Ronald Toito'ona – Members of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) are arriving in Honiara starting this week, ahead of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders' Summit next week.
This was confirmed to the Solomon Star by Ben Didiomea, one of the West Papua campaigners in the country. They arrived in Honiara on separate flights.
Indonesia has been given a 2017 deadline to address press freedom violations in its Papua province.
The call from the chair of the regional media watchdog Pacific Freedom Forum came as Indonesia was earmarked to host the International Press Freedom Day event in May next year.
Nationwide petition calls on Government to protect human rights and freedom of expression in West Papua.
Launched today at a rally outside the Indonesian Embassy in Kelburn marking the killing of an 18 year old student by security forces. 12. 15 pm outside 70 Glen Rd Kelburn.
West Papua solidarity groups in New Zealand have launched a petition calling for the New Zealand government to speak out about human rights in the Indonesian region.
Green MPs have been among protestors outside the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington today marking the death of a teenager Owen Pekei last week.
The New Zealand Green Party says Prime Minister John Key must address human rights in West Papua when he meets with Indonesia's Joko Widodo later this month.
Mr Key intended to discuss trade and economic links, but a Greens' MP Catherine Delahunty said there was no mention of discussions on the political situation in West Papua.
[From Biak Massacre Citizens Tribunal website.]
New Zealand news media are "ignoring" the biggest story in the Pacific region in spite of a social media revolution taking the storytelling to the world.
This is the view of a journalist and media educator expressed at the Otago Foreign Policy School at the weekend, Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie.
Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO) executive director, Emele Duituturaga has welcomed a call made by the World Council of Churches (WCC) for a solidarity visit to West Papua by an international ecumenical delegation.
Jakarta – The Coordinating Minister of Political, Law and Security Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, said Indonesia is concerned about separatists participating in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Summit that will be held on the Solomon Islands from July 14-16, 2016.
Bastian Tebai, Yogyakarta – Every year July 1 is commemorated by Papuans as West Papua proclamation day. The proclamation was read out at the Victoria Headquarters in Waris Village, Jayapura, in 1971.
A grouping of the region's NGOs says a top United Nations official must be commended for highlighting the plight of West Papuans.
Last week the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai, brought up West Papua at the at a Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
Adam Boland – Prominent West Papuan religious leader Benny Giay believes Pacific countries might offer the last hope to save his people. During an emotional interview with Pasifik News from Jayapura, Dr Giay predicted the Papuan culture could disappear within decades.
Gavin Drake – The increasing tensions in Indonesian West Papua has attracted the attention of both the World Council of Churches' Central Committee and the Bishops of the Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea.
Mark Bowling – With Australia heading to a general election, Catholic Church leaders are calling on the major political parties to end their double standards on human rights advocacy in the region.
Indonesia's campaign to contain issues of West Papua has entered a new phase.
As diplomatic activity on behalf of the indigenous people of West Papua has recently surged, Jakarta has responded by taking steps that it says will address human rights abuses in Indonesia's troubled region.
On the 1st July in 1971, West Papuan Independence was declared by the OPM.
Local media suarapapua.com reported that the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) central committee had issued a general call to all the students and the people of Papua to commemorate the reading of the proclamation of independence of Papua.
An international human rights law firm has submitted a formal legal complaint to the UN Human Rights Council regarding violations by Indonesia against West Papuans.
West Papua Media and local sources – Australian-supported Indonesian Police special forces shot dead a teenage Papuan high school student in central Nabire city, West Papua, on Monday (27th June) afternoon, in an apparently premeditated ambush without provocation, according to credible reports and witnesses from the scene. The student was unarmed.
Papua New Guinea's ambassador in Jakarta says there's a change of attitude taking place in Indonesia's Papua region, or West Papua, whereby the indigenous people are participating more in the running of their own region.
Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is taking no part in a government-sanctioned team on human rights violations in Papua, commissioner Natalius Pigai said on Monday.
"Komnas HAM has decided not to delegate any commissioner to take part in the team," Natalius said at his office in Jl. Latuharhari, Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Following his visit to West Papua, Papua New Guinea's ambassador to Indonesia says that increasingly West Papuans are in the driving seat in terms of the running of their own region.
West Papua Action Auckland congratulates the Governments of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands for their statements last week about human rights abuses in West Papua.
We believe their principled and courageous stand at the Human Rights Council in Geneva has drawn attention to the suffering of a people whose plight remains hidden from much of the world.
Ernest Ta'asi – The Solomon Islands government is in support for an international supervised vote on the independence of West Papua.
Solomon Islands representative Barret Salato gave the country's support before the UN Human Rights Council for the vote proposal that was made by the International Parliamentarians for West Papua Forum in London last month.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – The Foundation St.
London – A new report by Papuans Behind Bars (PBB) exposes the Indonesian government's increased use of arbitrary arrests to shut down protests in West Papua in 2015.
