Mark Bowling – The Prime Minister is being urged to support action on human rights violations in West Papua when he meets with Pacific Islands Forum leaders this week.
Brisbane's Catholic Justice and Peace Commission has called on Scott Morrison to ensure that he and other Pacific leaders back a United Nations human rights mission to West Papua as they did at the leaders retreat in Tuvalu in 2019.
Pacific Islands Forum leaders are expected to meet virtually this Friday, August 6.
The Commission's executive officer, Peter Arndt, said human rights violations by Indonesian security forces members in West Papua had continued since the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an investigative mission in February 2018.
"The deployment of thousands of extra troops to the Papuan Highlands in the last couple of years has resulted in killings of civilians and the displacement of tens of thousands of people as they flee from military sweeping operations in their villages," Mr Arndt said.
"In the same period, many demonstrations and meetings have been broken up by Indonesian police and participants beaten and arrested.
"As recently as last week, a deaf man in Merauke was beaten by two soldiers for no good reason."
Mr Arndt said he welcomed the Australian Government's commitment to regularly raised concerns with the Indonesian Government about human rights violations.
"However, we are concerned that either removing West Papua from the PIF agenda or a weakening of the existing strong commitment to address human rights abuses will remove pressure on the Indonesian Government at a time when the situation in West Papua is worsening," he said.
Mr Arndt said that the Commission had maintained close contact with indigenous Catholic priests, Protestant leaders, human rights defenders and survivors and families of victims of human rights violations in West Papua.
"We have also engaged with many Australian MPs and senators as well as a number of government ministers in an effort to build support for a UN mission," Mr Arndt said.
"We encourage Australians to contact their local MP, their state senators, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific this week to urge them to maintain support at the Pacific Islands Forum for a UN human rights mission to West Papua."