The United Nation's Human Rights Office has expressed its alarm over escalating violence in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua and the increased risk of renewed tension.

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, in a statement today, said the human rights experts have also repeatedly expressed serious concerns regarding the intimidation, harassment, surveillance and criminalisation of human rights defenders for the exercise of their fundamental freedoms in the region.

"In one incident on Nov 22, a 17-year-old was shot dead and another 17-year-old injured in an alleged police shootout, with the bodies found at the...