About

About BUK:

Bersatu Untuk Kebenaran, (BUK), United for Truth, is a non profit organization created by Papuan survivors of violence. The organization’s goal is to strengthen and empower victims and relatives of victims though working together by striving for justice and acknowledgement of past atrocities that have occurred in Papua, Indonesia.

Victims have now been given the strength to organize themselves and develop peaceful strategies in order to obtain truth, justice and recognition of their rights after years of individually struggling and facing rejection by watching the courts give immunity to perpetrators; BUK has been specifically inspired by the experience gained in the struggle for justice in the Abepura Case, 7 December 2000, where perpetrators were simply released by the Human Rights Court of Makassar (on 8-9 September 2005 Until now, victims have been distressed from the “do-nothing policy” of the Indonesian legal system regarding solving the cases of human rights violations that have occurred in Papua, Indonesia.

BUK was officially formed on the 27^th of March 2008 in Biak, Papua during a forum for Papuan survivors which was facilitated by the following organizations:

• Debora and Bara (DEBAR)
• Perhimpunan Bantuan Hukum & Hak Asasi Manusia (PBHI)
• Foker NGOs Papua
• Kontras Papua

Survivors who attended this forum have lived through some of the most serious human rights crimes to occur in Papua including:

• Wamena upheavals of 1977.
• Bloody Biak of July 6, 1998
• Abepura Incidents of December 7, 2000
• Wasior Incidents of June 4, 2001
• Port Numbay Case of November 17, 2001 (the abduction and murder of Theys H. Eluay and the disappearance of his driver, Aristoteles Masoka)
• Wamena Incidents of April 4, 2003,
• Abepura Incidents of March 16, 2006.

BUK – United for the Truth, was legally registered in 2008. It is one of the first grass-roots organizations in Papua to focus on victims of State violence. It operates out of Jayapura as the base of its organizational network. The network includes five branches called “contact posts” : Komunitas Survivors Abepura; Komunitas Korban Biak; Komunitas Korban Wamena; Komunitas Korban Wasior and Komunitas Korban Timika.

BUK’s Programs:

BUK runs capacity-building programs for communities of survivors and raises awareness among the general public by organizing peaceful campaigns and ceremonies to commemorate human rights violations and by commemorating the International Human Rights Day, celebrated across the world each 10^th of December.

BUK does lobbying and advocacy targeting Local, National and International stakeholders while maintaining a communication network with other local NGOs.

BUK gathers and disseminates documentation about cases of human rights violations in Papua.

BUK’s programs focus on:

1. Building solidarity among victims of State violence.
2. Obtaining legal recognition and reparations for victims of State violence
3. Empowering victims to become human rights defenders.
4. Bringing perpetrators to justice.
5. Preserving records of human rights crimes in Papua, to be used as historical material for future generations.
6. Linking the community of Papuan survivors with other National and International survivor networks.

BUK’s Principals:

1. To promote non-violence by rejecting the use of violence of any kind and from all parties.
2. To promote and develop a culture of acceptance on the basis of religion, race, colour, social status, social origin, culture, or any other distinction.
3. To struggle for gender equality and for the respect of individual sexual orientation.
4. To promote the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration of Human Rights Defenders and other international conventions.

Organizational Structure:

BUK’s organizational structure consists of an Executive Board located in Jayapura that interacts with coordinators at regional levels.

BUK’s Funding:

If you or your organization is interested in assisting BUK though funding, please contact us.

BUK depends on contributions.