2) Green co-leader slams human rights ‘obscenity’ over West Papua
3) Dateline Pacific evening edition for 12 June 2018
4) Hundreds of Chinese citizens found working 'illegally' in gold mines in Papua
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Māori Television
1) West Papua Desk opens in Tāmaki Makaurau
By Leo Horgan
- AUCKLAND
Footage
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson has opened a West Papua Desk in Onehunga to serve as a base for the West Papuan independence movement in New Zealand.
Hosted by FIRST Union in Onehunga and run by former Green MP Catherine Delahunty, the desk will be a hub for organising events, hosting international guests and raising public awareness about the ongoing military occupation and human rights violations in West Papua.
“I’m so proud to have been invited to open the West Papua Desk, which represents a huge step forward for Aotearoa’s West Papua solidarity movement,” says Davidson.
The West Papuan independence movement seeks liberation from Indonesian rule. Indonesia inherited the resource-rich region from Dutch colonists and has been criticised for its violent political repression of West Papua's Melanesian inhabitants.
“Human rights abuses and attacks on press freedom continue in West Papua. New Zealand has a responsibility as a leader in the Asia-Pacific region to stand up for peace, human rights, and self-determination."
“As Māori we also have a duty to stand in solidarity with our indigenous whanaunga of the Pacific as they face their own struggle against violent colonisation,” says Davidson.
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2) Green co-leader slams human rights ‘obscenity’ over West Papua
By Rahul Bhattarai in Auckland
June 12, 2018
Green Party co-leader ... “We are standing in solidarity with women leaders of indigenous movements around the world and around the Pacific.” Image: Rahul Bhattarai/PMC
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson last night condemned the “obscenity” of jailing West Papuansby Indonesian authorities for raising their Morning Starflagof independence.
Speaking at the launch of the West Papua solidarity “desk” at the First Union community office in Onehunga, Davidson said she was upholding the party’s long standing solidarity for the indigenous Melanesians in their search for self-determination and independence.
About 25 people supporting the cause of West Papua gathered at the event in a bid to raise awareness in New Zealand over the ongoing issue of human rights violations in West Papua by the Indonesian government.
“It’s a privilege to launch the desk because we need to continue to do the work to raise awareness and to stand in solidarity with the people of West Papua,” Davidson said.
Davidson, along with the cultural group Oceania Interrupted, are creating an activist action of performance to “disturb” public places to help raise awareness as Maori and Pacific women of the Pacific.
“We are standing in solidarity with women leaders of indigenous movements around the world and around the Pacific,” she said.
Davidson has also asked Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to call on Indonesian President Joko Widodo to account and to raise the human rights issues.
Indonesia has just been elected to the UN Security Councilfor a two-year term.
Facing imperialismGreen MP Golriz Ghahraman said that this was a “solidarity movement for both the people of Pacific and across the world – it’s part of the imperialism that people are experiencing”.
She added that the people of West Papua were facing militarised oppression by the Indonesian government in order to seize their resources.
“West Papuan culture and heritage is violently suppressed for access to their natural minerals,” she said.
Human rights and peace activist Marie Leadbeater, author of the forthcoming book See No Evil, said that West Papua was a close Melanesian neighbour which had been under Indonesian control since 1963 against the will of Papuan people.
She said: “They were promised self-determination and an opportunity to become an independent nation, the same as other independent nations in the Pacific.”
That promise had not yet been fulfilled and as a result the West Papuan people had been resisting or campaigning, which came at a huge price, including the loss of thousands of lives due to the conflict with the Indonesian government.
Audio
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3) Dateline Pacific evening edition for 12 June 2018
Pacific community reaction subdued to the government's budget at a post budget breakfast in Auckland; a West Papua desk has been opened in New Zealand, as a hub for organising events, hosting international guests and raising awareness about issues around independence aspirations of West Papuans and human rights violations in Indonesian ruled Papua; an academic says resolving a dispute in Fiji over the Bau chiefly title best left to the people; A Vanuatu journalist whose thousands of stories over a more than 40-year career chronicled the country's growth from independence, has died suddenly.
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4) Hundreds of Chinese citizens found working 'illegally' in gold mines in Papua
News Desk The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Tue, June 12, 2018| 10:57 am
The Tembagapura Immigration Office has said that hundreds of Chinese nationals were found working for local gold mining companies in Nabire, Papua, without proper work documents.
“This was happening for quite a long time due to poor supervision,” Tembagapura Immigration Office head Jesaja Samuel Enock said as quoted by Antara in Timika on Monday.
According to the immigration office, 13 workers were taken to Timika from Nabire on Sunday. Eight more Chinese people will be transferred to Timika on Wednesday.
Samuel said the office found out about the alleged illegal employment of Chinese citizens at local gold mines based on reports from local residents and tribal councils.
Samuel said he later launched an investigation into the reports and carried out unannounced inspections at gold mining sites in Nabire, where his personnel allegedly found Chinese people working without proper permits. The gold mining sites in Nabire are located in four locations, namely Kilometer 70, KM 52, KM 38 and KM 30 on the trans-Nabire-Enarotali Paniai highway.
“We received reports from the residents that more than 10 local gold mining sites in Nabire hired Chinese people. We’ve managed to reach four sites only so far,” Samuel said.
He said the local residents were disappointed and felt cheated by the companies where the Chinese nationals allegedly worked.
“There are no local people working at the companies. They have even been banned from the sites. That’s why they don’t know the exact details on the production capacity of those mines.” (stu/ebf)
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