West Papua

A New Zealand pilot’s abduction focuses attention on Wellington and Canberra’s hands-off approach to the long-running conflict in Indonesia. 

The pilot was taken after landing a small plane with five passengers, intent on evacuating 15 workers building a health center that had earlier been threatened by separatist rebels.

The past few years have seen growing numbers of violent incidents in the eastern region, home to a long-running separatist insurgency.

A longtime proponent of non-violence, Filep Karma spent years calling for "a dignified dialogue with the Indonesian government."

Six elite troops have been arrested and accused of involvement in the killing of four indigenous Papuans.

The killings came amid protests over an Indonesian government plan to create new provinces in the eastern region.

A plan to create three new provinces in the Papua region highlights how Jakarta's development approach has failed to resolve a long-running conflict.

The plan to break Papua and West Papua into five provinces has spurred widespread protests in the eastern region.

The attack came on the same day that a group of U.N. experts called out Indonesia's "shocking abuses" in the eastern province.

Human rights specialists noted a deterioration in the security situation since the assassination of a high-ranking Indonesian intelligence officer last April.

Rights groups claim that the revised law could lead to “further marginalization and militarization in the region.”