United Liberation Movement for West Papua

The organisation is pursuing a referendum in West Papua on independence from Indonesia.

The Movement's Legislative Council had been holding its third annual session in Jayapura.

It decided that the Movement's by-laws should be upgraded to provisional constitutional status, as part of the journey to achieving independence.

The Provisional Constitution would establish a government guided by rules and norms of democracy, human rights and self-determination.

The Movement is to use the Port Vila summit to evaluate its first three years, establish by-laws, elect executive members and discuss future strategy.

Its secretary-general Octo Mote said the major Papuan representative groups which make up the Movement would be present.

"This time everybody is here, not like last time when many of them were stuck in Papua New Guinea. No, everybody is here. In terms of persons that are participating, this is very successful, from the representation."

Octo Mote said he hoped to be re-elected.

ULMWP spokesperson, Benny Wenda, said this could be seen as a delay tactic but ULMWP acknowledges the technical issues highlighted by the leaders and senior officials of the MSG.

The MSG special leaders’ summit on July 14, in the Solomon Islands, had agreed to defer the consideration of the application for full membership by ULMWP until membership criteria and guidelines are further developed.

The leasders brought up the issue at the recent 70^th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

ULMWP spokesperson, Benny Wenda, expressed his deepest gratitude to the Pacific leaders and their people, saying, “on behalf of the people of West Papua, we the United Liberation Movement for West Papua would like to convey all our deepest and most sincere gratitude to our Pacific leaders for being the sole moral voices on West Papua at the United Nations.”

The ULM's Secretary General Octo Mote says increasing awareness of West Papua has led to a growing groundswell of people's solidarity movements in the Pacific.

Mr Mote says he hopes the forum will act on their plea to address growing human rights abuses in West Papua.

He says he hopes a fact finding mission can be established and has supported the call by Vanuatu for the United Nations to appoint a special envoy to West Papua.

This was revealed at the closing of the MSG 20th summit at the Heritage Park Conference Centre during a press conference with the West Papuan delegation.

Secretary General to ULMWP Octovianus Mote said, at the MSG summit in Noumea (Kanaky) in 2013, MSG recognised West Papua for self-determination, and at the special MSG leaders meeting in Port Moresby in 2014, a criteria was set requiring West Papuans be united before they could be considered for MSG membership.