Veronica Koman
Cases- Case status
- Unknown
- Location of case in SG report
- 2021-048-002
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2021
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: -0.789275
Longitude: 113.921327
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Indonesia
- From Region
- Type of record
- Named individual
- Gender
- Male
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
human rights lawyer to Papuans
- Type of rights defended
- Civil/political rights
- Indigenous peoples’ rights
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
human rights lawyer to Papuans. provided legal support to Mr. Victor Yeimo, a human rights activist in West Papua who is the international spokesperson of the West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat/KNPB). Mr. Yeimo had been on the Papua police wanted list (no. LP/317/IX/RES.1.24/2019/Direskrimum of 5 September 2019), reportedly targeted for a statement made during the 2019 anti-racism protests in Papua and West Papua Provinces, where he joined in calling for a referendum on independence. Ms. Koman and another lawyer had submitted appeals to special procedures in 2019 regarding the alleged excessive use of force by security forces, arbitrary arrests, and detention of peaceful protestors following the anti-racism violence in September 2019. It was reported to OHCHR that, on 9 May 2021, Mr. Yeimo was arrested without a warrant and is being charged under the Penal Code, inter alia, accused of incitement (to riots) and treason. It was reported to OHCHR that on 10 May 2021, the Papua Inspector General of the Papua Province Police, in explaining the crimes allegedly committed, made reference to calls by Mr. Yeimo for self-determination of the Papuan people at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2019.
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Special Procedures: thematic
- Dates of engagement
- 2019
- Type of attempted engagement
- Submission of information to UN
- Location of mentioned reprisals
- Indonesia
- Reprisal information
Specifically, there have been reported acts of harassment, intimidation and threats against journalist Mr. Victor Mambor, affiliated with the newspaper Tabloid Jubi and The Jakarta Post, and human rights lawyer to Papuans, Ms. Veronica Koman (see IDN 7/201936).
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Was the case raised by a State at the UN?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 1
- In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
- 2022
- Follow up information provided in SG report 0
- The case of Ms. Veronica Koman, a human rights lawyer to Papuans, was included in the 2021 report of the Secretary-General on allegations of acts of harassment, intimidation and threats for reporting on the situation in West Papua and Papua provinces (Papua region), that included engaging with OHCHR (IDN 7/2019 ). On 9 December 2021, special procedures mandate holders addressed threats and intimidation of Ms. Koman and her family in relation to her work advocating for human rights in the Papua region and expressed concern that the increased targeting of Ms. Koman’s relatives could be linked to her cooperation with the United Nations. Ms. Koman is currently in exile due to the alleged risks to her security. She reportedly faces several charges, including “incitement”, “spreading fake news”, “and “disseminating information aimed at inflicting ethnic hatred”, and was put in the national wanted list by the authorities (IDN 10/2021 ).
- Acts of intimidation and threats against Ms. Koman’s family reportedly begun on 31 May 2021, a fortnight after Ms. Koman had announced, together with a human rights organisation, the submission of a complaint to United Nations special procedures, regarding the case of Mr. Victor Yeimo of West Papua (see below). Reportedly, the house of Ms. Koman’s parents came under surveillance and Ms. Koman received photos of their house from unknown Twitter accounts. On 5 October 2021, a few days after national news outlets broadcasted that Ms. Koman was one of the Indonesian human rights defenders mentioned in the Secretary-General’s report on cooperation with the United Nations, unknown individuals, including one claiming to be a police officer, visited the house of Ms. Koman’s parents, inquiring about her. In October and November 2021, unidentified individuals left several packages in the house of Ms. Koman parents. One of the packages was on fire and the other two had explosive devices and contained threatening messages, including a death threat (IDN 10/2021). On 15 December 2021, special procedures mandate holders publicly called upon the Government to stop reprisals against Ms. Koman and her parents.
- On 9 February 2022, the Government responded to mandate holders noting that the charges brought against Ms. Koman were not a form of intimidation but a legal enforcement measure as the police had made her a suspect in an investigation and rejected allegations of reprisals against Ms. Koman. It provided information on the response by the Regional Police to incidents reported, and the outcomes of the investigation carried out by various police units
- Followup Trends 0
- Deterioration/further reprisals
- Date of follow up 0
- 9 December 2021, 15 December 2021
- Did the government respond? 0
- No
- Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic