreat and Plenary tomorrow at the Stanley Hotel.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Hon Peter O’Neill will take over the helm of the sub-regional political body based in Port Vila, Vanuatu for the next two years.
Also present at the 21st MSG Leaders’ Summit are observers from the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) and Representatives from the Indonesian Government.

Image and Story: Press Release
————————————————

2) Papuan Liberation Army claims responsibility for dead Indonesian soldier
4 minutes ago 

Highlands-based Defense Region Command of the West Papua National Liberation Army, or TPNPB. Photo: TPNPB
The West Papua National Liberation Army has claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of an Indonesian soldier in Papua province yesterday.
The shooting took place at a market in Sinak in Papua's Puncak Jaya regency.
A Highlands-based Defense Region Command of the rebel group, which says it is waging a war for West Papuan independence from Indonesia, has made a statement about the attack.
A spokesperson said he had confirmed a team of his men shot dead the soldier.
He said the shooting was message to the Government of Indonesia and the public globally that the West Papua National Liberation Army will not cease to oppose the military and the Indonesian police.
Advocacy groups have urged Jakarta to end human rights violations and improve media access to the area, where militants linked to the Free Papua Movement have been targeting operations at the vast Grasberg copper mine run by American company Freeport McMoRan.
Rights activists have accused Indonesia's security forces of abducting and torturing indigineous Papuans and using deadly force to quell their protests.


------------------------------
Note photos/video footage in story
3) A skeleton wrapped in skin

 
Gianrigo Marletta   Tuesday 13 February 2018

Asmat, Papua, Indonesia -- The three-year-old skeleton wrapped in skin should otherwise have been a little girl. She was barely breathing, fighting for her life in a remote part of the jungle, as her parents helplessly looked on. I have seen plenty of extreme poverty in my seven years as a journalist in Indonesia. Never have I seen a child in such a state.

The trip that took me to her started out in the usual whirlwind fashion. Six hours after covering the US secretary of defense’s visit to Indonesia in the lavish halls of the presidential palace in Jakarta, I was on a seven-hour overnight flight to Papua with colleagues from text and photo.

We were headed to cover one of the most haunting stories any of us had yet experienced, and we were nervous because it was already saturated with firsts.

 
For the first time we were allowed to travel deep into Papua, to a remote region that normally has been off limits to Western journalists like us. When President Joko Widodo came to power in 2014, he adopted a more liberal approach in an effort to attract more foreign investment and ordered, among other things, that access to Papua be allowed for Western news outlets.

It took a while for the new approach to trickle down on the ground. But eventually it did -- when news began to spread in recent months that a measles outbreak in one of the most remote corners of Papua had killed dozens of children, the army invited us to go along with them to the area. We would become some of the first Western journalists to see the place in decades, and the army would get coverage of what it was doing to help the local population.

The trip offered another bonus -- usually Western journalists aren’t allowed anywhere near military installations. So much so that I can’t even go to the military airport to shoot the arrival of hostages freed in the Philippines, or the return of civilians’ bodies arriving from a disaster zone.

And now here I was, embedded with the army and, eventually, actually flying in one of their helicopters. But more on that later.

Land long off-limits

First, a brief explanation of Papua's history. It's on the second largest island in the world -- New Guinea -- sitting just above the northern coast of Australia.

 
During the European colonial era, New Guinea was split in half: the eastern part belonged to the Germans and then the British and Australians and the western side was under Dutch rule.

Today, the island is still split in half, but the eastern side gained independence and became Papua New Guinea, while the Dutch side was taken over by Indonesia decades ago and became Papua province.

Papuans are distinctly different from other Indonesians, both culturally and in their genetic makeup, sharing more with Melanesians who are spread out across islands in the Pacific. Many West Papuans today consider themselves an occupied people (part of the reason it was closed to Western reporters for so long). There is a heavy Indonesian military presence as a low-level separatist insurgency burns on an island that is rich in natural resources but has a population so poor that some are actually starving to death.

 
Our night flight from Jakarta landed in Timika. We then hopped onto a seatless Cessna 208 Caravan prop plane, which gave us another thrill of sorts. Up until then, most of the stories that we had covered in Papua had been crashes of planes just like this, small seatless little birds of metal gliding over some of the world’s densest jungle cover. When we got on and saw that the plane had only one pilot, we exchanged glances and smiled (we were all thinking the same thing). “Let’s just hope we don’t become the story,” we said and settled in for the ride. To be honest, any fear we may have had was far outweighed by excitement. In today’s world, there are very few places where one can go and be “the first.” This was one of them -- we’d be among the first Westerns to see this corner of the globe in decades.

The plane glided over dense tropical jungle, which is one of Indonesia's last untouched forests (deforestation in Indonesia is the most rampant in the world). The thick network of large rivers below us served both as water supply for its thriving wilderness, but also as the only means of connection between villages in the remote region.

The pilot flew low for us so that we could get good aerial shots of the place, and after about an hour we landed in Agats - the tiny capital of Asmat district, the epicenter of the measles outbreak where the deaths of dozens of toddlers was causing untold grief for their parents.

 
A land on stilts

“My personal last frontier,” I thought as I got off the plane and took a look around. “Impenetrable, wild and far away. I’ve finally made it to the heart of Papua!”

To call Asmat extremely isolated is a bit of an understatement. The “airport” consisted of a strip of concrete and a shack. The entire region lies next to a river, the main way of getting around from village to village, on ground so swampy that everything is on stilts -- from shacks to paths. There are no cars.

Even though it’s only about 100 miles (160 kilometres) away from Timika -- the gateway to one of the world's biggest mines operated by US-based Freeport -- to get to Asmat one has to use either a small chartered plane (which would cost $2,000-3,000 to book), fly a commercial plane which doesn’t operate daily, or travel by boat which would take about 10 hours. In short, it's expensive to travel to Asmat. Not many people can afford this kind of travel and so the outside world often doesn't know what’s going on here.

 
We headed to the hospital as soon as we landed. If you could call it as such. It is the sole major medical facility for the entire Asmat district and is supposed to service nearly 130,000 people living in dozens of tiny villages along the river (A few tiny clinics in some villages are barely worthy of the name, staffed by overwhelmed nurses and no doctors). There is no lab. No operating room.

