2) Norfolk Island to take its governance issue to the UN
3) Marching West Papua into MSG
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1) REGION: Tell the truth about West Papua, journalists told at rights forum
Pacific Media Centre's Professor David Robie and Tongan publisher, broadcaster and communications adviser Kalafi Moala at the human rights forum in Nadi, Fiji. Image: Jilda Shem/RRRT
Tuesday, April 19, 2016 Item: 9625
Margaret Wise
NADi, Fiji (The Fiji Times/Pacific Media Watch): Giving voice to the voiceless and championing the rights of all people is essentially about telling the truth.
And that is how journalists in Fiji and the Pacific should approach the ongoing human rights violations happening in West Papua.
This was the key message highlighted by Professor David Robie, journalist, author and director of the Auckland University of Technology's Pacific Media Centre, as he gave The Fiji Times a sweeping snapshot of issues he thought were important for journalists in the region.
"From a journalist's point of view, it is a human rights issue," he said.
He said as far as he was concerned, journalists had a responsibility to cover widely, and as often as they could, West Papua's call for self-determination — a 50-year plus struggle for liberation from Indonesian occupation.
"They are Pacific. They should never be lost sight of. That is one reason the media in the Pacific should latch on to the significance of this struggle and how important it is to the Pacific.
"For me, the biggest and most staggering human rights issue in the Pacific is West Papua. This has to be a global story."
'Untold story'
He said the absence or lack of coverage of this "untold story" had much to do with journalists and editors being unaware and indifferent to a struggle that had persisted for so long.
"The trouble is this all comes back to journalism and telling the truth. If the truth is not being told, how do people respond?
"For some reason many media are also indifferent, they don't actually realise this is a big story."
Dr Robie was chief guest at the Human Rights and Media Forum attended last week by senior journalists and government communication officers from 13 Pacific countries.
Supported by the Australian Government and European Union, the forum reaffirmed the vital role of the media in highlighting human rights issues and the importance of news reporting with a human rights-based approach.
Dr Robie said over the past two years there had been a dramatic change to awareness of the plight of West Papua and attributed this to social media, a platform that had allowed the West Papuans to tell their stories themselves, despite the restrictions placed on foreign journalists.
Human rights agencies vary in their estimates of the number of indigenous Papuans who have died since Indonesia first invaded the region - then a Dutch colony - in 1962 and wresting control through the UN-organised "Act of Free Choice" in 1969 widely regarded as a sham. However, a Sydney University academic's report alleging "secret genocide" estimated 100,000 deaths.
Atrocities evidence
"The West Papuans have been able to get evidence of human rights atrocities in a way that other NGOs and media can pick up and so now through social media the story can be told more widely."
He said he hoped the Australia and New Zealand media would commit themselves to providing more coverage on the issue.
West Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea, just 200 km north of Australia.
Over time, Dr Robie said, the West Papua issue could also become a major source of instability in the Pacific as it would have implications across the border with refugees.
He said in countries such as Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea — where citizens were sympathetic — there were West Papua communities already established and exiles were travelling around the region telling their stories.
"So for journalists there are many people there for journalists to interview, to keep the stories alive and tell the truth, any opportunity you get, write the story."
Dr Robie said it was encouraging that West Papua had achieved observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group. With the support of the Solomon Islands, and social media's ability to push information and supporters to the forefront, he said the region should be ready for some significant changes in media coverage.
Learn from history
Political leaders, he said, should also learn from history.
"East Timor's invasion was treated like a lost cause. The media saw it largely as a non-issue because governments recognised the sovereignty of the Indonesian government, even though it was invaded illegally.
"People used to say East Timor would never be independent but 24 years later it did, at a terrible cost.
"It's a lesson for us. Somehow we don't learn from history. Because if it happened in East Timor then hope should not be lost for West Papua.
"Unfortunately political leaders are a long way behind the reality of what is happening.
"It's a real important story for Pacific journalists. Human rights is beyond trade. Human rights should actually override trade. Many countries in the world turned their backs on a major human rights violation. Human rights violations is the main issue that the story should be told from.
"Ultimately, history will move on and the leaders that don't recognise this now will be exposed in time. West Papua coverage is in the context of human rights issues and the accountability processes, there is no accountability in a whole range of areas. Through social media more people are asking questions and there is more debate and discussions about the situation in West Papua."
Dr Robie said as credible sources, churches were critically important to discussions on West Papua.
He said fortunately, through the commitment of leaders and researchers, the churches had been generally able to publicise reports in a systematic way.
The forum was organised by the Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) of the Pacific Community (SPC) in partnership with the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS), the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and the University of the South Pacific
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2) Norfolk Island to take its governance issue to the UN
3:32 pm today
Norfolk Island is to present a petition to the United Nations in New York next week, seeking listing as one the UN's Non-Self-Governing Territories.
This comes after Australia ended the island's limited self-government in July last year.
After a transitional phase, the island is set to become a regional council under the auspices of New South Wales.
The most recent former chief minister, Lisle Snell, said listing as a Non-Self-Governing Territory would impose certain obligations on Australia.
"What we are asking for is that Norfolk Island be given the rights that are accorded under the terms and conditions of being a Non-Self-Governing Territory," he said.
"It's a very, very historic occasion for us and we can't emphasise strongly enough the importance of this process that we are going through."
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3) Marching West Papua into MSG
Posted: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 12:00 am | Updated: 8:42 am, Tue Apr 19, 2016.
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Thousands of members of civil society organisations and the public in Port Vila and rural communities around Efate, are expected to take part in a peaceful march from Fatumaru Bay to the Melanesian Spearhead Group Secretariat at Independence Park, to demand the MSG Leaders to give full membership of the Melanesian Sub Regional Organisation to the people of West Papua next Friday on April 29.
Chairman of the Vanuatu West Papua Association in Port Vila, Pastor Allan Nafuki makes the announcement ahead of the planned peaceful march from Fatumaru Bay to the MSG Secretariat. He is appealing to all responsible people to take part in the peaceful march.
The outspoken Chairman is confident his committee’s application will be approved by the police to allow the planned march to take place.
“We are organising the Civil Society Organisation Parallel Forum four days prior to the MSG Leaders’ Summit on May 3, which will be hosted by the Vanuatu Government,” the Chairman says.
The Chairman and members of his committee have been lobbying the people in a series of public places in the Capital including market houses, to collect signatures from members of the public who support West Papua to become a full member of MSG.
It is understood the Vanuatu Christian Council is also encouraged to allow members of individual churches to also sign the petition at the entrance to their churches.
Pastor Nafuki says they have already collected 5,000 signatures and are targeting 12,000 to let Indonesia know that the people of West Papua are not alone in their bid to gain their rightful place in MSG.
In preparation to the march, a Civil Society Organisation Parallel Forum will be hosted by the Vanuatu West Papua Association in Port Vila from April 29 to May 2.
The West Papua Association is inviting civil society counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia to also take part in the Forum.
Some of the regional participants are already in Port Vila.
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