TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) official Amiruddin al-Rahab said that he has not been informed about the latest condition in Tembagapura district in Papua following a mass evacuation of internal migrants from Kimbely and Banti villages. “I can’t provide any updates yet,” he told Tempo in a phone interview today.
A Komnas HAM staffer in Papua will only arrive back in Jakarta tonight or tomorrow. “Once they came back, we can read the report,” Amiruddin said.
He could yet issue any statement on alleged human rights abuse in the evacuation process.
Indonesia security forces evacuated 300 internal migrants from Kimbely and Banti villages, Papua, on Friday.
Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman has denied reports that 1300 people in Kimberly and Banti villages were being held hostage by armed groups. She said that police have manipulated the facts about what was happening in the regions. “It was not true [abduction],” she told Tempo last week.
ANDITA RAHMA