Campaigners for improved human rights in West Papua are swimming to the United Nations in Geneva today carrying a petition calling for action in the Indonesian territory.
The document urges the UN to facilitate a legitimate self-determination process for West Papua.
A British team was today swimming a crushing 30 hours and covering 69 km straight across Lake Geneva to deliver a petition calling for self-determination in West Papua to the United Nations.
A message received after more than seven hours into the swim on the live Facebook page said:
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua Police will monitor the use of village funds amounting to Rp 4.3 trillion (US$322 million) allocated for 5,420 villages in 28 regencies and one municipality across the province.
Auckland – The Australia West Papua Association has urged leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum to continue their support of West Papua.
In an open letter, AWPA called on the Forum's 18 members to keep raising the issue of human rights abuses with Indonesia's government and continue applying pressure on Jakarta to allow a fact-finding mission to the Indonesian-ruled territory.
Jakarta – Indonesia's government left no doubts as to who it believes got the better deal in its landmark agreement with Freeport McMoRan on the future of the Grasberg copper mine.
West Papua Action Auckland calls on Pacific Island Forum leaders to take action on West Papua next week.
'We are pleased that West Papua is on the agenda at this year's Forum meeting (4-8 September) and we are calling on the leaders to take decisive action to help resolve the region's most serious human rights crisis, ' said Maire Leadbeater, West Papua Action Auckland.
Jakarta – Indonesia and Freeport-McMoRan on Tuesday (29/08) reached an agreement to allow the US miner to keep operating its giant Grasberg copper and gold mine, though the timing and price of a 51 percent divestment in the mine still needs to be worked out.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura, Papua – The Papua administration is stepping up efforts to prevent the spread of HIV by providing antibody tests to pregnant women seeking healthcare services at hospitals or community health centers.
Victor Mambor Jayapura – The Indonesian government's decision to allow one of the world's largest copper and gold mines to operate in Papua province through 2041 prompted local leaders to remind officials that their people never gave up land ownership and want a role in negotiations.
AWPA has written an open letter to the PIF leaders (letter below media release).
Produce and directed by Ash Brennan and narrated by Basia Bonkowski, Punks for West Papua is a documentary about how the United Nations betrayed the people of West Papua and how one man's selfless gesture inspired a history making movement to help strangers in a foreign land.
The outlook for the plantation industry in Papua has started to show signs of change recently, both because of a sustainability drive in the palm oil supply chain, which has forced many companies to suspend deforestation plans, and better-informed indigenous communities increasingly opposing companies' attempts to acquire their land.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura, Papua – Bitter rivalry during this year's simultaneous elections, including in Papua, have forced the Papua Police to partner with the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) to campaign for peaceful elections ahead of the Papua gubernatorial election in 2018.
Danny Chivers – Could you swim for 30 hours? Right now, a six-person swimming team is preparing to do exactly that, relay-style, across the 69 kilometres of Lake Geneva. On Monday 28 August, they will set off across the water, carrying a message from more than 160,000 people to the UN's headquarters on the far shore.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura, Papua – Prioritizing only infrastructure will not be enough in developing Papua and must be balanced with the empowerment of its human resources, a Papuan community leader has said.
Deiyai, Jubi – In a parliamentary plenary session, Wednesday (August 23) the Regent and Deiyai Parliament had agreed to expel PT Dewa Putra Paniai and Brimob (mobile brigade) troops from the region.
Jakarta – Last week, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government had agreed to extend PT Freeport Indonesia's contract to 2041 in exchange for the company's agreement to divest 51 percent of its shares and to construct smelter, but on Monday he made different statement.
Nethy Darma Somba, Jayapura – Thousands of people rallied in Deiyai, Papua on Monday to demand the perpetrator of a recent fatal shooting in the regency be brought to justice.
They also want contractor firm PT Putra Dewa Paniai and the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel to be forced out from the Mee Pago indigenous area.
Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Jakarta – Police in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua have named six people as suspects out of 17 arrested on Saturday after a violent demonstration by former mine workers at Freeport McMoRan Inc's Grasberg copper mine, a police spokesman said.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the unlawful deprivation of liberty of Papuans which has occurred frequently of late. The AHRC has learned that the Indonesian Security Forces have been using excessive force and flaunting their authority to illegally arrest indigenous Papuans.
Hundreds of former workers of Freeport Indonesia clashed with security forces near the company's mines in the eastern province of Papua on Saturday and three workers were injured, company and union officials said.
Jakarta – The Mimika Police in Papua are investigating a shooting incident, which affected a long-wheel base (LWB) vehicle at gold and copper miner Freeport Indonesia's mining area in Tembagapura district, on Thursday.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Indonesian Authorities to ensure that cases of human rights violations that occurred in Papua must be investigated properly, under fair trial principles and the Rule of Law.
New Zealand's public broadcaster says a protest in Indonesia won't deter it from covering West Papua.
Last week about twenty people protested about RNZ Pacific's coverage of West Papua in a demonstration outside the New Zealand embassy in Indonesia's capital Jakarta.
Pacific churches have come out in support of West Papuan self-determination while endorsing the referenda planned for New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea's Bougainville.
In a statement, the Pacific Conference of Churches said it supported calls from Pacific Island countries' for a United Nations investigation of Indonesia's human rights abuses in West Papua.
An Australian miners' union says 10 people have died in Indonesia's Papua province due to a labour dispute at the Grasberg mine.