One young girl was lying on the ground in an exterior hallway. Her legs were thinner that the stand for an IV that was keeping her alive. A few metres from her head someone had parked a motorbike. Her eyes were open, but she was staring at nothing. I kept looking at the motorbike, parked so close to her head. “That’s just not right,” I kept thinking. “There shouldn’t be a motorbike parked next to her head.”

 
Stuck between two worlds

"The hospital is full, so we had to move so many children to the church," we were told. So after the hospital we went to the church.

It was quickly becoming apparent that the measles outbreak wasn’t the only story. The underlying story here was malnourishment. These people are so poor that some are literally starving to death. A malnourished child will succumb to measles more easily than a well-fed one.

 
The people living here, the Asmat tribe, are unlucky in that they are caught in between two worlds. They are descendants of people who used to live in the jungle, getting their food and medicine from it. They no longer do that. They now live in “villages” -- collections of feeble bamboo huts on stilts on the banks of the river.

Now most of their food consists of instant noodles that are brought in by boat to little “convenience stores” called “warung.” The only problem is that there are hardly any jobs. It’s hard to buy food when you have no money.


Camera as a shield

That reality came screaming out to us in a room by the hospital's entrance, where a father and mother stared down at a skeleton tightly wrapped in human skin. It was their three-year-old daughter, still breathing.

In my seven years working as a journalist in Indonesia, I have seen extreme poverty like this before. But never had I seen children in such condition. It just hit me in the stomach. It was a very physical reaction -- I just wanted to throw up. I suppose it would have been even worse if I had been a parent. In moments like this -- when I witness something truly terrible -- my camera becomes my shield. It becomes a filter, protecting you from the reality in front, so that I can do my job and shoot the scene. And that’s what I did. I shot that skeleton wrapped in skin that was supposed to be a three-year-old girl. And despite that shield, that image will stay with me for a long, long time.

I wasn’t the only one shaken by it. Lots of colleagues from other news organizations later told me that that particular image is what prompted them to follow in our footsteps and report on the story as well.

 
Sending the harrowing footage took more than 14 hours with our satellite device. From 4:00 pm till seven the next morning I stared at my laptop while it did its best to upload my video. Something that in normal conditions would've taken less than 20 minutes. After that, it was time to go back out and shoot some more.

We spent the next day on tiny speedboats racing down the rivers, following the Indonesian military as it visited a remote village on stilts.  

In all, we spent four nights in the region, but it will be a trip that I will remember for a long time. Flying out marked another first -- we flew out aboard a chopper of the military that wouldn’t allow us anywhere near its installations for years. But that’s not what will stay with me. It will be the image of that little girl, clinging to life. We checked up on her before leaving. She was still alive, but her battle with death was nowhere near being over. I hope she made it in the end. It would soften a bit that image of her seared in my memory.

 
Video journalist based in Indonesia.

 
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1) ULMWP Leaders welcomed to Port Moresby

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2) MSG to process West Papua membership bid
3) Top UN Human Rights Official Completes Mission to Indonesia
4) China remains biggest market for West Papua`s exports
5) Mongabay Series: Indonesian Forests  
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1) ULMWP Leaders welcomed to Port Moresby


ULMWP Executive member Andy Ayamiseba signs “final declaration” witnessed by Rex Rumakiek for TPN (military wing)
  •  

The four West Papuan official representatives of United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) led by Chairman Benny Wenda, have been provided with historic VIP welcome by the Melanesian Spearhead Group host, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Peter O’Neil on arrival at Port Moresby last weekend.
Speaking for ULMWP in Port Vila, Executive Member Andy Ayamiseba says it gives his organization and the people of West Papua great joy to know that the 21st MSG host has demonstrated true Melanesian diplomatic respect for their leaders, by making them feel a true part of Melanesian brotherhood.
Ayamiseba says he has received reports from Port Moresby that on arrival, his leaders were saluted, provided with official black diplomatic cars and driven to Stanley Hotel, the venue of the meetings in PNG’s Capital City.
After signing declaration after declaration for about 50 years, ULMWP Leaders made an unanimous decision that the signing ceremony to endorse OPM Leader Jacob Prai and the Liberation Army of West Papua into ULMWP at Grand Hotel in Port Vila last week was the “final declaration”.
Now they are confident that West Papua is about to enter a new dawn with Melanesia.

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2) MSG to process West Papua membership bid
about 1 hour ago 
Leaders of Melanesian Spearhead Group countries have referred a West Papuan application for full membership in the group to its secretariat for processing.
The leaders are having their annual summit this week in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby.
PNG's prime minister Peter O'Neill is hosting leaders from Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji as well as a representative of New Caledonia's indigenous Kanak people.
A long-pending application for Spearhead membership by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, which has observer status in the group, is to be processed under new guidelines for membership.
It's unclear whether this means the decision is a technical or political one.
The guidelines, newly approved at this summit, were developed after the leaders came to an impasse two years ago over the West Papuan bid for full membership.
Indonesia, which has associate member status of the Spearhead, strongly opposes West Papuan involvement in the group.

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3) Top UN Human Rights Official Completes Mission to Indonesia
While proposed new laws may threaten human rights in Indonesia, the country continues to engage positively with the UN and other bodies.

