In several centres across West Papua on October 16, Indonesian police and army (TNI) have again cracked down violently on peaceful political demonstrations held by the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), resulting in the injuries of several participants, with unconfirmed reports of police opening fire in related incidents against KNPB members in Kaimana.

Amahl S. Azwar, Jakarta – Following months of delay, PT Freeport Indonesia and the company's workers union on Wednesday said they had agreed on some basic premises in their pay talks for the 2013-2015 period.

Organisations and politicians from the US, Asia and the Pacific have written to leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, calling for sustained efforts to give Papuans a voice and welcoming MSG leadership on the issue.

The MSG, currently under the chairmanship of New Caledonia, is considering a Papuan application to join the Group.

98 international and Pacific non-governmental organisations, academics, politicians and individuals have written to the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), welcoming their leadership on the West Papua issue and adding their wholehearted support for the application of West Papua to join the MSG.

Pro-independence activists in the remote Indonesian province of West Papua are planning to mark the anniversary of what they say was their declaration of independence.

98 international and Pacific NGOS, academics, politicians and individuals have written to the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group voicing support for the West Papuan application to join the MSG.

The New Zealand Green Party says New Zealand should be facilitating peace talks in Indonesia's Papua region rather than sending police advisors.

Six West Papuans who had sought asylum in Australia, but were secretly moved to Papua New Guinea by Australian authorities, have now been moved to a remote part of Western Province, near the Indonesian border.

Six of the West Papuans who sought asylum in Australia after being persecuted for their involvement in a ceremonial handover of sacred water and ashes as part of the Freedom Flotilla, were relocated under armed guard to Kiunga on Saturday the 12th and will be sent to a refugee camp in East Awin on Tuesday the 15th of October 2013.

[Exclusive investigation from West Papua Media team.]

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – With the top Indonesian military (TNI) officer in Papua joining the province's governor in extending an invitation to foreign journalists and nongovernmental organizations, you'd think a clutch of writers and activists must be boarding planes to the country's eastern-most province, hitherto off limits to foreign press.

Staff and agencies – The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has denied that threats were made to three West Papuan activists who scaled the walls of the Australian consulate in Bali.

Marni Cordell – Seven West Papuans who claimed asylum in Australia have been told they will be sent to a remote camp in Papua New Guinea on the border of Indonesia – the country they are fleeing from.

Michael Bachelard – Fresh hope that Indonesia would allow foreign journalists and observers freely into its most troubled province, West Papua, appear to be unfounded.

The governor of Papua province, Lukas Enembe, said on Wednesday that he wanted to welcome reporters and non-governmental organisations to the area.

West Papua Action Auckland is shocked to hear that the Government's training programme for the police in West Papua and Maluku is about to enter a new phase – a three year commitment involving two full-time police officers being deployed to Jayapura – This is the worst possible moment for New Zealand to boost the image of the police in West Papua.

Alfred Sasako – New information has emerged that some senior officials on the Prime Minister's recent delegation to Indonesia received as much as USD$25,000 (about SBD$187,500) each, sources have confirmed.

West Papua is now open to foreign journalists and NGOs, according to Papuan governor Lukas Enembe, who has promised to allow reporters into the region for the first time in years.

Dr Richard Di Natale
Australian Greens Senator for Victoria

Australian Greens spokesperson for West Papua, Senator Richard Di Natale, today welcomed the comments by the Governor of Papua Lukas Enembe that West Papua is now open to journalists and human rights monitors and has announced that he will visit the province.

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – Papua Governor Lukas Enembe promised to open the region up to foreign journalists and NGOS on Wednesday, guaranteeing their safety as they visit the restive province.

West Papuans battling for independence have new hope after recent events propelled their deadly but usually hidden struggle into the global spotlight.

We are writing to express our deep concern about Westmont's planned sponsorship of a paid speaking engagement with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

An Australian academic says West Papuans have been subject to a slow-motion genocide and the United Nations should step in.

Jim Elmslie, of the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, is the co-author of a just-released report titled 'A Slow-Motion Genocide – Indonesian Rule in West Papua'.

The rapid proliferation of new districts in Papua is strengthening the political influence of highlanders at the expense of the traditionally dominant coast, but it is also producing new conflicts and complicating the search for peace, the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said on Wednesday.

Paddy Doulman – Prime Minister Tony Abbott's claim that the situation in West Papua is "getting better", in response to a protest by three Papuan activists in the Australian consulate in Bali, has been rejected by experts.

Marni Cordell – One of the three men who occupied the Australian consulate in Bali on Sunday says he is being pursued by the Indonesian military and does not believe Indonesia's assurances that he will not be arrested or detained.

The first president of Vanuatu, Ati George Sokomanu, has condemned comments by the Australian prime minister, Tony Abott, that he would clamp down on West Papuan activists.

The newspaper, The Australian, reports Mr Abbott as saying in Bali that people seeking to grandstand against Indonesia are not welcome in Australia.

Andreas Harsono – Markus Jerewon, Yuvensius Goo and Rofinus Yanggam came up with a novel method of breaking the chokehold the Indonesian government has long held on news about human rights abuses in Papua: scaling the Australian Consulate's fence in the dead of night and hand-delivering a personal plea to open the Indonesian province to world scrutiny.

