Indonesia must allow human rights activists and journalists to travel more freely

On occasion of the inauguration of the international trade fair on tourism (ITB) in Berlin on Tuesday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to allow foreign journalists and human rights workers to travel the country more freely. This year, Indonesia is the ITB's foregrounded country. "If German tourists are supposed to be attracted, journalists and human rights activists should not be kept away from the conflict zones," said the STP's Asia-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Tuesday. "Freedom of travel must be granted to everyone!"

The Indonesian authorities have been restricting access to the crisis regions of West Papua for years. Indonesia justifies the restrictions by emphasizing the tense safety situation in the two Papuan provinces in the east of the country. "But this argument is not convincing, because foreign correspondents are used to send reports from war zones", said Delius. "It would be more honest for the Indonesian government to admit that it is trying to keep away any inconvenient witnesses from the torture and army arbitrariness in the conflict regions."

Foreign media representatives can only obtain a normal journalist visa in Jayapura, the largest city in the western half of the New Guinea Island. They are only allowed to travel the rural areas in the provinces of Papua – which are altogether larger than Germany and Switzerland – with a special permit. In 2011, Indonesia only issued 35 special permits in 2011, almost exclusively for travel journalists. "Indonesia is trying to commercialize the exotic ‘green lung’ of south-eastern Asia with its hundreds of indigenous peoples," said Delius. "But journalists and human rights activists would also like to know why it is so dangerous for the Papuan people to publicly demand their constitutional rights." 27 cases of Papua activists who were tortured by Indonesian security forces because of their political commitment have become known since January 2013.

Human rights experts of the United Nations and several countries are urging Indonesia to lift the restrictions of the right of free reporting. The UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression even cancelled his planned visit to Indonesia.