goodmorningpapua.com – The government promised to use a more humane approach to handling the problems that occurred in Papua. The Director General of Human Rights at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham), Mualimin Abdi, said the government would continue to evaluate military activities in Papua.
Mualimin stated that currently one of the focus problems faced by the government in Papua is the presence of armed groups. He said the potential for violent conflict between Indonesian military forces and armed groups was difficult to avoid.
“This standard of violence with armed groups is certainly impossible to avoid in the field. The potential for this to happen is very large in the field because these conditions are often beyond the control of the government,” Abdi said at an event at the Kontras office on Saturday, November 12, 2022.
Even so, Mualimin said, the standard of violence that occurred between the TNI and Polri with armed groups was not something that was intentional. He said the government had never ordered the TNI and Polri to suppress or massacre the armed group.
“We in the field always encourage and seek a dialogical approach. Of course this is to prevent violence,” he said.
However, Mualimin explained that the government will continue to evaluate the TNI and Polri in dealing with problems caused by these armed groups. This is done to minimize the occurrence of cases of violence and armed conflicts involving the TNI and Polri in the future.
“We have always coordinated with the TNI and Polri to minimize the use of weapons. We always remind that the steps taken are careful, measurable, and minimize human rights violations,” said Mualimin.
The government got several notes in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on the issue of human rights enforcement in Papua. UPR is a review mechanism at the UN Human Rights Council relating to human rights issues within a country.