What is happening to us in Fiji?

How did we get to this stage?

The brutal attack and senseless death of [35-year-old carpenter] Apakuki Tavodi in [a roadside stabbing] in Saweni, Lautoka, is a shocking reminder about how fragile life can be.

• READ MORE: Farmer questioned and released in relation to Saweni stabbing
• Fiji police investigate ambush attack
• Maqalevu drug bust – tests confirm white substances to be methamphetamine
• The Fiji Times: Drug bust a chilling wake-up call for Fiji

It is a reminder as well about the importance of life, and questions how much value we place on that.

Let’s face it.

There is grief, and there is bound to be fear in the community.

We must stand united in shock and sorrow as we mourn the loss of a young life.

As we grapple with the nature of this act, and the death of someone in this fashion, we must all demand for justice and action.

The brutality displayed cannot be ignored. Is this what is lurking beneath the face that we have of society?

We must not allow ourselves to become numb to such acts.

This young man’s life mattered to those who knew him, and those who loved him, and there has to be a thorough and swift investigation that brings those responsible to justice.

In saying that, we must also ask ourselves the difficult questions: how did we get here?

What factors have contributed to the erosion of safety and respect for human life in our community?

The answers may be complex, but they cannot be avoided.

Should we see this tragedy as an isolated incident?

Or do we consider it a symptom of a deeper malaise that needs to be addressed.

Let’s not wait for the police to act and try to solve this case. Let’s not sit back and hope that nothing like it happens again.

Let’s unite and talk about this.

Let’s talk about peace and reconciliation and work together for a society where violence is unacceptable.

It may not be easy, but it must be done, for everyone’s sake.

It must be done for the peace and security, and for our country.

That will need us to stand up for what is right.

There must be trust and confidence in the law, and those tasked to uphold them.

There must be hope in our systems, and processes, and we need confidence in the long arm of the law being there for everyone irrespective of who they are in society.

Let’s see this death as a wake-up call.

Let’s see it as a reminder for us that we cannot take our safety or our sense of community for granted.

We must work together to build a future that places peace and security on a very high plane.

As a community, we can choose to heal, to unite, and to build a society where violence is not an option.

This editorial was published in The Sunday Times under the title “Call for action” today, 21 January 2024.

An Australian human rights advocacy group for West Papuans has condemned the killing of 5 youths found dead in Dekai, capital of Yahukimo Regency, and have challenged Canberra to reconsider government ties with Indonesian security forces.

Criticising the latest deaths, Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) spokesperson Joe Collins said: “While West Papuans are being killed by the Indonesian security forces, we have Australia and Indonesia sitting down at the ninth bilateral consultation to discuss
bolstering anti-terror cooperation”.

Antara News reports that Indonesia and Australia have committed to continue “anti-terrorism” cooperation through dialogue at bilateral, regional, and multilateral forums, as well as technical cooperation.

• READ MORE: OPM calls for decolonisation of West Papua, condemns UN ‘collusion’
• Other West Papua reports

Collins said it was time that the Australian Defence Department and DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) “seriously looked at their ties with the Indonesian security forces” and the affect their aid and training had on West Papuans.

The five civilians who were found dead at the mouth of the Brasa River were aged between 15-18 and were members of the Kingmi Papua Church.

According to church officials, the five youths usually delivered food to the village after buying it at Dekai.

Sebby Sambom, a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) fighting for independence from Indonesia, was reported to have said that the five victims found dead on Friday were not members of the TPNPB.

‘Not ours’ says TPNPB
“They’re not our members. They were purely civilians who wanted to return to their villages and were shot and bombed by the Indonesian military,” he was quoted as saying by the Papuan news outlet Jubi.

The chair of the Yahukimo Church Fellowship (PGGY), Pastor Atias Matuan, named the five dead civilians as Darnius Heluka, Musa Heluka, Man Senik, Yoman Senik and Kaраі Payage.

On Friday, PGGY accompanied the family to collect the bodies at the Yahukimo Regional General Hospital (RSUD).

“Their bodies had gunshot wounds to the stomach, chest and legs,” Pastor Matuan said.

The pastor also reported that TNI officers had a guard post at the Dekai urban boundary, and residents wanting to travel from Dekai were required to report there.

“Residents must report to the security post. If they don’t, they’re considered part of the TPNPB, even though they don’t carry military equipment,” he said.

Victims buried
The five victims were buried at the Kilo Enam Public Cemetery, Dekai, on Friday.

Joe Collins of AWPA said there appeared to be a “total lack of trust” between the security forces and local people in the region.

Pastor Matuan said that his party “had difficulty mediating in the armed conflict because he felt that the Indonesian security forces did not trust the Servant of God”.

Six hired gunmen in Enga were shot dead by men from the Ambulin tribe on Friday in what Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has described as “jungle justice”.

Police alleged that on Friday around 5am, the six men sneaked into Ambulin tribal territory to ambush them but were caught. The Ambulins surrounded them in a culvert and shot five men.

Security force members intervened and rescued the sixth man, but he died later in hospital.

• READ MORE: PNG opposition calls for emergency over Highlands naked body killings
• Other PNG crime reports

Police said the gunmen were from the Silin and Kaekin tribes.

Provincial police commander Acting Superintendent George Kakas said one was from Sirunki in Laiagam, one was from Kompiam and four from Wapenamanda.

“According to the Ambulin tribe, these six men were hired to go into their territory and ambush them,” he said.

“They [Ambulins] said the killing of the six men was a warning to other tribes, especially from Kompiam, Laiagam or Wapenamanda not to get involved in their tribal warfare.”

Bodies dragged
Commander Kakas said the bodies of the five men were dragged out of the culvert and had their hands and legs tied to the back of a vehicle.

“Their bodies were then thrown on the road as a message to other tribes sending gunmen not to get involved in another tribe’s warfare.”

He said investigations were underway, with 70 policemen being deployed at the site.

Meanwhile, Commander Kakas warned businessmen, educated elites and other people funding activities to hire gunmen, buy guns and bullets to stop the practice.

He said that operational plans were being drawn up to focus on the “manipulators” of the bloodshed “while we are increasing the number of security force personnel deployed to hotspots to minimise killings and property damage”.

“Through their respective commanders, security force personnel have been instructed to use all means necessary to detain gunmen and to use lethal force when warranted,” he said.

Police Commissioner David Manning has advised Prime Minister Marape and Internal Security Minister Peter Tsiamalili of additional measures being taken to strengthen security in Enga.

Engan hot spots
He said Assistant Commissioner, Operations, Samson Kua would lead the operation.

“It is important that ramping up personnel in hot spots in Enga does not undermine security presence in other areas,” Commissioner Manning said.

“As such, I have appointed Assistant Commissioner Anthony Wagambie Jr to focus on enhancing security operations to support the reopening of the Porgera mine, while force strength in areas such as Hela and the Southern Highlands will be maintained.”

Commissioner Manning said the approach being taken in Enga was “a break from the colonial methods of the past”.

“While we bring the full weight of the state to bear on those who perpetrate these heinous acts, we must be honest and acknowledge that security forces cannot arrest or kill our way out of tribal fighting in Enga.

“We have to deal with the cause of these conflicts at the root and stop this senseless violence where it starts.”

Cretilda Alokaka is a reporter with PNG’s National newspaper. Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has called on Prime Minister James Marape to immediately recall Parliament to address the escalating killings in the upper Highlands provinces.

The opposition also wants the debate to include other law and order issues that have spiralled out of control in other parts of the country.

The call was made by Deputy Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa following images of victims lined up along the highway in the Enga Province.

• READ MORE: Other PNG crime reports

“I strongly urge the Prime Minister to recall Parliament for us leaders to come together as one and discuss the possibility of passing an Emergency Act as allowed for by the Constitution to address this serious issue,” he said.

“These gruesome images of human beings been murdered, stripped naked and lined up next to the highway by their enemies or criminal elements, especially in the upper Highlands provinces of Enga, Hela and Southern Highlands, is becoming a regular activity and the government and elected leaders must not take this lightly, its human lives we are talking about.

“It’s a national emergency and I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall Parliament for a bipartisan committee to be formed to address this issue,” Tomuriesa said.

He said parliamentarians were elected to lead and address such serious issues affecting citizens and the country as a whole.

‘Killings too frequent’
“We as elected leaders shouldn’t be taking long breaks — these killings are becoming too frequent and we should be addressing them head on during Parliament sessions.

“We just cannot ignore it as fake social media posts,” he said.

Tomuriesa said he was making this call as a concerned citizen, a Papuan leader and deputy opposition leader.

“The spillover effects of what is happening up in the upper Highlands region will be felt everywhere — in Mamose, New Guinea Islands and the Southern Region. So as mandated leaders we must do something.”

Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.

My daughter came into the kitchen early today to tell me her friends were downtown in Auckland at Britomart, the transit hub of New Zealand’s biggest city, and that a construction worker had just run past them saying a man with a gun was shooting people.

I immediately swept all the online news media and saw nothing and was in the process of suggesting to her that maybe her friends were pranking her when it broke on Breakfast TV.

I know the area this shooting occurred in well — I was there a few days ago; most Aucklanders will know it as it is a vital entry point to downtown Auckland. To have a mass shooting event there is utterly outside the norm for Aucklanders.

• READ MORE:  ‘Deep sorrow’ – PM on Auckland shooting deaths, says no national security risk
• Three dead in Auckland CBD shooting, including gunman, police confirm
• Fatal Auckland shooting: How it unfolded
• World Cup opener will go ahead despite shooting
• RNZ News crisis liveblog

As the reverberations and shock ease, there will of course be immediate political fall out.

Before all that though, first, let us acknowledge the uncompromising courage of our New Zealand police and emergency services. We all saw them sprint into that building knowing someone was armed and shooting people.

I am the first to be critical of the NZ Police, but on this day, their professionalism and unflinching bravery was one of the few things we can be grateful for on such a poisoned morning.

Let us also pause and mourn the two who were killed and 10 wounded. These were simply good honest folk going about their day of work and not one of them deserved the horror visited upon them by 24-year-old Matu Tangi Matua Reid.

Now let’s talk about Matu.

Troubling pump-action shotgun access
The media have already highlighted that he was on home detention for domestic violence charges and was wearing an ankle bracelet. This is of no surprise nor shock, many on home detention have the option of applying for leave to work — we do this because those on home detention still need to pay the rent, far more troubling was his access to a pump-action shotgun he didn’t have a gun licence for.

We know he had already been in a Turn Your Life Around Youth Development Trust programme.

Political partisans will try and seize any part of his story to whip into political frenzy for their election narrative and we should reject and resist that.

The banality of evil always tends to be far more basic than we ever appreciate.

There is nothing special about Matu; he is simply another male without the basic emotional tools to facilitate his anger beyond violence. In that regard Matu is depressingly like tens of thousands of men in NZ.

His background didn’t justify this terrible act of violence today and his actions can’t be conflated to show Labour are soft on crime.

Another depressing violent male
Matu is just another depressing male whose violence he could not control. There are tens of thousands like him and until we start focusing on building young men who have the emotional tools to facilitate their anger beyond violence, he won’t be the last.

He has shamed himself.

He has shamed his family.

He has shamed us all.

Today isn’t a day for politics, it is far too sad for that, the politics will come and everyone will be screaming their sweaty truth, but at its heart this is about broken men incapable of keeping their violence to themselves.

What a sorrowful day for my beautiful city.

Republished from The Daily Blog with permission.

In the last 15 days of the month of July, 15 murders have occurred in the northern Papua New Guinean town of Madang — once described as “beautiful” — and the community now faces a law and order crisis.

Madang Mayor Peter Masia said the Madang district authority could not do much in assisting police to actively carry out law and order action because public funds were still on hold after sitting MP Bryan Kramer had been dismissed as Madang MP.

Calling Madang the “murder capital of PNG”, Masia said there had been an increase in killings with the latest killing occurring yesterday afternoon.

• READ MORE: Other PNG crime reports

Compared to the National Capital District (NCD) — Port Moresby — where killings happen every 2 to 3 days, Madang has seen killings every day for the last 15 days.

An NCD police officer confirmed that every 2 to 3 days they were responding to a report of a killing in Port Moresby.

“Yesterday a young man in his mid 20s from Angoram in East Sepik was stabbed in the chest by a street seller in broad daylight in the heart of [Madang] killing him instantly,” he said.

Madang police desperately need resources to help them tackle Law and Order challenges in the province everyday.

Police need housing, vehicles
A senior policeman who wished not to be named said Madang police needed housing, vehicles and things like office stationery and manpower to boost police work in the province.

There are two police stations in Madang — one is the Jomba police station and the other is the town police station.

The officer said the estimated population ratio for one policeman to the Madang population was 1:1500 to 2000.

He said they needed more police manpower to tackle the law and order problems, especially the killings that were happening every day.

Transgogol people are now calling on the government to establish a police mobile squad base in the area to prevent more brutal murders in their area.

Transgogol community leader and spokesman Morris Bann said there was state-owned land available.

He said the type of killings in the area warranted the government to take serious steps in addressing law and order.

Call for police mobile squad
“We want a police mobile squad base built . . . so that law and order is monitored closely to instill the trust and security the people require from its government,” said Bann.

Madang town resident Breed Kanjikali said the number of deaths required all Madang MPs to step in and address issues affecting the province and map out how they would assist police in combating crimes in the province.

Bundi leader Alois Pandambai said the murder toll in the province was very significant and it portrayed an image where there was dysfunction in the political leadership of the province.

He said Madang province did not seem to be functioning normally in the last seven months because of a political hussle and tussle over the position of the Provincial Administrator Frank Lau.

“While our leaders are fighting over an appointment made by the NEC [National Executive Council], we are not giving 100 percent support to police work and our own people are being killed everyday,” he said.

The 10 Nissan Patrol vehicles bought two years ago to support police work were now experiencing mechanical faults and had been grounded.

Dorothy Mark is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

One year after Al Jazeera’s well known Palestine correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was fatally shot while reporting in the West Bank on 11 May 2022, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the lack of progress in the official investigations into her death and the failure to bring anyone to justice.

Several events are being held to pay tribute to Shireen Abu Akleh on the first anniversary of her death while covering an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

But justice has yet to be rendered even though many expert reports pointed to direct Israeli Defence Forces responsibility and the IDF even acknowledged that the fatal shot was “very probably” fired by one of their soldiers.

“When there is a will there is a way. Although all the investigations clearly show that Israeli forces were responsible for Shireen Abu Akleh’s death, the absence of political will still prevents justice from being rendered.

The systematic Israeli impunity is outrageous and cannot continue. RSF will remain mobiliSed on all fronts until those responsible have been identified and brought to justice.”

Indonesian security forces have intensified operations in various conflict areas in West Papua, reports Human Rights Monitor.

According to information received by the international watchdog, security force members have raided villages and set residential houses on fire.

The raids reportedly occurred in conflict hotspots in West Papua, predominantly in the Puncak, Nduga, and Intan Jaya regencies, but also in less conflict-affected places such as the districts Elilim and Apahapsili in the Yalimo regency on 1 and 2 April 2023 – two weeks  before last weekend’s clash between Indonesian soldiers and pro-independence militia.

• READ MORE: UK minister grilled on West Papua human rights in House of Lords
• Other West Papua reports

Indigenous Papuans, including women and children, were arrested and tortured.

Observers predicted an aggravation of the conflict weeks ago after the Indonesian military deployed more than 2000 additional personnel to West Papua throughout March 2023.

‘Ground combat ready’
Meanwhile, the Indonesian chief-of-armed forces, General Laksamana Yudo Margono, announced that the mode of operations against the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) was switched from a “soft approach” to “ground combat ready” operations after a disputed number of soldiers were killed in a firefight with TPNPB members in Nduga on 15 April 2023.

Meanwhile, the increased security force presence comes with government-driven “socialisation” programmes, where military and police members directly interact with local communities.

They participate in collective work, visit schools, and take over or accompany essential healthcare services.

For decades, many indigenous Papuans have been traumatised due to the history of violent military operations in West Papua, says Human Rights Monitor.

They fear becoming victims of arbitrary arrest, torture, killings, or enforced disappearance.

The military presence in schools, health facilities, and churches limits indigenous Papuans from accessing essential public services.

• Human Rights Monitor’s Annual Report 2022

Local government officials in Papua New Guinea have offered a cash reward for information after the body of policeman Senior Constable Nelson Kalimda — whose body went missing in Tari, Hela — was found yesterday in Margarima.

The body of Papua New Guinean policeman Constable Nelson Kalimda — who went missing in Tari, Hela — was found yesterday in Margarima after the provincial government put up a cash reward.

Provincial police commander Robin Bore confirmed that the body had been found at the Andapali River in Margarima, near the Margarima-Kandep road.

• READ MORE: Other reports on PNG violence against police

“We have brought late Kalimda’s body back to Tari,” Commander Bore said.

Police Commissioner David Manning last night said that for those who wore the police uniform this was a personal loss.

“This is someone who has a family, who has served with us, below us or above us. He was one of us,” he said.

“We swore an oath to serve and we will continue to serve despite this loss

‘Our profession has risks’
“Ours is a profession that comes with risks.”

Manning said investigations were being led by some of the most capable officers in the PNG police force to bring swift justice on those involved in the death of Kalimda.

“I issue them a clear warning to anyone involved with Senior Constable Kalimda’s death to not resist arrest when police catch up with them.

“If these suspects threaten police with weapons, our police personnel have full authority to escalate the use of force and to use all appropriate means necessary to take control of the situation.

“Police have made two arrests so far and there are four other persons of interest that are the subject of an ongoing search.”

Kalimda was part of a team that escorted exam papers into Tari and he went missing on October 20.

