Rights body to probe Timika case
Rights body to probe Timika case
JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights vowed
yesterday to investigate allegations of human rights abuses on
the part of authorities against villagers in Irian Jaya opposed
to the activities of the giant American copper mining company PT
Freeport Indonesia Company.
Commission Secretary General Baharuddin Lopa made the pledge
after meeting with representatives of five non-governmental
organizations who presented the results of their own field
investigation.
"We will soon set up a team of three people to check the
report, gather material evidence and observe the situation in
Irian Jaya," Lopa told the NGO representatives.
The pledge came some four months after the first report
indicating that there had been a series of clashes between the
military and the local people early this year.
The report, written by the Australian Council for Overseas Aid
(ACFOA), alleged that 17 people were killed by soldiers assigned
to guard Freeport's plant in Timika. It also claimed that 25
civilians had been tortured and that four others were still
missing.
A Catholic bishop in Irian Jaya, H.F.M. Munninghof, has sent a
copy of the report to the Indonesian Conference of Church Elders
in Jakarta and says that, while the report has not been
confirmed, the strong allegations it contains mean the Church
must give it serious attention.
In April the Armed Forces denied the allegations made in the
ACFOA report, saying that, while there were clashes between
troops and Irian Jaya separatist rebels, there had been only one
or two casualties.
PT Freeport's Executive Director Paul Murphy told The Jakarta
Post yesterday that security matters were the responsibility of
the army and police in the area and that all the allegations were
false.
"In fact, PT Freeport's security personnel are not armed and
did not participate in the incidents," Murphy said.
The five organizations which filed the reports with the
Commission yesterday were the International NGO's Forum on
Indonesian Development, the Institute for Policy Research and
Advocacy, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, the
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation and the Institution for Social
Studies and Development. (03)