SUVA, 1 December 2024 — Pacific civil society organisations (CSOs) and solidarity movements are reminding Pacific leaders of their longstanding responsibility to West Papua, and to urgently address the ongoing gross human rights abuses.
This 1st of December, 2024, commemorates 63 years since the Morning Star flag was first raised in West Papua to signify the territory’s sovereignty. Yet Indonesia’s annexation of the territory, military occupation, and violent oppression, gross human rights violations on West Papuans continue to be ignored internationally and unfortunately by most Pacific leaders.
The deepening relations between Pacific states and Jakarta reflect how far the false narrative Indonesia has peddled of itself as a morally upright, peace-loving, and benevolent friend of the Melanesian people and of the Pacific, has infiltrated our governments and institutional perceptions.
The corresponding dilution of our Leaders’ voice, individually and collectively, is indicative of political and economic complicity, staining the Pacific’s anti-colonial legacy, and is an attack on the core values of our regional solidarity.
The Pacific has a legacy of holding colonial powers in our region to account. The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders communiques in 2015, 2017, and 2019 are reflective of this, deploring the violence and human rights violations in West Papua, calling on Indonesia to allow independent human rights assessment in the Territory, and to address the root causes of conflict through peaceful means. In 2023, PIF Leaders appointed Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Ministers, Rabuka and Marape respectively to facilitate such constructive engagement with Indonesia.
As PIF envoys, both Prime Ministers visited Indonesia in 2023 on separate occasions, yet they have failed to address these concerns. Is this to be interpreted as regional political expediency or economic self-interest?
Today, torture, discrimination, extrajudicial killings, unlawful arrests, and detention of West Papuans continue to be rife. Approximately 70,000 Papuans remain displaced due to military operations. Between January and September this year, human rights violations resulted in a total of over 1300 victims across various categories. The most significant violations were arbitrary detention, with 331 victims in 20 cases, and freedom of assembly, which affected at least 388 victims in 21 cases. Other violations included ill-treatment (98 victims), torture (23 victims), and killings (15 victims), along with freedom of expression violations impacting 31 victims. Additionally, cultural rights violations affected dozens of individuals, while intimidation cases resulted in 15 victims. Disappearances accounted for 2 victims, and right to health violations impacted dozens. This surge in human rights abuses highlights a concerning trend, with arbitrary detention and freedom of assembly violations standing out as the most widespread and devastating.
The commemoration of the Morning Star flag-raising this 1st of December is a solemn reminder of the region’s unfinished duty of care to the West Papuan people and their struggle for human rights, including the right to self-determination.
Clearly, Pacific leaders, including the Special Envoys, must fulfill their responsibility to a region of genuine peace and solidarity, and thereby rectify their unconscionable response thus far.
They must do justice to the sixty-three years of resilient resistance by the West Papuan people under violent, even deadly repression. We call on leaders, especially the Prime Ministers of Fiji and PNG, not to succumb to Indonesia’s chequebook diplomacy and other soft-power overtures now evident in education, the arts, culture, food and agriculture, security, and even health sectors.
We remind our Pacific leaders of their responsibility to sixty-three years of injustice by Indonesia, and the resilience of the West Papuan people against this oppression to this day.
In solidarity with the people of West Papua, we demand that our Leaders:
Honour the resolutions of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and PIF, which call for a peaceful resolution to the West Papua conflict and the recognition of the rights of West Papuans;
Take immediate and concrete action to review, and if necessary, sanction Indonesia’s status as a dialogue partner in the PIF, associate member of the MSG, and as a party to other privileged bilateral and multilateral arrangements in our Pacific region on the basis of its human rights record in West Papua;
Stand firm against Indonesia’s colonial intrusion into the Pacific through its cheque-book and other diplomatic overtures, ensuring that the sovereignty and rights of the people of West Papua are not sacrificed for political or economic gain; and
PIF must take immediate action to establish a Regional Human Rights Commission or task force, support independent investigations into human rights violations in West Papua, and ensure accountability for all abuses.
Endorsed By:
Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG)
Youngsolwara Pacific
Hawaiʻi Peace & Justice
Pacific Women Mediators Network (PWMN)
Vanuatu Human Rights Coalition
Vanuatu Young Women For Change
Vatu Mauri Consortium
Anne’s Community Health School and Nursing Services
Vanuatu Indigenous Network Association
Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA)
Pacific Conference of Churches Secretariat and 35 member denominations and 11 national councils of churches.
GPPAC Pacific
West Papua Action Tamaki
West Papua Action Aotearoa
Reanga Taketake, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa
Kaiawhina, Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa
Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding (PCP)
Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality, Fiji
Pacific Feminist Community of Practice
Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN)
ELSHAM Papua
Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS)
Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and our allies
Free West Papua Campaign Aotearoa
Te Kuaka Aotearoa
Our Common Wealth 670, Northern Mariana Islands
Transcend Oceania