West Papua

The petition, presented by the independence leader Benny Wenda on Tuesday, asked the UN to appoint a special representative to investigate abuses and to put West Papua back on the decolonisation agenda.

But the UN decolonisation committee says the West Papua cause is outside its mandate, which extends only to the 17 states identified by the UN as "non-self governing territories."

The committee's chair and Venezuela's representative to the UN, Rafael Ramírez, says he had received no formal petition document, and his office had been "manipulated" for political purposes.

The exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda presented the document to the C24, the special committee on decolonisation on Tuesday.

Dr Jason MacLeod from the University of Sydney is a West Papua expert who has just returned from the Indonesian territory to verify the petition.

He said it was fair and accurate representation of the West Papuan people's will and the UN needed to pay due attention.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York yesterday Charlot Salwai called on the UN Human Rights Council to investigate documented cases of arbitrary killings, torture and abuse of indigenous West Papuans in Indonesia's Papuan provinces.

Mr Salwai also appealed to world leaders to support the aspirations of the people of West Papua for a referendum on independence from Indonesia.

Mr Salwai said this will not stop Vanuatu's support to voice its concerns on the violation of human rights of its Melanesian brothers and sisters in West Papua.

He added that Vanuatu is no longer the only country in the region to speak out about human rights violation in West Papua.

According to Mr Salwai, several other Pacific island countries support West Papua and they will raise the issue during United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.

Prime Minister Salwai made the comments after returning home from the PIF leaders summit in Samoa last week.

The General Secretary, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, said a protest that took place during the forum supporting West Papua's independence was nothing new.

Mr Pihaatae said it illustrated the strong support from some. But he urged all Pacific nations to express their concern as seen in Samoa.

RNZI reports Indonesia's Ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga, Tantowi Yahya, was at the meeting and condemned the protest and accused Pacific Islanders of being misled on a human rights situation that had largely improved.

The leaders have called for dialogue to continue in an open and constructive manner.

When asked whether the language in the communiqué around the issue of West Papua was weak, Samoa Prime Minister and Forum Chair, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said, no.

“It’s the most powerful wording we could find. You know these issues are very sensitive, he said at a post-Forum press conference in Apia, Samoa.

Last Wednesday, a small but vocal group of the Free West Papua movement staged a peaceful protest outside the venue of the Leaders meeting in Apia.

Franzalbert Joku from the Ministry for Political, Judicial and Security in Indonesia is at the 48th Pacific Islands Leaders Forum in Samoa.

“I’m saying it’s not happening to the scale like in the 60s, 70s, 80s and even as late as the 90s.”

“On the issue of Papua independence and human rights abuses allegations, we don’t think the forum is the appropriate place to address these issues."

Protesters gathered outside the Aggie Grey’s Sheraton Hotel in Samoa yesterday to address the leaders and delegates attending the forum.

In their recent meet in Auckland, New Zealand, the ECFCB of Oceania (Australia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, New Zealand, CEPAC- the rest of the Pacific discussed their knowledge, awareness and impacts of climate change in the region.

In a statement together, all the Bishops of the Pacific agreed that the place of the sea in the lives of the people would be a central focus of their meeting.

The organisation's Jakarta based researcher, Andreas Harsono made the call following an announcement last week that no more than five Papuan political prisoners remained behind bars in Papua and West Papua, down from 37 in 2016.

Mr Harsono said while the release of political prisoners was a positive step, more needed to be done to address serious human rights abuses committed by Indonesian security forces in the Papuan regions.

He said a UN special rapporteur on Freedom of Expression should be allowed to visit West Papua.

Speaking during a debate of the UN general assembly in New York, a Vanuatu representative said his government continued to receive reports of human rights violations in Papua.

Setareki Waqanitoga said hundreds of Papuans were recently arrested by Indonesian police for holding peaceful demonstrations.

Mr Waqanitoga welcomed acknowledgement of the Papua situation by UN Special Rapporteurs on basic rights.

But he called on the UN Human Rights Council to do more.