In early February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, conducted his first official mission to Indonesia since taking office in 2014. During the three day visit, February 5-7, Al Hussein met with President Joko Widodo, high level government representatives including the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of religion, civil society organizations, religious leaders, and the three Indonesian national human rights institutions. It was the first mission by the UN’s top human rights official to Indonesia since the previous high commissioner, Navi Pillay, in 2012. Whilst some breakthroughs have been made regarding the advancement of human rights across the archipelago, a number of issues raised as concerns by the former high commissioner remain unresolved.  
In Indonesia, people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities have not been provided with the protection urged by Navi Pillay during her 2012 visit, and are now facing unprecedented criminalization under the new formulation of the Draft Revised Penal Code that outlaws homosexual relations. The 1965 Blasphemy Law that Navi Pillay recommended be repealed remains a source of human rights violations and discrimination against religious minorities. The law is currently, for the third time, having its constitutionality tested by a judicial review in the Constitutional Court. The discriminatory enforcement of Sharia in Aceh that the former high commissioner called out also continues to create an environment of intimidation and fear in the autonomous region.
On the other hand, Indonesia has continued to engage with and largely fulfill its commitments to the international human rights treaty and charter-based bodies it is a party to. The state’s impressive tradition of ratifying human rights conventions has continued with its ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
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While human rights are generally experiencing a decline across the region, Indonesia has demonstrated its commitment to human rights through facilitating the visits of a number of special procedures including the special rapporteur on health and adequate housing. Indonesia’s active participation in the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last year and its adoption of the majority of recommendations put forth by countries reviewing its human rights performance further demonstrated its openness in engaging with the international community to advance human rights. 
During the mission, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), in performing one of its roles as a bridge between civil society and the international human rights mechanisms of the United Nations, facilitated a meeting between civil society organizations, victims groups, and the delegation of the high commissioner. An open forum was created in which survivors of past human rights abuses, women human rights defenders, victims of various forms of gender-based violence, and academics, had the opportunity to deliver oral statements to the high commissioner. Al Hussein expressed his admiration and appreciation for the bravery and strength of the civil society movement.  
Komnas Perempuan, in an additional closed meeting with the high commissioner, voiced its appreciation for the official mission and delivered updates about a number of issues pertaining to violence against women and the situation of women’s human rights in Indonesia. Child marriage, polygamy, virginity testing in the military, the criminalization of abortions, cyber violence against women, gender based violence in contexts of natural resources conflicts, past human rights violations, violence and discrimination against religious minorities, and the implementation of the Qanun Jinayat — or the Sharia-based Islamic Criminal Code — in Aceh were among the issues that Komnas Perempuan highlighted during the visit.  
The Draft Revised Penal Code and the Elimination of Sexual Violence Bill, two pieces of legislation currently being debated in Indonesia’s People’s Representative Council (DPR), were also on the agenda during the visit. The Elimination of Sexual Violence Bill as it was originally formulated is a piece of draft legislation that provides for comprehensive protection and rehabilitation measures for  victims of sexual violence, focuses on preventing the occurrence of violence,  and outlines new sentencing options for perpetrators  Speaking in a press conference, Al Hussein urged the country’s legislature to pass the important piece of draft legislation that provides “essential protection for victims of sexual and gender based violence.”
The other piece of draft legislation that became a focus for the top human rights official was the Draft Revised Penal Code that is set to be passed into law on February 14. Alarmingly, Article 484 Paragraph 1(E) of the code currently makes extramarital sex a criminal offence able to be punished by up to five years in jail. This is a provision that human rights activists are afraid will result in the criminalization of rape victims, an increase in child marriage and a rise in vigilante mob actions. The high commissioner also voiced his concern about the Draft Penal Code explaining “Moreover, should the penal code be revised with some of the more discriminatory provisions, it will seriously impede the Government’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and would run counter to its international human rights obligations.”
In general, Indonesia’s openness and transparency in receiving the mission must be applauded, as should the state’s offer to facilitate a mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to Papua that materialized during the visit.
As Indonesia enters a year that is to be defined by political power struggles with simultaneous election of regional heads looming in 2018 and the presidential election in 2019, Al Hussein’s visit will hopefully act as a reminder for Indonesia to hold on to its tradition of tolerance and to strive for the advancement of human rights in a region were human rights are generally experiencing regression.
Jack Britton is a translator, researcher and freelance writer currently embedded with the Indonesian National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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4) China remains biggest market for West Papua`s exports
Reporter: SYSTEM  6 hours ago

Manokwari, W Papua (ANTARA News) - China remained the biggest export market for commodities of the Indonesian province of West Papua in 2017, Head of West Papua`s Central Bureau of Statistics Endang Retno stated here on Wednesday.

The province earned US$68.59 million from exporting its commodities to the country in December 2017 alone. Apart from China, Japan and South Korea were two other main export destinations for West Papua`s commodities, she noted.

"The contribution of Japan and South Korea to West Papua`s revenues reached $55.70 million and $47.39 million respectively," she remarked, adding that the three countries` total contribution reached 96.51 percent of West Papua`s total export value.

Retno pointed out that West Papua`s export value stood at $177.88 million, or Rp.2.4 trillion, in December 2017, of which mineral fuels were the biggest contributor, with total value of $174.19 million.

"Mineral fuels dominate West Papua` export value that increased by 97.93 percent," she stated.

Besides mineral fuels, this province`s export commodities comprised jewelry, wood and wooden products, salt, sulfur, cement, fish and shrimp, meat and processed fish, soap, and cleaning products.

The province`s exporters transport most goods to the targeted countries through the Bintuni Bay Port, but they also rely on Sorong Port, Soekarno Hatta Airport of Jakarta, Tanjung Perak Port, Manokwari Port, and Sultan Hasanuddin Airport of Makassar, among others.

Retno remarked that West Papua also imported certain commodities, with a total value of $64.37 million, in December 2017. Among countries that exported their goods to West Papua are Singapore, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, China, and Australia.

Reported by Toyiban 
(T.KR-TQA/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014
(T.SYS/B/KR-BSR/A014) 
Editor: Heru Purwanto


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5) Mongabay Series: Indonesian Forests  
by Hans Nicholas Jong on 14 February 2018

‘Eye of Papua’ shines a light on environmental, indigenous issues in Indonesia’s last frontier

