Mahfud MD Says UN Does Not View Human Rights Violations in Papua

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD said the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council did not focus on human rights issues in Papua.

He said the UN did not see any human rights violations in Papua.

In fact, Indonesia is not one of the countries that are considered to have problems in handling cases of human rights violations at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Monday (13/6/2022).

Mahfud was present at the trial. He also met with the High Commission for Human Rights.
 
"If you open the website of the UN Human Rights Council, where the speech yesterday didn't exist, Indonesia is clear of the Papuan problem," said Mahfud in a virtual press conference, Thursday (16/6/2022).

He claimed that the handling of human rights issues in Indonesia had never been mentioned in the UN Human Rights Council session since three years ago.

"This means that we have made progress by communicating proportionally regarding the protection and enforcement of human rights," he said.

On the other hand, Mahfud said that the reports submitted by various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) related to human rights issues in Indonesia were submitted through the human rights council's special procedures mandate holders (SPMH).

The unit, he continued, is under the UN Human Rights Council, which is tasked with receiving reports of alleged human rights violations from various countries.

He explained that after receiving the report, SPMH would conduct a clarification process to the country's government.

"Like Indonesia, there are many reports from NGOs, reporting to SPMH, announcing there are reports, they are not from the UN Human Rights Council, but from SPMH," he said.

"The report means to inform the government, then we answer, oh yes, it's finished. So there is no problem, there is none," said Mahfud.

He also denied the news that a team from the UN Human Rights Council would visit Papua to conduct an investigation.

“It doesn't exist, where does it come from? I have gone straight to the headquarters (the UN Human Rights Council) and there is no one there," he said.
 
The issue of the planned arrival of a special team from the UN Human Rights Council to Papua and West Papua emerged at the end of last May.

The Director of Human Rights and Humanity at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemenlu) Achsanul Habib at that time revealed that Indonesia was indeed actively involved in the 49th session of the joint negotiations with the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva from 28 March to 1 April 2022.

But the meeting did not discuss issues in Indonesia, or issues of human rights violations in Papua.

SOURCE: https://national.kompas.com/read/2022/06/16/14074991/mahfud-md-sebut-pbb-no-memandang-ada-pelaksanaan-ham-di-papua