Indigenous peoples’ organisations across Papua submit inputs on Indonesia’s Fourth Cycle for the UN Universal Periodic Review

Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat (PUSAKA) alongside a coalition of nine other civil society and indigenous organisations have made a joint submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (Fourth Cycle) as it prepares to review the human rights situation in Indonesia.

The joint submission highlights the lack of respect for indigenous peoples’ land rights across the archipelago, exacerbated by the passing of the Omnibus Law (the Law on Job Creation No.11/2020) which is spurring national policies that further undermine respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

Read the full submission here 

One such policy which is of particular concern to indigenous peoples across Papua is the Strategic National Program (PSN). The PSN constitutes a plan to develop a Food Estate project which would convert 2.68 million hectares of forest to commercial agribusiness plantations. This program is being pursued without the participation or Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) of the 169,000 indigenous people who will be affected by PSN. If pursued, PSN will repeat the problems generated by the well documented MIFEE[1] project which was the subject of Indonesia’s previous Universal Periodic Review.[2]

The report also points to the underlying factors contributing to human rights violations which are caused by Indonesia preferencing business interests over human rights. Particular attention is brought to the Provinces of Papua and West Papua where 12 million hectares of the forest have already been parcelled out for logging, pulp and paper, mining, palm oil and other agribusiness concessions owned by Indonesian and transnational corporations.[3]

The coalition of CSOs highlight Indonesia’s failure to protect Human Rights Defenders. Despite the State receiving recommendations in its previous Universal Periodic Review to ensure the safety of all HRDs, including Indonesia’s Indigenous Peoples, the State has not acted on these recommendations. Extrajudicial killings by security forces claimed 15 lives in Papua this year and 30 last year.[4]

PUSAKA documents numerous cases of violence against indigenous peoples between 2020 and 2021 which has prompted the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders (Ms. Mary Lawlor) to express serious concern on the intimidation and criminalization of HRDs in Papua.

In response to this deteriorating situation, the submitting Indigenous Peoples Rights organisations called on the State of Indonesia to extend an invitation to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Papua. Numerous other recommendations are made including calls to immediately cease the issuance of new licences to extractive businesses on forest and peat lands across West Papua.

The full submission can be found below.

[1] Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate project (MIFEE)

[2] See: https://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/indonesia/session_27_-_may_2017/js26_upr27_idn_e_main.pdf

[3] Ardhana I.P.G, Kebijakan pembangunan dalam pelestarian sumernya alam hayati dan permasalahannya, Pros Sem Nas Masy Biofiv Indonen, Vol. 1, Nom. 5, 2015 (pages 1056 – 1063). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300777959_The_development_of_policy_for_conservation_of_natural_resource_and_its_problems

[4] Indonesia’s human rights record ‘alarming’: Amnesty”, The Jakarta Post, https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2021/12/15/indonesias-2021-human-rights-record-alarming-amnesty.html