He was last seen driving out of a guest house in Tari. His car was found last Thursday, a week after he was first reported missing, in a deserted area at the Komo-Hulia district, near Ambua.

Police assisted with fuel
Governor Philip Undialu said the provincial government assisted police with fuel and funding in the search for Kalimda.

Undialu said a suspect from the area had confessed to killing Kalimda in a phone conversation and said that he had thrown Kalimda’s body into the Andapali River.

He said that after the provincial government received the information, a reward was offered for the community to assist police and the PNG Defence Force to find Kalimda’s body.

“The body was recovered just this afternoon [Sunday] by a group of youths, and we will pay them a reward.”

Undialu also called on the suspect, whose identity is known, to surrender to police and appealed to the community to help bring in the suspect.

Rebecca Kuku is a journalist for The National newspaper. Republished with permission.

Murder charges have been reinstated against the man suspected of killing French Polynesian journalist Jean-Pascal Couraud, known as “JPK” — his byline, who vanished in 1997.

Francis Stein, a former head of the territory’s archive service, was first charged in 2019 but France’s highest court accepted his appeal last year that investigative magistrates had breached rules during his questioning.

The investigative magistrates have now revived their probe against Stein and Miri Tatarata, who was JPK’s partner.

• READ MORE: Missing – Jean-Pascal Couraud, last seen in French Polynesia
• Other JPK reports

The pair are both accused of killing JPK, an investigative journalist who was editor-in-chief of the French-language newspaper Les Nouvelles de Tahiti, whose body has never been found.

An investigation was first opened in 2004 after a former spy claimed that JPK had been abducted and killed by the government’s GIP militia, which allegedly dumped him at sea between Moorea and Tahiti.

Murder charges against two members of the now disbanded GIP were dismissed eight years ago, but kidnapping charges have been upheld.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Papua New Guinea police have arrested five men in Goroka over their alleged involvement in the killing of PNG Ports managing director Fego Kiniafa.

Provincial Police Commander Chief Superintendent Michael Welly said the men were in police custody and were now being questioned over the slaying of Kiniafa on the morning of September 17 — last Saturday — near Nagamiufa village outside Goroka town.

Kiniafa and his driver were reportedly slashed with machetes after the CEO shot a Nagamiufa villager.

• READ MORE: Tense Goroka town under lockdown after brutal slaying of PNG Ports chief
• Other PNG Ports chief slaying reports

Welly said investigations were continuing into the killing which sparked a tribal fight.

In the early hours of last Saturday between 1am and 4am, it was alleged that Kiniafa, who had turned 43 on September 16 — PNG Independence Day — was with a few men near Nagamiufa village when a confrontation occurred.

Kiniafa, from Korofeigu village in Lower Bena, is alleged to have discharged a weapon.

The bullet hit another man.

Several tribesmen incited
The shooting incited several tribesmen of the injured man to attack Kiniafa, slashing him several times before leaving him.

Details about what happened next has not been mentioned by police. However, it is believed Kiniafa was rushed to Goroka General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Two days later on Monday, a 4am dawn raid was conducted at Nagamiufa village by men allegedly from Korofeigu village, Lower Bena.

The raid on Nagamiufa caused about 400 plus women, girls and the elderly to seek refuge within the gates of the Bihute Correctional Services prison.

Goroka Airport also shut its gates, causing several 100 passengers made up of tourists and locals to be stranded inside the terminal.

Throughout Goroka town, businesses closed their doors, the hospital tightened its security, and schools were shut for the day as police tried to calm the situation.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Northern Command) Peter Guinness has confirmed with the PNG Post-Courier that two mobile squads from Mt Hagen, Western Highlands and a mobile squad from Lae, Morobe province, had been deployed in Goroka, Eastern Highlands province.

Since Monday the situation has returned to some sort of normalcy with police continuing to keep watch.

Investigations were ongoing.

Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Goroka town is under lockdown and remains tense as Papua New Guinea police mount a heavy presence following the brutal slaying of the PNG Ports chief executive Fego Kiniafa outside the Eastern Highlands provincial capital.

Kiniafa was slashed to death at Nagamiufa on Saturday after he allegedly shot a Nagamiufa man.

Four men who were with Kiniafa are alleged to have been taken hostage by Nagamiufa villagers.

• READ MORE: PNG Ports chief executive killed in Highlands fight

His relatives from Korofeigu, Lower Bena, are reported to have mobilised and attacked Nagamiufa village, sparking a tribal conflict that shut down businesses in Goroka and sent people scattering.

Highway travellers were left stranded as vehicles deserted the roads between Lower Bena and Goroka, and international visitors to the just ended Goroka Show were also stranded at the new airport.

Police reported the Lower Benas wiped out Nagamiufa village in a 4am dawn raid yesterday.

Most people had fled in fear of the attack to neighbouring villages.

Raid because of no arrest
The raid allegedly occurred because there has not been any arrest made in relation to the death of Kiniafa two days after he was slashed to death near Nagamiufa village.

Spears, guns and other weapons were used as Goroka town was deserted with businesses shut down and the Goroka General Hospital also on lockdown as security was tightened.

Travellers wishing to travel out of the province after the EHP show were left stranded and locked inside the terminal as the airport closed its gates.

On Saturday morning, Police Commissioner David Manning confirmed the death of Kiniafa, 43, from a confrontation near Nagamiufa village.

EHP Police Commander Chief Superintendent Michael Welly said that the killing occurred between midnight and 6am on September 17.

According to police reports, Kiniafa was allegedly involved in a confrontation with several suspects from the surrounding settlements around Nagamiufa village in Goroka.

Kiniafa allegedly shot another man, and in retaliation the relatives of the man ambushed Kiniafa and his driver with bush-knives, killing them.

Four men allegedly kidnapped
Superintendent Welly said: “It is alleged that four men who were with Mr Kiniafa are said to have been kidnapped as well with police investigating the allegations and as well as investigating the incident on Saturday.”

Kiniafa was found at the scene and rushed to the hospital before being pronounced dead on arrival.

PNG Ports on Saturday afternoon released a short statement confirming Kiniafa’s death and announcing that chief operations officer Rodney Begley would manage and oversee the office of the CEO.

Kimiafa, who turned 43 on PNG’s Independence Day — Friday, September 16 — was one of the youngest chief executives of a government entity.

Republished with permission.

State-owned PNG Ports chief executive officer Fego Kiniafa has been killed at Nagamiufa in Goroka of Eastern Highlands Province, says Papua New Guinea’s Police Commissioner David Manning.

A police report said he had died in a fight after an argument was started over a few bottles of beer.

It said Kiniafa had allegedly shot and wounded the aggressor on his neck.

Kiniafa was then killed by members of the community who retaliated.

The situation in Goroka is reported to be tense.

Manning told news media his officers had started an investigation into the killing.

Board chairman Kepas Wali announced in a circular that Rodney Begley had been appointed acting CEO for the state-owned enterprise.

Wali expressed grief and sorrow at Kiniafa’s death.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Authorities arrested six Indonesian soldiers last week suspected in the killing and mutilation of four Indigenous Papuans in Indonesia’s West Papua province.

The bodies of the four men were discovered on August 26 by local residents of Iwaka village, outside the town of Timika, in sacks floating down the Pigapu River.

The victims were identified as Irian Nirigi, a local village leader, Arnold Lokbere, Atis Tini, and Kelemanus Nirigi. It is not clear why the men were killed.

• READ MORE: Mutilation of Nduga residents in Timika motivated by robbery
• Atrocities in Papua a result of phobia and stigma against Papuans: Council of Churches
• Timika murder: Family of victims search bodies without help from police
• Killing of four West Papuans ‘brutal reminder of reality’ under Jakarta rule, says Wenda
• Other reports on Papuan human rights

The authorities claimed they were insurgents and were allegedly on their way to meet someone in Timika to purchase weapons.

The men’s families deny this, saying they were carrying money from the village fund to purchase agricultural equipment. What is clear is the money the men were carrying is gone.

The killings come at a time of rising tensions between the Indigenous people of Papua and the Indonesian security forces, with incidents of violence becoming increasingly frequent and deadly.

Last month, unidentified persons shot dead nine non-Papuan civilians in Nduga, where the Indonesian government maintains a heavy military presence.

Anti-racism protests
This violence follows a series of anti-racism protests using the hashtag #PapuanLivesMatter, responding in part to President Joko Widodo’s contentious move to divide Papua and West Papua into four separate provinces.

Activists are raising concerns that the plans will lead to the further militarisation of the region, with critics describing it as a ploy to “divide and conquer” the Indigenous Papuans.

President Jokowi, once celebrated for releasing Papuan political prisoners in 2015, leads a government responsible for systemic discrimination against Papuans.

Killing of four West #Papuans ‘brutal reminder of reality’ under #Jakarta rule, says Wenda #AsiaPacificReport @westpapuamedia @westpapuanews @BennyWenda #HumanRights #HumanRightsViolations #atrocities #PapuanLivesMatter @PNGAttitude @FreeWestPapua https://t.co/LcK8pKhBzQ pic.twitter.com/ypfxF9zm2Y

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) August 31, 2022

Last week he was in Timika, in part to visit the Freeport project and surrounding areas, which is the site of the largest gold mine in the world.

It is important that the authorities fairly and appropriately prosecute the soldiers arrested and any others implicated in the killings.

But the Indonesian government needs to address the deteriorating human rights situation in Papua by conducting an independent and impartial investigation into the involvement of the security forces more generally in atrocities against Indigenous Papuans, and keeping its promise to invite United Nations human rights monitors to visit the region.

Robbie Newton is Asia coordinator of Human Rights Watch.

The United Liberation Movement of West Papua has condemned the brutal killing and mutilation of four indigenous West Papuans last week, saying it was a “a reminder of Indonesian colonialism”, as authorities announced the arrest of six special forces suspects.

News agency reports said Indonesian security forces had arrested the six elite troopers who had been accused of involvement in the killing of four Papuans and beheading them.

An Australian newspaper report said the accused’s military unit had a link with the Australian Defence Force.

• READ MORE: Indonesian troops accused of killing, mutilating 4 Papuans
• Other West Papuan human rights reports

“We are committed to upholding the law in this case,” Papua military chief Major-General Teguh Muji Angkasa told reporters in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.

“If any of our soldiers are involved in criminal acts, we will not tolerate it.”

Residents of Iwaka village in Mimika district were shocked on Friday by the discovery of four sacks, each containing a headless and legless torso, in the village river.

Two other sacks were found separately, one containing four heads and the other eight legs. The sacks were weighted with stones.

‘Heartbreaking’ reports
In a statement, ULMWP interim president Benny Wenda said it was “heartbreaking” to hear that the four Papuans had been killed and mutilated by Indonesian special forces. The four were named as Arnold Lokmbere, Irian Nirigi, Lemanion Nirigi, and Atis Tini.

“This brutal killing must be seen for what it is: state sponsored terrorism,” he said.

“My people have always rejected Jakarta’s impositions, from the “Act of No Choice” in 1969 to the so-called “Special Autonomy” that rules over us today.

“Indonesia knows West Papuans will never accept their colonial rule. Instead, they must enforce it at the barrel of a gun.

Wenda said the killings, which had happened in Timika regency, in West Papua’s highlands, exposed the racism at the heart of Indonesian rule.

“After shooting the four men, soldiers cut off their heads and legs, stuffed them in sacks, and dumped them in a village river.

“How can people be seen as human if they are treated in this way? Indonesia views us as ‘primitive’, as ‘monkeys’. They have always wanted to get us ‘down from the trees’.

Rivers uses as ‘tombs’
Wenda said this was not the first time “our rivers have been used as our tombs”.

In 2020, Pastor Yeremia Zanambani in the Intan Jaya regency was tortured and killed by the Indonesian military.

Following this, soldiers killed two of Pastor Zanambani’s family members, burning their bodies and throwing the ashes into a river to hide the evidence.

Since 2019, there had been frequent examples of Indonesia’s “systematic brutality in West Papua”.

‘We have seen Papuan students murdered by Indonesian death squads, babies shot and killed, civilians in Nduga executed in military-style operations,” Wenda said.

“The history of Indonesian rule in West Papua is written in the blood of my people.”

Wenda said that although Indonesian police had arrested six special forces suspected of being responsible for the crime, “we know from the death of Theys Eluay that soldiers charged with extrajudicial killing regularly receive light sentences – and are often welcomed as heroes by their military superiors”.

“In Indonesia, peacefully raising the Morning Star flag is a worse crime than murdering indigenous West Papuans in cold blood.”

Justice call
Wenda called for justice to be done for these four slain men and their families. He declared the following demands:

• Indonesia must release all political prisoners, including the eight students who have been held since December 2021 for peacefully demonstrating on our national day;
• Indonesia must allow journalists to operate in West Papua;
• Indonesia must stop the delaying tactics and honour their promise to allow the UN High Commissioner to visit West Papua, as also demanded by the Pacific Islands Forum, the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States, and the EU Commission; and
• Indonesia must allow our right to self-determination and grant West Papua an internationally-monitored Independence Referendum.

“It’s okay, we’ll just sit here and they can come kill us.”

These chilling words are from a defenceless woman (name withheld) who has seen first-hand the continuous killings in Papua New Guinea’s Porgera Valley, Enga province and accepting what could be the ultimate fate for her and her family.

Women and children in villages in that part of the country literally have nowhere to run since the killing spree has continued unabated in the gold valley, now tainted bloody and with ashes.

• READ MORE:  18 people hacked to death in Porgera in under an hour amid PNG elections
• Other PNG election reports

Attacks on villages in more than a year between warring clans of Nomali and Aiyala — not election related — can happen anywhere between 2 and 3 in the morning, and even during broad daylight.

There is nowhere safe, not even churches.

Police are outnumbered as the self-acclaimed thugs walk freely into villages and start firing indiscriminately with military grade weapons killing men, women, and children.

The hired guns are said to be there to make the kill and move on to the next victims.

Scared for their lives
The woman who spoke to the PNG Post-Courier said she and a large group of women and children were scared for their lives and the worry that it could be their last day to live.

“These warlords will walk into our villages destroying and burning down houses as early as 2am or 3am, even at dawn,” she said.

“We don’t sleep at night. All we do is pray to God for help. We don’t know where to go, we are helpless,” she said.

“My people fled the village and ran away. This week we heard that men were coming to attack us in the night.

“I did not know what to do so I just walked out onto the road and met some youths from my village, who told me plainly that there is nowhere for us to run too.

“So I said, ‘it’s okay let’s just sit here and if they come and kill us so be it’.”

She said mothers with children would have to run for their lives at any moment during the night to find the nearest hiding place for a few hours until dawn so they could look for a new place to go to within the besieged area.

No help in sight
This has been happening with no help in sight to address the tribal conflicts that have raged on long before this month’s general elections even surfaced.

With resources and concentration focused on the current polls taking place in the country, the self-proclaimed warlords have taken over the valley, raping women, killing people and burning down government and business properties.

Porgera has now turned into a killing field as public servants and those working in businesses in the valley have fled for their safety.

She said they had lost count of how many people had died.

“With the closure of Paiam Hospital, those who are injured very badly just sleep here under our watch, those in a critical condition will not make it,” she said.

“The roads out have been blocked, many have left with some more leaving but this does not stop the killing, every day we have a target on our backs,” she said.

Another community leader (name withheld) on the ground said the district needed a state of emergency declared.

21 killed by warlords
“Just today [Wednesday, July 20], a total of 21 people have been killed by unknown warlords. The victims are from Porgera, Tari and Kandep.

“Eight people were killed at Kanamanda Church area just next to Kia Kona at Paiam and a further seven were ambushed at Upper Maipagi, located at upper parts of Porgera station while they were looking for firewood in the bush,” he said.

“A young girl was killed among that 21 and others are fighting for their lives.

“It’s no more tribal conflict but a sort of genocide. Warlords hunting innocent lives even if they are not their enemies.

“This should have been prevented if the Defence Force deployed last month were not withdrawn straight after polling at Porgera.

“This time the government has failed us,” he said, clearly wondering whether their cries were being heard at all.

Melisha Yafoi is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

A birth of a child usually draws out changes from people. Parents, and even grandparents, recreate themselves in a bid to better address the demands of the new addition to the family.

Julio* knew this all too well. He first became a father at the young age of 17, and went on to work odd jobs to fulfill his responsibilities. But along the way, due to mounting pressure and the vicious cycle of poverty, Julio turned to illegal drugs.

“Sabi niya sa akin hindi ko siya maintindihan kasi ako raw may maayos na trabaho at madali makahanap ng panibagong trabaho kung sakali, samantalang siya, walang ganoong oportunidad para sa kanya,” Cristina, his younger sister, told Rappler in an interview.

• READ MORE: In Duterte’s drug war, justice is ‘nearly impossible’
• Other Philippine killings reports

(He told me I won’t be able to understand him because I have a stable job and can get another job if I want to, while he doesn’t have that opportunity.)

Julio eventually separated from his first wife, and met a new woman who then got pregnant. With a new baby on the way, 39-year-old Julio was determined more than ever to change.

He planned to start a sari-sari store, buy a refrigerator to sell frozen goods, just about anything to start anew.

“Gusto niya na iyong iyong nagawa niyang pagkukulang sa unang pamilya niya, hindi na ulit mangyari doon sa ipinagbubuntis ng kanyang kinakasama,” Cristina recalled. (He wanted to avoid repeating the same shortcomings he had with his first family.)

But President Rodrigo Duterte had other plans for Julio and thousands of others who came from the poorest communities in the Philippines. Drug dependents, for the country’s chief executive, are hopeless and useless to society.

