Kizzy Kalsakau and Jason Abel – The Government of Indonesia has criticized Vanuatu for including a West Papuan leader and the United Liberal Movement for the people of West Papua (ULMWP) chairman, Benny Wenda in its delegation to a meeting with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

Johnny Blades – Efforts to focus international attention on the West Papua independence cause surged in the past week.

First, a petition claiming to represent the voices of 1.8 million West Papuans calling for decolonisation of Indonesian-ruled Papua was handed to the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, in Geneva.

The Free West Papua Movement, or OPM, has called for United Nations intervention over conflict in Papua's Nduga regency.

The Highlands regency is the current focal point of armed conflict between Indonesian security forces and the West Papua Liberation Army.

The Free West Papua Movement, or OPM, has called for international action on the conflict in Indonesian-ruled Papua

At a rare press conference in neighbouring Papua New Guinea, OPM representatives were joined by PNG civil society groups and two high-profile local MPs pushing for a change in the PNG government's policy on West Papua.

Johnny Blades reports.

Muhammad Hendartyo, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto said that his institution would establish psychological and territorial operations in Papua in a bid to engage the locals to be familiar and have no fear of the TNI officers.

Vanuatu's foreign minister has dismissed criticism from the Indonesian government for including the United Liberation Movement (ULMWP) for West Papua in its meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

Ryan Dwiky Anggriawan, Jakarta – The Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) commander, Maj. Gen. I Nyoman Cantasia, commented on the recent attacks by a civilian armed group (KKSB) in Papua. He said the group mainly comprised young criminals seeking attention.

Yashinta DP, Fardah, Jakarta – The Indonesian Government has sent a note of protest to the Government of Vanuatu for smuggling Papuan separatist Benny Wenda into the South Pacific nation's delegation while meeting the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet Jeria.

Victor Mambor, Jayapura – Indonesia has strongly criticized the tiny Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu for including an exiled Papuan separatist leader as a member of its delegation during a meeting in Geneva last week with the U.N. human rights chief.

Jakarta – State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno has said the government does not expect big revenue from gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) in the next three years, following a US$3.85 billion divestment deal.

Lin Evlin – Indonesia's Ambassador to the UN, Hasan Kleib, has strongly condemned Vanuatu for helping exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda to meet with UN officials during one of its periodic review meetings.

Helen Davidson – Indonesia has agreed in principle to allow the UN office of the human rights commissioner into West Papua amid continuing violence in the region.

Indonesia's military has evacuated the body of a soldier killed at an airport in Papua's Highlands on Monday.

Xinhua reported that gunmen shot at an arriving aircraft carrying soldiers at Mapenduma airport of Nduga district, leaving one soldier dead.

Tasha Wibawa – Earlier this week, a petition signed by more than 1.8 million people calling for an independence referendum in Indonesia's West Papua province was delivered to United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet.

Jarryd de Haan – Armed rebels in the Indonesian province of Papua were involved in a gunfight on 28 January with the Indonesian Military (TNI) at an airstrip at Mapenduma in the Nduga Regency.

Jakarta – The construction of a bridge on the Trans Papua road in Nduga, West Papua, will be finished by the army (TNI AD). The construction of the bridge was postponed following the December 2 fatal shooting of construction workers by the West Papua National Liberation Army.

Civil society groups in Papua New Guinea are urging the government to speak out about violent conflict in the neighbouring Papua region of Indonesia.

This comes amid a recent escalation of conflict between the West Papua Liberation Army and Indonesian security forces in Papua's Central Highlands.

A group of UK parliamentarians in the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for West Papua have welcomed the handing-in of the historical West Papuan People's Petition to the UN human rights chief.

In a statement, the APPG said:

A petition by West Papuans seeking decolonisation has been handed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

The petition was delivered in a meeting officially facilitated by the Vanuatu government in Geneva on Friday.

London (Benny Wenda/Pacific Media Watch) – As chairman of The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), I have presented the West Papuan People's Petition for self-determination to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

Geneva – A separatist movement in Indonesia's West Papua province delivered a petition with 1.8 million signatures demanding an independence referendum to U.N. Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Friday, its leader told Reuters after the meeting.

Febriana Firdaus – Jakob Skrzypski left a stable job in Switzerland to travel through Indonesia last year. He visited Java, Sumatra and the tourist island of Bali before heading to the restive provinces of West Papua and Papua.

The Free West Papua Movement, or OPM, says it has political support in Papua New Guinea to push for negotiations with Indonesia.

Along with its armed wing, the West Papua Liberation Army, the OPM plans to hold a press conference in PNG's capital next week.

A rescue team consisting of church leaders, Nduga government representatives, local parliament members and civil society figures have published a report on the killing of 17 government contractors.

