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.

The AWPA condemns the arrests of 65 KNPB and student activists in Sentani and 4 in Nabire on the 13 June.

Journalists have been intimidated and threatened while covering an election in the Mamberamo Raya regency of Indonesia's Papua province.

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has expressed the government's commitment to ensuring openness and transparency in resolving human rights abuse cases in Papua.

Local media (suarapapua.com) has reported the arrests of up to 31 KNPB activists in Jayapura on Friday the 10 June. Those arrested were simply handing out leaflets informing the public about an upcoming rally to be held on the 15 June.

The New Zealand Government must address the issue of escalating political repression in West Papua. In the last month over two thousand people have been arrested merely for taking part in peaceful protest action.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) condemns ongoing violations of the rights of West Papuans to freedom of expression and calls for an end to Indonesia's attacks against Papuan protesters.

The office of the United Nations Secretary-General denies that he met with a representative of West Papua at the World Humanitarian Summit.

Stephanie Zillman – The Indonesian Consul to Darwin Andre Siregar has denied he pressured the owner of a wall to paint over a mural which features the West Papuan flag, but said he had reported its existence to Jakarta.

A large anti-independence rally has been held by transmigrants in the capital of Indonesia's Papua province, Jayapura.

The demonstrators, who numbered over a thousand, were mainly non-Papuans who carried Indonesian flags as they called for authorities to ban groups pushing for an independence referendum.

Indonesia's consul in Darwin has denied awareness of any "external pressure" put on the owners of a building housing a mural supporting West Papua to paint it over. Andre Siregar on Monday tweeted "I am unaware of any external pressure. Good neighbours & friends are always open to discussions".

Jayapura, Jubi – Third Deputy Chairman of Papua Legislative Council, Yanni suggested that outsiders or foreign countries were behind calls for Papuan independence. Further she warned about the game played by foreign parties by providing support to organizations voicing independence for Papua.

Stephanie Zillman – The artists who painted a mural depicting the West Papuan " Morning Star" flag on a wall in Darwin's CBD has been asked by the property owners to paint over it as a "matter of urgency" following the application of "external pressures".

Jakarta – Thousands of protesters gathered at the Trikora Field in Abepura, Papua, Thursday (02/06), demanding the disbandment of West Papua National Committee (KNPB), an arm of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), arguing that both organizations contravene state ideology Pancasila and are illegal under Indonesia's 1945 Constitution.

Jakarta – The alleged leader of a Papuan armed separatist group has been arrested after sustaining a shot to the leg, a police spokesman said on Wednesday (01/06).

Fourty-year-old Kelenak Telenggen was arrested earlier on Tuesday in a rented room in Wamena. He is facing accusations of leading a string of attacks on security officers and civilians over the past two years,

Over the past few days, around 600 West Papuan people have been reportedly arrested simply for peacefully demonstrating to call upon the Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Summit to support West Papuan self-determination.

Victor Mambor, Jayapura – After officers broke up demonstrations and detained scores of protesters, police in eastern Indonesia's Papua and West Papua provinces said Tuesday they would prevent pro-independence activists from rallying again.

Jakarta – Indonesian police briefly detained hundreds of pro-independence demonstrators in Papua on Tuesday, the latest round-up of protesters in the insurgency-hit eastern region.

There have been more demonstrations in Indonesia's Papua region today, in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.

Over a thousand demonstrators gathered in the Papua provincial capital Jayapura to express their support for the Liberation Movement and its bid for full membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

A prominent West Papua independence activist is calling on Papua New Guinea's prime minister to extend his invitation to all West Papuans to him.

Peter O'Neill has spoken of the need to speak out about human rights abuses in neighbouring Indonesian territory, and last week told a radio talkback programme that West Papuans are welcome in PNG.

The secretary-general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua says he was given no explanation why he was barred from entering Papua New Guinea.

Secretary general Octo Mote was travelling to Port Moresby to assist the Vanuatu and Solomon Islands governments in their representations on West Papua at the African, Carribean and Pacific summit this week.

Indonesian police have arrested scores of West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat) members around Papua on May 30, as Papuan civil society is gearing up for a day a mass mobilizations to sustain pressure brought on by the massive May 3 rallies, where Indonesian security forces beat hundreds of people and arrested close to 2300 people.

Dozens of members of the West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, have been arrested by Indonesian police in Papua province.

Up to 51 KNPB members were reportedly taken into custody by police in Jayapura and Sentani yesterday for organising new demonstrations in the region.

Jayapura – The blockading of the campus of Cenderawasih University in Waena, Abepura Jayapura, Papua, from Monday to Thursday by its students has resulted in a strike by its 615 lecturers and 321 administrative employees.

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Jakarta – The Papua provincial administration may find it hard to wrest full control over Indonesia's easternmost province as the central government has refused to amend Law No. 21/2001 on Papua Special Autonomy. The law has been deemed by some to be ineffective in improving the welfare of Papuans.

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Papua itu Kita, LBH Jakarta, SKP-HAM Sulawesi Tengah, SETARA Institute, IKOHI, AJAR, LBH Pers, LBH Semarang, LBH Bandung, Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), Imparsial, SIMPONI (Sindikat Musik Penghuni Bumi), CEDAW Working Group Indonesia (CWGI), Yayasan Satu Keadilan, Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI), Purple Code Coll

Adam Boland, Pasifik News – Indonesia is unlikely to ever allow the people of West Papua another referendum on independence, according to a leading expert on the region.

Len GaraeWest – Papuan Leaders, through the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association in Port Vila, have rejected the Indonesian government's statement against the Prime Minister of the Solomons, Manasseh Sogavare as a blunt lie.

Turkey – UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon has been presented with the West Papua Fact Finding Mission Report titled "We Will Lose Everything" by PIANGO's executive director, Emele Duituturaga.

Duituturaga presented the report to Ban Ki Moon during day two of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. The report was received by the assistant Secretary General.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua claims Indonesia is paranoid about regional efforts to seek accurate information regarding Papua region.

The chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group has defended his criticism of Indonesia over its alleged failure to engage with the region over West Papua.

Manasseh Sogavare, who is also Solomon Islands Prime Minister, recently claimed that Indonesia joined the MSG for the purpose of protecting its own interests, rather than discussing human rights in West Papua.

The official transmigration programme is not active anymore in Papua region, according to an Indonesian government official.

Transmigration is the relocation of people from crowded parts of Indonesia to more sparsely-populated regions of the republic like Papua, the easternmost province bordering Papua New Guinea.