Katharine Murphy – The Greens have sought explicit assurances from senior Indonesian officials in Australia about the safety and wellbeing of three West Papuan students who occupied the Australian consulate in Bali in protest early on Sunday morning.

Dr Richard Di Natale
Australian Greens Senator for Victoria

Australian Greens spokesperson for West Papua, Senator Richard Di Natale, today has written to the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to request a full account of the events relating to three West Papuans entering the Australian Consulate in Bali over the weekend.

West Papua Action Auckland,
Box 68-419,
Auckland

8 October 2013

Hon Murray McCully,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Parliament Buildings,
Wellington.
Fax 04-499-0704

Dear Mr McCully,

Reporter: Emma Alberici

Human rights lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, who has been working with West Papuan asylum seekers for ten years discusses why three West Papuans scaled the fence to the Australian Consulate in Bali over the weekend and where they are likely to be now.

Simon Benson – Tony Abbott was warned in a phone message from a Victorian Senator that a group of activists were planning to break into the Australian consulate in Bali to stage a protest against the Indonesian Government ahead of the Prime Minister's arrival last night for the APEC summit.

Katharine Murphy – Tony Abbott has bought himself a fight with a key Senate kingmaker after declaring that West Papua is better off under Indonesian rule.

On Monday, Abbott told reporters in Bali that "the people of West Papua are much better off as part of a strong, dynamic and increasingly prosperous Indonesia".

Bagus BT Saragih, Nusa Dua, Bali – Students in Bali from the restive province of Papua have become the targets of raids by security forces that could view them as threats to Indonesia's image during the prestigious APEC Summit.

Jenny Denton – Indonesia has been accused of using torture as a "mode of governance" in West Papua – security forces have committed at least one incident of torture, on average, every six weeks for the past half century, a study has found.

Australia's Consul-General in Bali has denied making threats to three West Papuan protesters who sought refuge inside the consulate.

Student activists Rofinus Yanggam, Yuvensius Goo and Markus Jerewon climbed the wall of the consulate in the early hours of Sunday morning, but left later in the day.

Rowan Callick, Deborah Cassrels – Crossbench politicians are demanding that the Abbott government back the calls of three West Papuan activists who in the early hours of yesterday morning scaled the wall of the Australian consulate in Bali – and left soon afterwards in controversial circumstances.

Tony Abbott says activists who want to "grandstand" against Indonesia are not welcome in Australia.

The Prime Minister today reiterated his support for Indonesia's sovereignty over West Papua while insisting three activists who breached the walls of the Australian consulate in Bali left the compound voluntarily.

"We ask for your help. We seek refuge and plea for our safety. We don't feel safe in Papua" were the words of the open letter given by the three Papuan Activists to the staff of the Australian Consulate in Bali on Sunday 6 October 2013 at around 0630 local time after they scaled the Consulate Wall and entered the Consulate Compound.

Australian Greens Senator, Richard Di Natale, today called on Trade Minister Andrew Robb to explain misleading remarks about West Papuans who visited the Australian consulate in Bali over the weekend to raise awareness of human rights issues in West Papua.

AWPA has faxed the below letter to the Australian Consulate in Bali seeking clarification if the 3 West Papuan students left voluntarily or if were told that they would be handed over to the Indonesian military if they did not leave.

Australian Greens Senator, Dr Richard Di Natale, today called for the Australian Government to immediately offer sanctuary to three West Papuans.

Markus Jerewon, Yuvensius Goo and Rofinus Yanggam entered the Australian Consulate in Bali last night and have released an open letter to the APEC leaders currently meeting in Bali.

Kristian Lasslett – Barely two weeks into office and Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott, has committed his government to upholding an appeasement policy that has seen Australia entangled in some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable in the neighbouring region of West Papua, where a struggle for independence has been waged for over four decades.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon says West Papuan activists were "effectively threatened" to leave the Australian consulate in Bali ahead of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's arrival for the APEC summit.

Marni Cordell and agencies – Three West Papuans who entered the Australian consulate in Bali overnight have left the compound after being warned by the consul-general that the Indonesian army would be called, the group says.

They arrived in the Torres Strait from Indonesia after transiting for two days in PNG, saying they feared they would be killed if captured by the Indonesian military.

A 2003 Memorandum of Understanding between the Australia and PNG allows deportation of asylum seekers back to PNG only if seven or more days are spent there in transit.

Refugee advocates in Australia want the United Nations to take action over what they say is the government's failure to abide by the Refugees Convention.

This comes amid campaigns to have seven West Papuan asylum seekers from Indonesia assessed for refugee status in Australia, after the government flew them from Queensland to Papua New Guinea last week.

The Netherlands-based advocacy group Foundation Pro Papua says the seven Papuan asylum seekers deported from Australia should be given the option to test their legal rights under the Refugee Convention to claim asylum and protection in Australia.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-127-2013

Dear friends,

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

October 3, 2013

Dear President Obama, On the occasion of your visit to Indonesia for the 2013 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, we write to urge you to highlight the case of West Papua.