Enemy out of drug users
Duterte made an enemy out of drug users and waged a “war” that smudged gutters, roads, and narrow alleys all over the country with blood.

RealNumberPH, the government’s unitary report on the drug war, shows that at least 6248 people have died at the hands of police during anti-illegal drug operations between July 2016 and April 30, 2022, while human rights groups estimate the total death toll to reach 30,000 to include victims of vigilante-style killings.

But figures obtained by Rappler show that the Philippine National Police (PNP) had already recorded 7884 deaths from July 1, 2016 to August 31, 2020.

On December 11, 2018, Julio became one of the thousands slain. One person told his family that their son was standing outside when he and a companion were abducted by men riding a white van.

Their lifeless bodies were found not long after.

Cristina was sure it was the police who killed his brother, but they feared going public with this allegation. It didn’t help that the sole witness, who talked to them during his brother’s funeral, was also eventually killed.

“Masakit ang pagkamatay niya pero iniisip ko na lang na at least nakita at naiburol namin siya, hindi tulad sa iba na nakikita na putol na ang kamay, wala na balita na bigla na lang nawawala,” she said.

(It hurts that he died but at least we were able to find his body and do a proper burial, unlike others who were dismembered or just disappeared completely.)

Duterte’s war on drugs
This is Duterte’s war on drugs, a key policy in his administration that has been scrutinised by both local and international bodies, including the International Criminal Court.

For Gloria Lai, regional director for Asia of the International Drug Policy Consortium, the bloody trail Duterte will leave behind once his presidential term ends on June 30 was highly unnecessary and preventable.

“[Killing people] is not a solution,” she told Rappler.

“What does success look like for the Duterte administration? It kept changing over time [and] there is no way you can say there is success,” Lai added.

The President and his allies’ rhetoric in the past six years would make one think that the Philippines has become a narcostate where drug users are behind the most violent crimes. For Duterte, they steal, they kill, they take innocent lives.

The Philippines indeed has issues with the proliferation of illegal drugs, but determining how widespread it is has been hard under the Duterte administration, given the overall lack of transparency and accurate data.

Duterte himself has been dropping different figures over the years. But a report released in February 2020 by Vice-President Leni Robredo following her short stint as co-chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs stated that there “is no common and reliable baseline data on the number of drug dependents in the country.”

‘Keeping their grip on power’
“It really just seemed to serve the administration well… to obtain power, to keep their grip on power, because it creates fear, it creates enemies, it creates scapegoats that justify really brutal and violent actions,” Lai said, adding that the drug issue was “exploited for political gain”.

Six years into the administration, the Duterte government remains tight-lipped, if not vague, about what it deemed key performance indicators of the bloody war on drugs.

PNP spokesperson Colonel Jean Fajardo said the police used two approaches in addressing the drug problem in the country. For the last six years, it had focused on reducing supplies and targeting their so-called pushers, up to high-value individuals.

“Dalawa po ang lagi nating ginagamit na approach dito po sa ating kampanya laban sa ilegal na droga. Ito po ‘yong tinatawag natin na supply reduction strategy and demand reduction strategy,” Fajardo told Rappler.

(We use two approaches in our campaign against illegal drugs. We call them supply reduction and demand reduction strategies.)

But despite this, the PNP and its partner Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) only managed to clear 25,061 out of 35,471 barangays it identified as being involved in illegal drugs. As of April 30, 2022, there are still 10,410 drug-affected barangays yet to be cleared by the PNP and PDEA.

Spike after start of bloody operations
This means, 29.34 percent of drug-affected barangays are yet to be cleared by drug enforcement authorities. Based on data on drug-affected barangays from 2016 to 2022, the Philippines saw a spike in 2017, a year after the start of bloody operations.

From 19,717 drug-affected villages in 2016, the number rose to 24,424 the following year. The number of drug-affected barangays then significantly dropped between 2020 and 2022 — the pandemic years.

In terms of collected illegal drugs, the authorities were able to seize P89.29-billion worth of illegal drugs from July 1, 2016 until April 30, 2022. PDEA, one of the lead agencies for Duterte’s drug war, boasted that they were able to seize 11,843.41 kilograms or P76.55-billion worth of shabu or crystalline methamphetamine.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has yet to release its 2022 report on synthetic drugs in Southeast Asia. But in their 2021 report, the UNODC reported that shabu was the cause of the majority of drug-related arrests and treatment admissions in the Philippines.

For six years, authorities were able to arrest a total of 341,494 individuals. Of this number, only 15,096 are considered high-value targets.

Based on the PNP’s classification, individuals who are considered high-value targets are those who run drug dens, are on the wanted list, and leaders and members of drug groups, among others.

This means that of the total number of arrested individuals due to illegal drug offences, only 4.42 percent or around four in every 100 people arrested are high-value targets.
Dehumanizing rhetoric, actions

Drug users bacame pawns
Duterte used drug users as pawns in his bid to make violence a norm in state policy and actions, Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) executive director Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan said.

“The legacy that he will be leaving behind would be institutionalization of state violence, this particular government has a proclivity towards addressing societal problems using a war framework,” she told Rappler in an interview on Monday, June 13.

Staying true to his violent rhetoric, the President has effectively mobilised state resources to use violence and other punitive measures to address issues. Beyond the problem of illegal drugs, this approach can also be seen in the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

If the Duterte government was serious about eradicating drugs in the Philippines, Lai said that it should’ve aimed for programs that better suit this intended outcome instead of focusing on killings.

For one, the state should’ve highlighted how drug addiction is a health problem, therefore producing better health programs. For people who use illegal drugs like shabu to stay awake to work long hours, the government should invest in programs that will keep families out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

But as it is, Duterte’s rhetoric and actions further dehumanize drug dependents, lumping them together with those who are part of the illegal drug syndicates.

“If you forced them and placed them into a list where they could be hunted down and randomly interrogated by police, or even just prevent them from getting a job or going to a certain school, you just drastically diminished their life prospects,” Lai said.

Gap in social response
PNP spokesperson Fajardo admitted that there is still really a gap when it comes to social response, as well as rehabilitation facilities to cater to drug personalities.

“Sinasabi natin, we agree on the fact na ito pong drug problem natin ay health problem. Hindi lang social problem. So ‘yong mga pasilidad kulang, ‘yong ating mga livelihood na pupuwede po nating i-offer dito sa mga sumurrender pati na rin po ‘yong mga nagtutulak, ‘yong mga pusher. Hindi po sa wala, pero kulang po talaga ‘yong efforts,” Fajardo said.

(We say that we agree on the fact that this drug problem is a health problem. Not only social problems. So our facilities are lacking, the livelihood that we can offer for the surrenderees, to pushers. It’s not that we don’t have anything, but the efforts are not enough.)

There are 64 drug rehabilitation centers in the Philippines as of 2021 — 16 under the Department of Health, nine with the local government units, and 39 privately-owned. Together, these facilities have 4840 bed capacity.

In a forum in June 2021, DOH’s Dangerous Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Programme manager Jose Leabres said there was a need for 11,911 additional in-patient beds for 2021 and 10,629 for 2022.

Data from the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) shows an increasing number of admissions to care facilities across the country. In 2021, there were at least 2344 new admissions.

A trail of blood
Duterte is leaving Malacañang on June 30 with a trail of blood from people killed in the name of his violent war on drugs. He also leaves behind thousands of orphaned children in the poorest communities, as well as a much more stigmatised issue of drug dependency in the Philippines.

It now falls on president-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to “address all the harms done by the Duterte administration” on the issue of illegal drugs in the country, according to Lai, as well as giving justice to thousands of victims.

During the campaign season, Marcos said he will continue Duterte’s drug war, but would focus on its being a health issue. He also hinted about shielding it from the International Criminal Court.

Meanwhile, just this June, during courtesy calls with foreign ambassadors, Swedish Ambassador Annika Thunborg said there was a discussion to continue the drug war within the framework of the law and respect for human rights, among others.

PNP spokesperson Fajardo said the incoming administration should put focus on demand reduction.

“Pero ‘yong isa pa pong approach natin na tinatawag po nating demand reduction program, hangga’t may bumibili po, hangga’t may market po ay talagang meron at meron pong sisibol na panibagong players,” she said.

(But the other approach that we call the demand reduction program, until there are people who purchase drugs, until there is a market for them, there will always be new players.)
DRUG WAR DEATHS. Families of victims of drug-related extrajudicial killings and human rights advocates join a Mass at the Commission on Human Rights headquarters in Quezon City.

Not holding her breath
But Simbulan, whose group PhilRights has documented the victims of Duterte’s war on drugs, is not holding her breath, knowing the Marcos family’s track record and his alliance with Duterte.

“I am not that optimistic that it will adopt a different method or approach,” she said. “Chances are, it will adopt the same punitive violent approach in addressing the drug problem in the Philippines.”

IDPC’s Lai, meanwhile, said it’s going to be a massive turnaround if Marcos decides to do away with what Duterte has done. There is nothing preventing the incoming administration from focusing on drug issues, but it has to make sure to alter government response based on evidence and what communities really need, instead of a blanket campaign that puts a premium on killings.

Most importantly, the new administration should focus their resources on areas that would make a difference on people’s lives for the better.

“[They should] consider that in a lot of cases, the drug policies and the drug laws themselves have caused a lot more harm to people and communities than the actual drugs themselves,” Lai said.

* Names have been changed for their protection

Jodesz Gavilan is a Rappler reporter. Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s National Court has sent a strong message and warning to those accused of sorcery-related violence when it jailed six people for 40 years each for killing a father and his son in Northern province three years ago.

Acting Judge Camillus Sambua jailed Cameron Jovu, Mike Jofo, Clenty Orotu, Branden Asiko, Andrew Sariko and Jesse Akuma, all from Ambene village in Kokoda, last Thursday for the murder of Bartholomew Umbu and his son Siko.

The six killers had accused Umbo and Siku of practising sorcery.

• READ MORE: Jo Chandler on sorcery: Gender, human rights and power investigations in Papua New Guinea – Pacific Journalism Review

Defence lawyer Emmanuel Yavisa from the Public Solicitor’s Office submitted that his clients be jailed 20 to 25 years because sorcery was a mitigating factor.

However, state lawyer Solomon Kuku argued that sorcery was not a mitigating factor as it was based on assumptions and not facts.

Kuku submitted that a term of 30 years to life imprisonment should be imposed as the killings were gruesome with disregard for human life.

Judge Samua then jailed all the six 40 years each.

‘Life a gift from God’
“Life is a gift from God,” he said.

“It should be kept sacred as it is very precious.

“The act by the six accused [was] barbaric with no regard to life,” he added.

Cameron Jovu will serve 40 years concurrently for two counts of murder.

Mike Jofo, Clenty Orotu, Smith Asiko and Brendan Asiko, were jailed for one count of murder, while Jesse Akuma and Andrew Sariko, for two counts of murder.

A total of 18 people were accused of being involved in the sorcery-related killing.

Eleven were acquitted on Tuesday.

Those acquitted were Emmanuel Koviro, Humphrey Konene, Bobby Jovu, Timothy Jofo, Howard Pou, Zebedee Akuma, Frank Johnson, Loide Koiko Sawa, Smith Ariko, Tadiu Roko and Robert Jovu.

Clarissa Moi is a reporter for The National. Republished with permission.

WARNING: This article contains graphic content that some readers may find disturbing.

Unexplained deaths spark sorcery claims, torture and murder, as fears build of a Covid-19 ‘time bomb’ in Papua New Guinea.

When a young boy died suddenly in Tatape Village in Papua New Guinea’s highlands, his relatives said dark forces were at work.

Four women were accused of using sanguma — a local term for sorcery or witchcraft — to kill the child.

• READ MORE: Other articles about Papua New Guinea and sorcery
• Jo Chandler: Gender, human rights and power investigations in Papua New Guinea — Pacific Journalism Review

Sergeant Daniel Olabe from the Hela Police Command alleges the boy’s father and others led their tribesmen to where the women were selling baked flour in a local market.

“Eventually they got one of the ladies… and tortured her,” he said.

“They hung her up, tied her arms and legs, beat her and started cutting her really badly.

“They did it until 10pm and she died eventually.”

Her dismembered body was left beside a road some kilometres away.

A video of the torture and murder shows a crowd of people watching on.

There have so far been no arrests in relation to the murder, with police saying suspects have fled into nearby bush and mountains, and fighting between groups in the aftermath has made it difficult to go into the area.

The case is one of a string of sorcery-accusation killings across PNG in recent months.

While many parts of the country have a long history of belief in sorcery, what concerns authorities is that many recent killings have occurred in regions where there isn’t a tradition of witchcraft.

“This torturing and killing is very serious to us, it’s like a first of its kind to us,” sergeant Olabe said.

In another case in the same month, a man was killed by a mob in Daru after being accused of using sorcery.

“Sorcery-related killing is unheard of in Daru Town,” Daru Police Commander Inspector Soiwa Ricker told local daily newspaper The National.

How traditional beliefs turned into murder
Accusations of sorcery usually follow a sudden or unexplained death, with a grieving village becoming convinced someone among them is to blame.

An accusation can swiftly end in torture, reprisals and lynchings.

But Ruth Kissam, an advocate and expert in the field who works with local NGO the Tribal Foundation, said the violence did not have a cultural background, even in areas where belief in sorcery was traditional.

“Sorcery-accusation-related violence picked up about 10 to 15 years ago,” she said.

“Culturally, there is a deep belief in sorcery in many parts of Papua New Guinea, but it was never violent.

“The belief system was sorcery against sorcery, and mostly it was believed that the village sorcerer was a man.”

Kissam said now the people generally accused were women, often those who were already marginalised or vulnerable and were “easily targeted”.

“Now the dynamics have changed, it’s become more about power plays,” she said.

Con artists’ claim they can identify ‘witches’
Kissam said the horrific violence being seen had “absolutely nothing to do with culture” and instead was “a law and order problem that is arising from a broken health system”.

She believed disenfranchisement among people who were unable to get adequate healthcare and left school with no jobs to go to was contributing to the problem.

And increased connectivity in PNG, through new roads and easier travel, has also been attributed with spreading sorcery beliefs into regions where it isn’t traditional.

Another major concern has been the rise of people called glassmen, or glassmeri for women, who claim to be able to identify a witch.

The Tribal Foundation warned a recent parliamentary inquiry into gender-based violence in PNG they were partly responsible for spreading sorcery into new areas.

“We have people who are glassman and glassmeri who will go into the community and they are profiteering off their [claimed] special ability to say who in the community is the sanguma [or witch],” Tribal Foundation director Gary Bustin said.

“These are just con artists profiting from torture.”

It had become a profitable business model for the glassmen, who asked for payment from a community to identify a “witch”.

Coronavirus could be a sorcery ‘time bomb’
There are also concerns that deaths related to covid-19 could lead to an increase in sorcery accusations — and one such case has already been recorded.

A community health worker in the town of Goroka contracted Covid-19 and died at home earlier this year.

“The family in his tribe said the wife used sorcery to kill her husband, so the community got hold of the lady, stripped her naked and tortured her with hot irons,” local MP Aiya Tambua said.

Someone alerted the police to the lynching as it was in progress. Before officers arrived, the woman was thrown off a bridge.

She survived but Tambua said while the woman was in hospital, her daughter was also attacked and needed to be rescued by police.

“[The hospital] found that the mother is covid positive and the child is covid positive and the father died from covid-19,” he said.

Kissam said covid-19 was a potential “time bomb” for sorcery-related violence.

“Covid poses a very critical risk right now,” she said.

There are reports of “countless” accusations of sorcery following suspected covid-19 deaths, but the case in Goroka is the only confirmed act of violence so far.

Kissam warned that an accusation was still a mark against someone and that a “build-up” of accusations could see people attacked later, especially when covid-19 was out of the headlines.

She said the PNG government needed to run an aggressive education campaign explaining the science of the pandemic.

Why won’t police intervene?
In the wake of the horrific murder of the woman in Hela, PNG’s Parliament is asking questions.

A newly formed special parliamentary committee on gender-based violence has written to the country’s Police Commissioner, asking for information about the investigation and potential arrests.

The letter, written by the committee’s chairman Charles Abel also highlights concerns that the police response to sorcery-accusation violence is “often insufficient”.

He said the committee had been told “police [were] not attending cases in a timely manner and little or no action [was] being taken to investigate or arrest alleged perpetrators”.

A shortage of police in PNG can make investigating the cases difficult, especially as officers are often met with armed and violent community members. PNG’s police-to-civilian ratio is about one officer per 2000 people.

“Most of the police are in urban centres and some of them are guarding the mines, they’re attached to the resource sector,” Kissam said.

“The police could be one [officer] in a catchment of area of 20,000 to 30,000 people.”

Amid the focus on better enforcing existing laws, there are also calls to introduce new legislation specifically targeting glassmen and glassmeri.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Prime Minister James Marape says Papua New Guineans who continue to commit crimes under the pretext of “sorcery” must be arrested and charged by police.

Marape was responding to questions asked by The National in relation to the death of Mary Kopari who was killed by an angry mob over allegations of sorcery in Margarima, Hela.

“People shouldn’t be killing women or girls over sorcery, as far as Papua New Guinea is concerned,” he said.

• READ MORE: Protect women accused of ‘sorcery’ and punish attackers, watchdog tells PNG
• ‘It gives us nightmares,’ says PNG police officer dealing with domestic violence

“Killing someone accused of sorcery is illegal, so police should be doing their job.

“We discourage anyone from killing another over sorcery, if you feel that someone has caused an offence, there are appropriate charges to be laid against that person”

The special Parliamentary Committee on Gender-Based Violence chairman, Charles Abel, has written a letter to Police Commissioner David Manning requesting for information on actions taken over:

• sorcery accusations related killing in Hela; and
• the systematic police response to sorcery accusation-related violence.

