Human rights abuse

“While the deployment of military was deemed necessary to quell recent protests in West Papua, actions are disproportionately heavy-handed, and have already resulted in several causalities,” the Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement on Thursday.

“Also, and according to early reports received, the Military continues to unfairly target protestors of Papuan origin-through arbitrary arrests and detentions.”

“Although, given the communication ‘blackout’ in West Papua, the human rights situation could be much worse.”

The 34th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, was told that Indonesia has not curtailed or halted various widespread violations.

Vanuatu's Justice Minister Ronald Warsal was speaking on behalf of his country and six other Pacific nations: Tonga, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, and Solomon Islands

His name is Mohammed Shohayet, a 16-month-old Rohingya refugee whose family fled their home for Bangladesh to escape the violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State, only to drown during the journey along with his mother, uncle and three-year-old brother.

"When I see the picture, I feel like I would rather die," Mohammed's father, Zafor Alam, told CNN. "There is no point in me living in this world."

This comes after a man, Ricardo Fisher, said on Monday that he was punched and kicked while in custody last week.

Mr Fisher said he spent two days in hospital with injuries including broken ribs.

His case follows the beating of several individuals on a roadside in Suva two weeks ago.

In a speech last week, prime minister Frank Bainimarama admitted torture was an issue, but said it was never sanctioned by the state.