Tabloid Jubi reported four thousand workers were laid off by Freeport McMoran after going on strike in May. The strike was in response to the threat of layoffs after mining was disrupted by a dispute between the government and the company.
Jakarta – A march in support of Papuan independence in Central Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon (15/08) ended with the arrest of several protesters and allegations of police brutality.
Jakarta – Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has said that the contract of gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia will be extended to 2041 as the company agreed to divest 51 percent of its shares to Indonesia's entities.
Chanry Andrew Suripatty, Jayapura – A peaceful rally by thousands of protesters from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) in Waena Abepura, Jayapura, rejecting the August 15, 1962 New York Agreement and demanding the right to self-determination Papua has ended in a clash.
Bastian Tebai, Semarang – As many as 100 people were arrested by police when the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) and the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) held peaceful demonstrations in several cities across Java.
David Sobolim, Jayapura – At least 100 people from the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) were arrested in Yogyakarta, Semarang and Jakarta during commemorations to mark the 55th anniversary of the New York Agreement.
Protests have been held in several cities in Indonesia to mark the anniversary of the agreement which sealed West Papua's incorporation into the republic.
Today is the 55th anniversary of the New York Agreement, the US-brokered deal under which the Netherlands agreed to transfer control of West Papua to Indonesia, pending a UN-administered plebiscite.
Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge – Reports about the shooting of an indigenous Papuan by police officers early this month in Deiyai district, Papua, have renewed focus on how human rights abuses by security officials in the region remain unaddressed by the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
Indonesia's government is keeping quiet on the progress of negotiations with the global mining giant Freeport, over its gold and copper mine in West Papua.
Operations have been crippled with the two sides quarrelling since January, when Jakarta forced Freeport to stop exporting copper concentrate from the Grasberg mine.
Human Rights Watch in Indonesia is calling for more international scrutiny of the country's Papuan provinces.
The organisation's Jakarta based researcher, Andreas Harsono made the call following an announcement last week that no more than five Papuan political prisoners remained behind bars in Papua and West Papua, down from 37 in 2016.
Jessica Damiana, Jakarta – Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua hosted its first independent film festival this week, showing documentaries on social issues such as land rights and grinding poverty, but steering clear of the highly sensitive subject of separatism.
New Zealand's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has dismissed a call for the government to make a stand and address the ongoing human rights situation in West Papua.
The Indonesian government has again rejected claims that rights to the freedom of expression and assembly are restricted in Papua region.
Through its embassy in New Zealand, Indonesia has raised issue with reported comments by Vanuatu's government in United Nations forums that basic human rights of West Papuans are being infringed.
Nethy Darma Somba, Jayapura – Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Pol Boy Rafli Amar has stripped First. Insp. HM. Raini of his position as Tigi Police chief following a fatal shooting incident implicating police personnel in Deiyai regency, Papua, on Aug. 1.
Vanuatu has urged the United Nations to take action on Indonesian human rights abuses in West Papua.
Speaking during a debate of the UN general assembly in New York, a Vanuatu representative said his government continued to receive reports of human rights violations in Papua.
Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has condemned police shooting of unarmed civilians in Deiyai, Papua, on Tuesday, August 1. President Joko Widodo is urged to address the conflict in Papua.
Jakarta – Indonesia's human rights commission on Thursday (03/08) urged President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to end rights violations in the country's easternmost province of Papua after police were alleged to have killed one person and wounded 16 others while trying to quell a protest.
Deiyai, Jubi – As police quoted by various mass media saying the bullets that hit some victims in Oneibo village, Tigi district, Deiyai regency, Papua were rubber bullets, the witnesses and doctors in Deiyai hospital argued differently, since the reality proves otherwise.
Febriana Firdaus/Enarotali and Jayapura, Papua – When Bardina Degei cooks dinner, she doesn't use a stove. She rarely even uses a pot. In her wooden home in Enarotali, the capital of Paniai regency in the restive Indonesian province of Papua, the housewife usually just places a sweet potato – known locally as "nota" – directly into the fireplace.
A relative of villagers in Indonesia's Papua region caught up in a fatal police shooting says they're calling for the police to take responsibility for the incident.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta – A recent shooting incident in Bomou village, Tigi district, Deiyai, Papua, that claimed the life of civilian Yulius Pigai, 28, has attracted the attention of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), which has promised to monitor the legal process of the case.
A parliamentary committee in New Zealand has turned down a call to push for a UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression to visit West Papua.
A human rights petition, organised by West Papua Action Auckland and supported by other human rights groups and Catholic and Anglican church leaders, had sought for New Zealand to condemn the arrest and intimidation of peaceful protestors.
Helen Davidson – Indonesian paramilitary police have shot and killed one person and wounded a number of others at a protest in a West Papuan village, according to human rights groups and local witnesses.
A 28-year-old man was reportedly killed during the incident in Deiya regency on Tuesday afternoon, and up to seven wounded, including at least two children.
Jayapura – Papuan students from the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) and the solidarity group the Indonesian People's Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) have held protests against the 1969 UN sponsored referendum on West Papua's integration with Indonesia (Pepera), which took place on July 14-August 2, 1969.
Toronto/Jakarta – A trade union said on Wednesday (03/08) that it will press Indonesia's government to reinstate thousands of striking workers at Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine when union officials visit the Southeast Asian country next week.