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Indybay Feature

WEST PAPUA - 40 yrs of shame this thurs!

by West Papua Action Network, Canada (westpan [at] mail.com)
The Netherlands signed an Agreement at United Nations Headquarters in New York with the Indonesian Government (the West Papuans weren't involved in the Agreement), where they agreed, inter alia, that an "act of self-determinaton in accordance with international practice" would take place within six years in West Papua. It never happened. The Netherlands government did nothing, and continue to remain silent, 40 years later.
FREE WEST PAPUA!!!!!!! FREE WEST PAPUA!!!


More info:
-http://www.westpan.cjb.net
-http://www.westpapua.net
-http://www.newint.org/issue344/contents.html


It is time for the Netherlands to call publicly as a matter of urgency for a proper act of self-determination in West Papua in accordance with international practice as they agreed to at the UN 40 years ago on August 15, 1962.

The West Papuan people continue to suffer the consequences of silence with at least 100,000 deaths at the hands of the Indonesian military since 1963.

West Papua is rich in oil, gas, timber and gold, making it a prime target for multinational corporations and the financially strapped Indonesian Government. When the Dutch left the region in 1962, West Papua declared Independence and raised the Morning Glory flag to show the world it was an independent nation.

Indonesia disputed this and West Papua was temporarily brought under UN and later Indonesian control. In 1969, the Indonesian Government hand picked 1025 Papuans who voted to incorporate West Papua's 1.5 million people into Indonesia in a UN monitored election, known as they Act of Free Choice, or 'NO CHOICE' by the Papuans. Indonesia renamed the country Irian Jaya, and more recently, in a move to quell the independence desires, to 'Papua'. And so began decades of bloodshed, violence and destruction for for a people who desperately seek peace.

As the U.S. resumes military ties with Indonesia, following a cut off due to the horrors of East Timor, the future is very worrying for Papuans, who simply want to decide their own fate.

“Nobody gave a thought
to the fact that there
were a million people
who had their fundamental
human rights trampled”

Former UN Undersecretary-General
Chakrvarthy Narasimhan,
on the UNs actions in 1969
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