27 March 2004
THE SITUATION ON OUR DOORSTEP - DO WE CARE?
New Guinea is Australia’s closest neighbour. The western part of New Guinea was incorporated as a province of Indonesia following a so-called “act of free choice” in 1969. In fact the incorporation into Indonesia was never accepted by the native inhabitants and their continued struggle for self-determination has resulted in an estimated 100,000 deaths in the years since. Indonesia is reluctant to relinquish control over a province that is rich in natural resources and the rest of the world, including Australia, is reluctant to confront or offend Indonesia especially in the aftermath of East Timor and the terrorist threat from fundamentalist Islamic groups.
There continue to be increasingly disturbing signs and reports emerging from West Papua, and yet for the most part Australian’s are woefully ignorant about the situation in regard to our near neighbour.
Recently Franciscans International FI (a non-government organization which aims to keep alive the charism of Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi by working on behalf of the poor for peace, justice, and the care of creation at the United Nations) urged that body to put pressure on Indonesia to disband terrorist-run paramilitary groups it says the government supports in the province of West Papua.
“The presence in Papua of Eurico Guterres, one of the architects involved in organizing terror wrought by militias in East Timor in 1999 is a cause for grave concern,” FI and the Office for Justice and Peace in Jayapura, Papua said recently.
The indigenous Papuans are among the most marginalized and victimized people in Indonesia,” says the FI paper. It says there have been “a number of negative developments” in the province’s human rights situation over the past year, including an increase of violence and intimidation.
The full text of the Franciscans International statement can be found at by clicking on the link at left
For more information about West Papua you may care to visit the Free West Papua website by clicking on the link at left.
There continue to be increasingly disturbing signs and reports emerging from West Papua, and yet for the most part Australian’s are woefully ignorant about the situation in regard to our near neighbour.
Recently Franciscans International FI (a non-government organization which aims to keep alive the charism of Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi by working on behalf of the poor for peace, justice, and the care of creation at the United Nations) urged that body to put pressure on Indonesia to disband terrorist-run paramilitary groups it says the government supports in the province of West Papua.
“The presence in Papua of Eurico Guterres, one of the architects involved in organizing terror wrought by militias in East Timor in 1999 is a cause for grave concern,” FI and the Office for Justice and Peace in Jayapura, Papua said recently.
The indigenous Papuans are among the most marginalized and victimized people in Indonesia,” says the FI paper. It says there have been “a number of negative developments” in the province’s human rights situation over the past year, including an increase of violence and intimidation.
The full text of the Franciscans International statement can be found at by clicking on the link at left
For more information about West Papua you may care to visit the Free West Papua website by clicking on the link at left.
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