  • For decades the Papua region in Indonesia has remained the country’s least-understood, least-developed and most-impoverished area, amid a lack of transparency fueled by a strong security presence.
  • Activists hope their new website, Mata Papua, or Eye of Papua, will fill the information void with reports, data and maps about indigenous welfare and the proliferation of mines, logging leases and plantations in one of the world’s last great spans of tropical forest.
  • Companies, with the encouragement of the government, are fast carving up Papua’s land, after having nearly depleted the forests of Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo.
JAKARTA — Zely Ariane, an editor at the Tabloid Jubinewspaper in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua, gets frustrated each time an acquaintance travels there and asks to meet up on short notice.
None of them, it seems, realizes just how vast the region is.
“My friends always say, ‘Hey, I’m in Papua, let’s meet up!’” Zely said in Jakarta recently. “But where in Papua, though? If someone was to ask to meet you in Java, they’d surely say where [specifically], no?”
The name Papua typically refers to the western half of the island of New Guinea, which is split up into two administrative regions: the provinces of West Papua and Papua. Together, they cover more than 420,000 square kilometers (162,000 square miles) — an area the size of California. Crucially, the two provinces account for 35 percent of Indonesia’s remaining rainforest, spanning 294,000 square kilometers (113,500 square miles).
“No one seems to have a good grasp of the geography of Papua, or at least almost no one,” Zely said.
This lack of understanding is due in part to the remoteness of the region — Indonesia’s least developed and most impoverished — and its harsh mountainous terrain, as well as to the security response to a low-level separatist insurgency simmering since the 1960s. The military and police have for decades maintained a strong presence there, and to date it remains the least accessible part of Indonesia for journalists — in particular foreign reporters, who require a special permit just to visit the region. Earlier this month, a BBC reporter covering a health crisis in the district of Asmat was ordered to leave the region after posting tweets that the military deemed insulting.
With the authorities maintaining a chokehold on the information coming out of Papua, amid very little transparency, concerns abound over the state of human rightshealthcare, education and other development issues in Papua. Now rising up that list of concerns is the environment, as the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo eyes the country’s easternmost provinces as a new frontier ripe for plantations, primarily oil palm, which have already nearly depleted the forests of Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.

Filling the information vacuum
Now, local activists have stepped into the information vacuum with an initiative that seeks to bring greater transparency to the changes being wrought to Papua’s environment in the name of economic development.
Through their recently launched website, Mata Papua, or “Eye of Papua,” activists from the rights advocacy group Yayasan Pusaka provide reports with an emphasis on the welfare of indigenous communities and the activities of natural resource-exploitation companies: plantations, miners and loggers.
“The idea behind this website came after seeing the difficulties in accessing information and data on permits and documents related to the extractives industries,” Franky Samperante, the Yayasan Pusaka executive director, said at the launch of the website in Jakarta.
Mata Papua provides photos, videos and written reports on Papua, as well as a map built on the open-source geographical information system QGIS. The map features five overlays: social, concessions, forests, demographics and administrative.
“So if you want to know about the people in Papua, you would click on the social map,” Franky said.
He said he hoped Mata Papua would help empower Papua’s indigenous people with knowledge about their own areas and the presence of extractives companies operating in their midst. The site also aims to help officials with policy-making and give the general public a better understanding of this little-understood region.

New frontier
Franky said he believed access to information was crucial for Papua as developers ramp up their operations in the region. A recent study by Duke University and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis showed that deforestation driven by oil palm expansion in the region had escalated in the past decade, increasing fivefold.
“Right now, Sumatra and Kalimantan are already flooded with extractives permits, which is why investors are eyeing Papua next,” Franky said.
Papua is also home to one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines, the Grasberg facility operated by a subsidiary of the U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan. Mining remains the dominant extractive industry in the region, accounting for a combined 90,000 square kilometers (about 35,000 square miles) of leases, according to Franky. This is followed by logging, with 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 square miles) and plantations with 21,000 square kilometers (8,100 square miles).
The expansion of the extractives industries has fueled conflictswith indigenous people in Papua. Local media reports have mentioned only five such conflicts, according to the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), an NGO — a figure it says would be much higher if greater access to data on land conflicts was available.
“That’s why we need to be alert and watch every policy,” Franky said, “because the failure to monitor Sumatra and Kalimantan has resulted in uncontrollable permit issuance there.”
 
Banner image: The Papuan hornbill is one of the birds-of-paradise for which New Guinea’s rainforests are famous. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.
Article published by 
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1) West Papua MSG Membership Close

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1) West Papua MSG Membership Close
2) Indonesia warns MSG members against meddling in other countries` sovereignty
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1) West Papua MSG Membership Close

West Papua’s application to become a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group has gained traction, with MSG Leaders referring the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) to the MSG Secretariat for deliberation.
Prime Minister & MSG Chair, Peter O’Neill, made this known at the conclusion of the Leaders’ Summit Wednesday afternoon.
According to Mr O’Neill, the leaders of Melanesia have approved new criteria guidelines for observers, associate members and full members to the sub-regional grouping.
Currently, the ULMWP has an observer status to the MSG, with Indonesia already an associate member to this sub-regional grouping.
However, with this new move, West Papua, or the ULMWP at least could be one step closer to becoming a full member of MSG.
ULMWP Leader, Benny Wenda, was present at the closing of the MSG Leaders’ Summit, and was pleased with the outcome.
When addressing Melanesian Leaders, Wenda called on the MSG to support West Papua, in the same way that the MSG had shown support for the FLNKS in New Caledonia in their push for independence.
Indonesia, however, called on the MSG to respect its sovereignty, calling the West Papuan issue an internal matter – their comments not go down well with Mr Wenda, when speaking to EMTV. 
“West Papua Is a Melanesian issue, which must be dealt with by Melanesians – Indonesia is not Melanesia.”


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2) Indonesia warns MSG members against meddling in other countries` sovereignty

Reporter:  
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Director General of Asia-Pacific and African Affairs of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Desra Percaya, has warned Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) members against meddling in other countries` affairs in realizing regional cooperation programs.

Desra made the remarks while addressing a MSG ministerial meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on Tuesday, in his capacity as chief of the Indonesian delegation to the meeting.

Indonesia has expressed its support for the application of MSG corporate plan 2018-2020 as an effective step to achieve the vision of "MSG 2038 Prosperity for All."

"We remind member states (of their obligation) to continue to implement the mandate in accordance with the principles of forming MSG, including refraining from meddling in other countries` businesses much less than their sovereignty," he stated in a press statement released on Wednesday.

He also underscored the need for MSG to always focus on the common goal of achieving welfare, sustainable development, good governance, and security.

MSG is an organization which is made indonesia warns msg members against meddling in other countries` sovereigntyup of countries in the Melanesia sub-region, including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia`s pro-independence FLNKS movement.

MSG aims to promote and strengthen trade relations among its members, exchange of Melanesia culture and technical cooperation to achieve economic growth, sustainable development, good governance, and security.

