1) Letter to Hon Murray McCull from West Papua Action Auckland
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West Papua Action Auckland
Box 68-419,
8 October 2013
Hon Murray McCully,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Parliament Buildings,
Fax 04-499-0704
Dear Mr McCully,
West Papua Action Auckland is very concerned about the situation of the three young West Papuan students Markus Jerewon, Yuvensius Goo and Rofinus Yanggam who entered the Australian Consulate in Bali on Sunday October 6.
The young men sought to highlight ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua . They particularly wanted to draw attention to the 55 political prisoners in West Papua jails – many of them behind bars for nothing more than expressing their political aspirations or for raising a banned Morning Star flag. They took courage in their hands to scale the fence of the Consulate and put themselves at the mercy of Australia West Papua is tightly controlled and the outside world hears very little of what happens there, so many of the international leaders gathering for the APEC meeting may have known little about the territory.
However, Australian representatives failed to listen to their concerns and instead the diplomats reportedly gave the trio a warning that if they did not leave promptly the Indonesian security forces would be called in. The young men are now believed to be in hiding and to be at grave risk of persecution for their actions.
There are numerous precedents for human rights activists and dissenters to appeal for help from embassies or consulates of countries believed to uphold democratic freedoms. An embassy or consulate should be a safe haven, but sadly in this case Australian representative seem to have chosen to ignore humanitarian principles and force the men to leave without providing any guarantees of their safety.
We call on you to speak out to help protect these vulnerable human rights activists by appealing to the Indonesian authorities to make a public guarantee to protect their safety and a commitment not to arrest or otherwise intimidate them.
Yours sincerely,
(for West Papua Action Auckland
Posted at 03:16 on 08 October, 2013 UTC
The first president of Vanuatu, Ati George Sokomanu, has condemned comments by the Australian prime minister, Tony Abott, that he would clamp down on West Papuan activists.
The newspaper, The Australian, reports Mr Abbott as saying in Bali that people seeking to grandstand against Indonesia are not welcome in Australia.
Mr Sokomanu says Mr Abbott needs to explain such a statement to Pacific leaders.
He says Australia can deal with immigration issues through the courts but it has an obligation to speak up on human rights issues.
“Australia being one of our closest neighbours, including New Zealand, I think for the sake of the people of West Papua, with their rights, I think Australia with New Zealand should look more in supporting their views and do whatever they can to help these people to achieve their independence.”
A former Vanuatu president Ati George Sokomanu is also a member of the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association.
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