GENEVA - UN experts* today expressed grave concern about Indonesia's persistent lack of recognition of Indigenous Peoples, and the systemic human rights violations they face.
"We call on Indonesia to formally recognise Indigenous Peoples and be open to engaging them as vital partners in shaping an inclusive, sustainable and rights-based national development," the experts said.
"Giving recognition to all groups, respecting their differences and allowing them all to flourish, in a truly democratic spirit, does not lead to conflict-it prevents conflict," they said.
Although Indonesia voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the country continues to deny formal recognition to self-identifying Indigenous Peoples, undermining their rights to lands, to self-determination and their cultural rights, the experts said.
They expressed concern about the revised Special Autonomy Law for Papua, as it seems to centralise authority and erode Indigenous governance, exacerbating poverty, persecution and displacement among Papuan Indigenous Peoples, who have faced centuries of discrimination and militarisation in their own resource-abundant territories.
"The revival of the colonial-era transmigration programme threatens the cultural survival of Indigenous Peoples, particularly in West Papua, accelerating demographic and cultural shifts, as well as forced assimilation," the experts warned. "This will decrease the number of Indigenous Peoples living on - and with control of- their ancestral lands and their ability to maintain their chosen ways of life."
"National Strategic Projects and extractive projects are being implemented without free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples affected, leading to land dispossession, environmental degradation, further exposure to the negative human rights impact of climate change, as well as to militarisation of Indigenous territories and resources," they said.
The experts added that Indigenous defenders and demonstrators were facing increasing criminalisation, repression and violence; including through arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance, and being stigmatised as "terrorists".
Thousands of families remain internally displaced due to development projects and security operations in their ancestral territories.
"Some Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia are being pushed to a slow-phased extermination," the experts warned. "The physical and cultural survival of Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation is at grave risk."
The experts are in contact with Indonesian authorities about this issue.
