He was diagnosed with tuberculosis after his arrest, and has recently been in the hospital receiving treatment for that disease.
In September 2021, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, publicly expressed her concerns to the Indonesian authorities regarding the charges against Yeimo and the neglect of his medical needs.
In a June 26, 2020 letter to the Indonesian government, a group of UN special rapporteurs raised their concerns about the harassment, intimidation, and criminalization of human rights defenders in Papua.
They also raised the alleged acts of intimidation against Wensislaus Fatubun, a communications adviser to the official Papuan People’s Assembly.
Indonesian police arrested Fatubun on November 17, 2020, along with 84 others, ahead of a series of meetings organized by the Papuan People’s Assembly in Merauke. He was released the following day.
Successive Indonesian governments, including current President Joko Widodo’s administration, have sought to quash the Papuan independence movement by increasing Indonesian troops and police in the region.
The authorities regularly violate Papuans’ rights to freedom of expression and association, including by making it a criminal offense to raise the Papuan “Morning Star” flag, which violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Indonesia is a party.
On August 15, a prosecutor sought a one-year sentence for seven Papuan students who have been detained since December 1, 2021, for raising the Morning Star flag.
They are Melvin Yobe, 29; Melvin Fernando Waine, 25; Devio Tekege, 23; Yosep Ernesto Matuan, 19; Maksimus Simon Petrus You, 18; Lukas Kitok Uropmabin, 21; and Ambrosius Fransiskus Elopere, 21.
On March 1, UN experts again expressed concerns, calling for an independent investigation into reports that Indonesian security forces had abused Indigenous Papuans, and for the Indonesian authorities to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to the region.
In June, the authorities arrested 44 protesters who had been peacefully protesting the Indonesian authorities’ contentious plans to create three new provinces in Papua. Many activists viewed this as a government effort to “divide and conquer” the Indigenous Papuan identity and movement.
Rather than seeking to reduce tensions and respond to the concerns of Indigenous people in Papua, the Indonesian government has sought to further divide the region by splitting Papua province into four separate provinces.
Activists raised concerns that this plan will lead to the increased militarization of Papua while enabling the Indonesian government to gain greater control over the resource-rich region.
Human Rights Watch takes no position on Papuan claims to self-determination, but supports everyone’s right, including independence supporters, to express their political views peacefully without fear of arrest or other forms of reprisal.
