Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Indonesian Government on the murder and torture of West Papuan indigenous people.

The British Government follows the situation in Papua closely. Officials in London and at the Embassy in Jakarta press the Indonesian authorities to address legitimate human rights concerns, including upholding the right of all citizens to protest peacefully, and promote the sustainable and equitable development of the provinces.

I met the Indonesian Ambassador in January and raised Papua with him. The Ambassador raised the recent violence in Nduga Regency with senior officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January and called on the Indonesian authorities to ensure that any security response was proportionate. Officials at the Embassy in Jakarta raised reports of the use of torture with the Deputy Police Chief of Papua Province in February 2019.