Please Sign the Petition to help get justice for
West Papua
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 12:12 AM
Subject: Please Sign the Petition to help get justice for West Papua
Please Sign the Petition Online at
http://www.petitiononline.com/unreview
and forward this email to help get justice for West Papua.
To: United Nations Secretary General
To: Secretary General United Nations
UN Plaza
New York NY 10017, USA
Appalled by the ongoing suffering of the people of West Papua, we join
a growing list of international parliamentarians and non-governmental
organizations, and call on you as United Nations Secretary General to
initiate a review of the UN's conduct in relation to the "Act of 'Free'
Choice" in West Papua, 1968-69.
West Papua has entered its fifth decade of occupation by the Indonesian
military.
Crimes against humanity have been and continue to be perpetrated
against the West Papuan people. An estimated minimum of 100,000 West Papuans have died since Indonesia took over in 1963. There have been systematic violations of the human rights of West Papuans at the hands of the Indonesian regime, including extra-judicial killings, rape, torture,
arbitrary arrest and detention, violations of the rights of freedom of
assembly and freedom of speech, and denial of free access to NGOs,
human rights groups, international observers and the media to freely carry
out their work.
In 1969, instead of a proper independence referendum, 1,022 West
Papuans were rounded up and forced to declare - unanimously and in public -
their "wish" to integrate West Papua into the Republic of Indonesia, then
ruled by the brutal dictator Suharto. The population at the time was
estimated at some 800,000 people, so a fraction of one percent of the people took part.
The Act has been widely dismissed as a farce, yet no action has been
taken to redress the injustice to date.
Former United Nations Under-Secretary General Chakravarthy Narasimhan,
who handled the takeover, has since admitted that the process was a
"whitewash":
"It was just a whitewash. The mood at the United Nations was to get rid
of this problem as quickly as possible. Nobody gave a thought to the fact
that there were a million people there who had their fundamental human
rights trampled. How could anyone have seriously believed that all
voters unanimously decided to join his [Suharto's] regime?. Unanimity like
that is unknown in democracies."
The United Nations had certain responsibilities in relation to the Act,
as specified in the New York Agreement, an international agreement signed
at UN Headquarters by Indonesia and the Netherlands on August 15, 1962.
However there is strong evidence that the UN failed to fulfill its
obligations under the Agreement. A representative of the UK mission to
the UN said in July 1969:
"Our strong impression is that the great majority of United Nations
members want to see this question cleared out of the way with the
minimum of fuss as soon as possible. the Secretariat, whose influence could be important, appear only too anxious to get shot of the problem as
quickly and smoothly as possible."
In the years 1962-69, an estimated 30,000 West Papuans were killed and
an atmosphere of fear and intimidation pervaded the country at the time of
the Act.
Moreover, in the report of the Act by the then UN Secretary-General's
Representative Ortiz Sanz, it was stated that "an act of free choice
has taken place. in accordance with Indonesian practice". The New York
Agreement referred to "in accordance with international practice".
Evidence of what was considered international practice at the time can
be found in UN General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) of 1960. This
Resolution states that the integration of one territory with another should result from the "freely expressed wishes of the Territory's peoples acting
with full knowledge of the change in their status, their wishes having been
expressed through informed and democratic processes impartially
conducted and based on universal adult suffrage". This crucial discrepancy was not pointed out to the UN General Assembly, which voted to "take note" of the report of the Act.
Detailed substantiating documentation on the case for a review was
presented to your office on 26 March 2002.
An outline briefing is available at
http://westpapuaaction.buz.org/unreview and more background detail is provided in "The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West
Papua, 1962-1969" by Dr. John Saltford.
De-classified US documents released in 2004 and edited by Brad Simpson
available at
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEB...B128/index.htm
have further underlined the complicity. The US Embassy in Jakarta for
example told the US State Department in a cable dated July 2, 1969 that
"[private] political views of the UN team are. 95 per cent of the Irianese
support the independence movement and that the Act of Free Choice is a
mockery".
Former Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Sabam Siagian said in March
2004 that the Act of Free Choice in 1969 was never viewed as a truly
democratic exercise.
In December 2004 a British foreign office minister admitted in parliament
that the handpicked representatives were coerced into declaring for
inclusion in Indonesia.
Given the overwhelming evidence, and appalled by the ongoing suffering
of the people of West Papua, we therefore call on you as United Nations
Secretary General to initiate a review of the UN's conduct in relation
to the "Act of 'Free' Choice" in West Papua, 1968-69.
Sincerely,
Sign Here Now and forward this email!
http://www.petitiononlinecom/unreview
West Papua Action
134 Phibsborough Road
Dublin 7
Ireland
http://westpapuaaction.org
+353 (0)1 860 3431
wpaction(a)iol.ie
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for human rights in West Papua
including the right to self-determination
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