Jakarta accused over Papua

Tim Johnston
BBC, Jakarta

A report from an American university has accused Indonesia of crimes against humanity for its actions in the troubled eastern province of Papua, and has suggested that Jakarta may also be guilty of genocide.

Thousands of Papuans have been killed since Indonesia took over the former Dutch colony in 1963 and Jakarta has been the target of frequent criticism by human rights groups.

They accuse the Indonesians of using murder and torture against the indigenous Papuans.

The Indonesians deny abusing human rights.

They say that the level of violence is an inevitable outcome of their attempts to suppress a long-running separatist revolt in the province, which was formerly known as Irian Jaya.

The new report was prepared by the Lowenstein international human rights clinic, which is part of Yale University's law school, on behalf of the Indonesian human rights network.

The report looks at whether Indonesia's actions could be legally interpreted as genocide as defined in the United Nations convention.

The report accuses Indonesia of engaging in a systematic pattern of acts which have harmed a substantial part of the indigenous population of Papua.

It says that even if the primary intent of those actions was not to wipe out native Papuans, recent interpretations of the convention seem to imply that knowingly pursuing policies that have genocide-like outcomes, could be classified as genocide.

Indonesia is already under substantial international pressure to soften its policies in Papua and the new report will add fuel to the arguments of Jakarta's critics.