West Papua 1942-2022: the legals, politics, and only way forward

West Papua 1942-2022: the legals, politics, and the only way forward by Jacob Rumbiak is a succinct but comprehensive image-and-text study guide of the West Papuans’ experience of World War II, and as a progressive UN Non-Self-Governing Territory during the 1950s; of the UN’s failure in November 1961 to uphold its founding principle, self-determination, in the context of the West Papuans’ rights, Dag Hammarskjöld’s assassination, the belligerence of the Indonesian Republic, and the self-interest of the CIA’s Allen Dulles and the JFK administration. It includes legal commentary on the New York Agreement (1962—69) and a detailed rebuttal of the claims Indonesia used to justify its colonisation of the Papuans’ 459,412 kms2 of richly resourced territory. The final section outlines West Papuans’ most recent resistance and nation-making, including being listed on the UN Decolonisation Agenda (the motion which UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was about to present to the 1961 UN General Assembly).

The study guide treats West Papua as a legal-political Melanesian entity and does not reference the people’s rich cultures and religious beliefs. Nor does it document Indonesia’s malevolent governance as an illegal colonial power and its overwhelming litany of human rights violations.

Jacob Rumbiak, as Spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), first presented the paper to a seminar hosted by the Pacific Institute at the Australian National University on 28 November 2019.

(click to download/print) West Papua 1942 to 2022, the legals, politics, and only way forward
West Papua 1942-2022, the legals, the politics, and the only way forward

Four important legal papers referred to in the document

George Lambert (2000) WEST PAPUA: Real-Politik v International Law
https://dfait.federalrepublicofwestpapua.org/document/west-papua-real-politik-v-international-law-by-george-lambert-icj-2000/

Melinda Janki (2010) West Papua and the Right to Self-Determination under International Law
Melinda Janki, West_Papua_and_the_right_to_self-determination_under_international law

Annette Culley (2016) WEST PAPUA: Decolonization, Boundaries and Self-determination
https://dfait.federalrepublicofwestpapua.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/West-Papua-Decolonization-Boundaries-and-Self-Determination-Annette-Culley.pdf

Annette Culley (2022, 2nd print) State Responsibility in International Law
State Responsibility, July 2022, merged PDFs