Dear Murray McCully,

West Papua Action Auckland and West Papua Action Canterbury are compelled to write to you concerning the deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua, particularly the latest arrests of peaceful demonstrators and the further al escalation of intimidation and threats to those who want to express their support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

In your responses to our earlier appeals you have commented that ‘the New Zealand Government does not condone the use of violence by any party in Papua, and we condemn human rights abuses wherever they occur.’

While this is an important statement, we believe that the present circumstances require a more specific response. As we read the current situation, the Indonesian security forces are using a variety of methods all aimed at the same outcome: closing down the democratic space for anyone to express support for any alternative future for West Papua. It is also apparent that the latest repressive moves have not deterred West Papuan people from peaceful activism.

As you know earlier in May there were large demonstrations held in parallel with meetings about West Papua in London and Vanuatu. Arrests across the territory at this time were estimated to be as high as 1800. At the end of the month another large series of rallies were held with similar themes: participants asked for the ULMWP to be given full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group and called for the release of political prisoners. A conference of the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States) was taking place at the same time in Papua New Guinea. Once again hundreds of young demonstrators were arrested; some at the rallies and others prior to the event as they handed out leaflets promoting the action.

There is another development which we find deeply disturbing and that is the staging of a counter pro-Indonesian rally in the capital, Jayapura. There were no security force restrictions placed on this demonstration organised by a new group called itself the People’s Front Defenders of the Homeland (BARA NKRI). This group called for an end to support for independence, and according to reports also stated that the West Papuan people no longer own their land. We understand that the leaders of the rally were, with one exception, migrants from other parts of Indonesia. At the rally a Morning Star flag was burned.

We believe that there is a very strong likelihood that this rally was orchestrated by Indonesian authorities, but whatever the case it indicates a state of high tension in West Papua. It is also ominously reminiscent of similar organised rallies which took place in East Timor in the last years of Indonesian occupation there.

Mr McCully, we urge you to speak out on behalf of the New Zealand Government about the recent blatant abuses of the rights to freedom of speech and assembly in West Papua. This is our responsibility as a neighbour and an upholder of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the United Nations Charter.

Yours sincerely,

Maire Leadbeater
Brian Turner

For West Papua Action Auckland and West Papua Action Canterbury

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