Pacific peoples lead push for Papuan decolonisation

Radio NZ – An academic specialising in West Papua says Pacific Islands peoples are taking the lead on issues of decolonisation within the region.

Dr Cammi Webb-Gannon is a research fellow at Western Sydney University’s School of Humanities and Communication Arts.

She says the unprecedented level of discussion about West Papuan self-determination and human rights at the recent UN General Assembly reflects a new momentum towards decolonisation in the Pacific.

Dr Webb-Gannon spoke to Johnny Blades about the growth of international solidarity for West Papua and the issue of regional representation.

Transcript

CAMMI WEBB-GANNON: As West Papuans have been able to get their stories out as I’ve been observing the conflict and the movement for about 10 years I’d say it’s from 2010 when this has really taken off and then in 2011 I think Indonesia was picking up on the increased traction of West Papua in the international media and so I think that’s when Indonesia decided it really needed to start to have more influence in Melanesian and Pacific politics and it was in 2011 that Indonesia was given observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead group and really started heavy diplomacy into Melanesia to try and counteract the solidarity and the civil society support for West Papua.

JOHNNY BLADES: Do you see any signs in Indonesia’s kind of response that it will do anything other than just sort of push through its viewpoint?

DW-G: Not in the near future I don’t, you heard also Indonesia’s first right of reply no doubt at the United Nations about a month ago and it was quite uninformed, very typical Indonesian government response, saying that essentially there are very few if any human right’s violations that have taken place in West Papua and that it would be impossible for them to go unscrutinised and that’s just blatantly untrue. And then you have several Indonesian NGO’s going ‘that’s ludicrous’ and you know that’s typically what the response has been. It doesn’t look like it’s changing but it does look like Indonesia’s getting more worried therefore they’re increasing their diplomatic efforts.

JB: There is this argument about regional representation for the Papuans, do you think that the Pacific support can be effective, can it overcome the geo-political forces?

DW-G: Well I think it already is, I mean the fact that for the first time West Papua’s been raised at the UN by seven countries not just Melanesian countries, but from Tonga and Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands and Nauru and Palau as well, is a huge testament to the work that the United Liberation Movement for West Papua has been undertaking so a whole lot of diplomacy by the leaders of the ULMWP around the Pacific but also this taps into the Pacific renaissance which I think has been sweeping across the Pacific for the past five or six years. So I guess for the first time since around the 1970s/80s when the Pacific was starting to decolonize, it’s a new spirit of decolonisation. I think it’s more strident than it’s ever been before and it’s more powerful and these Pacific countries are making very good use of regional fora and international fora and West Papua is one of the top issues. I think that the Pacific is really taking the lead on this.

October 18, 2016 0

Change of mood on West Papua issue

AVINESH GOPAL, Fiji Times Online, Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Update: 12:23PM PACIFIC Islands Association of NGOs executive director Emele Duituturaga says the groundswell of support for West Papua across the region is the ideal build up to the upcoming Forum Leaders meeting in Federated States of Micronesia.

Ms Duituturaga made the comments after presenting the issue of West Papua to the Regional Civil Society Forum in Suva last week.

“There is definitely a change of mood across the Pacific on this issue as they begin to understand the severity of the human rights abuses and violence faced by West Papuans and the colonial history,” she said in a statement today.

“Our CSO forum heard of issues raised in national consultations and what other CSO partners had echoed and we were pleased to hear that there is widespread support from CSO partners across the region for this as a priority regional issue.

“So it is heartening to see West Papua under the list of initiatives for leaders consideration in the summary of recommendations compiled by the Forum Specialist Sub-Committee on Regionalism.”

August 17, 2016 0

UN Elects Ambassador Thomson For Top General Assembly Post

Fijisun.fj, 👤 by Department of Information, SUVA

A first for Fiji and the Pacific, Ambassador Peter Thomson has been elected as the United Nations General Assembly president of its 71th session beginning in September.

Current assembly President Mogens Lykketoft announced the winner of the secret-ballot election.

Ambassador Thomson was one of two nominees for the post along with Cyprus’ Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andreas Mavroyiannis.

He won in a close 94 to 90 vote.

The UNGA presidency rotates annually between five geographic areas and this year it’s the turn for an Asian-Pacific representative to head Assembly meetings, of which both Cyprus and Fiji are members.

Ambassador Thomson’s candidacy was put forward by Fiji and eleven other Pacific Small Island Developing States at the United Nations.

After the election Ambassador Thomson congratulated Mr Mavroyiannis for the honourable manner in which the contest had been contested. He expressed his deep appreciation to those who had given their support in today’s ballot and thanked the Government of Fiji and the Pacific Small Island Developing States for putting his name forward for the Presidency.

He gave special words of thanks to the hundreds of Fijians serving in the blue helmets and blue berets of UN peacekeeping in the world’s trouble-spots.

Ambassador Thomson is the first national of a Pacific Island Country to be elected to the Presidency in the history of the United Nations.

In his address to the General Assembly after the elections, Ambassador Thomson said he would be bringing to the General Assembly’s 71st Session the international issues of importance to developing countries and the General Assembly as a whole, with special attention on the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, along with necessary action on Climate Change and Ocean issues.

He said that by the end of the 71st Session, the General Assembly must be able to show real progress on all seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

As President-elect for the 71st Session, Ambassador Thomson pledged to serve the General Assembly, “in a spirit of fidelity and commitment to the common good, always in accord with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Congratulatory messages were tweeted to Mr Thomson, including New Zealand’s Helen Clark UN who is a candidate for the UN Secretary General post.

June 15, 2016 1

NZ MPs want action on West Papua mission

5:11 pm on 15 June 2016, Radio NZ International

New Zealand politicians want the government to press for progress on a high level fact-finding mission to Indonesia’s Papua region.

The Pacific Islands Forum leaders agreed at last year’s summit in Papua New Guinea to consult Indonesia over how to monitor and investigate human rights abuses in Papua.

New Zealand Greens MP Catherine Delahunty is pushing for an independent fact-finding mission to West Papua. Photo: RNZI

The New Zealand government indicated on several occasions that Indonesia was opposed to the idea but Greens MP, Catherine Delahunty, who leads a now 20 strong group of New Zealand parliamentarians, said this country had to do more.

“We will be writing a collective letter to Murray McCully as Minister of Foreign Affairs calling on him to make a comment on this lack of progress,” she said.

“Because it was already agreed. It is clear from the past year that there continue to large numbers of human rights abuses and there is a need for a fact finding mission. So we are going to push our government because they signed up to this, they should be standing up for it.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of West Papuans have today been demonstrating again in Jayapura, Papua’s provincial capital, calling for freedom from Indonesian rule.

Reports from Papuan media sources indicate Indonesian police arrested dozens of activists since the weekend for organising the demonstration.

One one day alone in early May, around 2000 Papuans were arrested for participation in another large demo.

June 15, 2016 1