Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
Media release-Open Letter to Pacific Islands Forum Leaders re West Papua
29 August 2017
AWPA has written an
open letter to the PIF leaders (letter below media release).
Joe Collins of AWPA said “we thank the PIF
leaders for discussing and raising concerns about the human rights situation in
West Papua in the official communiqués’ at the Forum meetings in Port Moresby
in 2015 and Pohnpei in 2016 and is encouraged that the Forum Leaders agreed
that the issue of West Papua should remain on their agenda”.
AWPA urges the PIF Leaders
To continue to raise concern about the human
rights situation in West Papua with the Indonesian Government.To continue to press Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding mission to the territory. The Indonesian President has said that West Papua is now open and the authorities are saying that the human rights situation is improving. If this is the case why not allow a PIF fact-finding mission to the territory?
Because of the ongoing arrests of peaceful demonstrators in
West Papua, AWPA asks the Forum leaders to urge Jakarta to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression to visit West Papua to investigate
the situation on the ground in the territory.
We note the large number of non-self governing territories and organizations that have various types of status at the PIF. AWPA believes it would be beneficial if West Papua also had official status at the PIF under the umbrella organization, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). The West Papuan people have been calling for dialogue with Jakarta for years and AWPA believes the PIF can play an important role in helping facilitate such a dialogue between representatives of the West Papuan leadership and the Indonesian Government.
AWPA also urges the PIF to support the
call for the re-inscription of West Papua on the UN Decolonization Committee. The Special Committee on
decolonization visited New Caledonia in March 2014 and AWPA urges the PIF
leaders to ask the Committee to also visit West Papua on a fact finding mission
to investigate how the West Papuan people have fared under Indonesian rule. It
is an accepted fact that the so-called act of free choice in 1969 was a farce
and the UN has a moral responsibility to the West Papuan people for that tragic
event
Ends.
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Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
OPEN letter to Pacific Islands Forum
Leaders
Dear Pacific Islands Forum leaders,
On behalf of the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) in Sydney, I am writing to you concerning the issue of West Papua and about the ongoing human rights abuses in the territory. AWPA uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the western half of the Island of New Guinea. However, “West Papua” at this time is divided into two provinces, Papua and West Papua.
I would first like to thank the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders for discussing and raising concerns about the human rights situation in West Papua in the official communiqués’ at the Forum meetings in Port Moresby in 2015 and Pohnpei in 2016. We are very encouraged that the Forum Leaders agreed that the issue of West Papua should remain on their agenda. AWPA also thanks the Pacific Island Nations who raised the issue of human rights abuses in West Papua at the UN General Assembly.
It was also encouraging to see that at the 14th
Regional Meeting (Pacific) of the ACP –EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Port Vila,
that Vanuatu introduced the case of West Papua with the support of Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, and
on purely humanitarian grounds, by Papua New Guinea. The Port
Vila Communiqué mentioned,”Members called
for the immediate halt to the brutal and senseless killings of the indigenous
people of West Papua and referred the matter to the next JPA meetings”.
AWPA will not go into great detail about
all the human rights abuses that were committed by the Indonesian security
forces in West Papua since the last Forum meeting in Pohnpei, as we understand
that the PIF Leaders are very aware of all the issues of concerns in West
Papua. However, AWPA believes that there
has been no improvement in the human rights situation in West Papua in the past
year.
During the month of August alone there were
a number of incidents that show the ongoing abuses suffered by the West Papuan
people.
1 August. Security forces open fire on villagers in
Deiyai district
One person was killed and up to 17 injured
including a number of children when the security forces opened fired on local
people when responding to an incident in Deiyai district. The incident
occurred when one of a number of men swimming in a river got into
difficulty. The villager asked a group of workers at a company’s
construction site to take the person to the hospital. A worker refused the
request. This angered the locals, who gathered at the site to confront the
workers. The security forces deployed to handle the incident fired at the
villagers killing one and injuring others. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) condemned the police shooting of the unarmed civilians in Deiyai.
15 August. Protesting 55 years since
the New York Agreement
Demonstrations
were held in West Papua and Indonesian protesting the “New York Agreement” when
West Papua was handed over to Indonesia by UNTEA. At least
100 people from the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and the Indonesian’s Front
for West Papua (FRI West Papua) were arrested in Yogyakarta, Semarang and Jakarta
during the anniversary to protest 55 years since the signing of the New York
Agreement.
20
August. Up to 24 West Papuans arrested in Fak-Fak
24 activists from the West Papua
National Committee (KNPB) were arrested simply for attending a meeting, exercising
their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
These arrests go against the principles laid down
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states,
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference
and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers. (Article 19)
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful
assembly and association. (Article 20)
Since
coming to power President Widodo has taken a development approach to the issue
of West Papua and said West Papua is now open to journalists.
Below is an extract from a Jakarta Post
Editorial “Open Papua to the world” (August 2, 2017) which partially discusses
how Papua is still cordoned off.
Extract
“But none of these efforts have been
viewed positively by the outside world because the government continues to
cordon off Papua. Despite Jokowi’s pledge early in his administration to give
foreign journalists greater access to Papua, his government has maintained a
policy that makes it difficult for members of the international media to
operate in the region. Today, an interagency “clearing house” continues to
operate to vet requests from foreign journalists and researchers before they
are permitted to travel to the country’s easternmost province. Earlier this
year, two French journalists were deported from Timika, Papua, after failing to
obtain a reporting permit. By maintaining this restriction, the government is
operating like a paranoid regime, afraid the outside world may find the
skeletons it hides in its closet. If the government has done much to improve
the lives of Papuans, why not show it to the world? Honesty is always the best
policy”.
In light of the ongoing human rights abuses
in West Papua
AWPA urges the PIF Leaders
To continue to press Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding mission to the territory. The Indonesian President has said that West Papua is now open and the authorities are saying that the human rights situation is improving. If this is the case why not allow a PIF fact-finding mission to the territory?
Because of the ongoing arrests of peaceful demonstrators in
West Papua, AWPA asks the Forum leaders to urge Jakarta to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression to visit West Papua to investigate
the situation on the ground in the territory.
We note the large number of non-self governing territories and organizations that have various types of status at the PIF. AWPA believes it would be beneficial if West Papua also had official status at the PIF under the umbrella organization, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). The West Papuan people have been calling for dialogue with Jakarta for years and AWPA believes the PIF can play an important role in helping facilitate such a dialogue between representatives of the West Papuan leadership and the Indonesian Government.
AWPA also urges the PIF to support the call for the
re-inscription of West Papua on the UN Decolonization Committee. The Special Committee on
decolonization visited New Caledonia in March 2014 and AWPA urges the PIF
leaders to ask the Committee to also visit West Papua on a fact finding mission
to investigate how the West Papuan people have fared under Indonesian rule. It
is an accepted fact that the so-called act of free choice in 1969 was a farce
and the UN has a moral responsibility to the West Papuan people for that tragic
event.
Yours sincerely
Joe Collins
Secretary
AWPA (Sydney)
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