Women Peacemaker of Papua
Latifah Anum Siregar of Indonesia
Latifah Anum Siregar is a human rights lawyer, the chairperson of the Alliance for Democracy in Papua (ALDP) and an expert at the Commission for Law and Human Rights of the parliament in Papua Province, Indonesia.
Although her family is from a different island, speaks a different language and practices a different religion, Siregar is a trusted, effective advocate for peace, working within the complex tribal and migrant conflicts of Papua communities. Respected for her and ALDP’s call to identify traditional laws, norms and values that could help settle land disputes, she has led the way to articulating these traditions in written law, which the Papua indigenous people can now use to negotiate with the government and migrants in the search for peaceful solutions to land conflicts.
Latifah Anum Siregar and ALDP provide legal assistance to plaintiffs in the courts on a daily basis, assisting indigenous Papuans who are the victims of injustice, particularly where they have lost their civil and political rights because they are suspected of being separatists.
During Siregar’s student days in the early 1990s, she was the first woman chairperson of the Muslim Students Association; later in the decade she served as a member of the regional parliament in Papua Province; from 2003 to 2007 she was on the board of directors of Papua Women Solidarity; and from 2007 to 2011 she will serve as general secretary of the Papua Muslim Assembly.
Her work is dangerous and she has been harassed. In 2005 a set of computers and printers in Latifah Anum Siregar's office were stolen. To date the perpetrators have not been identified despite the case having been reported to the police. In another instance some unknown people tried to burn Latifah Anum Siregar's office, but her colleagues were able to prevent it. In 2008 she was nominated for the ‘Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.’
Siregar was a Woman PeaceMaker in 2007.
Narrative "Fearless Pursuit of Justice"
A Narrative of the Life and Work of Latifah Anum Siregar of Indonesia
By Stelet Kim, Peace Writer
Latifah was a nominee for frontlinedefenders 2008
Latifah was a Woman PeaceMaker in 2007. 'Women Peacemakers' is an initiative of the Fred J. Hansen Foundation in cooperation with the San Diego State University, USA. The program sponsors four women at a time from areas in conflict, to come to the university for two months.
See other Women Peacemakers who have been featured on the Brisbane Goodwill site: Goodwill People/ Politics/ Olenka Ochoa/ Christiana Thorpe/ Svetlana Kijevcanin.
