The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a regional human rights organisation, has received information from the Civil Society Coalition for Security Sector Reform. Based on information from Manokwari, Papua collected by the Coalition, it is known that Yan Christian Warinussy, the Director of the Legal Aid Research, Study and Development Institute (LP3BH), was shot. The case occurred on Wednesday the 17th of July 2024 at around 4 p.m. local time.
The case started when Yan Christian Warinussy left Bank Mandiri, and suddenly, there was a shot fired by an unknown person. The perpetrator was driving a black Avanza car and managed to escape. The shot hit Mr. Yan Christian Warinussy in the chest and he is currently receiving medical treatment at the Manokwari Regional Hospital.
The Coalition considers this case to be a serious attack on human rights defenders. This case cannot be separated from the absence of the State to protect human rights defenders in Indonesia, because attacks on those trying to protect their own or others’ rights like this occur repeatedly. Based on data compiled by Amnesty International Indonesia (AII) in 2023, attacks on human rights defenders in Papua were the highest, namely 103 people.
Based on records from the Democratic Alliance for Papua (AIDP), there were at least four cases of attacks on Human Rights Defenders which included physical and non-physical attacks such as those against Mrs. Anum Siregar, (late) Yuliana Yabandabra, Mr. Victor Mambor, and Mr. Theo Hesegem. These attacks were never taken seriously by the police, and it was not uncommon for several reports of attacks on human rights defenders to be stopped from being investigated.
Therefore, we urge the Chief of the Indonesia National Police to pay serious attention by ordering the West Papua Regional Police Chief to thoroughly investigate this case based on the provisions of the applicable laws in a transparent manner.
Apart from that, it is also important for the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to carry out a separate investigation into attacks on human rights defenders that have occurred in Papua systematically, repeatedly and widely and carried out in the same pattern. Therefore, we also urge Komnas HAM to form a Fact Finding Team that works independently and transparently, to investigate all attacks on Human Rights Defenders in Papua.
