Government Must Apolgise For Past Violations In West Papua

Government Must Apolgise For Past Violations In West Papua

Human rights organisations in Papua have called on the Indonesian Government to apologise to the victims and the families of victims who lost their lives as a result of the brutal incident perpetrated by the security forces on 6 July 1998 in Biak.

Nehemia Yarinap of BUK (Bersatu Untuk Kebenaran - United for Truth) . speaking at a press conference in Jayapura, said: 'The Indonesian government must apologise to the victims and their families for the brutality perpetrated by the security forces in Biak on 6 July 1998.'

On the 15th anniversary of Bloody Biak Tragedy, three NGOs in Papua - BUK, KontraS Papua and Elsham Papua, all of which are active in the field of human rights, said that the government should acknowledge and accept legal responsibility for the Bloody Biak Tragedy and for other human rights violations that have occurred in the past and should set up a Human Rights Court.

The Director of KontraS Papua, Olga Hamadi said: ' We demand guarantees that such brutal activities by the security forces will never occur again.'

The three human rights organisations regard the Bloody Biak Incident as a reflection of the many other grave human rights violations that have bedevilled the human rights situation in Papua, a situation that has not improved because the security approach is always taken towards everything that happens in Papua, all of which is proof the weakness of the rule of law.

'We urge the government to end the isolation and open up Papua to all human rights organisations, national and international,' said Nehemia Yarinap, speaking to journalists.

ENDS

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