BY LEX WINDSOR
AUCKLAND — The international solidarity movement for West Papua met in Otara, Tamaki Makaurau, on August 8-10. The gathering called on the government leaders who constitute the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to remember the unresolved tragedy of the Pacific people of West Papua during their meeting in Auckland on August 14-17.
Delegates to the conference included people from West Papua, the USA, Ireland, Australia, Indonesia, Britain, Hong Kong, Fiji and Aotearoa (New Zealand).
The movement urged PIF leaders to grant West Papua observer status as a step towards resuming its role in Pacific regional affairs, a right denied to the West Papuan people for the past 40 years.
It welcomed the PIF's previous expressions of concern about the human rights situation in West Papua, but urged leaders to take further action in response to the deteriorating situation in the Indonesian-occupied territory, especially the targeting of human rights defenders.
The solidarity movement called on forum leaders to send a fact-finding mission to West Papua to investigate the human rights situation there and to press Indonesia to:
- end military operations in West Papua, start the process of demilitarisation and halt the activities of Laskar Jihad and all militia forces;
- renew efforts to resolve the conflict by peaceful means in accordance with the call by the people of West Papua for their country to be made a "land of peace";
- ensure the safety and protection of all human right defenders, enabling them to carry out their activities without intimidation or obstruction; and
- bring to justice those responsible for serious crimes committed in West Papua, including the killing of Papuan leader Theys Eluay in November 2001.
The movement strongly urged the PIF to condemn the violations against West Papuan women and children that are the result of Indonesia's militarisation of the territory. The PIF should resolve to end all forms of military cooperation with Indonesia, including the training of military personnel, the solidarity movement stated.
The movement also condemned the systematic destruction of the environment and cultural structures of the West Papuan people, and called on PIF leaders to address the dire humanitarian situation of West Papuan refugees in Papua New Guinea, and to take steps to protect their legal and human rights.
Recognising that the root cause of the human rights problems in West Papua is the fraudulent "Act of Free Choice", which was part of an attempt to legitimise the takeover of West Papua by Indonesia in 1969, the solidarity movement urged the PIF to support the widespread demand for the United Nations to review its conduct at the time and for West Papua to be reinstated on the agenda of the UN Decolonisation Committee.
"This year, the PIF leaders will be under renewed pressure to face up to the crunch issue of the right of the people of West Papua to self-determination", said Maire Leadbeater, speaking for the conference organising committee. "It won't be coming just from West Papuan people and the solidarity movement. Vanuatu, which already hosts a West Papuan representative's office, is expected to bring West Papuans to Auckland with its delegation.
"Up to this point, PIF leaders have dared only to make statements of 'concern' about human rights violations in West Papua. The statements have been carefully couched in language designed to not offend Indonesia.
"Grassroots international campaigns helped to bring change to East Timor, and it will be the same for West Papua. The solidarity movement has already achieved widespread parliamentary support for a campaign to get the UN to review its conduct with regard to the discredited 1969 'Act of Free Choice'", Leadbeater pointed out.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, August 20, 2003.
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