West Papuans shining with reviewed hope and strength after Vanuatu leaders gift them a block of land in Port Vila
Department of Foreign Affairs Immigration and Trade
West Papua increases its legal arsenal with publication of ‘State responsibility in international law’
This legal paper affirms that States have a responsibility to protect all those within their territory; that third States have a right and obligation to complain of wrongful acts committed by a sovereign State; and finally, that sovereignty comes under question where a people within a sovereign state are subject to alien subjugation or serious violations of their human rights. The 24,000 word paper (100 x A5 pages) is downloadable (below) and can be quoted providing the usual creditations are incorporated.
Federal Republic of West Papua publishes important new book
This book traces the shift in international law during the twentieth century from states' rights to people's rights, and how the norms of jus cogens (rules that cannot be derogated from) have broadened to include self-determination, genocide, slavery, torture, murder and the disappearance of individuals. It brings together all the UN resolutions, and principles, and rules that have been applied, or ignored, in the case of West Papua’s occupation, and analyses the relationship between occupied West Papua and international law. The booklet (160 x A5 pages) is downloadable (below) and can be quoted from providing the usual creditations are incorporated.
MSG: Bring West Papua in, kick Indonesia out
On 29 April 2016 a large peace rally in Port Vila concluded at the Secretariat of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, with thousands calling on the inter-governmental summit to invite West Papua to become a full member in 2016.
Australian Army officer fuses glass for West Papua’s Sampari Art Exhibition
This extended essay is about two unique Australians and the startling symbols they employed to demonstrate their support of West Papuans right to self-determination. Army Officer (ret.) Barbara Tipper's fused-glass sculpture of a baby turtle in the Raja Ampat Islands was a feature of the 2015 Sampari Art Exhibition for West Papua. Dr Jon Kozeniauskas, who bought the sculpture, is a Collins St dental specialist. In October 2000 used his Giallo Moderno Ferrari to carve out media space for West Papua which the Australian government had surreptitiously shut down after East Timor's independence in 1999. In 2001 he bought a baby pig for independence leader Jacob Rumbiak, which in a few months changed the delusory perception of West Papuans as Indonesians of Southeast Asia to West Papuans as Melanesians of the Pacific.
Vigil at St Paul’s Cathedral for West Papua’s application to join the MSG
On 15 May 2015, on the eve of the Melanesian Spearhead Group Summit in Honiara (Solomon Islands), Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, joined Revd Heather Patacca and the FRWP Women’s Office in a sunset Prayer Vigil for West Papua. This photo-essay includes the glorious images taken by acclaimed Australian photographer Dean Golja during the moving prayer service.
Reviewing ‘The Incubus of Intervention: conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles’ by Greg Poulgrain
Bishop Hilton Deakin, who is well known for his support of East Timor's liberation from Indonesia, launched Greg Poulgrain's new research 'The Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles' at the Federal Republic of West Papua office in Docklands on 3 May 2015, and at Trades Hall on 15 May 2015 during an assembly of the Australian trade union movement to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Republic of West Papua. Bishop Hilton's review is reproduced here in audio and transcript formats, along with photos from the launch at the Melanesian Spearhead Group Seminar in Honiara (Solomon Islands) on 15 June 2015.
Maraki Vanuariki Peace-making Ritual for West Papuan Leaders, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 1 Dec 2014
A Peace-making Ceremony for West Papuan leaders at Fatumaru Bay on 1 December 2014, before the Solidarity March to the Malvatumauri National Council of Chief's Nakamal in Saralana Park. The ritual was led by Maraki Vanuariki Peace-Chief Masato and Chief Morris Kaloran, whose formal relationship with West Papua began in November 2002 with the Sanap Waintaim Ceremonial on Australian Aboriginal land in Maribyrnong and All Saints Anglican Church in St Kilda (Melbourne). The two nations' Kastom and Faith based relationship deepened with the Unity Declaration in Port Vila on 1 December 2007 by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. The ritual in 2014 was pivotal to the success of the Vanuatu Government's 'Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders' and the formation of a united representive body to draw up West Papua's application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group in June 2015
Vanuatu renews kastom and political relations with West Papua, 28 Nov 2014
On 28 November 2014, the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs, representing the Tongoa-Shepherd Islanders from the SHEFA Province of Vanuatu, renewed its kastom and political relations with the Federal Republic of West Papua in a welcome ceremony organised by the council's women's group. Chief Morris Kaloran initiated the renewal in 2002 on Australian Aboriginal land during the Sanap Wantaim Ceremonial in Melbourne. Relations deepened during the Council's Summit for West Papua in Port Vila in 2007, which concluded with the Unity Day Declaration by the West Papua National Authority, Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs. This ceremony in 2014 opened the West Papua Leaders Summit on Reconciliation & Unification (hosted by Vanuatu’s National Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Government, Vanuatu Christian Council of Churches, Pacific Conference of Churches) that oversaw the formation of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).
