Jayapura, Jubi – Coordinator of Papuan Observatory for Human Rights (POHR) Thomas Syufi said that peaceful dialogue to end the conflict in Papua will not take place without the involvement of international institutions. Syufi assessed that peaceful dialogue can only be realized if there is the involvement of credible and independent international human rights institutions to resolve cases of gross human rights violations in Papua.
“I am pessimistic that the steps taken by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to facilitate the Jakarta-Papua dialogue will be successful. To me, it seems rushed and forced, like there is a hidden agenda or the dialogue is only staged,” Syufi said when contacted by Jubi on Thursday, November 24, 2022.
Syufi said that the Jakarta-Papua peace dialogue is difficult to realize because the conflicting parties were the Indonesian government and the Papuan people represented by the independence movement. The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), Syufi said, was not involved in the initial talks towards the Jakarta-Papua dialogue.
“If the process is like that, the Papuan people must reject it because it is suspected that it only caters to the State’s interests to obscure various cases of gross human rights violations and distortion of Papua’s political history,” he said.
Syufi said Komnas HAM RI could assist efforts to resolve the conflict between the government and TPNPB by lobbying an independent, credible and trusted international institution to facilitate a peaceful dialogue between the Papuan people and the Indonesian government. Komnas HAM can also urge the Indonesian government to open a dialogue with the Papuan people, facilitated by a neutral state or international institution agreed upon by both conflicting parties.
“Victims and families of victims of various gross human rights violations in the Land of Papua, including Bloody Wasior, Bloody Biak, Bloody Abepura, and Bloody Wamena, ask a credible and independent international human rights institution to resolve cases of gross human rights violations that have occurred since Papua joined Indonesia in 1963. All investigations must be held objectively, honestly, transparently and fulfill the sense of justice of the victims and the collective justice of the Papuan people, “he said. (*)
