BBC World News, Thursday, 11 December, 2003, 08:53 GMT
Jakarta accused over Papua
Tim Johnston, BBC, Jakarta
A report from an American university has accused Indonesia of crimes against
humanity for its actions in the troubled eastern province of Papua, and has suggested
that Jakarta may also be guilty of genocide.
Thousands of Papuans have been killed since Indonesia took over the former Dutch
colony in 1963 and Jakarta has been the target of frequent criticism by human rights
groups.
They accuse the Indonesians of using murder and torture against the indigenous
Papuans.
The Indonesians deny abusing human rights.
They say that the level of violence is an inevitable outcome of their attempts to
suppress a long-running separatist revolt in the province, which was formerly known
as Irian Jaya.
The new report was prepared by the Lowenstein international human rights clinic,
which is part of Yale University's law school, on behalf of the Indonesian human rights
network.
The report looks at whether Indonesia's actions could be legally interpreted as
genocide as defined in the United Nations convention.
The report accuses Indonesia of engaging in a systematic pattern of acts which have
harmed a substantial part of the indigenous population of Papua.
It says that even if the primary intent of those actions was not to wipe out native
Papuans, recent interpretations of the convention seem to imply that knowingly
pursuing policies that have genocide-like outcomes, could be classified as genocide.
Indonesia is already under substantial international pressure to soften its policies in
Papua and the new report will add fuel to the arguments of Jakarta's critics.
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