Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
Media release 19 May 2014
UN Special Committee on Decolonization should visit West Papua
The Special Committee on Decolonization will hold its Pacific Regional Seminar in Nadi, Fiji, from 21 to 23 May 2014.
Joe Collins of AWPA said " We are calling on the Committee to visit West Papua on a fact finding mission to investigate
how the West Papuan people have fared under Indonesian rule. The Special Committee’s visited New Caledonia in March
2014,and we believe the UN should now visit West Papua. It is an accepted fact that the so called act of free choice in
1969 was a farce and the UN has a moral responsibility to the West Papuan for that tragic event, the betrayal of a
people back in 1963".
All the UN has to do to see the failure of Jakarta to win over the West Papuan people is to look at the banners the West
Papuan people are still carrying in rallies in West Papua 51 years later. They state
"Let us Freedom"
"We want a referendum"
"Indonesia is illegal in West Papua" etc.
Joe Collins said "it is definitely time for the UN to revisit the whole question of the handover of West Papua to
Indonesia 51 years ago.
ENDS