Following the presentation by Indonesia, of its first periodic report within the UPR mechanism, Dominicans for Justice and Peace made the following oral statement to the UN Human Rights Council 8th Session.
“Through this joint statement, we wish to acknowledge the questions raised by various member States to the delegation of Indonesia on the situation of human rights in West Papua, Indonesia. We regret however that questions remain unanswered and any specific mention of West Papua was avoided in the final recommendations.
Taking into account the concerns expressed by several member States during the interactive dialogue and reflected in the outcome document, we would therefore encourage the government of Indonesia:
1. To follow-up on the recommendations to issue a standing invitation to all UN Special Procedures, including by lifting any limitations and constraints to visit West Papua.
2. To urgently ratify the OPCAT. We welcome Indonesia’s renewed commitment to adopt a definition of torture in the Criminal Code, in accordance with the CAT.
3. To prosecute without delay, those responsible for gross human rights violations in Timor Leste, in particular those who currently operate in West Papua. To support this, the Committee Against Torture recently requested to prosecute alleged suspects of human rights violations and was deeply troubled by evidence that Colonel Siagian, alleged perpetrator of war crimes and wanted by Interpol is serving in the Indonesian military forces; as Regional Commander in Jayapura.
We believe that Indonesia will only be able to fully comply with international obligations, if it addresses the question of impunity through effective prosecutions, in particular West Papua.
Mr. President, the UPR has highlighted to Indonesia the way to fully comply with human rights treaty standards. Indonesia must engage in a frank and open dialogue in order to address all outstanding human rights concerns, particularly in West Papua.”