Jayapura City- The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) recorded 12 violence that occurred in Papua during January-April 2024.
Of the 12 violence, two of them were cases of sexual violence against two women and torture allegedly carried out by officers whose videos went viral some time ago.
This was conveyed by the Commissioner of the National Commission (Komnas) on Human Rights (HAM), Anis Hidayah, after a discussion entitled Anticipating and Mitigating Social Conflict in Simultaneous Regional Elections at the Aryaduta Menteng Hotel, Central Jakarta, Monday (13/5/2024).
“In the case of January-April [2024], at least Komnas HAM recorded 12 incidents of violence that occurred in Papua,” said Anis.
He said Papua is one of the special areas that is of concern to Komnas HAM because the level of violence that occurs in this region is high.
Violence occurs not only during the election and regional elections process. Komnas HAM has recorded many violent tragedies in which civilians were victims, not only experiencing physical injuries, trauma, but also death.
“This is one of the reasons why Papua is an important region to monitor, especially during the regional elections, because the potential for social conflict there is very high,” he said.
Anis said that when democratic contestation took place, violence also occurred because of different political choices. He gave the example of burning ballot boxes in Papua during the 2024 elections.
“We use that as a reference for why Komnas HAM is important in the November simultaneous regional elections, making Papua one of the regions for us to monitor apart from other regions,” he said.