Jessica Franklin – More than 300 different Papuan tribes of ethnic Melanesian origin on the western half of New Guinea have been brutally suppressed by the Austronesian-dominated government at Jakarta since 1963

Victor Mambor, Jayapura – Papua Human Rights Lawyers Association (PAHAM), Papua Legal AID Institute (LBH) and GKI Synod who are members of the Coalition for Law Enforcement and Human Rights in Papua registered a pretrial lawsuit against the police in Timika District Court, Papua on Thursday afternoon (17/01/2019).

Helen Davidson – Three babies who died during childbirth are among the civilian deaths West Papuan leaders are blaming on a brutal crackdown by Indonesian forces in the region of Nduga.

They are calling for Indonesia to allow humanitarian and medical agencies access to the area, as well as foreign media.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua is calling for Pacific regional groups to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in Indonesia's Papua region.

The movement's chair, Benny Wenda, said the Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Spearhead Group should urgently send fact-finding missions to Nduga regency.

Indonesia's military says one of its soldiers has been killed by Papuan rebels during a shootout in the Highlands region.

Military spokesperson Colonel Mohammed Aidi told Antara News that an officer was killed on Friday in Puncak Jaya regency.

Dozens of students have turned out across Indonesia to protest military action in Papua's Nduga regency.

Since late last year, a large, joint military and police operation has been underway in the Highlands region in pursuit of the West Papua Liberation Army.

Lawyers in Indonesia have launched legal action against last month's arrest of three members of the the West Papua National Committee in Timika.

Denpasar – Scores of people from the People's United Forum (FPR) and the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) held a rally in and around the Renon area in the Balinese provincial capital of Denpasar on Friday January 18.

Jakarta – Human rights groups have called on the Papua Police to immediately and unconditionally drop the "rebellion" charge against three activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) and release them.

Papuan civilians in troubled Nduga regency are returning to their villages after recent conflict in the area, according to Indonesia's military.

Since late last year, a large joint operation by military and police has been underway in this Highlands region in pursuit of the West Papua Liberation Army.

Amnesty International is calling on Indonesia to drop treason charges against three Papuan political activists.

Yanto Awerkion, Sem Asso and Edo Dogopia were among six members of the West Papua National Committee arrested in December, when police and military took over the group's secretariat in Timika.

Febriana Firdaus – A Polish man accused of plotting a coup with a pro-independence Papuan armed group has become the first foreigner to be charged with treason in Indonesia.

Basten Gokkon, Jakarta – When the Indonesian government took a controlling stake in the operator of one of the world's richest gold mines at the end of 2018, proponents hailed the move as a historic step toward national and economic resource sovereignty.

TAPOL, Franciscans International, International Coalition for Papua, Watch Indonesia!, West Papua Netzwerk and Geneva for Human Rights Global Training would like to draw your attention to the cases of the violation of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression as well as the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association of the members of West Papua National Committee (

Jayapura, Indonesia – Indonesia's military said a Papuan rebel was killed and a soldier injured in a gunbattle Wednesday, the latest spasm of violence to hit the country's troubled easternmost region.

Bernadette Christina Munthe, Jakarta – Copper concentrate exports from Indonesia's Grasberg mine, the world's second-largest copper mine, are forecast to plunge this year because of a lag in output as operations move from open pit to underground mining, a government official said on Wednesday.

Helen Davidson – Indonesian forces have raided and allegedly destroyed the offices of the West Papuan liberation group, taking over one site in what lawyers for the group claim is an "illegal occupation".

Jakarta – A polish national who was due to stand trial on Tuesday on charges of treason for allegedly aiding separatist rebels in Indonesia's restive Papua province refused to sit in the dock, his lawyer said.

Jakarta – Papuan police have charged three West Papua National Committee (KNPB) members with treason (makar). The case has now been handed over to the Papua regional police headquarters (Mapolda) in Jayapura City for processing by the Papua regional police (Polda) General Crimes Detectives Directorate (Ditreskrimum).

The latest reports from West Papua reveal a shocking escalation of violence in West Papua. Incendiary weapons – possibly white phosphorous – are being used to bomb villages in the Nduga area of the Highlands.

Eight activists with the West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, have been questioned by Indonesian police in Timika in relation to alleged subversion or treason.

This comes after members of the pro-independence organisation were forced out of their secretariat by dozens of police last Thursday in the southern Papuan city.

Fears are growing among the West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, as the group faces a crackdown on its offices by Indonesian authorities.

The KNPB said its headquarters in Jayapura and Asmat were shuttered by military and police in December.

Oki Raimundos, Dili – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta has urged Indonesia's government to hold talks with the Papuan independence movement to help end a decades-long insurgency in the country's easternmost region.

Jakarta (Antara) – The Director General of Mineral and Coal (Minerba) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bambang Gatot Ariyono estimated that PT Freeport Indonesia's (PTFI) revenues would fall in 2019.

Jakarta (Antara) – High rainfalls in the past few days have caused floods and landslides in several parts of Jayapura city, Papua Province, on Saturday night.

Jakarta – On Saturday January 5 the Mimika district police (Polres) in Papua questioned eight West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activists in relation to a case of alleged subversion (maker).