3,000 Residents Displaced by Armed Conflict in Intan Jaya
The head of Komnas HAM Papua office, Frits Ramandey, said at least 3,000 residents have been displaced in Intan Jaya Regency, Central Papua Province, as a result of the increasingly intense armed conflict.
Frits said the displaced residents are being sheltered in Sugapa District. They come from various villages across several districts, although it is not yet known precisely which villages they originate from. The displaced-persons response team from the local government is still registering their places of origin.
“The data we received from the displaced-persons response team is that they come from villages and are being housed with several families, and the local government is preparing meals; they number 3,000 people,” Frits told Tempo on Thursday, 9 July 2026.
Frits said residents fled because they were affected by military operations in their villages. In Agisiga District, for example, a drone dropped an object believed to be a bomb that exploded in their village, frightening residents and prompting them to flee. Others fled due to gun battles between the TNI-Polri and the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB-OPM).
Some also fled after receiving news that the TPNPB-OPM group would return to their villages. The reports caused residents to panic over the possibility of armed clashes, leading them to seek refuge elsewhere. “So the communities panicked and left,” he said.
Regarding the handling of displaced persons, Komnas HAM Papua has met with the local government. Frits said the Intan Jaya local government is providing food and managing the needs of the displaced. The local government is also facilitating the return of residents from several villages where the situation has already calmed.
The displaced persons in Intan Jaya add to the list of internally displaced people in Papua. In its annual report, Komnas HAM recorded internal displacement in Yahukimo Regency, Puncak Regency, Jayawijaya Regency and Maybrat Regency throughout 2025.
In Yahukimo Regency, waves of displacement followed attacks on teachers and health workers in Anggruk District in March 2025. The incident triggered the evacuation of educators and health workers to Wamena and Jayapura, and prompted residents to move to surrounding areas.
Komnas HAM RI has also monitored the situation of displaced persons from Puncak Regency who are scattered across Mimika, Nabire, Ilaga and Gome. Based on its monitoring, at least 506 displaced people are in Mimika and Nabire, while thousands of others remain in conflict-affected areas.
The team found various problems, including overcrowded temporary housing, limited access to food, the absence of specialised services for vulnerable groups, children no longer attending school, minimal psychosocial support, poor sanitation and clean water access, and the loss of livelihoods due to being cut off from farmland. In some locations, the number of displaced people living in tents is reported to exceed 9,000.
In Jayawijaya Regency, Komnas HAM RI highlighted the condition of displaced people from Nduga living in Sekom Village, Muliama District. Most of them face difficulties obtaining civil registration documents, healthcare services and access to education for their children.
The long distances to schools and health facilities mean many children do not attend school regularly, while daily basic needs depend on subsistence farming and support from surrounding communities. Komnas HAM RI also received reports of displaced persons dying from illness during their displacement.
Meanwhile, in Maybrat Regency, Komnas HAM RI conducted follow-up monitoring of displaced persons from areas affected by security operations following the 2021 Kisor incident. Although most return programmes have been carried out, the recovery process is not yet fully complete.
Komnas HAM RI found there are still limited health facilities, minimal support for farming equipment, the use of schools as security posts, and discrepancies in displaced-persons data between the Maybrat Regency Government and the South Sorong Police.
The Ministry of Human Rights said there are 122,000 internally displaced people in Papua who still require resolution. Deputy Minister of Human Rights Mugiyanto Sipin said the ministry has not yet been able to detail the distribution of displacement sites in Papua. The ministry will seek specific data on displaced Papuans at a coordination meeting in the near future with relevant ministries and agencies.
“Because the issue of displaced persons has already been handled by colleagues from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health, who have all deployed teams, as well as the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, and to make the response more comprehensive, we will hold a coordination meeting,” Mugiyanto said at the Ministry of Human Rights office in Jakarta on 7 July 2026.