[ppi] [ppiindia] Letter to UK Foreign Secretary demanding withdrawal of UK weaponry from West Papua

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Letter to UK Foreign Secretary demanding withdrawal of UK weaponry from West 
Papua

28 November 2005

Jack Straw MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 

Open letter from TAPOL, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and Free West Papua 
Campaign, Oxford

Dear Mr Straw,

Deployment of Tactica water cannons to West Papua
We are gravely concerned to have received information that two British-supplied 
Tactica armoured personnel carriers fitted with water cannons have been 
deployed to West Papua. As you are probably aware, the matter was reported in 
yesterday's Observer newspaper (27 November 2005).

We are especially concerned that the water cannons might be used against 
Papuans on 1 December, when many public events, demonstrations and 
flag-raisings take place to celebrate West Papua's national day. Celebrations 
in previous years have been marked by violence by the security forces; last 
year a number of people were injured when police attempted to seize a flag 
raised by independence supporters. This year's celebrations are likely to be 
particularly tense and the potential for a crackdown by the security forces is 
high following the publication on 15 November of the critical Dutch report into 
the 1969 Act of Free Choice, which led to West Papua's incorporation into 
Indonesia.

Tension in West Papua has already increased markedly with the recent deployment 
of large numbers of additional troops to the Jayapura area. According to 
information from reliable sources, a meeting of senior officials was held 
several weeks ago, chaired by the Governor, to discuss the possibility that a 
number of public actions would take place in November and December. It was 
decided that troop reinforcements were needed. A statement issued by the 
Traditional Communities Coalition in West Papua on 21 November expressed alarm 
at this development and provided detailed information about the posting of 
around 15 additional territorial command troops and/or police personnel to each 
of a number of villages in the Jayapura area.

We have also received disturbing reports that large numbers of Kostrad combat 
troops have arrived in Jayapura in the past few days. 

These deployments will increase the atmosphere of terror and oppression during 
a period of heightened political activity. We believe that the potential for 
human rights abuses involving the Tactica vehicles is extremely high. You may 
recall that Tacticas were used in Indonesia on many occasions in the 1990s 
against the pro-democracy movement opposed to the Suharto dictatorship. 

Our source has told us that the two water cannon vehicles were sent to the West 
Papuan capital, Jayapura, from Aceh at the beginning of August. They were 
present during the large demonstrations against special autonomy on 12 August 
and again at a protest against the establishment of the Papuan People's 
Assembly at the Governor's office on 31 October. They may also have been 
present at other protests and public events. 

According to our informant, a salt/liquid soap solution has been added to the 
water in the cannons to produce an irritant with a tear gas-like effect on 
those targeted.

Water canons are clearly designed for use against protesters, and the 
deployment of these weapons runs counter to UK policy that UK-supplied 
equipment should not be used in the abuse of human rights. The very presence of 
the vehicles at demonstrations is a powerful deterrent to Papuans wishing to 
exercise their rights to freedom of assembly and expression and is in itself an 
abuse of their human rights.

  a.. In the circumstances, we call upon you to demand the immediate withdrawal 
of the Tacticas from West Papua and to insist that that the vehicles must not 
used or deployed at any public events on 1 December. 
  b.. We also urge you to express grave concern at the increasing 
militarisation of West Papua, to call for the immediate withdrawal of 
non-organic troops and newly-deployed territorial command troops, and to 
condemn all acts of violence and intimidation by the Indonesian military and 
police which prevent the Papuans from exercising their democratic right to 
peacefully protest and express their political aspirations. 
Failure of end-use monitoring procedures
Our concern in this matter is heightened by the fact that the Foreign Office 
did not know about the presence of the Tactica vehicles in West Papua. In an 
answer to a parliamentary question by Mike Hancock MP on 22 November, the 
minister, Ian Pearson, stated that the Foreign Office was not aware of any 
UK-supplied equipment currently deployed in Papua. 

We understand that the human rights officer at the British Embassy in Jakarta 
visited West Papua in September. It is highly regrettable that she did not 
apparently investigate and find out about the presence of the vehicles in 
Jayapura. This casts serious doubt on the effectiveness of end-use monitoring 
procedures in Indonesia. 

  a.. We call upon you to investigate why the monitoring procedures did not 
work in this case, to let us know what guidelines on end-use monitoring are 
issued to embassy officials, and to send us a copy of the report made by the 
human rights officer following her visit to West Papua. 
Unenforceability of assurances
We note your statement in your answer to Mike Hancock that assurances 
concerning the end-use of British equipment are unenforceable. We have always 
maintained that such assurances are worthless, but we were persistently 
ignored. In our view, the UK government has in the past cynically used 
Indonesian assurances to disregard the concerns of human rights groups and 
victims of Indonesian military violence so that arms companies could continue 
with business as usual.

We welcome the official recognition that the assurances have no value, but this 
is of no comfort to the people of West Papua who are the latest to see 
UK-supplied armoured vehicles on their streets. The UK government must do all 
it can to ensure that previously-exported UK equipment is not in future used in 
violation of human rights in West Papua or elsewhere.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
Paul Barber

On behalf of TAPOL, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and Free West Papua Campaign, 
Oxford


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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