REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian government remains committed to inviting the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (KT HAM) to visit Papua and see the conditions in the Indonesian province. In fact, the government has been actively communicating with the Commission.

"The Indonesian government keeps on inviting KT HAM, which will be represented by its regional office in Bangkok, to visit Papua," the Indonesian Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Hasan Kleib, noted in a text message received in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The statement was conveyed by Kleib to respond to the circulating news stating that KT HAM was still awaiting an invitation and seeking access to visit and monitor the humanitarian situation in Papua. According to Kleib, the invitation to the UN Human Rights Summit has been conveyed directly to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid al Hussein, who visited Indonesia last year.

"So, it cannot be said that KT HAM is still waiting for an invitation or asking for access. "The matter that is still pending is the time agreed upon for the visit (KT HAM)," Kleib stated.

The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia also recounted his previous experiences regarding differences of opinion between the Indonesian government and the KT HAM regarding the willingness and granting of access by the Indonesian government to receive visits by the High Commissioner for Human Rights to Papua.

"I had a problem last year at the Human Rights Council (UN) when KT HAM noted that Indonesia had not given access because what happened was not a problem of access, but because the KT HAM office in Bangkok was less coordinated until two days before without first coordinating with the Indonesian side as usual," he revealed.

Furthermore, the ambassador ensured that he had held a bilateral meeting with the new KT HAM, Michelle Bachelet, in October 2018 and also discussed the arrangements and schedule of visits to Papua.

"Currently, a visit schedule is being coordinated, which is expected to be implemented in 2019," he added.

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