Information needed by Monday
Abel said the information must be provided to the committee secretariat no later than Monday.

Hela police have told The National that eight suspects were identified in the horror torture and killing.

Officer-in-charge of Hela CID Sergeant Daniel Olabe said after the killing that there had been a confrontation between the woman’s family and the husband’s family.

“From the video, we have identified eight men who tortured the woman.”

However, no charges have yet been made.

Republished with permission.

The Papua New Guinean government should protect women accused of practicing “sorcery” from violence and hold the attackers to account, says the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.

At least five women have been attacked in the past three months since March 2021 — one of whom was killed.

“The Papua New Guinea government should urgently investigate all cases of violence following sorcery accusations, and prosecute those responsible,” Stephanie McLennan, senior manager of Asia initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement today.

• READ MORE: PNG woman tortured and killed in horrifying video over ‘sorcery’
• Other gender-based violence reports in PNG
• More Human Rights Watch reports on Papua New Guinea

“Gender-based violence is a persistent problem in Papua New Guinea, and the government is doing very little to stop it.”

Violence following allegations of sorcery is common in Papua New Guinea, with the most recent reported case on May 7 in Hela Province.

Mary Kopari was accused of sorcery following the death of a young boy in her village. She was tied up and burned alive in Komo-Magarima District.

The attack was recorded on video and reported by Papua New Guinea television. Although the police know the identity of some of the attackers, no arrests have yet been reported.

Surge in covid cases
Because sorcery accusations often arise in response to an unexpected death or illness in a community, the increase in such violence may be related to a surge in confirmed cases of covid-19 in Papua New Guinea.

On or around March 30, in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, a 45-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter were accused of causing the woman’s husband’s death, believed to be from covid-19.

They were held captive by the husband’s relatives and tortured with hot iron rods. Police rescued the pair.

On April 25, police rescued two women after a group of about 20 men tortured them in Port Moresby. The men accused the women of practising sorcery and killing a woman who had recently died.

The women were treated for severe burns and knife wounds.

“The Papua New Guinea government should address the root causes of sorcery accusations, including the lack of basic knowledge among the public about health problems,” McLennan said.

“The authorities should act swiftly and effectively to correct misinformation about deaths from covid-19 to prevent more sorcery accusations and attacks.”

Most attacks target women
While there are past cases of violence based on accusations of sorcery targeting men, the majority of these attacks target women. Such attacks are part of the larger problem of high rates of gender-based violence and impunity for the abusers in Papua New Guinea.

In November 2020 a coalition of Parliament members convened the country’s first national summit on gender-based violence. A special parliamentary committee on the issue held its first hearings on May 24 and 25, and will continue its inquiry until June 30.

Dr Fiona Hukula, gender specialist for the Pacific Islands Forum, testified at the May hearings about violence against women accused of sorcery, saying that they are are “often tortured, often cut, sexually violated, their clothes are removed and they are often kept in captivity”.

As Human Rights Watch has documented, greater resources and increased political will are needed to respond to all forms of gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. At the recent parliamentary hearings, East Sepik Governor Allan Bird said “there are 1.4 million cases of GBV [gender-based violence] every year in PNG … and only 100 convictions achieved”.

Papua New Guinea will participate in November in the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process under which member countries review the human rights situation in the country.

The Human Rights Watch submission for that process highlighted the issue of gender-based violence and violence following accusations of sorcery.

“Papua New Guinea’s leaders should order the police to take gender-based violence seriously, provide sufficient resources for officials to prosecute these crimes, and provide all survivors with medical treatment, shelter and access to support services,” McLennan said.

“The parliamentary inquiry should lead the way in exploring options for early warning, protection, and dispute resolution mechanisms that can help prevent such crimes.

A Papua New Guinean woman accused of killing a two-year-old boy through sorcery was assaulted, tortured and killed after her limbs were chopped off in Margarima, Hela, last month, police report.

Hela’s officer-in-charge CID, Sergeant Daniel Olabe, named the dead woman as Mary Kopari who was in her late 30s.

A video obtained by The National showed a horrifying scene of a lone woman, tied spread eagled between two posts and tortured.

• READ MORE: Jo Chandler: Gender, human rights and power investigations in Papua New Guinea  – Pacific Journalism Review
• Strengthening the voices of human rights defenders in the media
• Other PNG sorcery allegations reports

The video shows the woman, dragged between the posts, hands and legs bound by barbed wire.

She screams in pain as her torturers tighten the barb wire around her ankles while other men look on with no one reaching out to assist her.

Kopari was from Halungi village, in South Koroba LLG, Koroba-Kopiago, and was married to a man from Tatape village in the Lower Wage LLG, Komo-Margarima.

The relatives of the boy suspected three women, along with Koparo, had “caused his death”. The other women escaped.

No idea what happened
Sergeant Olabe said Kopari had no idea of what had happened.

She was busy selling potatoes at the Margarima market when she was approached by the boy’s relatives. They confronted Kopari and demanded to know why she was practising sorcery (sanguma), Sergeant Olabe said.

“Mary was rounded up and taken to an area in Margarima where she was tied up between two posts and tortured, hands and legs bound by barbed wire.

The woman was tortured, assaulted and burned for nine hours before her attackers chopped off her limbs, killing her.

“Her severed limbs and body were taken to and left at Tigibi, in the Hulia local level government along the road,” Sergeant Olabe said.

‘Sorcery’ torture cases endemic
Kopari was among five women in two months who had been accused of sorcery in four different provinces of Papua New Guinea with the first reported case of a man accused of sorcery in Daru, Western province.

In Enga last week, a woman who was tortured eventually died from injuries suffered.

It was reported that the woman, who was rescued by police and taken to the Wabag General Hospital, was accused by her late husband’s family, of causing the death of a man in Kopiam.

In Eastern Highlands, a mother and daughter who were rescued by police in Goroka are still recovering with police yet to make an arrest of those implicated on the attack.

In Daru, a man accused of causing the death of five people was dragged out of his home at the Samarai settlement and tortured before police intervened.

However, he died from the injuries he suffered.

In the National Capital District, two women from Eastern Highlands were tortured and rescued by police. Both were found tied and burned after being accused of sorcery.

No arrests made
From these cases, no arrests have been made.

The National has reached out to police investigators with the same report given that while suspects had been identified, it was hard to arrest them because they lived near the accused families or they were related.

Witnesses are also too scared to come forward because of the fear of reprisal.

In a recently concluded Special Parliamentary Committee on Gender-Based Violence public hearing the committee heard about the hardships of those who continue to fight against gender-based violence (GBV) and sorcery cases.

Committee deputy chair and East Sepik Governor Allan Bird told The National that “we should not stand around while women and girls are tortured and killed on suspicion of sorcery”.

“Those who commit horrendous murder should be arrested and charged,” he said.

Miriam Zarriga is a reporter for The National. This article is republished with permission.

National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop has warned Papua New Guinean ethnic groups to stop fighting and killing each other or they will be evicted from the city.

Parkop told the media and settlers living around Moresby South settlements who turned up at Badili police station on Friday that they must stop the fighting and senseless killings.

“I am not bothered where you are from, but if you continue to cause problem attacking each other, I will come and remove you all – simple as that,” he said.

• READ MORE: PNG deploys troops to violence-plagued Alotau

“And if you can’t learn to live with each other then you don’t deserve to live among everybody else.”

A negotiation with landowners at Vadavada along Taurama road was also going on and settlers there who planned to start any fight or killing in the future would be removed, Parkop warned.

“I have the responsibility in terms of development of the city. NCD is planned for development and most of these houses in the settlements are unplanned and have no approval. I have the power to remove them,” he said.

Powers would be used
Parkop said if another fight or killing erupts in Moresby South, his powers would be used and he would not hesitate to remove everyone in the settlements.

He said police were doing their best to fight law and order in the city and he would also play his part to make the city safe for developments.

“I have given an ultimatum to Vadavada settlers and I hope they don’t start any fighting again and the same applies to settlers of Moresby South,” he said.

Parkop added that the authorities had had enough of “this nonsense” in the city with law and order and serious action would be taken.

A 17-year-old youth has become the latest victim of Indonesia’s six-decades-long colonisation of West Papua, alleges the United Liberation Movement of West Papua.

“Killed on March 6, Melianus Nayagau has been murdered in Intan Jaya, where Indonesian military operations have displaced thousands of my people,” said ULMWP interim president Benny Wenda in a statement today.

Separately, a video has shown an Indonesian police chief in Java telling demonstrating West Papuan students that they are “a legitimate target”, and giving the order to “shoot”, said the ULMWP website.

• READ MORE: Indonesian police break up rally after Papuan protesters wreck police truck
• Other West Papua special autonomy and related reports

“This is the reality of what we face in West Papua. As the people of West Papua resist Jakarta’s re-imposition of ‘Special Autonomy’, Papuan students are being beaten by Indonesian nationalist gangs and arrested by colonial police,” Wenda said.

The cold-blooded killing and viral video came just after the Indonesian military killed a 36-year-old deaf disabled man, Donatus Mirip, on February 27.

“As I previously stated, three West Papuan men were tortured and murdered in a West Papuan hospital by Indonesian soldiers on February 15,” Wenda said.

Late last year, West Papuan pastor Yeremia Zanambani, Catholic catechist Rufinus Tigau and other religious figures were tortured, shot and killed by troops, and three school children were executed by an Indonesian state death squad on November 20, 2020, reports the ULMWP website.

Burning bodies
Several soldiers were recently found to have killed two other family members of Pastor Zanambani last year, burning the bodies and throwing their ashes into a local river.

Tens of thousands of West Papuans have been displaced by these military operations since December 2018.

Hundreds have died from lack of water, food and medicine, in the middle of a global pandemic, said Wenda.

“As the largest religious organisation in our nation, the West Papua Council of Churches, has stated, ‘The Land of Papua has become a Military Operation Area’.

“No one can deny that this is an absolute humanitarian catastrophe, a pattern of systematic human rights abuses targeted at the Indigenous population of West Papua by the Indonesian colonial regime.

“This is serial, repeated murder of the young, of religious figures, of displaced women and children. We are treated with inhumanity on our own land.”

The ULMWP website said Indonesia’s response to this undeniable disaster had been to deploy 1350 more highly armed troops to West Papua yesterday, joining the thousands of additional security personnel deployed since 2019.

‘Concealing the blood’
“The Indonesian state is trying to conceal the blood that is dripping from its hands,” said Wenda.

At the UN Human Rights Council last month, the Indonesian Foreign Minister denounced “double standards” and “politicisation” of the council, something Indonesia had done more to promote than any other state, Wenda said.

“While they take a noble stand on the Palestinian and Myanmar struggles, they lie to the world about what they are doing to their own neighbours in West Papua,” he said.

“I’m calling on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to pay urgent attention to the situation in West Papua. This is not one-off killings and human rights violations.

“This is a systematic attempt to subjugate the Indigenous population, to destroy our will to resist, to eliminate our culture and way of life. But we will not give up until we win back our right to self-determination, stolen from us in the 1960s.

“We need regional leaders in Melanesia and the Pacific to listen to our cry. All 83 countries that support the visit of the UN High Commissioner to West Papua must redouble efforts to ensure the visit takes place as a matter of extreme urgency, before more of my people are murdered.

“As I have stated since 2019, I am ready to sit down with the Indonesian President to find a just solution to live in peace and harmony in West Papua.”

The Indonesian state is causing a renewed humanitarian crisis in West Papua. Three young West Papuan men have been murdered by the Indonesian military in Intan Jaya Regency, and hundreds of residents have now fled the area in fear.

Indonesia must urgently allow the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua, says the leader of a “provisional” Papuan government.

The authorities in Jakarta have been blamed for “causing a renewed humanitarian crisis”.

• READ MORE: Other West Papua reports

Benny Wenda, interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua provisional government, said in a statement that three young Papuan men had been murdered by the Indonesian military in Intan Jaya regency.

Hundreds of residents had now “fled the area in fear”.

Wenda also called on Pacific nations to pay close attention to what was happening in West Papua.

The three men, Janius Bagau were, Justinus Bagau and Soni Bagau, were alleged to have been tortured and killed on February 15 in a health centre where one of them was receiving treatment after being shot in the arm by a soldier.

Amnesty statement of concern
Amnesty Indonesia has issued an urgent statement of concern over the killings.

“Fearing more acts of violence, at least 600 men, women and children have been displaced by the military’s actions, seeking shelter in a Catholic compound,” said the statement.

“They join over 50,000 West Papuans internally displaced by Indonesian operations since December 2018. Over 400 have died from a lack of medical treatment and supplies. Indonesia is ethnically cleansing my people.”

Wenda said that people displaced by the operations would have no access to healthcare.

“They cannot tend to their crops. The children cannot go to school. In the middle of a pandemic, Indonesia continues to kill us West Papuans and force us from our homes by our thousands.

“The Indonesian state has imposed martial law, using the covid-19 crisis as a cover to conduct military operations.

“As the West Papua Council of Churches, the four Protestant denominations in our nation, put it in a statement on February 5, ‘The Land of Papua has become a military operation area’.

International monitoring
The ULMWP provisional government demanded that Indonesia immediately allow the international community into West Papua to assist civilians affected by military operations. It said:

• Indonesia must allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua to conduct an investigation into the human rights situation, in accordance with the call of 83 international states; and
• Indonesia must invite the International Committee of the Red Cross into West Papua. The Red Cross was banned from entering in 2009.

“Regional leaders must pay attention to what is taking place in West Papua,” said Wenda.

“Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands Forum: Indonesia is hiding behind claims of ‘sovereignty’ to crush my people.

“This is not an ‘internal matter’, this is a question of military occupation and colonialism.

“Our right to self-determination under international law is bullet-proof. Indonesia has lost the moral, political and legal argument, and has turned to the last thing it has left: brute violence.

“We need urgent action to protect my people.”

The people of #WestPapua have spoken. We need the UN to oversee a free and fair referendum, once and for all. #Indonesia pic.twitter.com/UVfdIJDXHy

— Free West Papua (@FreeWestPapua) February 23, 2021

The atmosphere on Saturday morning, 19 September 2020, in the courtyard of the Elementary School for the Education and Schooling Foundation of Evangelical Churches in Tanah Papua or YPPGI Hitadipa was tense. The Indonesian army gathered Hitadipa civilians in a school yard that had been occupied by the TNI (Indonesia National Army) and made it the Headquarters of the Sub-District Military Command or the Hitadipa Preparation Koramil (Military Rayon Commando).

A number of Hitadipa Preparatory Koramil soldiers said the TNI had given two days for the West Papuan residents to return the SS1 firearms which had been lost two days earlier, on September 17. SS1 were seized by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) in an attack that killed Serka Sahlan.

The threat clearly shows the separatist stigmatisation attached to Hitadipa civilians. This threat frightened Hitadipa civilians who were burdened with returning the weapons they had never taken.

• READ MORE: Part 1: The Intan Jaya conflict: A risk of more widespread violence in future
• Part 2: The Intan Jaya conflict 2: Violence at the cost of many civilian lives
• Part 3: The Intan Jaya conflict 3: New autonomous region, new conflict

The gathering of residents on Saturday morning was not attended by Pastor Jeremiah Zanambani. Since morning, he and his wife, Miriam Zoani, had been going to Bomba, a small village on the hillside south of Kampung Hitadipa, cultivating their garden and repairing their pigpen.

“[Since] Friday night, Father said on Saturday he wanted to help Mama finish or build a garden first, because on Monday [Father] wanted to go up to the assignment. On that Saturday, September 19, both Father and I went to the garden that is in the same location as the pig pen,” said Mama Miriam.

“Father finished the fence in the pig pen, while I harvested the sweet potatoes. While we were working, around 13.00 noon in Hitadipa there were gunshots.

“When we heard the gunshots, we entered the pig pen and closed the door, because the TNI had told us that if we heard gunshots, we had to enter the house and lock the door.” [1]

Gunfire from attack
The gunshots heard by Mama Miriam was gunfire when the TPNPB attacked the Hitadipa Preparatory Koramil Headquarters. The TPNPB attack killed Pratu Dwi Akbar Utomo, a 711/Raksatama Infantry Battalion soldier based in Gorontalo Province, Sulawesi.[2]

He was part of a squad of troops who were seconded to guard the Hitadipa Preparation Koramil.

The incident started the movement of TNI troops pursuing TPNPB and combing a small village called Taundugu. The series of events culminated in the shooting that killed Pastor Jeremiah Zanambani.

After the shooting of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani, Head of Information for the Joint Defense Region Command III, Col. Czi IGN Suriastawa, made a unilateral statement, saying Pastor Yeremia Zanambani was shot by the TPNPB.

“They are seeking attention at the UN General Assembly later this month,” said Suriastawa.[3]

Suriastawa’s claim was quoted by various media in Jakarta, forming public opinion outside Papua. However, the public in Papua finds it difficult to believe the TNI’s claim that Pastor Yeremia Zanambani was killed by the TPNPB.

Pastor Yeremia Zanambani is a respected religious figure in Papua. He is the former chairman of the Hitadipa Indonesian Bible Tent Church (GKII) class. Until his death, Pastor Yeremia Zanambani also served as chair of the Bible Theology College in Hitadipa, as well as adviser to GKII Region 3 Papua in Hitadipa.

Linguist and translator
He is also a linguist and translator of the Bible scriptures from Indonesian to Moni, the language of the indigenous people in Intan Jaya.

