Open letter to the leaders of the MSG

Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
PO Box 28, Spit Junction, Sydney, Australia 2088

In an open letter to the leaders of the MSG, AWPA calls on the MSG to give full membership to the Melanesian people of West Papua.

Joe Collins of AWPA said "as the MSG is allowing Indonesian to attend as an observer at the coming meeting in Suva, the MSG should offer full membership to the Melanesian people of West Papua. The issue of West Papua will not disappear and AWPA believes that as the situation in West Papua deteriorates further , it could lead to instability in the region".

At the coming MSG summit in Fiji
AWPA is urging the MSG Leaders to discuss the deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua and to make a public statement of concern regarding the human rights situation in the territory.

We note that the MSG is to allow Indonesia to attend as an observer at the MSG summit. AWPA urges the MSG to now offer full membership to the Melanesian people of West Papua, to those representatives of the West Papuan people involved in the independence struggle. A precedent previously given by the MSG to Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) of Kanaky (New Caledonia).

We believe the MSG can play an important role in helping facilitate dialogue between genuine representatives of the West Papuan leadership and the Indonesian Government. The West Papuan people have been calling on the international community for years to support such dialogue as a way of solving the many issues of concern in West Papua. We urge the MSG to do all it can to help facilitate such a dialogue.

We note that the MSG recently visited New Caledonia at the invitation of the Front de Libération National Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS). We encourage the MSG leaders to also pay a fraternal visit to West Papua in a show of solidarity with the Melanesian people of West Papua.

ENDS

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