West Papua increases its legal arsenal with publication of ‘State responsibility in international law’

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“This 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” [Annette Culley]

Author Annette Culley

The publication of Annette Culley’s STATE RESPONSIBLITY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW was celebrated during the FRWP Open Day in Docklands on 22 April 2017.

The comprehensive analysis of the principles governing when and how a State is and can be held responsible for breaches of international obligations augments West Papua’s legal arsenal for independence from the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

It empowers activists lobbying the Australian and other governments to take a better analysed and more critical response to the Indonesian government’s human rights abuses in West Papua.

The publication was launched by ISABELLE SKABURSKIS, a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Victoria and Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists Victoria.  Born in Canada, Isabelle has worked at the ICJ Asia-Pacific office in Bangkok, and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia.  She has represented the International Commission of Jurists at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, and was recently a visiting scholar at the Al Haq Centre for Applied International Law in Palestine.

Click to read or download State Responsibility in International Law by Annette Culley
State Responsibility in International Law by Annette Culley

‘State Responsibility’ is the companion work to Culley’s WEST PAPUA: DECOLONIZATION, BOUNDARIES AND SELF-DETERMINATION published by the FRWP Womens Office in Docklands in 2016 (https://dfait.federalrepublicofwestpapua.org/federal-republic-of-west-papua-publishes-important-new-book/). Both books are available for purchase ($aus35) at the FRWP Office, Suite 211, 838 Collins St, Docklands. Inquiries frwpwomensoffice@gmail.com

Click to read or download Isabelle Skaburskis launching ‘State Responsibility in International Law’ ICJV – West Papua talk – 22-04-17. (Alternatively, on ICJ website at http://icjvictoria.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ICJV-West-Papua-talk-22-04-17.pdf).

Annette used the front cover of her publication to celebrate the cherished West Papuan Friendship Mural in Darwin, which after sustained pressure from the Indonesian government was obliterated on 11 March 2017 (although not before activists sent a much harder message).

Free West Papua Campaign, 4 March 2017

Annette has been a volunteer at the FRWP Womens Office in Docklands since its inception in 2015. The publication of ‘State Responsibility in International Law’ augments the office’s contribution to the legal (as well as political and social) pursuit of West Papua’s independence.

Judith Kohn, who edited ‘State Responsibility in International Law’ is a law graduate from Monash University, and a volunteer in the FRWP Womens’ Office, as well as an accomplished singer-songwriter who performed her ‘History’ during the launch (see 3CR radio interview below).

3CR Radio, 29 March 2017: Judith Kohn (Ed) State Responsibility in International Law

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