*** Media Advisory ***
Indonesia: UK's Cameron Overstates Democratic 'Transformation'
Prime Minister Ignores Abuses against Religious Minorities, Dissidents
(London, April 27, 2012) – UK Prime Minister David Cameron's praise for Indonesia's "transformation" disregards serious ongoing human rights violations in the country, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Cameron sent last week.
"Prime Minister Cameron's recent trip to Indonesia was a golden opportunity both to praise Jakarta's progress and raise continuing concerns," said David Mepham, UK director at Human Rights Watch. "Instead, Indonesia's troubling developments on freedom of expression and religion got short shrift."
The Indonesian government has done little to stop increasing violence and discrimination by Islamist militant groups against religious minorities such as Ahmadis, Christians, and Shia Muslims, Human Rights Watch said. In Indonesia's Papua and West Papua provinces, Indonesian security forces are still not held fully accountable for rights violations against peaceful independence activists.
Human Rights Watch expressed concern with Cameron's plan to lift a decade-old ban on exporting British military equipment to Indonesia.
To read the Human Rights Watch letter to Prime Minister Cameron, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/node/106776