WORKSHOP AND TRAUMA HEALING FOR VICTIMS OF SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, BIAK
18-19 March 2011

The survivors who have gathered under the organization of BUK (United for Truth) have carried out a workshop and trauma healing for the victims of human rights violations in Biak, located in the public training hall in Biak, and lasting two days. This group of survivors has had no voice until now, and has remained silent and mute while wondering where justice shall come from. Due to the physical torture and the discrimination they have experienced by being labeled separatists, their trauma has been prolonged.

The vision of BUK is that the survivors and the families of victims shall not have to wait forever in a situation of powerlessness, without hope and enduring continued trauma. Rather, one day soon the survivors and the victim’s families will become actors in their own histories by “proclaiming the truth”, even though the
State has not yet acknowledged the existence nor the basic rights of the victims, but still “the documentation and the witness of the survivors will still speak about their suffering and their truth…”.

During this two day activity, the group of survivors and families of victims were given material about Transitional Justice and Victim’s Rights, and were encouraged to draw symbols that tell the stories of their feelings and the trauma that they have experienced. At the end of the workshop, BUK has drawn up an agenda of our important goals for 2011.

The outcomes of the workshop included:
1.Sharing together, strengthening and organizing ourselves as well as organization between victims.
2.Creating a compact of the survivors and families of victims of Biak.
3.Consolidating BUK.

This activity was implemented through the cooperation of BUK and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ).

Meeting between the facilitator and the speakers