December 1st – West Papuan Independence Day

 http://www.scoop. co.nz/stories/ WO0911/S00731. htm

December 1st – West Papuan Independence Day
Monday, 23 November 2009,
Press Release: Free West Papua Campaign

The 1st December is remembered by West Papuans as the day they should have been granted independence over 40 years ago. This year thousands of people across West Papua will be risking their lives by publicly calling for independence from Indonesia. In solidarity with them we will be holding an important day of action in London, we hope you will be able to join us.

We will first be meeting at 12 noon at the Indonesian Embassy in Grosvenor Square for a loud and colourful demonstration in solidarity with the demonstrations that will be happening across West Papua. Following this we will make our way down the road to Westminster where we will be meeting with MPs and delivering a copy of the book by Professor Pieter Drooglever (see below) to the House of Commons. We will then have a meeting and briefing with the MPs. Please try to join us either at the Embassy at 12 or at at 1 Parliament Street at 2pm.

The international profile of the West Papua case is growing fast and we really hope as many of you as possible can join us on this important day to keep the momentum going.

 

http://news. theage.com. au/breaking- news-world/ global-lobby- for-west- papua-takes- off-20091113- idr4.html

Global lobby for West Papua takes off
Ilya Gridneff

November 13, 2009

Three Papua New Guinea politicians have joined an international campaign to support West PapuansPort Moresby or towns along the shared border.

Port Moresby's Governor Powes Parkop said PNG had "turned a blind eye and deaf ear" to the issue. MPs Jamie Maxton-Graham and Boka Kondra also criticised PNG's inaction over the plight of their fellow Melanesians, who are an ethnic minority in Indonesia's Papua province.

Maxton-Graham said he had been prompted to help launch and sign the PNG Charter of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua after seeing photos of atrocities on West Papuans allegedly committed by the Indonesian police and military.

"The international community and our charter says Indonesia must stop this," Maxton-Graham said. He joined Parkop, Kondra and 50 MPs from other countries in signing the charter. Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Greens MP Greg Barber are also signatories, alongside MPs from the UK, Sweden, Czech Republic, Vanuatu and New Zealand.

The charter calls for the UN to restore the "right of the indigenous people of West Papua to self-determination" .Indonesia took formal control of the former Dutch colony in a widely criticised 1969 UN-sponsored vote among about 1000 handpicked villager elders from the Papuan region. Since then Indonesia's hardline security measures, including arrests of activists who try to fly Papua's outlawed Morning Star flag, have helped quell the West Papua separatist movement.

But the long-running insurgency by poorly armed pro-independence guerillas continues. It is estimated 10,000 to 20,000 West Papuans now live in PNG after they fled their homes on the Indonesian side because of few opportunities and human rights abuse.Hundreds settled in a refugee camp near the border in PNG's Southern Highlands region while a majority live and work in the country's major centres like Port Moresby. persecuted by Indonesian authorities. The PNG MPs reignited the controversial issue on Friday one week before the Indonesian government starts repatriating up to 700 West Papuans who live in PNG's capital