Indonesia’s Special Forces (Kopassus), more than any other in the Indonesian military, stands accused by the Indonesian people of some of the most egregious human rights violations.
The history of Kopassus human rights violations, its criminality and its unaccountability before Indonesian courts extends back decades and includes human rights and other crimes in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere. The crimes of Kopassus are not only in the past. A recently published Human Rights Watch report details ongoing Kopassus human right violations in West Papua.
In 2008, the Bush administration proposed to restart U.S. training of Kopassus. the State Department legal counsel reportedly ruled that the ban on training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole.
See the letter signed by more than 50 U.S. organizations opposing training for Kopassus
http://www.etan.org/news/2009/07kopassus.htm
Petition:
We the undersigned urge the U.S. government to strictly prohibit any U.S. cooperation with or assistance to the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus).
This force, more than any other in the Indonesian military, stands accused by the Indonesian people of some of the most egregious human rights violations. U.S. law prohibits the training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations.
This provision has been long been interpreted as narrowly as possible. However, in 2008, the State Department ruled that the ban, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole. We believe that this ruling should apply and the U.S. must continue to refuse to train Kopassus.
Sign the petition:
Online petition – Don’t Train Indonesia’s Deadly Kopassus
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