The Right Hon Jack Straw MP
Foreign Secretary
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1

Dear Mr Straw,

Jakarta – Foreign countries still recognise Papua as part of Indonesia, said Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda in response to the US Lower House's recent bill questioning the

Jakarta – In an apparent attempt to calm the public, the government says it will refrain from paying too much attention to a move to question Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papuan leaders reacted cautiously on Monday to the bill recently approved by the US House of Representatives, stressing that Papua is legally part of Indo

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The House of Representatives plans to send a four-member delegation to the US to lobby congress in an attempt to block passage of a bill that raises questions ab

Neles Tebay, Rome – The government is beginning to pay the price for its reluctance to honor its commitment to fully implement Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua.

Jakarta – The government should be more serious in handling problems in Papua following foreign intervention like the support given by an American senator for Papuan freedom.

Jakarta – The Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) will soon send a protest letter to the US administration through its embassy here against the US Congress adopting a bill questi

Jakarta – The US State Department announced on Friday that Washington would not support any effort that would allow Papua to gain independence from Indonesia.

Jakarta/Shenzen, China – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned the US not to interfere in Indonesia's domestic affairs after the US House of Representatives recently approved a bill

London and Washington, D.C.

Kitty Holland – The human rights violations inflicted on the people of West Papua are the same as those suffered by the people of East Timor, an activist from the western Pacific island

The United States Congress is to vote on a bill which could see the US Government ordered to monitor the human rights situation in the Indonesian province of West Papua.

Three arrested Papuans told "If you take action against Indonesia, Indonesia will kill you."

Introduction

"The churches in Papua can no longer remain silent if injustice and human rights abuses continue. Violence by the Indonesian military forces has increased.

Neles Tebay, Urbaniana, Rome – Last week, Vice President Jusuf Kalla visited West Irian Jaya. where he acknowledged the province continues to lack a strong legal base.

Recommended Action: Please copy the letter below the Background Information or write in your own words and send to:

Yorrys Raweyai, a former leader of one of the country's most feared thugs-for-hire groups, has registered himself as a candidate for the governorship of West Irian Jaya province.

Jayapura – The Papua provincial council officially changed its name to the Papua People's Representative Council in a plenary session on Wednesday. The change, based on Law No.

UK groups monitoring BP's US$5 billion Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in West Papua have expressed dismay that the company entered into an important agreement for the security of

Only two months after John Howard pledged Australian government support For Indonesia's territorial integrity, Australians from the National Coalition of West Papua Solidarity Groups me

On 26 May, an Indonesian court passed gross prison sentences against two young West Papuans for organising peaceful celebrations and flying the Morning Star flag in the provincial capit

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Presiden RI, Istana Merdeka Jakarta Pusat 10110 Indonesia

29 May 2005

Dear President Yudhoyono,

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A Papua district court sentenced Papuan separatist leaders Philep Karma and Yusak Pakage to 15 and 10 years in jail respectively on Thursday for "treason

Len Garae, Port Vila – Vanuatu's Prime Minister has blamed "foreign elements" for an incident last week where the Indonesian flag on the vehicle of Jakarta's ambassador to Port Vila was

Jayapura – The court hearing at the Jayapura State Court on Monday May 23 in the case of Filep Karma and Yusack Pakage who are charged with raising of the Morning Star Flag was marred w

Suherdjoko and Nethy Dharma Somba, Semarang/Jayapura – Discontent with disciplinary actions taken against police officers involved in the violent handling of protesters in Papua, dozens

Nethy Dharma Somba and Suherdjoko, Jayapura/Semarang – Under mounting public pressure, Papua provincial police replaced on Friday another senior policeman held responsible for the shodd

Carmel Budiardjo, London – Despite being chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and affirming its commitment to human rights, including self-determination, at the recent Asian-Afric

Neles Tebay, Rome – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to visit the United States, the European Union (EU), and Japan.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A senior Papuan police officer has been replaced and four other are being questioned for alleged human rights violations following a violent clash between

Jayapura – The separatist trial of Philip Karma and Yusak Pakage who are each facing five years jail at the Jayapura State Court on Tuesday May 10 has ended in a riot.

Jakarta – Dozens of people were injured Tuesday when police clashed with independence supporters in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, news reports said.

At least 13 people including two policewomen were injured when an angry crowd threw stones at the trial of a popular pro-independence activist in Indonesia's Papua province, officials s

About 300 protesters demonstrated outside the Jayapura provincial council buildings on Monday against the United Nations' decision to give Indonesia control of the province in 1963.

George Monbiot – It all seems a very long way away. But what is happening in an obscure island nation in the south Pacific has now become our business.

Port Numbay (Jayapura) – Around 500 indigenous Papuans organised by the Papua Youth Group (Kelompok Pemuda Papua) held a demonstration against the integration of West Papua in to the Un

See also below: West Papua Solidarity Meeting clarification

Jakarta – Vice-President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla has requested the Phillippines government not to interfere in Indonesia's internal affairs in relation to the problem of Papua.

The government of the Philippines and the University of the Philippines say they do not support a meeting discussing the issue of independence for West Papua.

On Saturday April 25, hundreds of people from the Liberation Front against the Oppression of Papua (Front Pembebasan Penindasan Papua, FP3) went to the Papuan Provisional Parliament in

Gunawan Mashar – Makassar: Around 30 Papuan [Irian Jaya] students in Makassar went to the South Sulawesi Provincial DPR [House of Representatives] in Jl Urip Sumohardjo, Makassar on Wed

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Some 800 students from the United West Papua Democratic Students Front demanded on Monday that two police officers charged for their roles in human rights

The indigenous Christian Papuans in Eastern Indonesia are facing genocide and in desperate need of support and prayers.

John Roberts – Even as Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono postures as a "democrat", his government has given the go-ahead for the dispatch of an additional 15,000 troops from

Green MP Keith Locke returned today from a three-day trip to West Papua conveying a request from Papuan leaders that New Zealand champion their cause at the Pacific Islands Forum.

Mr. Eddy Pratomo
Deputy Chief of Missiom
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia

Dear Sir,

Jayapura – The number of people with HIV/AIDS is on the rise in Papua, with around 500 people testing positive for the virus every year.

The decision to establish a KOSTRAD headquarters in Timika and to station three new battalions in Papua is likely to upset public opinion.

A West Papuan church leader has urged the federal government not to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses in his homeland as it contemplates a new security pact with Indonesia.