The other important issue discussed at the meeting is the support and commitment of the Indonesian government to boost the development of the Melanesia sub-regional economy.  

Reported by Roy Rosa Bachtiar
(T.S012/B/KR-BSR/A014) 
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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‘MSG: REMEMBER YOUR ROOTS’

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‘MSG: REMEMBER YOUR ROOTS’


  •  


Vanuatu leaders want the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to take a more active role in putting the focus back on the fundamental founding principle of political self-determination of the Melanesian people.
Presenting his statement at the 21st MSG Leaders Summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea at 4pm yesterday, Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said the MSG chair would agree the MSG originated from a vision backed by strong political desire to strive for the entire decolonisation of the sub region and freedom of the Melanesian people still under the colonial rule.
Prime minister Salwai recalled the leaders agreed at their inaugural meeting held in Goroka, Papua New Guinea on July 17, 1986 that it was important to have common positions and solidarity in spearheading regional issues that are of common interest, including the FLNKS cause for political independence in New Caledonia and the rest of the Melanesian countries that are still struggling for political liberation.
“It is important to remind ourselves as leaders of this organisation that in the quest to be the leading organisation in advancing socio-economic development and political interest of Melanesia and the wider Pacific, we must not lose sight of the core founding principle of this grouping, the achievement of political independence for our Melanesian brothers and sisters,” said PM Salwai.
“This is the raison d’etre for this group, and it must not be diluted in our wider consideration. I therefore encourage the MSG to work in collaboration with parties concerned and encourage dialogue between Indonesia and West Papua to progress the issue forward, as this has been the case with France and FLNKS.”
He conveyed his trust that the current MSG chairman will re-direct the work of the Secretariat to realign its program to key agreed principles of the MSG and promote collaborative dialogue in all its endeavors.
“I believe that while we embrace emerging development challenges and opportunities, we must not lose sight of the need to get our foundations right at the beginning,” he said.
“Our group has come a long way since its establishment and it has been tested and faced challenges over the years but our solidarity remains.
“Vanuatu would like to see the MSG take a more active role in putting back the focus back on our fundamental founding principle of political self-determination of Melanesia, while at the same time creating economic development and opportunities for our sub region.”
“The MSG must play a more consistent and strengthened role in this respect.”
In his address at the MSG Foreign Ministers meeting earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and External Trade Ralph Regenvanu congratulated PNG on assuming the chairmanship of the MSG this year and thanked the outgoing chair, the Solomon Islands for their able leadership as chair of the MSG in the last three years.
He commended the theme of the 21st Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Summit: Strengthening Trade and Sustainable Development for an inclusive Melanesia, as being aptly aligned to the MSG 2038 Prosperity for All Plan, which constitutes the leaders’ vision for the Development of the MSG over the next two decades.
He noted there are developments from the MSG in this regard which are to be acknowledged, saying MSG leaders must not lose the sight of the core founding principle of the grouping.
“While we strive for strong economic development opportunities, we must be equally strong and vocal on this founding principle and foundational mandate,” said minister Regenvanu.
“If there are any reasons and obstacles impeding our work in progressing this mandate further then we as MSG members around this table need to look at options available.
“Furthermore, we take note of the structural reforms that are being undertaken by the secretariat. It is Vanuatu’s position that such reforms must comply with the legislation of the host country.
“We must ensure that the consensus of our leaders as the basic governance principle of this organisation is paramount at all times in guiding the administrative work of the secretariat.”
He said the collective voice of the group must resonate with this pertinent issue at the United Nations Committee of 24.
Both Prime minister Salwai and Minister Regenvanu acknowledged the government and the people of PNG for the warm hospitality accorded to all the delegates.
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1) West Papua membership issue still unresolved at MS

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1) West Papua membership issue still unresolved at MSG
2) Speech by PM O'Neill at MSG Summit, Port Moresby
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1) West Papua membership issue still unresolved at MSG
From 6:01 am today 

Leaders of Melanesian Spearhead Group countries have referred a West Papuan application for full membership in the group to its secretariat for processing.
The leaders had their summit this week in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby.
A long-pending application for Spearhead membership by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua is to be processed under new guidelines for membership.
Johnny Blades has more.


Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders at their 2018 summit: (left to right:) Fiji's Defence Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, Victor Tutugoro of New Caledonia's FLNKS Kanaks Movement, PNG prime minister Peter O'Neill, prime minister of Solomon Islands Rick Hou, and Vanuatu's prime minister Charlot Salwai. Photo: Twitter / Ratu Inoke Kubuabola

TRANSCRIPT

JOHNNY BLADES: So the MSG - whose five full members are Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia's FLNKS Kanaks Movement - has been wrestling with this matter of full West Papuan membership for a number of years. Shortly after forming, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua was granted observer status in the MSG in 2015. But since then, they've been lobbying strongly for more representation at the MSG, this subregional body, arguing it is the best first avenue for addressing their long-running grievances with Indonesian rule. Yet there's been an impasse within the group over whether to grant the West Papuans that full membership. You've got Vanuatu and Solomon Islands and the FLNKS very much supportive of it, or who in recent years have indicated their support, whereas PNG and Fiji have basically opposed it. It seems like they are more toeing the line of Indonesia who of course is an associate member in the group. Indonesia has opposed the Liberation Movement taking such a part in the MSG.
DON WISEMAN: And this is why the leaders back in 2016 requested the MSG secretariat to clarify guidelines around membership?
JB: Yes, it was found that the guidelines on membership weren't clear - or at least that different interpretations on what they meant were creating a problem around this West Papua matter. So a special committee was established to develop new guidelines. This has been done, and after almost two years, the MSG leaders this week formally approved the criteria. This is the criteria under which the United Liberation Movement for West Papua's bid for membership is to be processed by the MSG secretariat.
DW: So what does this mean for the West Papuan membership application?
JB: Well, in the short term, more waiting. It's unclear whether this is just another way to defer the decision for an indefinite period. And is it a technical decision to be made, or a political one? Or a bit of both? It's still a bit confusing.
DW: What is Indonesia's response to this?
JB: At the summit, Indonesia delivered a warning to the MSG member states not to meddle in other countries' matters. Their delegation head, Desra Percaya, said "we remind member states to continue to focus on the principles of MSG, the core principles, and to refrain from meddling in other countries` businesses". That's interesting though because the MSG's founding principle really was to work towards the entire decolonisation of Melanesia.
DW: And the Liberation Movement?
JB: They remain hopeful, and have always been very respectful of MSG leaders's decisions on this ongoing matter. But ahead of the summit, they had submitted their short, medium, long-term political and social agendas and demonstrated again that they've got sort of unity of representation of all the major West Papuan groups. But coming out of this summit, I think there is some frustration among some MSG member governments that this West Papua issue remains at this stage. I think the leaders are all in broad agreement that the MSG states should work together towards more regional, economic co-operation, and they've all outwardly happy with the re-structure now being undertaken by the secretariat, which has been poorly financed in recent years. But the West Papua issue remains a sticking point. And Vanuatu's prime minister Charlot Salwai has told local media that he's worried that that founding principle of freeing all melanesian peoples from colonialism has sort of got lost along the way. So he wants the MSG to take a more active role in putting the focus of the group back on self-determination of Melanesia. And he cited the case of the Kanaks (in New Caledonia). He says MSG should work with the Papuans and the Indonesians more closely to get them together as it were to progress the issue forward, as has been the case with france and the Kanaks. And that's a nod to the fact that there's a self-determination referendum due to happen in New Caledonia later this year.

