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Indonesia

ACAPS Thematic Report - Indonesia: Humanitarian impacts of continuing conflict in the Papua provinces (15 October 2024)

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OVERVIEW

Between January–September 2024, several spikes in armed conflict in the six Papua provinces of Indonesia aggravated the humanitarian needs of communities, particularly IDPs, in this already marginalised region. Fighting primarily occurred between Indonesian security forces and the West Papua National Liberation Army (Tentara Pembebasan Nasional Papua Barat or TPNPB) (WCC 30/09/2024; HRM 19/09/2024; The Jakarta Post 22/04/2024). In May, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern regarding the impact of increasing violence on civilians, including displacement, death, and injury (UNHRC 03/05/2024).

Minimal humanitarian and media access severely limits available information on IDPs and their needs in Papua. Indonesia has denied UN agencies access to Papua since 2018 (HRW 18/09/2024; WACC 24/11/2023; ULMWP 22/01/2024). In September 2024, researchers estimated that the current conflict had brought the total number of IDPs in the region to nearly 80,000 (WCC 30/09/2024; HRM 19/09/2024). The UN also estimates that between December 2018 and March 2022, increased violence in Papua displaced between 60,000–100,000 people (OHCHR 01/03/2022).

Information on the situation of IDPs following specific violent incidents in 2024 is also highly limited. Where no incident-specific information is available, this report draws on a study convened by the Bishop’s Conference of Indonesia, the West Papua Council of Churches, and the Fellowship of Churches in Indonesia, which is based on July–August interviews with 70 indigenous Papuan IDPs (HRM 19/09/2024). While this is a small sample size that provides indicative instead of representative results, it is the most comprehensive recent data available on IDP needs.

Geographic scope and terminology: this report uses the term ‘Papua’ to refer to the six Indonesian provinces that comprise the western half of Papua Island (the eastern half of the island is Papua New Guinea, a separate country). Before June 2022, this territory was divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua, until the Indonesian Government divided Papua province into four provinces (Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, and South Papua) and split West Papua into two (West Papua and Southwest Papua) (UNGEGN 23/05/2023). While several sources cited throughout this report, including Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Monitor, refer to all six provinces as West Papua, this report uses ‘Papua’ to avoid confusion between the western half of Papua Island and West Papua province (HRM accessed 07/10/2024; HRW 18/09/2024).

This report cites data on indicators including health, education, and employment from the Indonesian government statistics agency, which disaggregates the former Papua and Papua Barat (West Papua) provinces, but does not include information on the new Papua provinces.
Humanitarian access and information constraints Indonesia’s immigration legislation (Articles 12 and 13) authorises the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to restrict foreign nationals from accessing specific regions, including Papua, significantly restricting humanitarian and media access. A ‘clearing house’ under the supervision of the ministry, which also involves 18 operational units from 12 different ministries, the National Police, the State Intelligence Agency, and military intelligence, is mandated to review access applications but typically rejects or neglects to process them (HRW 18/09/2024; State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia 05/05/2011).

Indonesian security forces often deny subnational humanitarian responders, including the Red Cross and church workers, access to conflict-affected communities in Papua (OHCHR 01/03/2022). In a small number of cases, local governments provide humanitarian support to IDPs (HRM 19/09/2024).