A Slow-Motion Genocide: Indonesian Rule In West Papua
Dr Jim Elmslie and Dr Camellia Webb-Gannon
This paper examines and extends the debate on genocide in West Papua. Referring to the 1948 United Nations Genocide
Convention, examples of genocidal acts are listed: killings, causing serious bodily and mental harm, the deliberate
infliction of conditions of life calculated to cause the destruction of a group, and the forcible removal of children to
another group. Whereas previous examinations of the issue have failed to prove intent on the part of the Indonesian
Government – a necessary pre- requisite under the Convention – this article finds that such intent exists. The authors
show that West Papua has suffered a military occupation since 1962-63 under which the West Papuan people have been
treated as the enemy by the Indonesian armed forces. Explicit and implicit government policy has been consistently
directed towards countering and eliminating Papuan attempts to create an independent state for their nation or enjoy
political freedom on a par with other Indonesians. In this tightly controlled situation genocidal acts have been
undertaken as government policy, effectively thwarting the Papuan nationalists in the era when information emerging from
the province(s) could be tightly controlled. In this internet age, however, this is no longer possible, as evidence of
both genocidal acts and government ‘intent’ is emerging. This augurs poorly for Indonesia and the region as the little
known, but deeply entrenched, conflict in West Papua seeps into global consciousness as a ‘slow-motion’ Pacific
genocide.
ENDS