JAKARTA, April 20 – Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission delivered sharp criticism of the country’s military Monday while launching an investigation into the deaths of 12 civilians during last week’s anti-rebel operations in Papua province.
Military officials claimed they had no knowledge of civilian casualties, but the government-backed rights commission reported over the weekend that a dozen people, including women and children, were fatally shot during April 14 operations targeting separatists in central Papua. The commission noted that dozens more suffered severe injuries.
Investigators are now examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths. Officials have not yet determined whether Indonesian forces, rebel fighters, or both were responsible for the civilian fatalities.
“We condemn the enforcement operation against Papuan rebels that resulted in civilian casualties,” commission chief Anis Hidayah said in a statement.
“All forms of attacks against civilians, whether in situations of war or otherwise, carried out by state or non-state actors, constitute violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law,” she added.
Hidayah also called on Indonesia’s armed forces to reconsider their approach to operations targeting Papuan separatists.
The mineral-rich Papua region, which houses the globe’s second-largest copper and gold mining operation, has experienced ongoing separatist tensions since Indonesia assumed control following a UN-supervised referendum in 1969.
A military spokesman for Papua operations told Reuters no information had reached him about civilian deaths in the region during the previous week. Papuan rebel representatives confirmed that 12 non-combatants died as a result of military actions.
According to taskforce spokesperson Wirya Arthadiguna, the military’s Habema unit launched the April 14 operation in the Puncak area after local residents reported rebel activity in their community.
The operation in Kembru village resulted in four rebel deaths, Wirya explained. He acknowledged reports of a child’s death by gunfire in a separate incident at a neighboring village.
“No military personnel were present at that village at the time of the shooting of the child, and the two incidents took place at different locations and times and are not connected,” he said.
