About West Papua
Submitted by Gordon Douglas on January 26, 2005 - 18:17.
in
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)
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| WP_Facts_Sheet_v3c.pdf | 254.51 KB |
Genocide
In addition to the physical murder of Papuan's the more serious and greatest threat to Papuan's is the effect of transmigration. Indonesia is essentially trying to ensure that within a few years the indignenous population will be outnumbered by the immigrant Indonesians from Java etc. If there is a referendum at that point, the Papuans will lose as a minority in their own land. In addition, immigrants now control the businesses and their is increaasing pressure on Papuan's to convert to Islam. I was born in Papua in 1973. At that time the vast majority of the population were indigenous. if you visit now, I would say it is getting close to 50/50. I would also add that the treatment of Papuans by the Javanese is extremely poor. The racist treatment of Papuan's is similar to that of black a American's 50 eyars ago. for example, if a black man walks into a restricted access building (eg airport) building they will be kicked out, sometimes literally, where as a Javanese person will have no problem.
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