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2) Speech by PM O'Neill at MSG Summit, Port Moresby
Your Excellences,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is again my honour, as Chair, to welcome you all to this 21st Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders’ Summit in Port Moresby.

I thank the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, and the Government and people of the Solomon Islands, for successfully chairing MSG, and I thank them for that.

The Solomon Islands went beyond the mandatory two-year chairmanship of the MSG.

The humble beginnings of MSG go way back to the informal meeting of Melanesian Leaders in Goroka, in Papua New Guinea, 32 years ago.

Two years later in 1988, MSG members agreed on the Principles of Cooperation in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

MSG established the MSG Secretariat Headquarters in Port-Vila to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

From this we have seen enormous leaps forward in the way Melanesian people work together.

This includes governance, security, sustainable and economic development, trade and investment, and certainly in the arts and culture.

I am very encouraged by the review of the “MSG 2038 Prosperity for all Plan.”

Scheduled for later this year, discussion on this issue will enable us to consider a more realistic approach for the resourcing and implementation of the Plan.

The capacity of our Members to lead and host high-level global events is been tried and tested in our region.

Two examples stand out.

Firstly, we congratulate and continue to pledge our support for Fiji’s current Presidency of COP-23.

We all have an interest in dealing with environmental issues – particularly the threat brought about by climate change.

Our countries, and our people are all threatened by changes in climate, and the disasters this brings upon us.

Extreme weather conditions, in the form of tropical storms, and the devastation of drought – has been killing our people and destroying communities.

We all know how serious climate change is – with the effect that our people are dying as a result.

As a group of collective minds, we must and we will make our voices heard in the global community.

At COP-21, in Paris in 2016, our countries were all signatories to a plan of action – and MSG must be at the forefront of making sure the global community of nations keeps to its commitments.

We note the devastation that has been brought on countries like Tonga and Fiji and other Pacific Nations recently.

Secondly, Papua New Guinea is chairing the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this year.

This will culminate with the APEC Leaders’ Summit in November.

Papua New Guinea is the only Developing Pacific Island member of APEC, and we will continue to present the views of the Pacific – in the Asia-Pacific.

We have a very strong commitment to share the benefits of hosting APEC with Pacific Island Nations.

As 2018 APEC Chair I have invited Leaders from the Pacific to join the dialogue with APEC Leaders.

That will be done, and it is a unique opportunity.

The APEC agenda provides great opportunity for Pacific Island Nations.

APEC is committed to not only expanding free trade, but to building the capacity for all economies to trade in a fair environment.

Importantly, our APEC agenda has a very clear commitment to enhancing connectivity of Pacific to Asian economies.

This means increasing access to the Internet – not only in cities, but for remote and rural communities.

By increasing online access, our people have direct connections to improve education, healthcare and business.

This is Papua New Guinea’s APEC commitment to Pacific Island Nations.

At a global level, I cannot overstate the importance of MSG Members working together – to comply with global regulatory requirements in strategic areas.

An example is our engagement with the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

This has direct impact on our air and sea transportation services.

Papua New Guinea will assist MSG Members in this regard – particularly through our work with the APEC Transportation Working Group and Ministerial processes.

Our MSG Summit has the theme: “Strengthening Trade and Sustainable Development – for an Inclusive Melanesia.”

This works in well with strategic goals of the Secretariat’s 2018-2020 Corporate Plan.

Indeed, my brief opening statement will be incomplete without a mention of the institutional structural reforms currently taking place at the MSG Secretariat.

Papua New Guinea, with other MSG Member States, remains committed to supporting the MSG Secretariat.

We will ensure that MSG will remain the premier sub-regional organisation in the Pacific.

We will continue to support one another during the challenging times ahead of us.

I wish us all a successful meeting today.

Thank you again for joining us in Port Moresby.

Thank you.

Posted by Staff Reporter : PNG Today on 2:29 PM. 
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AWPA West Papua update January -17 Feb 2018

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Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)

PO Box 28, Spit Junction, NSW 2088

                                       Summary of events in West Papua for January  -17 February 2018




Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders summit
The 21st Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) leaders summit was held in Port Moresby from 10th to 15th February. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua  (ULMWP) which has observer status at the MSG attended the meeting. The ULMWP lobbied hard for full membership of the MSG. However, the Leaders of the MSG countries referred the West Papuan application for full membership to its secretariat for processing. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, and chair of the MSG said the leaders of Melanesia have approved new criteria guidelines for observers, associate members and full members to the sub-regional grouping.




EMTV  (15 Feb.) reported that the ULMWP Leader, Benny Wenda was pleased with the outcome. When addressing Melanesian Leaders, Benny had called on the MSG to support West Papua, in the same way that the MSG had shown support for the FLNKS in New Caledonia in their push for independence.

In his statement at the 21st MSG Leaders Summit in Port Moresby, the Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai said the MSG chair would agree the MSG originated from a vision backed by strong political desire to strive for the entire decolonisation of the sub region and freedom of the Melanesian people still under the colonial rule.

