HUMAN rights activists have condemned the shooting of a lawyer in West Papua who is known for defending people campaigning for the country’s right to self-determination.
Yan Christian Warinussy was shot on Wednesday whilst outside a bank in the town of Manokwari. The gunman escaped but protestors assembled soon after the incident at the bank to demand access to CCTV footage of the incident.
Warinussy, who is still receiving treatment in hospital, received the John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2005 for his human rights activism.
West Papua has been under Indonesian rule since the 1960s and the attack on Warinussy comes in the context of rising violence in West Papua connected to the military occupation and resistance from indigenous Papuans.
Between January 2018 and June 2024, Amnesty International Indonesia recorded 128 unlawful killings and a death toll of at least 236 civilians.
Papuan independence campaigners are regularly incarcerated, with activities such as raising the ‘Morning Star’ West Papuan independence flag leading to four-year jail terms.
Responding to the shooting of Warinussy, Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director Usman Hamid described it as “a reprehensible attempt to silence a courageous voice and to instil fear in those who fight for justice”.
Hamid called on Indonesia authorities “to promptly conduct an effective, thorough and impartial investigation into this attack and to bring the perpetrators to justice in fair trials.”
Warinussy delivered the opening statement at the Permanent People’s Tribunal on West Papua, held in London on 27-29 June. The Tribunal heard directly from Papuans via live video link, who gave first-hand testimony of extra-judicial killings, land dispossession, torture, state racism and repression of political speech by Indonesian authorities.
Professor David Whyte, Director of the Queen Mary University of London’s Department of Climate Crime and Climate Justice, which organised the Tribunal, said he was “outraged” at the attack on Warinussy.
“While the motive and perpetrator remain unknown, it is clear that this attack on lawyer Warinussy is an assault on the democratic rule of law, which the Indonesian regime espouses but has failed to uphold in West Papua.
"We condemn this attack and demand that the perpetrator be brought to justice.”
West Papua contains the third largest rainforest in the world and is one of the most biodiverse territories on the planet. Whyte and other campaigners say the land is undergoing ‘ecocide’ - the wilful destruction of the natural habitat - due to Indonesian development, which is based on partnerships with national and global corporations to extract valuable resources such as gas and gold and to replace ancient forests with palm-oil plantations.
British companies BP and Unilever are two major investors in West Papua.
The British Government has a close relationship with Indonesia, where it helps train military and police forces in ‘counter-terrorism’ operations. A report published by the think-tank Rights and Security International in March found the UK Government was “complicit” in human rights violations in West Papua.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua has proposed a ‘Green State Vision’ for the country’s independence, based on protection of the natural environment and respect for indigenous traditions of ‘customary guardianship’ of the land.
