A journalist working in West Papua in front of the Morning Star Flag — an international sign of the Free Papua Movement. Used via Wikipedia Commons license (CC BY-SA 3.0) For nearly 60 years, West Papua, a region in the easternmost stretches of the Indonesian arhipelago, has been engaged in one of the longest-running independence struggles of any region in the world against occupying Indonesia. Despite the longevity of the independence campaign, it has often escaped the notice of international outlets and Western audiences. This is in part because of the Jakarta government's concerted — and largely successful – efforts to censor and control narratives from West Papua. Image via Global Voices The island of New Guinea is divided into the independent state of Papua New Guinea on the eastern half and Indonesian-controlled Papua on the western side. Indonesia-controlled Papua has been further divided by the Indonesian government into Papua and West Papua. These are the provinces that have been fighting for independence for the last 60 years. Jakarta is considering further dividing the region into smaller provinces — against the wishes of scholars and indigenous communities in the region, who believe the move will decrease transparency and increase corruption in the region. Papua has been occupied by Indonesia since 1962 after the Indonesian military invaded and annexed the province, despite assurances by the former colonial Dutch government of sovereignty for the Papuan nation. Since then, Papuans have faced decades of brutal oppression punctuated by massacres, torture, censorship, and conflict between the Indonesian army and West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) that has left civilians as collateral. Some estimates suggest that over 500,000 Papuans have been killed by Indonesian military forces — though these are somewhat outdated estimates and the real toll is likely much higher. In addition to its alleged human rights abuses, Indonesia has an abysmal record regarding press freedom in Papua. Activists and media workers in the region are routinely silenced through censorship, internet throttling, physical attacks, torture, and even death. According to some international reports, since current President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo became president in 2014, this persecution has gotten worse. Local journalists in particular face intense harassment and scrutiny from the Indonesian government. Journalists have been jailed, beaten, doxxed, and targetted for speaking out about the vast human rights violations in West Papua. According to a 2021 Alliance of Independent Journalists Indonesia (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen – AJI) report, there have been 114 cases of violence against Papuan journalists in the past 20 years. Human Rights Watch (HRW) detailed these instances it's its 2015 report entitled “Something to hide?” The report revealed Papuan journalists routinely receive anonymous threats via text and voicemail, which they believe to be from Indonesian security forces. One local reporter told HRW: I cannot count how many SMS, email, or social media [threats] that I have received. The accusations are always that I am a foreign agent. The threat is often to kill me, or to attack my office. Or burn my office. That’s why I often change my cell phone numbers. I have lost count of how many times. Maybe 300 times? I always think [the harassers] want to disturb me mentally. I always delete their threats. I don’t want to be influenced by them. Other journalists, such as Duma Tato Sando, the managing editor at Chaya Papua, a daily newspaper in Manokwari, Papua told the group he is often pressured by security forces to not publish stories that mention human rights abuses. He said: For me, covering human rights abuses in Papua is not easy. In Manokwari, usually an intelligence officer will call and ask that the news story be “pending.” They like to say, “please do not publish it.” Sometimes they even ask me for background information, such as places, names, and times [of incidents of human rights abuses] because they do not know that their own men did the beating or the shooting. I have too many cases [of such harassment] to recall one-by-one. In another case just over one year ago, in April 2021, West Papuan journalist Victor Mambor’s car was vandalized in a clear act of targeted intimidation. At the time, the AJI said “these acts of terror and intimidation are clearly forms of violence against journalists, and threaten press freedom in Papua and more broadly in Indonesia.” Mambor is the founder of the Tabloid Jubi media outlet. He and his staff have faced numerous instances of harassment over the years, including physical, psychological, and digital attacks.