Security Personnel in Papua Urged to Keep Exercising Human Rights

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) representative in Papua, Frits Ramandei, appealed to security personnel to keep exercising the principles of human rights in their law enforcement operations against armed Papuan terrorists.

"Do not let such those operations create new human rights problems in community. We want the law enforcement approach is prioritized instead of the 'operational approach'," he said in Timika, the capital of Mimika District, on Sunday.

On Friday, at a meeting with Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto and Police Chief Gen.Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Ramandei and several Papuan figures highlighted the importance of respecting human rights and cultural understanding.

The Papuan figures who also attended the meeting were Rector of the Cenderawasih University Apolo Safanpo, Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)-Papua Office Islami Al Payage, and Secretary of the Papua Provincial Government Dance Yulian Flassy.

One of the inputs that the Papuan figures expressed at the meeting is related to how to protect innocent civilians in the province from falling victim to the law enforcement operations.

"We urge the TNI Commander and Police Chief to improve the communication mechanism within units deployed to carry out the operations so that unnecessary problems can be avoided in the operations," Frits Ramandei said.

In addition to that, the army and police personnel stationed in conflict-affected areas in the districts of Puncak, Intan Jaya, and Nduga, must be educated about Papuan culture, and cultural sensitivity and awareness to enable them to understand locals.

By having adequate knowledge of local people's culture, the security personnel could prevent themselves from misjudging a situation when seeing native Papuans with arrows, spears, and machetes as a security threat. They then crackdown on them randomly, he said.

By respecting the principles of human rights and rules of law, the security agencies' law enforcement operations against the armed terrorists in Papua would not harm individuals who have no connections to members of the armed groups, he added.

Read: Papuan Separatists Burn Down Public Learning Activity Center

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