Prime minister Salwai recalled the leaders agreed at their inaugural meeting held in Goroka, Papua New Guinea on July 17, 1986 that it was important to have common positions and solidarity in spearheading regional issues that are of common interest, including the FLNKS cause for political independence in New Caledonia and the rest of the Melanesian countries that are still struggling for political liberation.

                                                                                                      Photo from ULMWP post




“It is important to remind ourselves as leaders of this organisation that in the quest to be the leading organisation in advancing socio-economic development and political interest of Melanesia and the wider Pacific, we must not lose sight of the core founding principle of this grouping, the achievement of political independence for our Melanesian brothers and   sisters,” said PM Salwai. “This is the raison d’etre for this group, and it must not be diluted in our wider consideration. I therefore encourage the MSG to work in collaboration with parties concerned and encourage dialogue between Indonesia and West Papua to progress the issue forward, as this has been the case with France and FLNKS.”
http://dailypost.vu/news/msg-remember-your-roots/article_cba83bb2-d6c6-53ec-a155-9b870b98a591.html


A report by Johnny Blades at


It was no surprise that Indonesia warned the MSG countries about interfering in other countries affairs. Antara News (15 Feb.) reported that the Director General of Asia-Pacific and African Affairs of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Desra Percaya, has warned Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) members against meddling in other countries` affairs in realizing regional cooperation programs.
Desra made the remarks while addressing a MSG ministerial meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on Tuesday, in his capacity as chief of the Indonesian delegation to the meeting. "We remind member states (of their obligation) to continue to implement the mandate in accordance with the principles of forming MSG, including refraining from meddling in other countries` businesses much less than their sovereignty," he stated in a press statement released on Wednesday.


In a RNZI report (16 Feb.),  a spokesman for Indonesia's embassy in Australia, Sade Bimantara said the Liberation Movement's bid is at a dead end."I don't think they qualify to be a full member of the MSG," he said. "They are not a state, and as opposed to Kanaks, they are not on the C24 (UN) Decolonisation Committee, they are not on the list, West Papua. And also the separatist group does not obtain full support from all the West Papuans." Sade Bimantara said West Papuans were politically free under Indonesia's democratic system. In the report Benny Wenda said  "I want to send my people a message that this is another positive," he said of the MSG's referral of the application for processing. "Step by step, we are in the right diorcetion, so please pray. We hope that the secretariat will discuss our application very soon."

From the Diplomat 16 Feb.

Regardless of the specifics, the MSG saw the inclusion of Indonesia as a participant in the forum as an opportunity to engage Jakarta on their concerns about human rights abuses in West Papua. Their participation also provided a formal international forum where the Indonesian government and ULMWP are able to hold discussions outside domestic constraints. Since both parties have begun attending the MSG, the issue of West Papuan independence has come to dominate the forum’s agenda.



Indonesia also continues to lobby countries in the Pacific trying to counter progress made by the West Papuan cause. ANTARA News reported (1st Feb.) that A number of Southern Pacific island countries have expressed appreciation for Jakarta`s new initiative in developing Papua and West Papua, the Indonesian part of the Melanesian island of Papua. The people of the southern Pacific island countries belong to the same Melanesian race of Papua.  "We support every step taken by the government of Indonesia for the prosperity of the people of Papua and West Papua," Nauruan President Baron Divavesi Waqa said after a meeting with an Indonesian delegation headed by Coordinating Minister for Law, Security and Political Affairs Wiranto at the Government House of the Republic of Nauru, on Wednesday, a government release made available to ANTARA News Agency said.

The Nauruan President said he was confident that the government of Indonesia is sincere in developing Papua and West Papua.  "We people of Nauru will continue to see Indonesia as friend," he said, adding what Jakarta has done is to bring modernity to the country`s most backward regions.
Meanwhile, Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga said his country would not interfere in the affairs of Papua and West Papua, saying that he only want to see human rights are protected and the Papuan culture is preserved.   "We don`t want to interfere with the Indonesian policy. We highly value human rights as well as cultures, but Tuvalu is in no position to interfere in that issue," Enele Sopoaga said.   
https://en.antaranews.com/news/114465/pacific-island-countries-appreciate-jakarta-for-papua-development





Health crisis
Much of the reporting on West Papua in the past month revolved around the tragic measles (and malnutrition) epidemic in the Asmat region. Figures vary slightly but it has been reported approximately 72 people, manly children have died in the region. A Voice of America report (7thFeb.) said about 650 children still had measles and at least 223 suffer from malnutrition.


Al Jazeera visited the region.

Al Jazeera's Step Vaesse, reporting from Asatat, said that police and military are helping health workers brought from Jakarta in reaching out to remote villages which have yet to receive any help. Al Jazeera visited Agats village, where a church has been turned into an emergency hospital as other clinics are already overfull with patients.


"We found heartbreaking scenes in the village of Asatat where many children had died; it’s one of the hardest hit villages," Al Jazeera's Step Vaesse, reporting from Asatat, said. Our correspondent said that the malnourished children were "vulnerable to diseases like measles and chicken pox", and "none of these children had actually had proper vaccinations". Report and video footage at


In a statement (Jan 22) by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) it said it  “is concerned about the health crisis facing Asmat regency in Papua, Indonesia. So far, 68 children have died from measles and serious malnutrition in Asmat. As reported by national media, the measles and malnutrition epidemic has affected 11 districts of Asmat regency: Swator, Aswi, Akat, Fayit, Pulau Tiga, Kolf Branza, Jetsy, Pantai Kasuari, Safan, Unirsarau, and Siret. Being the most remote areas of Asmat regency, victims in these districts have faced serious difficulties in obtaining access to medical facilities. Even in the regency’s capital, Agats, the Agats General Hospital (RSUD) is not equipped to deal with all the patients of measles and malnutrition. A category D hospital with limited facilities, paramedics and doctors, the hospital at present needs more medicine due to limited stock, and due to limited space, some patients have been hospitalized in the nearest church building”. Full statement http://www.ahrchk.org/ruleoflawasia.net/news.php?id=AHRC-STM-007-2018





PHOTO: Sick children wait for treatment at a hospital in Agats, Asmat District. (Reuters: M Agung Rajasa/Antara Foto) ABC News 25 Jan.


