This is a cry for Help for the village of Kariu. We are from the Kariu Foundation, established in the Netherlands right after the attack on the village of Kariu in January 2022.
"With this message, we from the Foundation, would like to make all human rights organizations: such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and International Red Cross and others aware of what is happening in Kariu right now .
Kariu is a little village situated along the coastlines of Haruku, which today is part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. On January 26th the entire community, consisting of 350 families, had to flee their lands for violence and destruction over a land dispute, with a neighboring community from Pelauw and Dusun Ori.
This is the third time in 90 years that Kariu was violently forced from their lands by Pelauw. After 10 months, living under severe circumstances in a refugee camp, on the other side of the island, the people of Kariu are returning home. This peace program initiated by the Indonesian government started today and will last until Thursday December 22nd 2022.
Even though a peace treaty was signed by both parties on November 14th, there is still an extremist group of individuals from Pelauw and Ori who are against the return of the Kariu community. Since the return of the first families earlier today, this specific violent group, is again, pushing against the boundaries and were able to voice their concerns and threaten the families of Kariu by causing fire to at least 10 houses that were still standing after the conflict earlier this year.
All families of Kariu are now gathered in the local church and school and according to our sources they are being protected by the army and police. According to the local government at least 600 soldiers and policemen were installed to protect and guide the peace program.We are wondering how it is possible that this group managed to again cause fire to the properties of Kariu families.
The Kariu Foundation also calls out Indonesian president Joko Widodo to act accordingly and guarantee the safety of our families. The time of letting this all happen is over, we will continue to bring this story and everything that happened in the past year to the international community.
We call out for justice and an independent investigation by a diverse committee."
#justiceforkariu
