Pause humanity and hope for lasting peace



It was just morning when the writer read shocking and happy news, both in the Whatsapp group and spread on social media timelines; The United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) and the Government of Indonesia, through Komnas HAM, have agreed to carry out a humanitarian pause in Papua for the next six months.

The agreement was signed at the Hendry Dunant Center (HDC) office, also known as the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, Geneva, on 15 November 2022.

For the writer, the humanitarian pause (waqfah al-basyariah), although not permanent, because it was only agreed for six months, has very important meaning and significance.

Not only is this a phase of progress towards more holistic negotiations to achieve lasting peace, but it is hoped that the humanitarian pause will be able to de-escalate the conflict in Papua.

As well as being an opportunity to build mutual trust between the two parties and most importantly for the next six months, if both parties are committed and can realize this agreement, then there will be no more wars or conflicts in Papua.

The serious initiative and commitment between the two sides to temporarily stop the conflict and explore the potential for lasting peace in modern terms is called a pause for humanity or "humanity pause".

The word "pause" means rest, stop and temporary delay, so that there is no longer any activity.

"Humanity" means the vision and mission of humanity in Papua during this hiatus. So, a humanitarian pause means the absence of armed conflict, in order to carry out humanitarian missions based on international humanitarian law.

Therefore, during the humanitarian pause, both parties are not only prohibited from attacking each other, but also are not allowed to move weapons or take advantage of the duration of the humanitarian pause to control a certain area which will undermine the commitment to the humanitarian pause itself.

The humanitarian pause is the maximum result of a dialogue initiative mediated by the Henry Dunant Center with the ULMWP as well as the Indonesian government, which in this case is represented by Komnas HAM.

The Henry Dunant Center as a mediator who has experience in mediating conflicts in various countries became a mediator in the three phases of humanitarian dialogue at the Henry Dunant Center office, Geneva, Switzerland.


Sow the wind

After the signing of the humanitarian pause (15/11), several parties rejected the long results of these negotiations, one of the ones who strongly objected to the results of these negotiations was the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) through its chairman Seby Sambom.

In fact, Seby Sambom spoke of those who negotiated in Geneva and agreed on a humanitarian pause, like sowing the wind because they did not involve actors who had been fighting in the field, namely the TPNPB and TNI/Polri.

Seby Sambom emphasized that the war between the TPNPB and the TNI/Polri will continue because the TPNPB war is the war for the liberation of West Papua.

Of course, Seby Sambom's disappointment is justified. As part of the group for the struggle for an independent Papua, it feels that it is not involved at all in the dialogue. So that the disappointment of TPNPB must be addressed with good communication and approach.

If TPNPB's disappointment was not addressed properly, it is certain that Seby Sambom did not try to bind himself to what the ULMWP had agreed with the Indonesian government through Komnas HAM, so that the humanitarian pause agreed in Geneva would be difficult to realize.

This means that the humanitarian pause plan that was just agreed in Seby Sambom's language is in vain.

Although as stated by the Director of ULMWP Markus Haluk that the main purpose of the Humanitarian Pause is to target the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians trapped in areas of armed conflict and civilians displaced by armed conflict in certain areas and at certain times through the "Humanitarian Corridor".

In addition, according to Markus Haluk, this joint humanitarian pause includes ensuring the fulfillment of the basic rights of detainees and convicts, namely political prisoners in Papua.

This means that the ULMWP's role is very important in this humanitarian pause agreement. As a political forum, ULMWP is expected to be able to communicate with TPNPB to both respect and reinforce commitments to humanitarian missions that can be carried out during the humanitarian pause phase.

If ULMWP can carry out political communication with TPNPB, then the authors see a very significant progress will occur in Papua after this joint commitment.

So that the humanitarian pause really becomes an opportunity to both provide space for dialogue towards lasting peace, provide a way to realize humanitarian corridor programs, build trust between Jakarta and Papua besides of course not only to de-escalate conflicts, so as to create an order of life a calm and peaceful society, without conflict and violence.

Of course extra efforts are needed to realize how the humanitarian pause can work properly and optimally. There are at least two obstacles in realizing the humanitarian gap. First, during the process of distributing humanitarian aid, both parties can cooperate optimally.

Second, how to ensure that the group that has so far refused a humanitarian pause, namely TPNPB, can provide support for the agreement that has been built by ULMWP.

If a new conflict occurs, the losers will be both, besides of course civil society. Peace is only a dream in Cendrawasih, Papua, conflict escalations will continue to heat up, mutual distrust between Jakarta and Papua is getting stronger, besides of course the humanitarian corridor is difficult to run properly.

Under these conditions it is difficult to ensure the safety of civil society caught up in the conflict. It is difficult to ensure that humanitarian aid for conflict victims can be distributed properly and maximally.

As a result, if this humanitarian pause fails to bring about peace, then it is tantamount to tarnishing the good name of human values themselves.

Tarnishing the values of all faith. Because the struggle to protect humanity is a struggle of faith and faith without real action, according to Bishop Desmond Tutu, is tantamount to death.

SOURCE : https://www.antaranews.com/berita/3262417/jeda-kehumanan-dan-harapan-menuju-perdamaian-abadi

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