An editorial In the Jakarta Post “The death of Papuans” (19 Jan),

Pointed out That “warnings and reports of low immunization coverage and malnutrition reached the Health Ministry in September, officials said. What happened between September and January? Apart from low immunization coverage — not only against measles — many breastfeeding women were known to be malnourished”, and  
In Jakarta the blame game quickly began, with the Health Ministry insisting that under regional autonomy the primary responsibility lay with the local governments — and Papua’s provinces and regencies have received huge sums of special autonomy funds, derived from their rich natural resources, for education and health servi


For all the talk by Indonesian officials that West Papua is now open, an Australian journalist covering the tragedy was expelled after her tweets angered the military.  Authorities said BBC Indonesia bureau chief Rebecca Henschke was escorted out of the province after her social media posts "hurt the feelings of soldiers". One of the tweets shows a photo of supplies sitting on a dock and says, "This is the aid coming in for severely malnourished children in Papua - instant noodles, super sweet soft drinks and biscuits." Another tweet says "children in hospital eating chocolate biscuits and that's it".  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-03/australian-journalist-expelled-from-papua/9393520






The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) criticized the government for banning the three BBC Indonesia journalists from reporting on the measles and malnutrition outbreak in Papua because of the tweets posted by one of them.  

“We condemn the expulsion of the BBC journalists. The incident shows that the government is afraid of foreign reporting of the conditions in Papua,” AJI chairman Abdul Manan said on Saturday.Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also urged the Indonesian authorities to allow journalists to report freely in the troubled region. Indonesia is ranked 124th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.  A BBC report with photos on the crisis  (13 Feb.) “Indonesia's Papua province children starving in a land of gold” at


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42985439




News in brief
The month began with a clash between an armed group and the security forces.  The shootout occurred at mile 61 in Tembagapura, Mimika District on the 1st Jan. According to the Amole police thee were no casualties. Before the clash the armed group shot at two PT Freeport vehicles which were carrying officers. The cars were slightly damaged.  The police claim the attackers were members of the Waker group.




The Free West Papua Campaign reported (10 Jan) that 14 KNPB activists were arrested on 7th January for raising a KNPB flag. The activists were arrested by the Indonesian military and police in Kisor and were taken to the Indonesian police station in Aifat. They were finally released after about 5 hours in custody. 





UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will send a team to investigate reports of human rights violations in Papua

Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Visited Indonesia between 4 and 7 February. At the end of his visit he announced his office will send a team to investigate reports of human rights violations in Indonesia’s Papua province where a separatist conflict is underway. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said there were reports of serious human rights abuses and it was important to probe these allegations.“I am also concerned about increasing reports of excessive use of force by security forces, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions in Papua,” he was quoted as saying by Efe news. Hussein said large mining and logging companies have committed serious human rights violations against farmers, workers and indigenous communities from the island of Sumatra to the island of Papua, including illegal appropriation of land and the criminalization of nearly 200 activists since August last year. He issued a statement on his visit at


The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretary General, Dame Meg Taylor visited Canberra in early February.  The Secretary General was in Australia for regional policy consultations and her discussions will focus on ensuring that people are at the centre of development across the Pacific region.  The agenda over the next two days will focus on the role of the Pacific Islands Forum and theregion more generally within Australian Foreign Policy. AWPA release on her visit at  http://awpasydneynews.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/media-release-hopefully-pif-secretary.html



The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released an U/A  (6 Feb.)  concerning the case of the torture to death of Mr. Isak Dewayekua (23), an indigenous Papuan. Three army personnel of Yonif 755/Yalet illegally arrested and detained Isak and tortured him to death in Kimaam, Merauke Regency, Papua Province. The army personnel forced Isak’s family to accept monetary compensation and sign a letter which demanded that the family drop the case. Currently, the Investigation is still being conducted by the Military Police of Merauke Regency. Later, the case was transferred to the higher Military Police Institution in Military Regional Office (Pomdam) XVII/ Cendrawasih from December 29, 2017.Full U/A at
http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-009-2018#.Wnlm5o12SBo.facebook




A 60-year-old woman was fatally shot by Indonesian paramilitary police in a clash between security forces and stone-throwing villagers in the troubled Papua region. The police were transporting an 18-year-old man suspected of theft when villagers intervened to help him. In a statement, they said police fired warning shots during the incident on Saturday. The woman, who was in the crowd, died from a gunshot to the head. Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces are common in the impoverished region, which Indonesia annexed more than half a century ago. (SMH 5 Feb./AP).


According to a police spokesperson, five members of a  separatist criminal group, armed with pistols and machetes, attacked members of the Indonesian military at a market in Sinak, Puncak Jaya regency . One soldier was killed in the attack. The attack occurred on Monday the 12th February. 

The West Papua National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Dutch-born Franciscan bishop dies aged 96 in Papua

Outspoken human rights champion was said to be suffering from cancer

Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta  Indonesia February 8, 2018. A Franciscan bishop emeritus from the Netherlands known as a vocal defender of human rightspassed away in Papua province, Indonesia on Feb. 7 at the age of 96.

Bishop Herman Ferdinandus Maria Munninghoff of Jayapura was treated for a month at a hospice in his native Netherlands recently. He was said to be suffering from cancer. Special Masses were held for Franciscan communities on Feb. 8 in the capital of the Indonesian province he served.


Bishop Emeritus Munninghoff was born in Woerden in the central Netherlands on Nov. 30, 1921. He was ordained a priest in 1953 and installed as the bishop of Jayapura in 1972 — a role he inhabited until 1997. Prior to being appointed bishop he served as secretary to the first bishop of Jayapura, Rudolf Joseph Manfred Staverman OFM. Father Gabriel Ngga leads the Franciscans in Jayapura said he visited the bishop at the hospice two weeks ago.  "When I asked him if he was being well taken care of, he said: 'I am happy to stay here. All the staff are good. But I can feel my death is imminent,'" he said.  Father Ngga said the Papuan people would remember him fondly. "He was an outspoken bishop who often spoke out about human rights violations in the region," he said (UCAN News 8 Feb.)





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