West Papuan Group Urges Jakarta To Put Words Into Action On UN Visit

Johnny
Blades RNZ Pacific senior journalist

A leading
West Papua pro-independence group has questioned Indonesia’s
assertion that a proposed visit by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights to West Papua is on
track.

The West Papua National Committee (KNPB) is
urging Indonesia to put its words into action on the
proposed visit with a clear date, genuine access and
meaningful engagement.

This comes after Melanesian
countries last week urged Jakarta to facilitate
the long-requested visit or have Indonesia’s status as
an associate member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group
reviewed.

A request for the visit was made by Pacific
Islands Forum countries back in 2019, but it has still not
gone ahead, despite ongoing armed conflict and human rights
violations in Indonesian-ruled Papua region, known
internationally as West Papua.

In the intervening
years, frustration has built up among the Melanesian
countries in particular that Indonesia has not yet allowed
the visit to take place.

In response to last week’s
statement from the MSG, the Indonesian government told RNZ
Pacific that the visit was on track, without elaborating on
details.

“We are always in constructive discussion on
the issues deemed important by other members of the MSG, and
we can also confirm that the said proposed visit is on the
right path,” an Indonesian spokesperson said.

The
KNPB’s international spokesperson, Victor Yeimo, said that
for the Papuan people, Indonesia’s statement about the visit
being on track must now translate into concrete, verifiable
action.

“If the visit is genuinely on track, we
respectfully ask: What is the timeline? What practical
arrangements are being made? And when will the High
Commissioner be able to visit West Papua and engage directly
with the Papuan people?

“The question is whether the
United Nations’ highest human rights official will now be
given meaningful and independent access to assess the wider
human rights situation.”

Yeimo said that in Papua the
High Commissioner should be allowed to engage freely with
Indigenous communities, victims of human rights violations,
displaced persons, civil society, churches, human rights
defenders and other affected communities.

“Such
engagement should take place without intimidation,
surveillance or reprisals, and without restricting who
communities are able to speak with or what concerns they are
able to raise.

“The Papuan people do not ask the
international community simply to accept our narrative. Nor
do we ask it simply to accept Jakarta’s narrative,” Yeimo
said.

“We ask the United Nations to come, listen
directly and assess the situation for itself. That is the
purpose of an independent human rights
assessment.

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