Unmissable: West Papuan liberation leaders in Auckland

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Hear West Papuan leaders discuss the road to peace and how the Pacific Island Forum Leaders can help. The indigenous Melanesian people of West Papua have been forced to live under Indonesian military rule since the early 1960s, but yearn to be part of the Pacific family again.


When: Tuesday 6 September · 7.30pm
Where: MacLaurin Chapel, 18 Princes St Auckland (corner of Princes Street and Waterloo Quadrant) | University of Auckland

Speakers:

Dr John Ondawame: West Papua People’s Representative Office in Vanuatu

Rex Rumakiek: Secretary-General West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPCNL)

Paula Makabory Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights (IPAHR): Australia and ELSHAM West Papua (One of the 1000 peace women nominated for the Nobel Prize in 2005)

The Pacific Islands Forum meets in Auckland 6-9 September at Sky City in Auckland. Forum leaders must not overlook West Papua which is experiencing an unimaginable human rights tragedy: 'slow genocide'.

Contact Indonesia Human Rights Committee, Box 68-419 Auckland 1125 or maire@clear.net.nz


The first Vanuatu Prime Minister, Walter Lini, once said "so long as any Pacific Islands remain colonised, none of us is free". Last year Vanuatu's Parliament unanimously resolved to raise the issue of West Papua's political status at the UN General Assembly. Vanuatu wants to get the matter referred to the International Court of Justice.

In West Papua there is also a proposal for a peaceful dialogue with Jakarta. Independence would not be on the dialogue agenda but even so Jakarta has not yet agreed.

How can the Pacific Islands forum say that it promotes regional stability while overlooking the deadliest conflict in its patch?


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