Procession of the Gifts, West Papua in Vanuatu, 1 Dec 2014
Photo-essay of the Procession of Gifts and Solidarity March that opened the Vanuatu Government's 'Reconciliation and Unity Summit for West Papuan Leaders' on 1 December 2014. The ground-breaking Summit concluded with the establishment of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), a representative coordinating body of West Papuans tasked with underwriting their nation's application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). The Summit was sponsored by the Vanuatu Government and moderated by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs, Vanuatu Christian Council, and Pacific Conference of Churches. On 4 February 2015, the Vanuatu Government, surrounded by these influential institutions, lodged the application with the MSG Secretariat in Port Vila.
West Papua A Longing for Freedom
What are the changes that happened in the past 50 years that West Papua has been ruled by Indonesia? Why do I reflect on my personal journey and write this? Because this has been the reality of the lives of the Papuan people under the Indonesian military system since the 1st of May, 1963 and since the so called Act of Free Choice in 1969 when West Papua through military and political pressure was unjustly integrated into Indonesia. We [West Papuans] have maintained our dignity in the face of oppression, insult and prejudice. So many of our people have suffered and died, and they will continue to suffer and die under the military regime of Indonesia. This is why we cannot stop our struggle for justice and freedom.
WP leader questions Australian support of revisionist Indonesia
West Papuan independence leader Jacob Rumbiak has queried Australia’s ongoing financial support and military relations with Indonesia after the Red-White Coalition (Suharto’s New Order) garnered all the leadership positions in the Indonesian Parliament
West Papua Summit, Port Vila, Vanuatu, 16 Nov-1 Dec 2007
This photo-essay (30 slides) is of a two-week summit in Vanuatu that culminated with a ground-breaking ‘Unity Day Port Vila Vanuatu Declaration’ signed by the Maraki Vanuariki Council of Chiefs, the Port Vila Council of Chiefs, and the West Papua National Authority on 29 November 2007. The declaration differed from previous iterations between the two peoples in that it was organised by influential Vanuatu chiefs, not elected politicians, and by the West Papua National Authority with its own history of political struggle (as distinct from human or cultural rights). The declaration set the long-term agenda for foreign support of the West Papuan struggle, because it rendered the Vanuatu Government responsible for sponsoring West Papua onto the UN Decolonisation List, for listing West Papua with the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Pacific Islands Forum and the Africa Caribbean Pacific Group, and for hosting a peace conference between Indonesia and the West Papua National Authority.
Vanishing Tribes: Unheard Voices from West Papua
VANISHING TRIBES: UNHEARD VOICES FROM WEST PAPUA is an interactive, illustrated, EBook that tells a fictional story based on real events in West Papua. It is a tribute to the Melanesian people of this island nation and their unstoppable determination to be free of a corrupt and brittle state. The main character is Vivi, a Papuan teenager, who wants to join her brother in the fight for survival against the modern Indonesian Republic. The authors, illustrators, and technicians of this EBook are sophisticated political activists, and their production is informative, colourful, logical, artistic, accessible, and FREE. Students (and their teachers) will find the EBook's own WIKI helpful in understanding why Papua's indigenous people are steeped in misery as involuntary Indonesian citizens. Their story is a modern history of realpolitik, militarism, self-determination theory v practice, and even how not to be a good neighbor.
(http://www.vanishingtribes.net/vtribes-web-browser.html)
Gallery of Photographs, DFAIT Office-Opening Ceremonies, 23 June 2014
Captioned photographs by Tommy Latupeirissa and David Waingai of the opening of the FRWP Department of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, and Trade in Docklands (Melbourne) on 23rd June 2014.
Letter from President Yaboisembut to President Obama, Nov 2012
This letter explains Mr. Forkorus' request to President Barrack Obama to assist in negotiating peace and justice between the Federal Republic of West Papua and the Republic of Indonesia.
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