ELSHAM (abbreviation of ''Lembaga Studi dan Advokasi Hak Asasi Manusia'', meaning Institute of Human Rights Studies and Advocacy) is a human rights

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

based in

Jayapura Jayapura (formerly Dutch: ''Hollandia'') is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Papua. It is situated on the northern coast of New Guinea island and covers an area of . The city borders the Pacific Ocean and Yos Sudarso ...

, Papua,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. ELSHAM is the leading Papuan human rights organization. It was established in 1996 by the Roman Catholic Church, the Jayapura diocese of the

Evangelical Christian Church in West Papua Evangelical Christian Church of the Land of Papua ( id, Gereja Kristen Injili Tanah Papua, abbreviated as GKITP) is a Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a m ...

(GKI), and the

Gospel Tabernacle Church of Indonesia Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

(GKII). ELSHAM leader

John Rumbiak John Rumbiak (born 1962) is a West Papuan human rights and environment activist. Born in Biak, he began English studies at Cenderawasih University ( Abepura) in 1982 and worked as a coordinator and field researcher at the Rural Community Developme ...

fled to the United States in 2002 following threats by the Indonesian police. In June 2003 the Indonesian Military Commander, Maj. Gen.

Nurdin Zainal Nurdin may be *a variant spelling of the Muslim given name Nur al-Din "light of religion" *dialectal form of the name of Northend, Warwickshire Northend is a village in southern-eastern Warwickshire, England, located roughly halfway between the t ...

, issued orders for the arrest of: #

, Supervisor of ELSHAM # Yohanis G. Bonay, Director of ELSHAM # ''

Koran Tempo ''Koran Tempo'' (''Tempo Paper'') is a daily online digital newspaper in Indonesia. It is published by PT Tempo Inti Media Harian, a part of Tempo Inti Media, which also published ''Tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plu ...

'', a Jakarta-based daily # the editor of ''Koran Tempo'' # ''

Suara Karya ''Suara Karya'' (lit. ''Voice of Work'') was a daily newspaper published in Indonesia. Established in 1971 to assist Golkar in winning that year's legislative election, it became required reading for all civil servants and the voice of Golkar. Af ...

'', a Jakarta-based daily # the editor of ''Suara Karya'' upon charges of publishing a story about TNI (Indonesian military) troops ambushing a bus. The incident in question occurred August 31, 2002 when a bus carrying employees and family from the

Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to: Places United States *Freeport, California *Freeport, Florida *Freeport, Illinois *Freeport, Indiana *Freeport, Iowa *Freeport, Kansas *Freeport, Maine, a New England town **Freeport (CDP), Maine, the ...

International school was attacked. Three teachers (including two Americans) were killed, 14 others were injured. Local statements and

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

investigations in 2003 attempted to tie the shooting to Papuan rebels, but the connection was unsupported by evidence.

References

External links

Official website
Organizations based in Papua (province) {{indonesia-org-stub