“In the ministry, the Pastor’s daily work is in two churches. The first is in the Bahtera Church congregation in Janamba, the second is in Bulapa. Father also joined the Bible translation team from Indonesian to Moni, so Father often went to Timika or Nabire,” said Mama Miriam.

“Father is also a teacher at the Upper Theological School in Sugapa. Usually, the Father with his family and children in Hitadipa is Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” said Mama Miriam.[4]

A number of human rights advocacy activists and churches are trying to find comparable information about what actually happened in Intan Jaya on September 19, 2020. They received testimony from Hitadipa that the shooting of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani was carried out by TNI soldiers.

The murder was part of a series of violence in Hitadipa since October 25, 2019, when the TPNPB shot dead three motorcycle taxi drivers. Pastor Yeremia Zanambani is the 14th victim of a series of armed conflicts that occurred in Intan Jaya Regency since 25 October 2019.

Since then, until 19 September 2020, at least 10 civilians have died at the hands of the warring parties in Intan Jaya and a total of eight other civilians were wounded. During the same period, a total of four security forces were killed in Intan Jaya.

After the shooting of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani, violence in Intan Jaya continued. Agustinus Duwitau, a catechist from Emondi Station, Timika Diocese Catholic Church, was shot by TNI soldiers on 7 October 2020. Duwitau, who was injured, was then treated in Sugapa.

Another catechist shooting
On 26 October 2020, TNI soldiers shot Rufinus Tigau, a catechist from the Bilogai Parish, the Catholic Church of the Timika Diocese. The shooting that killed Rufinus Tigau took place in Kampung Jalai, Intan Jaya.

The widespread violence that victimised civilians shows that the TNI did not fully control the excesses of their military operations in Intan Jaya.

The legal process for various cases of violence perpetrated by TNI soldiers is also minimal. Of the various cases of violence in Hitadipa, only the burning of the health personnel’s official home in Taundugu has reached the stage of investigation.

The Indonesian Army Military Police Center (Puspomad) named eight Indonesian Army soldiers as suspects in the arson case.[5]

Until early November 2020, hundreds of civilians in Hitadipa district and a number of other districts had fled. Since 19 September 2020, Mama Miriam has never returned to Hitadipa, and has never seen the tomb of her husband, Pastor Jeremiah Zanambani.

“We can’t go back there. We are afraid because there are still TNI there. We want them out so we can go there. We feel threatened, because from the start they have conveyed the language of threat to the church and society,” she said.

“It is now hard for us to go home. Until now, we also don’t know where Father is in the grave,” said Mama Miriam.[6]

“We walked back and forth and didn’t know where to come back. We don’t know, we go home whether we are safe or not.”

Translated from the original Tabloid Jubi article by a special Pacific Media Watch correspondent. Jubi articles are republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

Notes:
[1] Wawancara (Interview), Miriam Zoani, 23 October 2020.

[2] https://news.okezone.com/read/2020/09/20/340/2280867/2-prajurit-tni-gugur-ditembak-kkb-di-intan-jaya-papua

[3] https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20200920144515-12-548604/tni-sebut-pendeta-tewas-ditembak-kkb-papua, 20 September 2020.

[4] Wawancara (Interview), Miriam Zoani, 23 October 2020.

[5] https://jubi.co.id/papua-delapan-oknum-tni-ad-tersangka-pembakaran/

[6] Wawancara (Interview), Miriam Zoani, 23 October 2020.

The enforcement of human rights and the resolution of various cases of human rights violations in Papua in 2020 has worsened, say advocates.

Indonesia is being urged to immediately ratify the Rome Statute so that various cases of human rights violations in Papua can be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Papuan Human Rights Advocates Association director, Gustav Kawer, said the enforcement of human rights as well as the resolution of cases of human rights violations in Papua in 2020 are getting worse.

• READ MORE: More West Papuan human rights reports

“Take note, the face of human rights enforcement is getting worse,” Kawer said.

Kawer explained a number of indicators that “proved” the handling of cases of human rights violations in Papua was getting worse.

He referred to cases of shooting of residents that happened during 2020 in Nduga, Mimika, and Intan Jaya regencies.

The shooting of residents [indigenous West Papuans] in Mimika regency took place on 13 April 2020, with the killing Roni Wandik and Eden Armando Debari.

In Nduga regency on 18 July 2020, Elias Karunggu and his son Seru Karunggu were killed.

In Intan Jaya district, there have been a number of cases of shootings of indigenous West Papuans, including the killing of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani on 19 September 2020, and the shooting that killed the catechist of the Timika Diocese of Rome Catholic Church, Rufinus Tigau, on 7 October 2020.

State ‘not serious’
Kawer said that the state was not serious about resolving the shooting cases against Papuan civilians. This meant impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations in Papua continued.

“Impunity prevents human rights enforcement from being achieved,” said Kawer.

Kawer said that the practice of impunity was indicated in the handling of various cases of shootings of citizens and human rights violations in Papua.

He gave an example of the formation of the Joint Fact-Finding Team for the shooting case of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani, which in the end tended to be a political process rather than a law enforcement and human rights process.

“The team submitted a report to the President. The report [should have been submitted] to the Attorney-General’s Office and the court. [Because the report was submitted to the President], so the legal [process] did not [work],” Kawer said.

Kawer also regretted the steps of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) which also submitted a report on the Intan Jaya case to President Joko Widodo.

“We thought there would be a recommendation for gross human rights violations, but [it was] illegible,” said Kawer.

Serious setback
He said that the handling of the shooting in Intan Jaya was a serious setback in the process of handling human rights violations in Papua.

Previously, the results of Komnas HAM investigations in a number of previous cases were submitted to the Attorney-General’s Office, with a recommendation that the cases be tried in court.

Kawer gave an example that the process resulted in the accused killers in the murder of Theys Hiyo Eluay and the Abepura case on 7 December 2000 being put on trial.

“In the previous case, even though there were perpetrators who were free, and we know it was a design of impunity, [it appears] there were efforts [the state carried out the legal process],” said Kawer.

Kawer said that throughout 2020 the practice of law enforcement in Papua had shown increasingly disparities in the law, where there were differences in treatment of perpetrators with civilian backgrounds and those with security backgrounds.

“[If] the perpetrator is the apparatus, it will not be processed. If the community is involved, they will be processed until they are imprisoned,” said Kawer who gave an example of the trial against participants in the demonstrations against Papuan racism.

Nevertheless, Kawer appreciated the TNI’s efforts to be more open and investigate the involvement of its soldiers in the murder and burning of the bodies of two West Papuan civilians in Intan Jaya.

‘Impression of impunity’
“We appreciate this, there is an openness. However, there is an impression of impunity too, [due to] the articles subject to Article 170 of the Criminal Code and Article 180 of the Criminal Code. It carries a light [sentence], 12 years in prison and 9 months in prison. Even though it was a murder case, “said Kawer.

Student activist Bheny Murib from Nduga also criticised the state for “hiding human rights violations” in Papua. As a result, he believed that the state did not want to take care of the right to life of indigenous West Papuans.

“[The armed conflict in Nduga] has [lasted] two years. Our family is still in evacuation,” said Murib.

Murib also considered that the state did not take action against human rights violators in Papua. He gave an example of the shooting case of a truck driver named Hendrik Lokbere in Batas Batu, Nduga regency, on 19 December 2019.

“This year, [the case] is even one year. The perpetrator was never prosecuted [legally], even though thousands of Nduga residents demonstrated demanding [the perpetrator be tried],” said Murib.

Ratification of Rome Statute
Kawer said that the track record of handling cases of human rights violations in Papua showed that the Republic of Indonesia was unable and unwilling to prosecute perpetrators of human rights violations in Papua.

He urged Indonesia to ratify the Rome Statute, so that various cases of human rights violations in Papua could be tried at the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands.

“The solution, the country should ratify the Rome Statute. [By ratifying the Rome Statute], cases in Papua [can] be brought to the ICC,” said Kawer.

Kawer also urged the state to open up and be willing to sit together with the parties who are opposed to the state.

“The state should open space for dialogue with groups that ask for the right to self-determination,” he said.

Benny Mawel is a Tabloid Jubi journalist. This article was translated by a Pacific Media Watch correspondent from the original report.

The commander of the Indonesian Army Military Police (Danpuspomad), Lieutenant-General Dodik Widjanarko says TNI AD soldiers in Papua have committed acts of violence, including burning bodies to erase traces of their killing.

General Widjanarko said bodies were burned after in an incident that led to two civilians, Luther Zanambani and Apinus Zanambani, detained at the Sugapa Koramil, Papua, on 21 April 2020 dying without trace, reports CNN Indonesia.

The two brothers are reportedly the family of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani, who was shot dead in Intan Jaya, Papua, on September 19.

• READ MORE: Family of murdered Papuan pastor want case tried in human rights court

General Widjanarko described the chronology of the deaths of the two civilians.

The incident began when the Raider Battalion Unit 433 JS Kostrad carried out a sweeping operation on April 21. During the operation, they suspected the two brothers were part of an alleged “Armed Criminal Group” (KKB).

The KKB, or the Armed Separatist Criminal Group (KKSB), is how law enforcers in Indonesia label the militant group of the pro-independence Free Papua Organisation (OPM).

On the basis of this suspicion, several members who were on duty at that time immediately interrogated the two people at Sugapa Koramil Paniai Kodim, said General Widjanarko.

Yellow public truck
“During the interrogation, there was excessive action beyond the limits of propriety which resulted in Apinus Zanambani’s death and Luther Zanambani’s critical death at that time,” General Widjanarko told a media conference at the Army Puspom Building, Jalan Medan Merdeka Timur, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.

At first the two civilians were about to be transferred to Kostrad’s Yonif PR 433 JS Kotrad by using a yellow public truck, said the general.

However, while riding a vehicle with police number B 9745 PGD in the middle of the journey, Luther Zanambani, who was previously critical, died.

General Widjanarko said that in order to erase any trace of the deaths of the two civilians, members of the Indonesian Army who were ainvolved in the incident tried to remove the two bodies.

“When arriving at Kotis Yonif Pararider 433 JS Kostrad to leave a trail, the victim’s bodies were then burned and the ashes dumped in the Julai River in Sugapa sub-district,” said the three-star TNI general.

Regarding the deaths of the two Zanambani brothers, General Widjanarko said that the Joint Army Police Headquarters Team together with the Cenderawasih XVII Military Command had named nine suspects.

The nine suspects, comprised two Paniai Kodim personnel and seven personnel from Yonit Pararider 433 JSD Kostrad.

Nine suspects named
“The suspects comprise two personnel from the Paniai Military Command, Major Inf ML and the FTP Special Officer as well as seven personnel from the Yonif Para Raider 433 JS Kostrad, namely Major Inf YAS, Lettu Inf JMTS, Serka B, Seryu OSK, Sertu MS, Serda PG, and Kopda MAY,” said General Widjanarko.

The suspects’ determination was carried out after examining 21 witnesses, both from the TNI and civilians, said the general.

The investigation was carried out on 19 members of the Indonesian Army comprising five personnel from the Paniai Kodim, 13 personnel from Yonif Para Raider 433 JS, and one personnel from Denintel Kodam XVII Cenderawasih.

Even though nine suspects had been named, General Widjanarko said that his party was still conducting an in-depth examination of several personnel of Yonif Para Raider 433 JS, which needed further investigation.

This article was translated by a Pacific Media Watch correspondent from the original report. 

The family of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani, who was shot dead in Hitadipa district, Intan Jaya regency, Papua, three months ago are asking that the case be tried in a human rights court.

They oppose having the trial being taken to a military tribunal, reports CNN Indonesia.

“They [Yeremia’s family] want the case to be heard in a human rights court, so that the perpetrator can be tried in accordance with his actions and there will be justice for the victim. The victim’s family has no faith in the legal process of a military tribunal,” said a member of the team of lawyers representing Zanambani’s family, Yohanis Mambrasar.

• READ MORE: Independent investigators blame TNI for killing of Papuan pastor

In early October the government formed the Intan Jaya Joint Fact Finding Team (TGPF) to investigate the killing of Pastor Zanambani on September 19.

The team found allegations of the involvement of security personnel in the murder of the religious figure.

In a press release on Wednesday, the commander of the Army’s Military Police Centre, Lieutenant General Dodik Widjanarko, said that the Army Headquarters Legal Process Reinforcement Team was in the process of attempting to question 21 personnel from the 400 Raider Military Battalion in relation to the shooting.

Aside from questioning the 21 personnel, Widjanarko said that they had also questioned 14 personnel from the Cendrawasih XVII Regional Military Command’s (Kodam) Penebalan Apter Military Operational Unit Task Force.

Legal handling deplored
Mambrasar said that he deplored the legal handling of the case which should already be at a more advanced stage in the investigation.

“Like arresting and declaring suspects, because there’s already enough evidence. There are many witnesses and the indicating evidence is already very strong [and enough] to explain the case and the perpetrator,” he said.

He also said other such cases which had occurred in Papua recently, such as the murder of two youths named Luter Zanambani and Apinus Zanambani on April 21, the torching of a healthcare office on September 19 and the shooting of Agus Duwitau on October 7 must also be resolved by a human rights court.

Mambrasar said that as regulated under Article 9 in conjunction with Article 7(b) of Law Number 26/2000 on a Human Rights Court, the elements of a gross human rights violation in these cases — including Zanambani’s shooting — had already been met.

“As referred to under Article 7, namely that there were acts of violent killing which took in a systematic and broad manner”, he said.

IndoLeft News reports:
Although the government sanctioned TGPF only said that it found indications of the involvement of security personnel in Zanambani’s murder, an investigation by the government’s own National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) explicitly alleged Zanambani’s murderer as being Hitadipa sub-district military commander Chief Sergeant Alpius Hasim Madi.

Komnas HAM said Zanambani was killed while being interrogated on the whereabouts of an Indonesian military assault rifle two days earlier during an exchange of fire with the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB).

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Keluarga Korban Minta Kasus Intan Jaya Diadili Pengadilan HAM”.

Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers reportedly attacked and arrested civilians at a dormitory and nearby houses in Jayapura after a traffic accident and a quarrel between two dorm inhabitants and a soldier.

Human Rights Lawyers Association for Papua (PAHAM Papua) director Gustav Kawer said the TNI personnel’s action was a crime and a violation of human rights because it was committed outside TNI jurisdiction to arrest people and beat people.

Cenderawasih Military Command spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Reza Nur Patria confirmed both the traffic accident and the raid but did not confirm the attack.

• READ MORE: Other West Papua human rights articles

“During the quarrel, a member of [Infantry Battalion 751] was assaulted. The soldiers then searched the people who were responsible for the assault and detained five people for questioning,” he said.

Colonel Patria added that, following the internal probe at Army Infantry Battalion (Yonif) 751 headquarters, the five people were sent to Jayapura Police for further investigation.

“The soldier who was a victim of beatings has also reported to the police,” he said.

“If any [TNI] member is proven to have violated the law, he will be sanctioned in accordance with the law,” said the colonel.

On Wednesday night, a soldier on a motorbike allegedly hit another motorbike, on which Meky Suhuniap and Olun Yoal, both Soloitma dorm inhabitants, were riding in Sentani, near the dorm.

The three got into an argument before other residents in the location hit the soldier and seized his motorcycle as a guarantee so that the soldier would pay for the damage.

According to PAHAM Papua, at 11 pm more than 50 members of Yonif 751 in Sentani raided the Soloitma dorm, bringing weapons such as bayonets and swords. The soldiers allegedly hit residents, destroyed doors and took residents’ motorcycles.

Teenaged girl kicked, died
One of the residents, 18-year-old Demisian Kobak, was reportedly kicked, even though she had said she was not involved in the quarrel and had told the soldiers she was sick. She was then taken to the hospital for treatment but died the next morning.

“A girl [Demisian] was lying sick in her bed when the soldiers kicked her. She died on Thursday,” PAHAM Papua director Kawer told The Jakarta Post.

Moreover, the Yonif 751 Sentani members also allegedly attacked eight other people during the raid – Edi Kobak, Nation Suhuniap, Nus Suhuniap, Simson Suhuniap, Mince Kobak, Laura Yoal, Pinet Bahabol and 2-year-old Yotam Kobak.

The soldiers then took six of them to the headquarters for investigation, PAHAM Papua stated.

“Edi Kobak was kicked, hit in the face and struck on the head with a gun’s muzzle. Penet Bahabol received the same treatment while his hands were tied. As a result, both Edi and Penet sustained bruises to their bodies and faces and were bleeding at the head,” PAHAM Papua lawyer Yohanes Mambrasar said.

After a few hours, the soldiers transferred the six Papuans to the Jayapura Police. At 2 am Thursday, police sent them home.

Kawer of PAHAM said the soldiers had allegedly violated Article 351 of the Criminal Code on maltreatment or physical abuse and Article 38 of TNI Law No. 34 2004 on the soldier?s code of conduct.

PAHAM Papua called on the Jayapura Police to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators and demanded that the TNI hold civil court cases and dismiss the TNI members that committed the alleged crimes.

Alya Nurbaiti and Benny Mawel are reporters for The Jakarta Post.

The Papua Province Humanitarian Team for Cases of Violence Against Religious Figures in Intan Jaya Regency, Haris Azhar, has announced the results of their investigation into the shooting of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani who was allegedly shot by a rogue Indonesian military (TNI) officer in Hitadipa District, Intan Jaya, on September 19, reports CNN Indonesia.

Azhar said that the shooting of Pastor Zanambani began with an incident which occurred on September 17. At the time, an exchange of fire had occurred between TNI personnel and a group from the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) in the Sugapa Lama area.