Allegations of human rights abuses in Indonesia's Papua region, or West Papua, have been highlighted at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this week. But as the international focus sharpens on ongoing human rights abuses against West Papuans, Jakarta says it's taking concrete action to address the issue.
Johnny Blades reports.
New Zealand's government has confirmed its ambassador to Indonesia, Dr Trevor Matheson, visited Jayapura and Merauke in Papua last week.
The visit took place at the invitation of Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Luhut Panjaitan. Ambassadors from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji also took part in the visit.
The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have condemned the "unresolved" human rights violations in West Papua by Indonesian security forces, saying they have continued in spite of President Joko Widodo's greater attention to the region.
Both countries say the agreed future visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to Indonesia should also include West Papua.
Yeremia Sukoyo, Jakarta – Minister of Land and Spatial Planning Ferry Mursyidan Baldan has declared the government's recognition of communal rights of nine indigenous communities in Papua.
The declaration was held at the closing of the 9th Sentani Lake Festival at the province's Khalkhote region in East Sentani on Thursday (23/06).
Human Rights Situation in West Papua
Mr. President,
Solomon Islands' diplomat in Geneva has told the UN Human Rights Council's 32nd session about an eroding human rights situation in Indonesia's Papua region.
Barrett Salato told the session that whilst his country welcomes increased attention on West Papua from Indonesia's president Joko Widodo, violations of Papuans' rights remain unresolved.
Charlene Lanyon – Submissions made by various sectors to the Pacific Islands Forum have highlighted West Papua as an issue of concern in the region.
Committee representative Lopeti Senituli said 47 submissions were received from the private sector, civil society, individuals, donor communities and Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP) agencies.
Wamena, Jubi – The government's attempt to resolve alleged human rights violations through an integrated team formed under the Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs must involve relevant parties.
Wamena, Jubi – Papua Police would issue rules on public expressions in a move that many fear will curtail free speech.
Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw said everyone has right to express their opinion in public, but for such groups such as KNPB, PRD who advocate for separatism, there are legal consequences.
Jayapura, Jubi – UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kai, highlighted the issue of Papua in his report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday (17/6/2016).
The West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, has claimed that more than 1,000 of its members were detained by police during a demonstration last Wednesday.
This comes as Indonesian police claim they made no arrests in the latest of a series of large demonstrations by Papuans in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
Eko Prasetyo, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has rejected the claims of a separatist group which calls themselves the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, or ULMWP, a press release from the Foreign Ministry said on Friday (17/06).
After monitoring 20 months of the human rights situation in Papua and West Papua provinces under President Joko Widodo's administration, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is dismayed at the utter lack of progress in the protection and realization of people's rights.
Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The government should change its view of development in Papua from an Indonesia-centric perspective to a Papua-centric one that prioritizes underdeveloped areas, National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chief Sofyan Djalil has said.
Jayapura, Jubi – Some Papuans expressed doubts that an investigation team from the Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs will be able to resolve cases of human rights violations in Papua.
Indonesian police have told journalists from an independent West Papua news outlet to co-ordinate with them over coverage of public demonstrations.
This comes amid a recent spate of large pro-independence demonstrations by West Papuans in cities across Indonesia's eastern region.
The chairman of this week's Melanesian Spearhead Group Foreign Ministers meeting in Fiji has lauded the occasion of having West Papuan and Indonesian delegates at the same table.
However, Milner Tozaka, who is the Solomon Islands Foreign Minister, has admitted that this was not the way Indonesia initially wanted it to be.
Syaiful Hakim, Jakarta – An Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said here on Thursday that the government wishes to settle alleged cases of human rights violations in Papua definitively.
Jayapura, Jubi – The West Papua National Committee claimed that more than 1,000 of its members have been detained by police during a rally on Wednesday to oppose the Human Rights Investigation Team set up by the Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs on(15/6/2016).
Shinta Maharani, Yogyakarta – A group of young artists under the Alliance for Art Jog 2016 Boycott urged the Art Jog 2016 committee to return a sponsorship money worth Rp100 million (US$7,500) given by mining company PT Freeport Indonesia.
Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Indonesia is committed to taking a holistic approach in its push for an immediate settlement of human rights cases in Papua, Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on Thursday.
Benny Mawel, Abepura, Indonesia – Over a thousand people, including seminarians, have staged a rally in Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua in Indonesia to protest the central government's human rights policies.
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.
Dandy Koswaraputra, Jakarta – The police have denied claims that they detained over 1,000 Papuans who staged a rally today to demand Indonesia hold an independence referendum in the nation's easternmost province.
Jakarta – Indonesia on Wednesday briefly detained more than 1,000 pro-independence demonstrators in its eastern province of Papua, ahead of a visit by a top security official to look into claims of human rights violations.