About West Papua

West Papua is located just north of Australia and west of Papua New Guinea. A former Dutch colony, West Papua came under Indonesian control in the 1960s after the implementation of a controversial `referendum'.

For more than forty-five years, the people of West Papua have suffered ongoing human rights abuses, ecological destruction and democratic violations at the hands of the Indonesian military and as a result of Indonesian state policies. The Indonesian forces have terrorised the civilian population and thousands have been killed, tortured and/or jailed through extra-judicial actions. In an effort to address these grave injustices WestPAN (West Papua Action Network) was formed. Read more about Canada's WestPAN at about us.

For a more complete overview of events leading up to situation in West Papua, download our Fact Sheet (PDF - 260KB)