During the incident, one TNI officer was killed and a TNI assault rifle was seized by the OPM.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the killing of pastor Yeremia Zanamani

Following the incident, the TNI summoned several members of the Hitadipa community one by one. During the meetings, the TNI said they wanted the firearms taken by the OPM to be returned.

“This message was accompanied with the threat that if they’re not returned the Hitadipa district would be bombed. This continued through to the next day, September 18,” Azhar said during a virtual press conference this week on Thursday.

Azhar said that the TNI again gathered community members together on the grounds in front of the sub-district military command (Koramil) on September 19. The Koramil commander gave the community two days to return the firearms.

Later on the same day, about 12 noon, the community was again gathered in front of the Immanuel 1 Church by a TNI officer called Alpius.

Military list of named ‘enemies’
Alpius was said to have already recorded and compiled information on six members of the Hitadipa community who were deemed to be “enemies” and the TNI and the Indonesian police regarded it “appropriate to wage war” on them.

One of the six people named had been Pastor Yeremia Zanambani.

“As a consequence of this statement the housewives and men, including the pastors and shepherds broke down in tears before Alpius,” Azhar said.

Azhar said that a member of Zanambani’s family, Meriam Zoani, held a meeting with the group of TNI soldiers led by Alpius at the end of the Hitadipa landing field at around 2.55 pm. A large number of TNI soldiers had gathered there.

Zoani was shocked and frightened at seeing how large the group of TNI soldiers were and that they were led by Alpius.

Azhar explained that Alpius was a TNI soldier assigned to Hitadipa district who Zanambani had treated as his own son. Alpius often visited Zanambani’s home to shower, eat with the family and to collect water for a garden Alpius tended.

“Alpius himself usually called Merriam ‘Mama’. Mama and the pastor also knew that Alpius often visited and was well known by local residents,” said Azhar.

Soldiers headed to pigpens
According to Azhar, furnished with information that Zanambani was at his pigpen, at 3.50 pm Alpius, along with three other TNI members, headed off to where Zanambani kept his pigs.

Two TNI members remained at a distance of about 25 metres from the Intan Jaya regency main road while two others, including Alpius, headed towards the pigpens.

“Straight away an order of ‘hands up’ [was heard] to which Zanambani with raised hands responded to by saying ‘I am a servant of God'”, said Azhar.

Azhar said that despite this the two TNI soldiers fired two shots in Zanambani’s direction. One shot hit his left arm and the other hit the pigpen wall. Zanambani immediate fell to the ground.

As well as being shot, Zanambani was also allegedly stabbed in the back with a sharp weapon.

Concerned about Zanambani’s whereabouts after he failed to return home, at around 6 pm, Zoani plucked up the courage to go to the pigpen to try to find him.

Upon arriving at the pigpen, Zoani was shocked to find Zanambani sprawled on the ground and covered in blood. Despite this Zanambani was still able to speak.

‘What happened?’
“‘I asked him why? What happened?’. The pastor answered ‘it was the person we gave food to who shot and stabbed [me]'”, said Azhar quoting from the conversation between Zoani and Zanambani.

Azhar said that Zanambani died shortly afterwards.

Azhar said Zanambani had suffered a serious gunshot wound to his left arm which resulted in heavy bleeding. In addition to this, Zanambani was also stabbed in the back of his neck by a military blade. The injury also resulted in significant bleeding.

Azhar said Zanambani was shot by a standard military weapon and it was suspected that he had been shot from a distance of approximately 1 metre. This was because the object that struck his body was a bullet which hit his upper arm.

“A 7-10 cm straight vertical slice was visible on the skin,” Azhar said.

Azhar said that the gunshot was more than just a flesh wound, adding that Zanambani’s armed was almost shot off. But, said Azhar, there were no witnesses or statements from those who initially picked up the victim or who had accompanied him following the attack.

“A bullet was found, a wound was also found on the upper rear part of the victim’s body, suspected to be a result of a sharp weapon. Resulting in an injury which caused serious blood loss,” said Azhar.

Military reluctance to respond
When confirmation was sought by CNN Indonesia from the military, TNI information centre head Major-General Achmad Riad was reluctant to respond to the investigation’s findings. Riad asked that the issue be referred to the Ministry for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs (Kemenko Polhukam).

“Please confirm it with the Kemenko Polhukam in the name of the state which established the official TGPF”, said Riad, referring to the government-sanctioned Intan Jaya Fact Finding Team (TGPF) formed by Security Chief Mahfud MD in early October to investigate Zanambani’s death.

The head of the Intan Jaya TGPF field investigation team meanwhile, Benny Mamoto, stated that they have more complete findings on the incident. He was responding to the presence of the Intan Jaya independent humanitarian team led by Azhar.

“The TGPF’s findings are more complete because the information was sourced from members of Indonesian police (including investigators) and TNI members, as well as the victim’s family and religious figures, social figures,” said Mamoto in a text message sent to CNN Indonesia on Thursday.

Although the TGPF already has findings from the field, Mamoto said that they were not at liberty to cite the names of the parties involved.

He explained that that the TGPF was only tasked with gathering information or data in the field. All of this data has been handed over to the commander of the TNI, the national police chief, the army’s chief of staff, the head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the Minister for Home Affairs to be followed up on.

“It’s not possible for the TGPF to cite names because it’s not the TGPF’s prerogative,” said Mamoto.

No authority to name suspects
Mamoto said that the TGPF did not have the authority to determine the perpetrators or name suspects and is restricted to gathering data from the field.

“The ones who have the authority to determine the perpetrators or suspects are the investigators after they’ve collected two pieces of evidence [as required under Indonesia’s Criminal Code],” said Mamoto who is also Executive Director of the National Police Commission.

“Up until the last point [in the investigation] we had yet to find an eyewitness to the shooting incident so it would be inelegant to mention the perpetrator’s name,” he added.

Earlier, the Intan Jaya TGPF formed by Mahfud MD finished its investigation into Pastor Yeremia Zanambani’s killing. Mahfud said that there are suspicions of the involvement of the security forces in the killing.

Translated by James Balowski for Indo-Left News. The original title of the article was “Investigasi Tim Kemanusiaan: Pendeta Yeremia Ditembak TNI”.

The West Papua Council of Churches wants an end to what it says is the re-militarisation of the region.

It wrote to Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and also asked him to follow through on his commitment to meet with Papuan pro-referendum groups.

The churches said they were writing because of the escalation in violence in recent weeks, including the repressive response to peaceful protests rejecting any extension of Special Autonomy, and the killing of a Papuan pastor, Reverend Yeremia Zanambani, two weeks ago in Intan Jaya regency.

• READ MORE: Third pastor killed in Papua this century, says church fellowship

The death of the pastor has been blamed by churches on the Indonesian military, although the military initially denied it.

However, according to the churches, the remilitarisation that has occurred in the region over the past year is aimed at turning Papua into a military operations area, with the military taking control of the natural resources on a large scale.

The churches documented how Indonesia strove in the 1960s to destroy Papuan culture and said an apartheid ideology was applied to Papuans with the people subjugated.

They said the President, as Indonesia’s supreme military commander, along with the member countries of the UN’s Human Rights Council, needed to resolve the issue of Papua peacefully through negotiations.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Three Papua New Guineans have been killed and another man is recovering in hospital after 16 armed bandits ambushed a vehicle they were travelling in with a priest and others in West Sepik.

Provincial police commander Chief Inspector Moses Ibsagi said two men were shot at point blank range in front of the passengers when they tried to resist the attack on Monday.

Two died on the spot after being shot in the head.

• READ MORE: PNG’s ‘rascal road’

The third man died in hospital later from knife wounds.

“The passengers, including a Catholic priest and three teachers, were on their way from Nuku in West Sepik to Maprik in East Sepik when the 16 men held up the vehicle,” he said.

The incident happened along the Sepik Highway at Wamarau in West Sepik at around 3pm on Monday.

Police are looking for the 16 bandits on the run.

Ibsagi said they were trying to get more information on the attack.

He was told by the Nuku police station commander that the passengers were robbed of all their possessions.

“The passengers were travelling to Maprik for their daily shopping and sale of vanilla,” he said.

“As they came near a village called Wamarau, the 16 men stopped the vehicle and held up the passengers and crew members.

“The thugs were armed with guns and bush knives.

“During a struggle, the two men were shot on the head and died instantly.

“Two passengers received knife wounds.

“One of them succumbed to his wound at the Maprik hospital.

“The other is recovering.”

The National newspaper articles are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

By Benny Mawel and Budi Sutrisno in Jayapura and Jakarta

The killing of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani in Intan Jaya regency, Papua, last weekend – allegedly carried out by personnel from the Indonesian military (TNI) – is the third case targeting a churchman in Papua since 2004, says a church fellowship.

The TNI has denied involvement in all three killings, accusing pro-independence rebels of killing two of them and claiming that the other one was not actually dead.

Human rights institutions have called on the government to open an independent investigation to shed light on the killings.

• READ MORE: Indonesian military accused of shooting dead a pastor – call for an inquiry
• Killing of Papuan clergyman sparks information clash, congregations flee

The president of the Papuan Baptist Churches Fellowship, Rev Socratez Sofyan Yoman, has alleged that prior to Yeremia, TNI members had shot dead two other pastors – Geyimin Nirigi and Elisa Tabuni – in separate incidents.

Geyimin was killed in Mapenduma district, Nduga regency, on December 19, 2018, he said, adding that the victim was reportedly forced to dig a grave in the backyard of his house, before being shot dead and his body burned.

“[Geyimin] had been a church pioneer since 1963. He was an old man, a figure who had received the gospel in Nduga,” Rev Socratez said.

Socratez said a TNI spokesman at that time had denied the allegation, saying Geyimin was alive and well.

Investigation results
However, he added, the results of an investigation by the Papuan Human Integrity Justice and Peace Foundation showed that Geyimin had died, allegedly at the hands of TNI personnel.

Meanwhile, Elisa Tabuni was reportedly handcuffed and shot dead by members of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) in Tingginambut district, Puncak Jaya regency, on August 16, 2004, Rev Socratez said.

He said the TNI had also denied this allegation, claiming that Tabuni had died at the hands of Goliath Tabuni, a pro-independence leader based in the district.

Rev Socratez strongly condemned the recent killing of Pastor Zanambani, as well as the other two cases, saying that it was “an accursed act before God and man”.

“The cruelty, violence and savagery of the TNI against the pastors is an affront to humanity and should be condemned,” he said.

Local news reports in Papua have reported that Pastor Zanambani was shot dead on his way to his pig pen on Saturday, at the same time as a military operation was taking place.

Rev Socratez said at least seven churches had been emptied, with many members of the congregations fleeing into the forests, as a result of military operations in Papua.

Rev Zanambani was the head of a theological school in Hitadipa district in Intan Jaya and a pastor in the Imanuel Hutadipa congregation of the Indonesian Evangelical Christian Church (GKII). He was also a Bible translator and a community leader of the Moni tribe.

Moni tribe investigating
Executives of the GKII and the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), as well as figures from the Moni tribe, are currently probing the incident.

The PGI has sent a letter to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, urging him to establish an independent team to thoroughly investigate this case, with support from the Papuan Police and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in Papua.

Rev Socratez urged Jokowi to end military operations in Papua. He also urged the Papuan Council of Churches (WPCC) to write to the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) to urge Pacific island nations to raise the issue at a United Nations forum.

Komnas HAM commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara said the commission had received a report regarding the latest incident from Papuan Students Alliance head John Gobay on Monday, and had immediately launched an investigation into the case.

“We have not concluded who is responsible. However, Komnas HAM believes that the government needs to evaluate its security approach in Papua to stop the cycle of violence involving TNI, armed groups and civil society, to which a long list of people have fallen victim,” Hapsara said.

Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid urged the government to investigate Rev Zanambani’s case and provide an explanation whether TNI personnel were responsible for the incident.

“This shooting again shows the failure of the state to bring peace to Papua. Since the beginning of the year, there have been at least 15 cases of extrajudicial shootings there. When can Papuans be free to live in peace?” Usman said in a statement.

Armed group
The Papua Police said the latest incident was committed by an “armed group”, aiming to attract global attention ahead of the UN General Assembly scheduled for the end of this month, although the police were investigating the motive behind the shooting.

TNI spokesperson for the Joint Regional Defence Command III in Papua Colonel Gusti Nyoman Suriastawa also said Rev Zanambani had been shot by an armed group, although he said he was still waiting for the results of an investigation by the Cendrawasih Regional Military Command.

“I don’t know [if there were two previous cases]. It’s been a long time. I’m afraid I might provide an incorrect statement. Let’s all wait for the investigation while we mourn the deceased,” he said.

Cendrawasih Regional Military Command spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Reza Patria said on Tuesday that his team was still investigating the incident and declined to elaborate further.

Wenda condemns Papua ‘killing zone’
At the United Nations, United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) chair Benny Wenda issued a statement condemning the killing of Pastor Zanambani.

The Tabernacle Bible Church of Indonesia’s congregation from the Intan Jaya regency in Papua has fled into the forests in fear after the killing of a pastor at the weekend, allegedly by the military, reports CNN Indonesia.

The church (GKII) says it believes Rev Yeremia Zanambani was shot dead by members of the TNI (Indonesian military) on Saturday, September 19.

This is different from a statement issued earlier by the TNI which claimed that Zanambani had been shot by a “criminal armed group” (KKB) – the Indonesian government’s term for the rebel Free Papua Movement (OPM).

• READ MORE: Military accused of shooting dead a pastor – call for inquiry
• Week of violence in Papuan regency culminates in pastor’s death

The information on the shooting was first uploaded by the GKII’s Facebook account @gkiipusat.

GKII national secretariat head Yahya Jahatela confirmed the information, saying that Zanambani was shot as he was going to his pig pen to feed the animals.

“Yes, that’s correct. Currently we are still waiting on written information and data from Papua, but the information is indeed correct,” said Jahatela when contacted by CNN Indonesia by phone yesterday.

Jahatela said that following the incident, seven or eight churches were empty with their congregations seeking refuge in the forest.

‘Congregations afraid’
“The congregations have fled into the forests because they’re afraid,” he said.

The GKII considers the incident to be a serious blow for church services in Intan Jaya and it is distressed about the loss of a spiritual figure for the Moni tribal people.

Zanambani was the head of the GKII church for the Hitadipa regency in Intan Jaya and was known as an evangelist who was dedicated and had integrity as well as a translator of the Bible into the Moni local language.

Jahatela said that they intend to write a protest to the government after obtaining complete data from the Papua GKII.

“[We’re] praying for the planned burial … and hope that the security forces can be prudent and behave fairly in safeguarding innocent people,” wrote the GKII central office on its Facebook account.

Earlier, III Joint Regional Defense Command (Kogabwihan) information head Colonel Czi IGN Suriastawa said that Zanambani had been shot dead by an armed criminal group in Hitadipa.

According to Suriastawa, armed criminal groups had been spreading “slander” by accusing the TNI of shooting Zanambani.

‘Attracting attention’
“As I said yesterday, they are looking for momentum to attract attention from the United Nations General Assembly meeting at the end of the month,” said Suriastawa in a press release on Sunday.

Suriastawa appealed to local people not to be provoked by the slander, particularly through social media.

“It’s clear that its being setup and manipulated to provoke the people, corner the TNI and Polri [Indonesian police] and government in the lead up to the UN SU (general session),” he said.

Suriastawa said that the death of Zanambani added to the long list of casualties.

He said that several days ago Papuan armed groups had attacked a civilian and two TNI soldiers.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Gereja Duga Pendeta Tewas di Intan Jaya Papua Ditembak TNI”.

A pastor has been shot dead at the weekend allegedly by the Indonesian military, sparking protests by church groups and a call for an investigation.

The pastor, Rev Yeremia Zanambani, was killed on Saturday in the Hitadipa district of Intan Jaya regency, Papua.

He was the former chairperson of the GKII Hitadipa district churches, vice-chairman of the Moni Bible translator, and also head of the STA Hitadipa school.

• READ MORE: Churches union condemns shooting that killed pastor in Papua, urges Jokowi to take action

Neighbourhood community sources in Hitadipa village confirmed the shooting.

“This pastor went to to his pig pen in Bomba, a village not far from Hitadipa, to feed pigs. His body was just found this morning with his hand cut and shot,” the source said on Sunday.

Previously, the Indonesian military (TNI) had warned the Hitadipa communities to immediately return two weapons that had been allegedly taken by the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) from the Hitadipa Koramil post.

Killing condemned
The Jakarta Post reports that according to leaders of the Indonesian Evangelical Christian Church (GKII) and local media in Papua, the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) chairman, Gomar Gultom, had alleged that Zanambani had been shot by TNI personnel at the same time that a military operation reportedly took place.

“I strongly condemn the shooting that killed pastor Yeremia Zanambani,” Gomar said yesterday.

Gomar said reports that the PGI had received differed from the account of the military, which published a statement on Sunday claiming Zanambani had been shot by an “armed criminal group” in the area.

The GKII, PGI executives and figures of the Moni tribe in Papua – an indigenous group to which Zanambani belonged – were currently investigating the incident, Gomar said.

Suara Papua articles are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

Hundreds walked the Sir John Guise drive on Thursday calling for justice for the brutal death of 19-year-old mother-of-two – Jenelyn Kennedy last week.

Jenelyn’s battered lifeless body was taken into the Port Moresby General Hospital last Tuesday by four men (one believed to be the father of her two children).

Dr Sam Yockopua, the country’s chief of emergency, took to social media his outburst on what he described as “an inhumane act and work of the devil” after seeing her body.

