Groups Respond to Mystery List of Papua Supporters
A list is currently circulating on the internet
which purports to list international supporters of the OPM
(Organisasi Papua Merdek) in West Papua. (See for example,
http://politik.kompasiana.com/2012/07/08/daftar-organisasi-pendukung-gerakan-papua-merdeka-di-luar-negeri/.)
This list includes our organizations among others. We speak here
only for our own groups and not necessarily for any others listed.
We do not know who created the list or when. It is full of typos and
other errors, including groups that no long exist and may never have
existed. The list includes the original name of one of us;
ETAN changed its name in 2005.
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Lists like these seek to blame others for problems created by the Indonesian
government’s and security forces' own policies and actions. Indonesia must
take responsibility for its failures in West Papua.
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The list seems to confuse support for the
rights of the people of West Papua with support for a particular
West Papuan organization, the OPM. Our organizations work on issues
and do not take sides among local organizations. We do this out of
respect for the right of the Papuan people to organize themselves.
Lists like these (see here for another example:
http://sydney.edu.au/arts/peace_conflict/docs/Anatomy_for_print.pdf)
seek to blame others for problems created by the Indonesian
government’s and security forces' own policies and actions. We saw
this in East Timor, where instead of acknowledging the depth of the
local opposition to its occupation, Indonesian officials insisted
resistance came from a handful of East Timorese, emboldened by
international supporters. Indonesia must stop blaming outsiders and
seeing enemies everywhere. It must take responsibility for its
failures in West Papua. It is these failures which our organizations
seek to address.
The implication of the list is that expressing concern about West
Papua is interfering in matters internal to Indonesia. We strongly
reject that.
First, much of our advocacy is in response to pleas for help from
within West Papua.
Second, we are urging that Indonesia adhere to its international
responsibilities by following the UN Charter and human rights
international conventions and treaties, many of which Indonesia has
signed or ratified.
Moreover, much of our advocacy is focused on our own countries,
addressing the roles of our own governments and the international
institutions to which they belong, as well as the impact of
multinational corporations active in the territory. We work to
change our own governments' policies so they support human rights
and justice. We seek to limit our governments' support for
Indonesia's security forces which regularly violate the rights of
West Papuans. By doing so, our governments can contribute to a
lessening of violence and peaceful solutions to West Papua's
problems.
East Timor and Indonesia Action
Network (ETAN), USA
Tapol, the
Indonesian Human Right Campaign, UK
Australia
West Papua Association (Sydney), Australia
Indonesia Human Rights Committee, Auckland, New Zealand
Peace Movement Aotearoa,
New Zealand
Medical Association for Prevention of War (NSW), Australia
Australia West
Papua Association, South Australia
Foundation Pro Papua, The Netherlands
Disarmament
and Security Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand
Pax
Christi Aotearoa-New Zealand
Swedish Association For Free Papua
Down
to Earth
Survival International
West Papuan Women Association in the Netherlands (Vereniging van
Papua Vrouwen in Nederland)
West Papua
Courier, The Netherlands
see also
The
West Papua Report