1) Shanty camp
fears influx
2) New Indonesian law expected to hit
NGOs strongly in West Papua
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Life of poverty and uncertainty: A kitchen at Camp Rainbow, on Port Moresby's outskirts. Photo: Rory Callinan
The toilet is a stinking open pit haunted by malaria mosquitoes. The showers are a couple of old curtains strung up on a wooden platform with a bucket. The kitchen's a kerosene drum cut in half while the view is of a stagnant open drain that threatens to wash away the ramshackle tin and tarpaulin shanties teetering on its banks.
Welcome to Camp Rainbow, Papua New Guinea's response to its own refugee problem.
About 180 people, many of whom fled Indonesian rule in West Papua, call the tiny camp on a disused government block on the outskirts of Port Moresby home.
On Sunday, they expressed concern about the news their adopted country was to house possibly hundreds of asylum seekers from the Middle East and speculated about how much help Papua New Guinea's government would really provide.
Advertisement
They are angry that the Papua New Guinean government adopted the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees but did not adhere to key articles they say relate to the help their community needs.
''I just think the PNG government is only interested in getting financial aid from Australia and the other political and economic advantages,'' said Freddy Waromi, a representative of the group.
The former freedom fighter says he and his group of refugees have been fighting for decades to receive proper care from the government but without success.
''They don't provide land or housing or employment or proper education and proper healthcare,'' he said.
As he walked around the squalid camp and his tiny, one-room, rickety shack, Mr Waromi told how he and his people had been uprooted on numerous occasions over the past eight years. He said that in 2006, after they were evicted from one settlement, the group camped in front of a UN building in Port Moresby. They were moved the following year to a local police station and then to a park and, finally, in 2010, the government told them to settle at their current location.
He said Australian politicians who visited the camp in 2010 were shocked. ''One said 'you shouldn't live like this'.''
Many residents in the shanties have sympathy for asylum seekers trying to get to Australia but believe they should be helped first.
Phillip Maiyeh, who is married to a West Papuan and lives in the settlement, said: ''Why bring in new refugees when we have Melanesian refugees here who need the help?''
Nauru rioters charged over ruins
Dozens have been charged after rioting asylum seekers left the Nauru immigration detention centre in ruins.
An Immigration Department spokeswoman said only the kitchen and recreation facility were still standing after accommodation blocks and other buildings were burnt to the ground.
The blocks, which can house up to 616 people, offices, the central dining room and health centre were all destroyed when peaceful protests turned violent on Friday.
The spokeswoman said 125 of those allegedly involved were in jail and about 58 had been charged by Nauru police. Tents would be erected on the site planned for a new detention centre, she said.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke said on Sunday he was waiting for reports on the damage.
AAP
----------------------------------------------
2) New Indonesian law expected to hit NGOs strongly in West Papua
Posted at 17:22 on 21 July, 2013 UTC
Human Rights Watch has voiced alarm at a new law in Indonesia that gives the government wide powers to shut down NGOs in West Papua.
The Law on Mass Organisations imposes a broad range of obligations and prohibitions on NGO activities, and severe limitations on freedom of expression and association.
In West Papua, tight restrictions are already maintained on civil society as well as freedom of expression and association.
The deputy director of the Asia division of HRW, Phil Robertson, says the new law requires all NGOs to apply through the Home Affairs Ministry for permission to operate, making it easier to prevent NGOs working in the region.
“The way that these regulations have been brought out through this law. They are so broad and so big that the government of Indonesia can essentially go after anyone they want and make up the reason afterwards. It’s a very dangerous law. It’s one that isn’t neccessary and frankly it’s one that harks back to a past era of restrictions under former President Suharto.”
Phil Robertson.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.