Indonesian: Soldiers not underage

JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian military spokesman said Tuesday that any use of child soldiers by Papuan independence fighters would be a violation of human rights that implicates both the rebels and state institutions.

The Associated Press reported last week that the long-simmering armed conflict between Indonesia’s military and the West Papua Liberation Army involves indigenous teenagers and boys who appear barely adolescent.

The military’s spokesman in easternmost Papua, Muhammad Aidi, said in a statement if armed Papuans have involved children in the conflict it would show they’re a “wild, uncivilized” group.

“If there are two or more parties in conflict, all parties are obliged to provide protection to children, women and the elderly,” he said.

The Indonesian military itself has been accused of killing civilians and other serious human-rights violations in Papua since it became part of Indonesia in the early 1960s. More recently, Amnesty International said in a report last year that Indonesia’s police and military are responsible for at least 96 unlawful killings in the Papua region since 2010 and condemned a near total absence of justice for the mainly indigenous victims.

Aidi also said if the state is failing to enforce the law against serious violations within its territory “it means that state institutions have committed human-rights violations.”

Under international law, a child is anyone under 18 and the use of individuals under 15 in conflicts is a war crime.

Nearly 170 countries including Indonesia have ratified a U.N. treaty that obliges governments to stop military recruitment of anyone under 18.

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