Human rights commission to open branch in West Papua

 Human rights commission

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) – The National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will open a branch in West Papua Province.

“We had discussed a proposal to establish a representative office and agreed to open one in West Papua,” Commissioner of Komnas HAM Natalius Pigai said in a statement here, Thursday.

The Commission had sent a team led by Pigai to carry out a feasibility study in West Papua, and the results were discussed at a plenary meeting on February 8.

Komnas HAM will open an office in Manokwari, West Papua. So far, the Commission has opened its branches in six regions.(*)

The role of Human rights commission is very important to investigate, promote or protect human rights in Papua and West Papua provinces.

Notes

Located on the western half of the island of New Guinea and long racked by a simmering violent separatist insurgency, Papua encompasses Indonesia’s two easternmost provinces.

A former Dutch colony, West Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia in 1969, after an undisputed vote of about 1,025 representative tribal leaders. The result of the plebiscite was overseen and endorsed by the United Nations.

Since the democratization in 1998, especially since 2007, democracy by mean of elections has been introduced to increase political participation in the two provinces. The fact that the leaders of Papua and West Papua provinces are democratically elected by the people has strengthened the legality of the region as a province of Indonesia.

During the Abdurrahman Wahid administration in 2000, aside from changing the province name from “Irian Jaya” to “Papua”, Papua gained a “Special Autonomy” status, a political compromise between Papuans and the central government.

The political will of politicians in Jakarta to proceed with the implementation of the Special Autonomy was formalized in 2001 with the special autonomy law.