Indonesia’s human rights commission is investigating the killing of 12 civilians, including women and children, during a military operation in Papua.
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights has launched an investigation into the killing of 12 civilians during a military operation in the restive Papua region.
The commission confirmed that at least 12 civilians, including women and children, died from gunshot wounds during an armed forces enforcement operation in Kembru village on Tuesday.
Commission chairwoman Anis Hidayah told AFP there was a “strong suspicion” that Indonesian soldiers may be responsible for the civilian deaths.
Military spokesman Aulia Dwi Nasrullah stated that four rebel fighters had been “neutralised” in Kembru without mentioning the civilian casualties.
The military added it was looking into separate reports of a child killed by gunshot wounds in another village, claiming “there was no involvement” of Indonesian troops in that incident.
In a statement, the rights commission declared that any operation resulting in civilian casualties “cannot be justified on any grounds”.
“Any form of attack against civilians… constitutes a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law,” the commission stated on Saturday.
It urged all sides to exercise restraint and called on the military to re-evaluate its operations against Papuan rebels.
The conflict stems from Papua’s history as a former Dutch colony that declared independence in 1961 before Indonesia took control two years later.
A controversial 1969 referendum saw 1,000 Papuans from a population of 800,000 vote to integrate into Indonesia, a result independence activists regularly criticise while calling for fresh polls.
Jakarta has consistently rejected these calls, citing United Nations acceptance of its sovereignty over the resource-rich region.
