Political Statement of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB)

Political Statement of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB)

urging the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to discuss the West Papuan issue of Self-determination

West Papua is an integral part of the Pacific Community. Prior to its annexation by Indonesia in 1962, West Papua (then known as Netherlands New Guinea) was already a member of the South Pacific Commission (SPC). Since then, the Indonesian colonizer excluded West Papua from these regional meetings and turned West Papua into a killing field, subjecting the land to brutal exploitation of its natural resources. For now, the political struggle for West Papuan self-determination continues.

We assert that the West Papuan Self-determination struggle is part and parcel of the efforts to complete the decolonization process in the Pacific islands, a process which was never fully implemented. The subjugation currently experienced by the people of Papua is a crisis in the Pacific which has a destabilizing effect on the Pacific region. We hope that the Leaders of the Pacific countries will urge the United Nations to provide an "Advisory Opinion" regarding the legal and political status of West Papua and that they will urge that West Papua be re-inscribed on the list of Non-Self-Governing territories through the United Nations Decolonization Committee.

Indonesian colonialism and global capitalism has led to the destruction of Papua's forests which are a source of life for the planet. This is a terrible threat to the future of the Pacific islands at it contributes to global warming. There is no other way but to liberate West Papua from Indonesian colonialism and global capitalism, if we want to maintain the forests as a source of our life.

Indonesian colonialism and foreign corporations are at the root of the crimes against humanity that continue to be perpetrated in West Papua. The ongoing obliteration of the Papuan people is happening openly and systematically. Meanwhile Indonesia has turned West Papua into a protectorate that must be isolated from international monitoring at all cost. We urge the leaders of the Pacific countries to send a fact-finding team in order to directly investigate the crimes against humanity perpetrated in West Papua.

Above all, we strongly urge the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to accept West Papua through the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) as an observer so that we can take an active role in discussing and solving the problems in this region together.

Jayapura, 1 September 2015

Victor Yeimo, Chairman 

Ones Suhuniap, General Secretary

Disposkan oleh: Nesta Ones Suhuniap