READ MORE: Background and reports on gender-based violence in PNG

The media went to town with her story the next day and the Friday photograph of her battered body by The National (with permission from her family), we believe is the turning point of enough is enough.

We defied media ethics by publishing that photograph but it had to be done to drive home the message of violence is rampant in our society.

Her story needed to be told.

Though she is not around to tell it, her voice needed to be heard and that picture was used to ensure her voice was loud and clear and to also awaken the authorities and the country to the realities of gender-based violence (GBV).

Due to feelings of isolation, fear, and intimidation, many people do not speak up if they are being abused at home.

They live in fear, and therefore do not get the help that they need to get out of their current situation.

The brutality of her death has shaken the country and has not put authorities on the spot with their lack of pro-activeness in getting the GBV system working efficiently. Her story, we believe, will give victims some hope of reaching out for help and one day to speak about it.

It was a wakeup call for citizens to realise the horrific realities of GBV so they can check on their daughters, sisters or friends and help them get out before it’s too late, and so much more.

The march yesterday, with the many who wore black around the country and the evening vigil is a sign of togetherness to denounce violence against woman and to shine the light on the help system for victims.

A banner portrait showed Jenelyn’s smiling face.

Placards bearing her name and other victims, and slogans to ending violence were displayed.

Far too often, GBV cases covered by the media gradually gets swept away.

Domestic violence does not discriminate. It exists in households of every socio-economic status, and every ethnic and cultural background.

It is often used as a weapon of control and intimidation by a partner, spouse or ex-spouse.

Her death sparked public outcry – justice for her and all victims and to put an end to violence. It shone a light on the failing GBV help system. Institutions are now responding.

Strengths and gaps within the current system are now being identified and we hope those responsible will do what is needed to improve and correct it as we move forward.

All concerned stakeholders have the responsibility now holding each other accountable so we are on the right track.

The PNG National Strategy to Prevent and Response to Gender Based Violence 2016-2025 is there. Let us move forward on a strong course of action that protects and supports victims of domestic violence.

The bottom line is we want to put a stop to domestic violence – before it ever begins.
Everyone – government, police, lawyers, social services, health-care professionals and other community partners – has a role here.

It is our collective responsibility to stop the violence.

This National editorial was published in the weekend edition, 3-5 July 2020, under the original title of “Let’s play our part to end violence”.

A passionate plea by men, women and children has echoed around the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby – that it is time to turn the corner on addressing gender-based violence in the country.

Gatherings, a peaceful march and a vigil were staged in the capital city on Thursday following the death of 19-year-old Jenelyn Kennedy, a mother-of-two, after alleged beatings at home.

Her husband appeared in court on Tuesday charged with wilful murder.

READ MORE: Background and reports on gender-based violence in PNG

• PNG women demand end to domestic violence after death of 19-year-old mother Jenelyn Kennedy

Jean Parkop, wife of National Capital District Governor Powes, said this must be the turning point.

“Let’s not wait until someone else dies. We must demand for change, we must demand for action,” she said.

“As mothers, it is our duty to teach our sons to never hit women. This must not continue. We must stand up now.”

Prime Minister James Marape urged men to walk away from cultural and tribal defences, cycle of violence and to respect women.

‘Women are our partners’
“Women are our partners. They are our partners not just in homes but also in communities and the country as a whole,” he said.

Ironically, the idea of a vigil and march came from men who were so touched by Jenelyn’s death.

“It’s time men stand up for women – our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters,” said Solomon Kantha who floated the idea to his friends.

Kantha said the picture of Jenelyn’s battered body on The National’s front page last Friday just broke his heart.

“I felt that something had to be done. We had to stop these acts of cruelty against women. If not now, when? One day, it just might be our mother, sister, wife or even our daughter,” he said.

Kantha said he could not sleep last Friday because he too had daughters.

“I said let’s walk in memory of late Jenelyn. My friends reached out and said: Let’s do this. We decided to hold a vigil to not only remember her life but the lives of all other women who had died as a result of violence, for those still living in violence around the country.”

 

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SAY NO TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE! SAY NO TO GENDER BASED VIOLENCE, STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN! . WHEN WILL WIFE BASHING STOP? WHEN WILL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STOP???? . HOW MANY MORE OF OUR SISTERS HAVE TO DIE FOR THE MEN IN THIS COUNTRY TO WAKE UP AND REALIZE THAT THIS IS WRONG? . HOW CAN A MAN BE THIS HEARTLESS? HOW CAN A MAN BE THIS CRUEL, THIS EVIL, THIS INHUMANE TO MURDER THE MOTHER OF HIS CHILDREN, TO COMMIT SUCH A CRIME, TO EVEN TAKE A LIFE? . FATHERS PLEASE RAISE YOUR SONS TO PROTECT THEIR WOMAN AT ALL COSTS. #jenelynkennedy #justiceforjenelynkennedy #saynotodomesticviolence #stopviolenceagainstwomen #pngwomenlivesmatter #protectyourwomen #protectourwomen #pngwomen

A post shared by Stephanie Levouannah Meyu (@stephanie_meyu) on Jun 25, 2020 at 1:24pm PDT

Make voices heard challenge
Kennedy family friend Thomas Opa from the Gulf challenged women to make their voices heard.

He said PNG already had laws to address such violence.

“What we need is for these laws and legislations to be actioned. We demand for action,” he said.

Opa said Jenelyn’s death had given a voice to women.

“Don’t let her death be in vain. Don’t let another young woman die like this. This is the time to demand for action, not just for Jenelyn but for all other women who have died from violence, for all the survivors of violence and for our daughters and their future,” he said.

Rebecca Kuku is a senior journalist with The National.

I write this as a Papua New Guinean and a daughter of this nation.

I believe in the rights of women. I believe that the Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the Mama Lo, safeguards the place of women in our nation.

Bhosip Kaiwi, the man accused of murder in the Papua New Guinean torture case, will be held at the Correctional Services Training College at Bomana to undergo 14 days of quarantine under the government’s covid-19 requirement, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

He will remain there until he is cleared before joining the general population at the Bomana jail.

He will be under the watchful eyes of prison warders.

READ MORE: Gender-based violence in PNG background and reports

On Tuesday, the man accused of killing the mother of his two children arrived under heavy police guard at the Waigani District Court as a large number of interested public and his dead partner’s family gathered outside to catch a glimpse of him.

Getting off the police vehicle, Kaiwi had his head covered with a white towel and was led into a waiting room at the courthouse by the NCD homicide and CID officers.

The angry crowd who watched the arrival called for the removal of the towel on his head.

“Rausim towel lo pes blo em!” (“remove the towel on his head”), “bai mipla paitim em!” (“let us belt him”), and “wanem kain man yah!” (who does he think he is) were some of the comments hurled at him as he was led into the courthouse.

Angry crowd outside court
He sat in a waiting room for a few minutes, awaiting his turn to appear before Magistrate Tracey Ganai.

After reading his charges, Magistrate Ganai issued a remand warrant that Kaiwi be moved from the Boroko police station cell to Bomana until his second appearance on July 30.

After that he was led out again to an angry crowd calling for his head and was rushed into the police vehicles back to Boroko police station, where he waited for the warrant to allow him to be taken up to the CS quarantine site.

Correctional Services Commissioner Stephen Pokanis, when asked about reported threats against Kaiwi, said an assessment would be done and appropriate protection measures would be taken.

“Yes. The commanding officer and his officers will assess the situation, the threats and dangers, and where required, they will separate the detainee from other detainees.

“On a positive note, many detainees at Bomana are Godly people who will provide support to any person who is incarcerated at the institution,” Pokanis said.

Young Papua New Guinean mother-of-two Jenelyn Kennedy died from “head injury and bruised internal organs”, according to a doctor who examined her body.

Dr Seth Fose, the chief pathologist at the Port Moresby General Hospital, said the 19-year-old died from “blunt force trauma to the head and the body with a blunt instrument or object”.

Her body was left at the hospital by three men on Tuesday after she had undergone – alleged the babysitter who lived with her and her partner at a home at Korobosea – beatings for six days in a row.

READ MORE: Gender-based violence in PNG background and reports

Port Moresby police have charged her partner Bhosip Kaiwi with wilful murder. He has been in custody at the Boroko police station since last week and he appeared in the Waigani District Court today.

Jenelyn Kennedy’s body was left at the hospital on Tuesday by three men who arrived in a vehicle.

Grandfather Kennedy Karava said Jenelyn, who turned 19 on March 18, had been through five years of torture which they had been reporting to police.

In 2015, when she was in grade seven at the Eki Vaki Primary School, Karava said Jenelyn ran away with Kaiwi. They reported the matter to police as she was underage. They had two children.

Two doctors summoned
Babysitter Racheal Ipang told of how Jenelyn had been beaten up for six straight days up to last Monday night when two doctors were summoned to treat her at home.

Ipang said after the doctors had left, she had heard Jenelyn being beaten again.

“Her screams stopped at around 3am [Tuesday]. I believe that was when she passed away.”

The postmortem report, however, stated that she had died about 2pm on Tuesday.

Ipang said another woman was brought into the house to be the “second wife”, but she ran away after being subjected to beatings too.

Kennedy family spokesman Thomas Opa said the family would not accept any form of compensation from whoever caused Jenelyn’s death. They would leave it up to the court to decide on the appropriate punishment.

Meanwhile, the National Doctors Association is investigating the involvement of two doctors who were called to the home at Korobosea to treat Jenelyn.

Association secretary Dr Sam Yockopua said: “They could be nurses or other cadres of health workers”.

“We are investigating that,” he said.

“And if found guilty, we can revoke membership and refer them to the Medical Board for further action.”

Remand warrant for Kaiwi
PNG Post-Courier reports that Bhosip Kaiwi, the prime suspect in the killing of Jenelyn Kennedy, has appeared briefly before the Waigani District Court today facing a willful murder charge.

About 100 people gathered outside the courthouse this morning to catch a glimpse of the man who had shocked the nation with his alleged crimes.

Magistrate Tracey Ganai, after reading the charges, issued a remand warrant for Kaiwi to be moved from his Boroko police station cell to Bomana jail until his second court appearance due on July 30.

Kaiwi allegedly tortured and killed Kennedy, the mother of his two children, at his house in Korobosea, a northeast suburb of the capital Port Moresby.

Rebecca Kuku is a senior journalist with The National newspaper.

The care of duty supposed to be provided to the young Papua New Guinean mother Jenelyn Kennedy killed last week was not properly done and everybody involved failed her, says a leading resarcher and anti-violence advocate.

“This includes the police officers at the Family Sexual Violence Unit (FSVU), doctors, family, friends and neighbours, who all failed to save this young lady who faced five years of torture by her partner,” said Dr Fiona Hukula.

“Those doctors who were involved need to be held accountable as they breached their medical ethics.

READ MORE: Gender-based violence in PNG background and reports

“Most of the FSVU operate until 4pm and a lot of this violence happens at night,” she said.

“The justice system does not start from the courts, it starts once a complaint is registered at the police station and the referral pathways are not effectively carried out.

“Not every case reported is attended to by the police as the survivor is told to return when it is open for operation.

“As far as I know, those people who work at the FSVU are not in the police structure, which means that they take them from other areas of policing.”

Specialised police needed
Dr Hukula said Papua New Guinea cannot have that kind of policing.

Gender-based violence police needed to be specialised – “be there at the counter all the time and be proactive in handling women”.

“For many women, they front up at the FSVU but do not return for some time due to continuous violence. So what the officer in FSVU should do is do a follow up and look for the survivor rather than waiting for her to return with more bruises or even result in death like the [last week’s] killing.

“The law is there, we need the systems and processes to effectively work for those suffering from violence.

“The child welfare system did not work for her, the police system did not work too, and so what has gone wrong here.

“Obviously in PNG, people with money and power get away with things,” she said.

Dr Hukula said the Family Support Centre headed by Tessie Tahiti Ranu needed more support as she was a champion because she dealt with survivors of violence and abuse, including children. Her kind of work needed a lot of support.

“We put a lot of money into law and justice response, we are not getting an outcome,” she said.

‘Start conversation at home’
“It is important to start this conversation in your own home.

“There are proper ways and processes to deal with anger apart from fighting. Everybody argues, and that is normal.

“However, what is not normal is fighting especially when beating up somebody up so badly which can result in death as such.”

EMTV News reports that the family has refused suggestions of compensation and have demanded justice.

They say the law, such as the Family Protection Act, the Criminal Code Act and the Lukautim Pikinini Act need to be sternly looked at and for enforcers and stakeholders to rise up and take action.

Partner charged with murder
The National reports police had charged a man with wilful murder over the death of Jenelyn Kennedy, the 19-year-old mother of two last Tuesday.

A statement issued by divisional police commander for the National Capital District and Central, Assistant Commissioner Anthony Wagambie Jr, and Metropolitan Superintendent N’dranou Perou, said Bosip Kaiwi, Jenelyn’s partner, was facing a charge of wilful murder.

He was being detained at the Boroko police station and expected to appear in court yesterday.

Eva Wangihama of the Laity Commission said men should not use their masculinity to exert power over women.

She urged the government to educate men on proper conduct and ethical behaviour.

Marie Mondu, development secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference, said: “Justice is not enough. We want all violence to end”

“It is alarming to see young women and girls brutally murdered by partners almost every month in PNG.”

Grace Auka-Salmang is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

About 10 women and girls in Port Moresby have become victims of gender-based violence and have ended their lives at the hands of brutal partners in the past four years.

Many of these reported cases were committed by educated, high class urban dwellers while few cases have been from rural communities.

Between 2016-2020, about 10 gender-based violence deaths have been reported, while other women have received severe and permanent injuries as a result of these violent acts.

READ MORE: Gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea – background to the issues

In March 2016, Monica Belioli Nagi, a 33-year-old from a mixed parentage from Bougainville and Australia was viciously beaten to near death by her boyfriend of three months.

About two months later on May 14, 2016, Regina Morove, 25, of mixed parentage PNG and Australia, was shot with a pistol allegedly by her lawyer husband. She was an auditor with accounting firm KPMG.

Former beauty queen Rubby-Anne Laufa was killed before her 25th birthday, allegedly by her boyfriend in February 2017. Laufa was a final year student at the Legal Training Institute.

In October 2017, the media industry lost senior journalist late Roslayn Albaniel Evara who was the business editor of the Post-Courier. She was alleged to have been a victim of gender-based violence as stated by her relatives.

Went to court – but faded
The matter went to court once in 2018 and faded.

In 2018, more girls and women became victims to abusive husbands and boyfriends.

In October 2018, a domestic argument led to the death of Laurel Koko Nakini Mulungu and her unborn child at ATS in the National Capital District.

In November, the same year, Grace Gavera was brutally killed by her partner at Erima in the National Capital. The partner was later arrested by police.

Another GBV death on the eve of Christmas 2018, a month after the death of Grace Gavera, was 20-year-old Solange Aiva Aitsi of Kairiku and Kerema parentage.

She was attacked by her partner over an argument that erupted at a family Christmas gathering on December 25.

In March 2019, a man killed his wife in Lae in a move to marry his stepdaughter. Also in May of 2019, Silingo Lamu from the Morobe Province and her daughters Irene Gabriella, Jenellyn and baby sitter Magi Molo were murdered in their house in Mt Hagen by her jealous husband.

Tortured to death
About six months after the killing of Lamu, (in October 2019) Ladona Olongo, 30, from Komo died after prolonged and continuous violent abuse in Port Moresby.

The latest is the death of Jennelyn Kennedy, the 19-young-old mother of two (mixed parentage of Kerema and Australia), who was alleged to have been tortured to death on Tuesday this week between 2pm-4pm at Korobesea in the National Capital District.

The accused is now in police custody charged with murder and investigations are continuing.

Many women continue to go through severe maltreatment from their husbands and sexual offenders.

Among them is Priscilla Wonga, a 25-year-old woman who was thrown out of the house by her policeman husband in 2016, and who suffered spine injuries. She is now completely paralysed.

In 2018, a brother-in-law of a woman in Lae had her genitals padlocked. The man had control over the woman in sexual bondage.

In another reported event, a man in Lae’s West Taraka poured kerosene and set fire to his wife in October 2007. She received third degree burns.

In the same months of 2007, another man in the East New Britain poured hot water on his wife’s head during an argument.

Jeffrey Elapa is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

Below is a slightly edited version of the defence that Rebecca Kuku posted on her Facebook account in response to criticisms of her and The National and which she subsequently removed. The Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report is republishing this with the permission of Rebecca and her editor, Christine Banian Pakakota, as an example of courageous journalism in the public interest. – Asia Pacific Report Editor

COMMENT: By Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby

Thank you to all those media experts, lawyers – and just about everyone who found the time in their busy schedules – to call me up in the newsroom, send an email or message me about the report and the picture of a young mother, Jenelyn Kennedy, on today’s The National newspaper. Even a Papua New Guinean student lawyer in Australia sent a complaint from her law firm to my editors.

And yes, I know it was unethical, it was distressing and graphic but her story needs to be told and what better way to do it than in a picture because a picture is worth a thousand words.

READ MORE: Tragic life and death of Jenelyn – babysitter tells of PNG torture case

Besides I had gained permission from her family, both the maternal and paternal sides.

And yes, I knew I’d be trashed. I’m not new to the industry or the criticism but you see, yesterday [Thursday], sitting in that press conference, I was torn between sobbing out loud or just punching a wall.

It was nearly deadline for the newspaper and so I made my excuses and left to go back and file …

Then I ran back up to the room and asked the family if I could use that picture. I told them straight, that it would be graphic and gruesome and against media ethics but people needed to see it for themselves to really know what she had been through and the family gave me permission to use it.

