Govt urged to address violence in Irian

JAKARTA (JP): Washington-based human rights groups called on the Indonesian government to address violence allegedly committed against indigenous women in Irian Jaya by the Indonesian Defense Force (TNI).

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights and the Institute for Human Rights Studies and Advocacy said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post that the violence apparently was perpetrated by the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) to protect mining interests in Irian Jaya's central highlands.

"The military is (in Irian Jaya's central highlands) to make sure that investors can come in," a Kopassus lieutenant was quoted by the groups as saying.

The groups said victims of the abuse and violence included a 3-year-old girl, an 11-year-old girl and two women aged 50 and 60.

In one incident, soldiers took photographs as they gang-raped a 25-year-old woman while she held her infant child, the statement said.

The groups also said two women were tortured within the project area of PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of the New Orleans-based multinational mining company Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc.

The two women allegedly were detained for a month and tortured by Indonesian soldiers in a bathroom flooded with water which contained human feces.

The groups urged the government to take steps to end the abuses, including ensuring restraint on the part of the troops, establishing guidelines for military personnel and not using the military to safeguard economic operations.

The Ministry of Justice should initiate an investigation against military personnel responsible for the sexual violence against the Irianese women, the statement said.

When asked to comment, TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said on Friday that soldiers could not be punished for human rights violations in Irian Jaya because the cases occurred during a war with separatist rebels in the province.

"You should bear in mind that the human rights cases occurred during a war, not during a normal situation. Therefore, it would be impossible to conduct an investigation. And in such a situation, human rights abuses could have been committed by both warring sides," Syamsul Ma'arif told the Post.

He said that despite the difficulties, the TNI would look into the report and a number of others which had been submitted by social organizations dealing with human rights in Irian Jaya.

Syamsul also said the TNI was amending the education curricula at its Army, Naval and Air Force academies in an effort to improve awareness of human rights.

Special material on human rights will be included in the curricula so all cadets will have a common insight into human rights, Syamsul said. (rms/emf)