Australia West Papua Association (Sydney)
No real condemnation of human rights abuses committed by governments in Sydney Declaration
Hyde Park March 17
Town Hall Sydney 17 March
ends
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Media release 19 March 2018
No real condemnation of human rights abuses committed by governments in Sydney Declaration
For all the talk of
about security, terrorism and sharing " a strong commitment to
regional peace and security as well as peaceful resolution of disputes, including
full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, the exercise of
self-restraint, without resorting to the threat or use of force in accordance
with universally recognised principles of international law”,
there was no condemnation of
the human rights abuses committed by governments of the region in The Sydney Declaration from the ASEAN Summit.
Joe Collins of AWPA
said, of concern also is the statement in PM Turnbull’s media release (18
March) that,
"Australia and
ASEAN will build greater links between our defence forces through new defence
scholarships”. https://www.pm.gov.au/media/enhancing-regional-collaboration-strengthen-our-security-and-prosperity
The Australia military
already helps train the Myanmar and Indonesian security forces who commit human
rights abuses. The editorial in the Sun-Herald (18 March) said its time to cut
ties with the Myanmar military. AWPA also believes its time to stop aiding the
Indonesian military who commit abuses against the West Papuan people.
When Australia’s
Minister for Defence, Marise Payne, met with Indonesia’s Minister for Defence
Ryamizard Ryacudu in Sydney for the annual Indonesia-Australia Defence
Ministers’ meeting (17 March),
did she remember that
it was Ryamizard Ryacudu who praised a group of soldiers who had been jailed
for killing West Papuan leader Chief Theys Eluay as heroes? He said at the time, “I don’t know, people say they did
wrong, they broke the law. What law? OK, we are a state based on the rule of
law, so they have been punished. But for me, they are heroes because the person
they killed was a rebel leader.” https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-releases/meeting-indonesian-defence-minister
Congratulations
to the local civil society groups who came out to protest about the human
rights abuses being committed in the region and also to the media who reported
on the issues of concern.
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