So you see, sometimes we have to make decisions that go against ethics – hard decisions. And I thank my chief editor Christine Banian Pakakota, editor Gynnie Kero and assistant editor Charles Moi for always backing me up. For making that call, that decision to have it published.

At the end of the day, it was an editorial decision and credit must go back to chief editor Christine Pakakota for making the decision to publish the picture.

Teamwork at the Big Red House
I filed it but she made the brave decision to run it! It was teamwork and that is why I am always proud to be a part of the Big Red House (The National)

I know it was a hard decision to make and so thank you.

Her story needed to be told – as a reporter, a woman, a mother, a sister, I failed to be her voice when she was alive and I’d be damned if I would fail her now in her death. Her voice needs to be heard and that picture was used to ensure her voice was loud and clear and to also awaken the authorities who seem to be sleeping, to open their eyes to the realities of gender-based violence (GBV).

Men who beat their wives can see that picture and start realising that one day they too might beat their wives to death, women who are still trapped in violent marriages can see that picture and feel empowered to leave because I’m sure no women would want to die like that.

It was a wake up call for citizens to realise the horrific realities of GBV so they can check on their daughters, sisters or freinds and help them get out before it’s too late, and so much more.

So you see. You can say all you want to say, and email, call or text… but I will stand by my decision to file that picture with the story and defend it – because it’s about time!

By Rebecca Kuku in The National

The battered body of young mother Jenelyn Kennedy lay in a morgue yesterday as relatives told of the repeated beatings she had been receiving in the past five years which had been reported to police.

Grandfather Kennedy Karava said Jenelyn had last week been subjected to another six days of beating.

She finally collapsed at the home she shared with her partner at Korobosea in Port Moresby early Tuesday morning.

Her partner was charged with wilful murder yesterday.

Karava said Jenelyn was only 15 and doing Grade Seven at the Eki Vaki Primary School when her father gave her a house in downtown to live in. She eloped with her partner in late 2015.

“We started looking for her. My son heard that they were living at 6-Mile. He lodged a complaint with the 6-Mile police station as she was under age,” he said.

“But at the police station, the officer told [my son] to come back the next day. He released Jenelyn and the partner. The next day, my son and I went to the police station and waited untill afternoon. The police station commander referred us to the Sexual Offence Unit at the Boroko police station.”

He said they were told to leave their contacts with police and that “they would get back to us”.
Jenelyn and her partner disappeared in 2016.

“We went back a couple of times to the police station but they said the same thing: leave a number and will call you back,” he said.

Last year, Jenelyn managed to run away from her partner and returned to her maternal family at the Murray Barracks – “with her two babies, a broken arm and a black eye”.

Uncle Dickson Karava said the partner came and took her back, and “beat her up”.

“Every time we tried to intervene, she would stop us, saying he had the money and connections and would just make her life worse.”

Her children’s babysitter, Racheal Ipang, said when she returned to her partner in October last year, “he was good to her for a week, then beat her up again”.

Ipang said Jenelyn wasn’t allowed to leave her room.

“Jenelyn sought help, went to the safe house at Ela Beach, at Kaugere, at Erima, but it was no use.”

Ipang told of how last Thursday [June 18] he had assaulted her too before turning to Jenelyn again.

“We were inside the kids’ room when I started hearing Jenelyn’s muffled cries, the noise of chains and banging on the door.

“I was scared too. There were five men in the house too but they didn’t intervene.

“He beat her from last week Thursday to Monday morning when he called for a doctor [named] to treat her at home.”

She said after the doctor left, he beat her again.

“Her screams stopped at around 3am [Tuesday]. I believe that’s when she passed away.”

Journalist Rebecca Kuku has a special Facebook page called Becky’s World where she discusses GBV issues.

#IMayHaveOnlyOneMatchButICanMakeAnExplosion
#BigRedHouse
#JusticeForJenelyn
#LetHerVoiceBeHeardNow

The PNG Defence Force has handed over three suspects for the killing of police Senior Inspector Andrew Tovere to the investigating police.

Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Wagambie Jnr was accompanied by three officers to attend a muster parade at Port Moresby’s Murray Barracks yesterday.

The attendance was prompted by the invitation of the commanding officer in charge of Support Company purposely to address the troops.

READ MORE: Scott Waide: Look at the big picture, not just a breaking news lust

“I was given the opportunity to speak to our soldiers and after this parade we escorted the three suspects involved in late SIP Tovere’s murder [on May 8] to Boroko Police Station at around 10am.

“The three suspects were handed over by the PNGDF military police and are now being processed at Boroko Police Station,” he said in a statement.

Assistant Commissioner Wagambie said the three suspects would go through normal process of interview and charges will be laid against them.

“We will as much as possible get them to attend court today for mention to get their warrants to move them to Bomana CS.

“I have assured the military hierarchy and rank and file on parade that the security of the three soldiers is guaranteed.

“We have mobile squads stationed at Boroko Police Station to ensure their security is protected…

“I want to assure members of the PNGDF and residents of NCD [National Capital District] that police are on normal operations and we have taken control as of last Saturday after the incident…

“Both the murder and the subsequent confrontation at ATW is very unfortunate. Commissioner of Police will issue a separate statement in regards to this.”

Wagambie added that “normalcy” had returned to police activities as of Saturday evening and is calling on the police and PNGDF to remain calm as the process took its course.

Republished under a collaborative partnership with EMTV News.

Yesterday [Saturday], we received a lot of criticism over our coverage of the death of Senior Inspector Andrew Tovere.

As a news organisation, we have several responsibilities one of which is to deliver ACCURATE information.

READ MORE: Former PNG Defence Force chief calls for inquiry after policeman killed

Friday night’s incident presented several critical challenges:

Accuracy vs speed:
We had a situation that could have turned nasty if we had carelessly pumped out information as demanded by social media users. Yes. There is a place for breaking news and being first with information. However, given the situation [on Saturday], accuracy was of primary importance. I personally issued instructions to be careful of how we handled the situation.

Any sensationalism could have got us an enormous amount of traffic…. and contributed to tipping the city into chaos jeopardising the negotiation work that was being done by senior PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) and Royal PNG Constabulary (RPNGC) commanders behind the scenes. In short, we could have added to the complication and contributed to more deaths, had we not been careful.

Papua New Guinea is different. We all know that. I am urging everyone to look at the big picture in circumstances like this. Do not succumb to the lust for breaking news and dead bodies. As I said, there is a place for it.

Yesterday [Saturday], in my opinion, was not the place for it. We lost one senior police officer, and bear in mind, a human being with a family, a tribe and colleagues who could have taken a different course of action.

There is an editorial team made up of the head of news, the online editor, myself and other senior reporters that works everyday to verify incoming content. It is a lengthy ongoing process. It’s not “poor journalism”. it’s actually good journalism to verify and check sources. Good journalism is about accuracy and balance.

We have to care about our country.

News cannot, always, be handled like what you see in America, Australia and other countries. Our team always tries to take into account the wider impact on the community. A community made up of families, clans and tribes. That is a difficult task with no room for selfishness and sensationalism.

Verification:
While many will want to jump at the opportunity to share information circulated, we have to verify the details of what happened. We presented an honest, unsensationalised account of that happened also clearly stating that it was a developing story and that we would provide updates as things happened. There is nothing wrong with being honest and cautious.

We placed reporters at Port Moresby General Hospital to verify that a death had occurred then sought clarification from the RPNGC command and the police minister. We shared when we were sure everything we had was accurate.

Live broadcast (controlled and uncontrolled situations):
Quite a few people demanded “live coverage” of the shootout. Unfortunatley, it rarely happens in real life in UNCONTROLLED situations like a shootout. Some said we should be “risking our lives” to get accurate information. While I have team members who can do that, the answer for me as a team leader is NO.

I don’t have to explain this, but there are so many misconceptions related to this that sometimes, the comments border on fictional expectations. We don’t usually go to a scene and prepare for a police shootout to happen.

Let’s be realistic.

Scott Waide is a frequent contributor to the Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report. Here he gives some insight into journalists’ dilemmas with news judgement, ethics and responsibility in Papua New Guinea in response to social media criticism of EMTV News coverage. The comment was first published on his Facebook page.

Former Papua New Guinea Defence Force commander Jerry Singirok has condemned the killing of a senior police officer allegedly by off-duty soldiers.

He used social media last night to distribute a message of condemnation of the killing of Senior Inspector Tovere with a photo of himself with two other former commanders, Peter Ilau and Ted Diro, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

“As the duly appointed secretary-general of PNG Flag Officers’ League, on behalf of the former commanders PNGDF, we condemn the killing of a senior police officer,” he said.

READ MORE: Controlling PNG’s borders the priority, says SOE controller

“We call on the government of the day to step up the control of the PNGDF as we have noted a serious decline in morale and discipline.

“We call for an independent inquiry [into] the command and control of the PNGDF, including aspect [sic] of fair recruitment and management of public funds,” Singirok said.

“Failing that, we can never recover from the current quagmire.”

Papua New Guinea currently has at state of emergency in place with 18 positive cases of covid-19 reported but no deaths. However, authorities do not know if there is any community spread and the method of testing is being changed.

A report from Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Anthony Wagambie Jr said he did not foresee any more trouble between the two disciplinary forces.

Sergeant identified
He said one Defence Force sergeant had been identified by military police.

”Others will be identified if any. The officer is on the run and will be brought in by MP [military police],” he said.

RNZ Pacific also reports that PNG police had reported calm although tension still remained.

Senior Inspector Tovere, the police commander for National Capital District (NCD) Zone Three, died after he was allegedly attacked by drunk off-duty military personnel on Friday at the ATS Settlement in the capital of Port Moresby, according to FM100 News.

Police officer’s body escorted
Forty-six police vehicles with sirens and lights blazing left the National Fraud Squad office at Konedobu around 7pm last night escorting Tovere’s body in a funeral home van to 9 Mile where he remained overnight, Acting Metropolitan Commander Chris Tamari said.

Assistant Commissioner Wagambie Jr’s report said: “[The] situation from our end is now quiet. All units have been contained and back to normal duties.”

He recounted what happened yesterday morning: “Police units had congregated at 3 Mile Hospital after learning of the death of our senior officer.

“We told them to go to Boroko Station so they would be briefed and to remain calm. However some units broke away and went straight to ATW against our directives,” Wagambie said.

He said Superintendent Tamari and he followed them there and met Colonel Eddie Mirou and got the units to withdraw.

” There was a small confrontation before we had arrived. All units returned to Boroko where acting Metsupt and I talked to them.

”[We] explained to them that they must not enter any Army Barracks. PNGDF is working on it,” Wagambie said.

Rappler publisher and chief editor Maria Ressa was critical today of the Philippines administration under President Rodrigo Duterte for its focus on “security” rather than public health in the global covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking on RNZ public radio’s Saturday Morning current affairs programme in a week in which the government closed the country’s top television and radio network, ABS-CBN, Ressa condemned the shooting of three citizens during the Manila lockdown so far.

Asked by presenter Kim Hill how the Philippine capital was faring under the pandemic restrictions, Ressa said the Philippines government was “still more focused on security rather than public health”.

LISTEN: Rappler publisher Maria Ressa talks to RNZ Saturday Morning’s Kim Hill

Acknowledging that levels of testing had increased in her homeland as in many other countries, she added, “It’s just that our president quite early on said, ‘shoot them dead’ if [dissenters] violate the quarantine. It is as crazy as that!”

Kim Hill: “And have there been any shot dead?”

“There have been three cases since President Duterte said that on April 1.

“A 63-year-old farmer was stopped at a checkpoint because he was not wearing a facemask … and shot dead …

‘Just like a blip’
“It is just like a blip. I wrote about it for Time magazine at the time…

“Just a week ago a former colonel in the military with PTSD was stopped at a checkpoint by police – who are dressed like the military and wearing fatigues … and they shot and killed him.

“And then just this Sunday … there was this Spanish man who the police tried to arrest in his own home and that is unconstitutional.”

Ressa added, “Again it is an abuse, an over-reliance on violence and arrests. We have had 30,000 arrests since lockdown at a time when the courts are not working.

“So how do these people post bail?”

READ MORE: We can’t let the virus infect democracy – Maria Ressa

Ressa’s work exposing government corruption and the misdeeds of the powerful has put her on a collision course with the ‘strongman’ government of President Duterte.

Lead investigative journalist
She spent nearly 20 years working as CNN’s lead investigative journalist in Southeast Asia before setting up the independent website Rappler in her homeland.

Now, in what critics describe as a politically motivated prosecution, she’s being accused of cyber-libel and tax evasion. The prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney is among her admirers, and is defending her at her trial

“This is my 34th year as a journalist and I would never have thought I would be arrested for doing my job. I was arrested twice in a five-week period, then I was detained once – experiences I wish I didn’t have, but it gave me a clear personal experience of the abuse of power.”

Ressa said they were politically motivated charges meant to stifle press freedom.

“Truth is critical in any democracy,” Ressa said.

“I became the cautionary tale for journalists.”

• Top Philippines TV network forced to close under Duterte pressure
• Journalism educators call for action after new Duterte attack on free press
• Shut down Philippines network journalist tells of ‘the unthinkable’

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Politicians and activists in Manila have welcomed a draft resolution calling for United Nations action against the thousands of killings in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, reports Al Jazeera.

The proposal by Iceland, submitted to the 47-member UN Human Rights Council in Geneva late last week, urged the Philippine government to prevent extrajudicial executions and marked the first time the council has been asked to address the crisis.

At least 28 countries, mainly European states, have so far backed the call on Duterte’s government to “carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable”.

READ MORE: Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs is ‘large scale murdering enterprise’, says Amnesty

The Geneva forum is to vote on the resolution before ending its three-week session on Friday. The Philippines is among its current 47 members.

If passed, the council will request UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to “prepare a comprehensive written report on the human rights situation in the Philippines and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its 44th session, to be followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue.”

Responding to the move, Philippine Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Friday the government need not be told by anyone to stop extrajudicial executions.

“Our government is prepared to face any inquiry if the same becomes necessary to disabuse the minds of those who rely on or give undue credence to selective, if not biased, second-hand information,” Guevarra told reporters.

One Asian ambassador, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated that his country would not support it, telling Reuters news agency: “There are worse things happening in the world.”

‘Add pressure’
The Duterte government insists the more than 6000 suspected drug dealers killed by police in anti-narcotics operations all put up a fight. But activists say that at least 27,000 have been killed since Duterte was elected in 2016 on a platform of crushing crime.

Myka Ulpina, a three-year-old shot during a police raid last weekend, is among the latest victims, they said.

Police said she was used as a human shield by her father, a suspected drug dealer who resisted arrest and opened fire. The girl’s mother has rejected that version of events.

Francis Pangilinan, senator for Philippines’ main opposition Liberal Party, welcomed the draft text on Friday.

“We hope it will add pressure from the international community so that the Duterte administration will finally see the light and realise that the daily killings is not the solution to the drug menace, and that it will sooner or later be held to account for at the very least failing to stop the killings,” he said in a statement.

‘Critical first step’
Duterte’s critics say his three-year-old campaign has been a failure, intended to create shock and fear and burnish his tough image without making a dent on big narcotics syndicates.

Allegations of police cover-ups, summary executions and planting of drugs and guns are widespread.

In a statement, the Manila-based iDefend group welcomed the draft resolution, saying it “provides a critical first step to help the Philippines”.

The group also expressed hope members of the HRC “will appreciate the urgency of the resolution and vote favourably for its adoption”.

“Widespread impunity is breaking the social fabric of Philippine society, shrinking civic spaces for dialogue and engagement, corroding the rule of law, while impressing on neighbouring states who wish to emulate the violent campaign,” it said.

“International investigation is an imperative if lives are to be saved, if human rights are to be respected and regional human security is to be protected.”

Bodies ‘pile up’
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the situation in the Philippines was a priority.

“Bodies continue to pile up in Manila and other urban areas, again in the context of the war on drugs which we have seen is very much a war against the poor, impoverished and marginalised communities, which are the biggest victims,” said Laila Matar, deputy director at HRW.

It occurs in a wider context of “attacks on human rights defenders, media activists, journalists, anyone who really dares to speak up against the killings”, she added.

The Free West Papua Campaign has welcomed the call by the United Nation’s human rights experts for “Prompt and impartial investigations … into numerous cases of alleged killings, unlawful arrests, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of indigenous Papuans by the Indonesian police and military”.

Benny Wenda, chair of the United Movement for the Liberation of West Papua (ULMWP), said: “The West Papuan people are crying out for their freedom and self-determination.

“In January, we handed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights a petition of 1.8 million signatures – 70 percent of the Indigenous West Papuan population – for an internationally supervised vote, a referendum, on independence from Indonesia. Finally, the Indonesian State’s brutal repression and genocidal killing is being recognised by the United Nations.”

READ MORE: UN human rights experts condemn human rights abuse and racism in West Papua

The statement from UN experts was sparked by the torture of a political prisoner with a snake.

The UN recognised that this incident is “symptomatic of the deeply entrenched discrimination and racism that indigenous Papuans face, including by Indonesian military and police”.

The ongoing genocide in West Papua by Indonesia is estimated to have killed 500,000 West Papuans since 1969.

The UN statement continued:

“We urge the Government to take urgent measures to prevent the excessive use of force by police and military officials involved in law enforcement in Papua. This includes ensuring those, who have committed human rights violations against the indigenous population of Papua are held to account.

“We are also deeply concerned about what appears to be a culture of impunity and general lack of investigations into allegations of human rights violations in Papua.”

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) is the leading UN entity on human rights. The General Assembly entrusted both the High Commissioner and her Office with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people.

• The United Nations statement