Testimonies of Papuan Women Victims of Violence and Human Rights Violations 1963-2009
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Enough is Enough! Testimonies of Papuan Women Victims of Violence and Human Rights Violations 1963-2009 DOCUMENTATION WORKING GROUP ON VIOLENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST PAPUAN WOMEN, 2009-2010 Design Ahmett Salina Cover photo Picture on the cover is the silhouette of a mother in Sorong district who are giving her story. Photo taken in 2009. This documentation project was prepared in cooperation of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Women Commission), Women Working Group of Papuan People's Assembly and the International Center for Transtitional Justice (ICTJ) Indonesia with support from HIVOS and the Swiss Embassy. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction 1. How We Collected Women’s Stories and Wrote the Report--------------------------- 1 1.1. Who We Are-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 1.2. Mandate of the Documentation Team---------------------------------------------------- 2 1.3. Scope --------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ 2 1.4. Documentation Method and Process ---------------------------------------------------- 2 II. BACKGROUND 1. A Brief History of Conflict ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 2. Sprouts of the Papuan Women’s Movement in Conflict Situations ---------------- 10 3. Papua Women’s Awakening (Reformation Period, 1998–Present) ----------------- 11 III. FINDINGS 1. State Violence ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 1.1. State Violence: 1963–98------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17 1.2. State Violence: 1999–2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 1.3. 1.3. No State Efforts to Fulfill Victims’ Rights to Healing ------------------------------ 35 2. Domestic Violence ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 38 2.1. Polygamy and Adultery --------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 2.2. Marital Rape ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 44 2.3. Police Do Not Protect Women Victims of Domestic Violence --------------------- 46 2.4. Domestic Violence and Economic Neglect --------------------------------------------- 47 2.5. Husbands Commit Poligamy/Adultery, Wives Are Infected With HIV/AIDS --- 47 2.6. Layered Violence: Victims of State Violence Become Victims of Domestic Violence ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 2.7. No Safe Haven --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 50 IV. ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 1. How Can This Happen? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 52 2. What Must be Done Immediately to Stop Violence Against Papuan Women?----- 54 APPENDIX ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 60 Source: Komnas Perempuan, 2009. I. INTRODUCTION We women of Papua have been bruised, cornered, besieged from all directions. We are not safe at home, and even less so outside the home. The burden we bear to feed our children is too heavy. The history of the Papuan people is covered in blood, and women are no exception as victims of the violence of blind military actions. We have experienced rape and sexual abuse in detention, in the grasslands, while seeking refuge, no matter where we were when the army and police conducted operations in the name of security. Furthermore, in our own homes we repeatedly have been victims of violence. When we cry for help, they say, “That's a family matter, take care it in the family.” Throughout the Land of Papua, there is not one single shelter especially for women victims of violence. In this precarious situation, we, a group of Papuan women comprising human rights workers, church activists, NGO activists, and academics, along with some friends who are concerned about the situation in Papua, have tried to create a portrait of violence against Papuan women. After a long process, in May 2009, we came together and tried to map key events in which Papua women have experienced violence. We have tried to understand patterns of violence that includes violence committed by security forces, violence resulting from efforts to seize natural resources in Papua, and violence we have experienced in our own households. The HIV/AIDS epidemic that has increasingly cornered us has become worse with the entry of liquor and management of the Papua Special Autonomy funds that are not well targeted. We shared our tasks, inviting friends with similar views to join us, to see the injustice experienced by Papuan women, and go to our territories to try to record the stories of victims. We engaged in this effort for three months and then met again to collect the stories that the women had entrusted to us. This report is an effort to share the experiences of Papuan women that we found in various corners of this beloved land. From the testimonies of the 261 people we interviewed (243 women and 18 men), we shout to demand for change that cannot be postponed any longer. We disseminate this report back to the informants who were willing to tell their stories to us and to the wider public. However, this report is primarily a form of complaint and also of aspiration of Papuan women that we hand over to the MRP (Majelis Rakyat Papua, Papua People's Assembly) for follow-up according to the authority of the MRP. Furthermore, we hope that the MRP will submit this report to the National Women’s Commission for follow-up at the national level. The Documentation Team realizes that the events revealed in this documentation process are not complete, but rather just the tip of the iceberg. The Documentation Team is certain that there are several other cases not covered in this report. Nevertheless, this Team feels that what is reflected here, with particular attention to the experiences of Papuan women, represents a broader pattern of violence 1. How We Collected Women’s Stories and Wrote the Report 1.1. Who We Are We are women and human rights activists who have counseled women victims of violence in Papua and advocated for their rights. Through the facilitation of the National Women’s Commission, we agreed to conduct a documentation program about violence against women in Papua during the past four decades. At a preparatory meeting in Abepura, Jayapura in May 2009 we decided to carry out a joint work program called “Documenting Violence and Human Rights Violations Against Papuan Women”. We developed and agreed on the documentation framework, and determined the team of documenters comprising eleven institutions represented by twenty-two of their members. These documenters are activists and counselors of victims in the regions that were documented who were well known by the victims and the communities where the victims live. In addition, eleven individuals/ community leaders joined the Documentation Team ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 1 as experts who supported the process of analysis and report writing. Five human rights workers from the National Women’s Commission and ICTJ (the International Center for Transitional Justice) facilitated the process of education about documentation for the documenters and accompanied the team during the documentation process. 1.2. Mandate of the Documentation Team Through intensive discussions the Documentation Team agreed on the scope of work as follows: • Conduct fact-finding and document cases of violence against women and gender-based human rights violations experienced by Papuan women during the four decades from 1963 to 2009; • Conduct analysis of cases of violence against women and human rights abuses of Papuan women. The critical and in-depth analysis used a gender and human rights perspective, and referred to the Constitution, laws and related national policies as well as relevant international laws; • Prepare a documentation report complete with recommendations. The agencies that conducted the documentation will submit this report to the MPR through the launch of a public forum attended by state administration institutions at the provincial level in Papua and West Papua. The Documentation Team will also lead the process for implementation of recommendations by the government. 1.3. Scope Given the breadth and complexity of the problem of violence against Papuan women, violations of their human rights, Papua's vast geographical area, and our limitations of time and resources, we agreed to limit the scope of this documentation, namely the period covered by the documentation covers the initial integration of West Irian into the Republic of Indonesia until the enactment of Special Autonomy (1963- 2009). Cases of violence against women and human rights violations chosen for documentation were priority cases that met specific criteria (large impact; able to illustrate events related to other contexts); cases associated with major events; cases not yet revealed in existing human rights reports and that can complement these human rights reports. The cases documented were cases of violence and human rights violations of women that occurred in the domestic sphere (family) and in public in the context of extractive industries, entertainment, militarism, culture, development policy, and so forth. This documentation is expected to explore the link between the cases and these contexts. Documentation locations covered almost all