Human rights in western New Guinea

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This is a partial listing of alleged human rights violations in western New Guinea under Indonesian rule (currently comprising the provinces of West Papua and Papua). A number of these are included in the report to the Indonesian Human Rights Network by the Allard K Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School. Though visits to the region by the media are not encouraged, the findings of a journalist who visited in 2000 is listed below.

Further details of these events should be available from the external links listed at the bottom of the page.

1966-67: Aerial bombing of Arfak Mountains
Jan-Mar 1967: Aerial bombing of Ayamaru and Teminabuan areas
1967: Operasi Tumpas (operation obliteration). 1,500 alleged dead in Ayamaru, Teminabuan and Inanuatan.
Apr 1969: Aerial bombing of Wissel Lake District (Paniai and Enarotali area); 14,000 survivors escape into the jungle.
May 1970: Massacre of women and children by Indonesian troops. Witnesses reported seeing a woman gutted, her baby dissected on the spot and the baby's aunt pack-raped.
Jun 1971: Mr Henk de Mari reported that 55 men from two villages in North Biak were forced to dig their own graves before being shot. Published in Dutch daily De Telegraaf Oct 1974.
Unknown: 500 Papuan corpses found in jungle Lereh District, south west of Sentani Airport, Jayapura region.
1974: In North Biak, 45 Papuans killed, names and ages known.
1975: In Biak, at least 41 people from Arwam and Rumbin villages were killed.
1977: Aerial bombing of Akimuga (Freeport McMoRan Inc. mine area).
1977-78: Aerial bombing of Baliem Valley.
Apr 1978: Six unidentifiable bodies were discovered in the Dosai district of Jayapura.
May 1978: Five OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdeka) leaders surrender to save the village they were caught in. They are beaten to death with red hot iron bars and their bodies thrown into a pit latrine. The 125 villagers were then machine gunned as suspected OPM sympathizers.
Jun 1978: 14 corpses found shot, West of Sentani Airport, Jayapura region.
Jun 1978: 6 women pack-raped, shot, and then had their vaginas stuffed with sweet potato leaves and red berries after death following suspicion of collaboration with OPM. Babuma Village, Kelila District, Jayawijaya.
Jul 1978: 122 people (116 men, six women) fled into jungle with ABRI (Indonesian "red beret" military) in pursuit. The villagers were captured, had their hands and feet bound, were weighted and bagged, then dumped at sea. Merauke area.
Unknown: North Biak, 12 people shot after receiving permission to leave camp to collect sago for a village feast.
1981: 10 killed, 58 disappear without trace. Paniai Region.
Jun-Aug 1981: Operasi Sapuh bersih (Operation Clean Sweep), populations of Ampas-Waris and Batte-Arso villages bayoneted and left.
Sep-Dec 1981: estimated 13,000 killed in the central highlands.
Jul 1984: Naval, air, and ground troop assault of Nagasawa/Ormo Kecil village, 200 dead.
Unknown: Naval shelling of Taronta, Takar, and Masi-Masi coastal villages; survivors fled towards Jayapura; under Dutch in 1950 each village had 1500 to 2000 population.
mid 1985: 2,500 killed in Paniai area of Wissel Lake district, including 115 from Iwandoga and Kugapa villages massacred by troops 24/6/1985; 10 people, the village, food gardens, and livestock of Epomani village, Obano Sub-district; 15 people, village, and livestock of Ikopo village Monemane district; and 517 people, 12 villages, food gardens, and live-stock of Monemane.
1986-87: 34 known persons shot, Paniai/Wissel Lake District.
2000 Prison, Torture and Murder in Jayapura for illegal journalism
2001 Theys Eluay, president of the OPM, is kidnapped and murdered by Indonesian soldiers.
2002 Theys Eluay's murderers are given a two-year prison sentence.