MEP Demnds UN Acts To End Papua Violence Ahead Of Channel Four Documentary
20 October 2006 - A Euro-MP has called for Indonesian troops to withdraw from West Papua and the peoples of the island to be granted a referendum on independence ahead of a Channel Four documentary detailing human rights violations in the province to be screened tonight (Friday, October 20).
Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP for South-East England , said the Unreported World programme, to be screened at 7.35pm on Channel Four tonight (Friday, October 20th ), gives a rare insight into life – and death – in one of the most isolated and oppressed countries on earth.
She said: “ West Papuans have no political freedom – even discussing the notion of independence can – and often does – lead to torture and murder at the hands of the Indonesian military.
“The international community must put pressure on Indonesia to withdraw from West Papua and let the Papuans democratically decide their future for themselves. The Indonesian military has been responsible for terrible and unlawful abuses of the Papuan people’s human rights – and they must be withdrawn and replaced by ‘blue beret’ UN peacekeepers to quell the violence.”
The Unreported World documentary relied on secret filming to uncover the reality of life under Indonesian rule for the West Papuans – all foreign media are banned and journalists usually arrested on arrival. The film brings details of the occupation and violence to British TV screens for the first time – thanks in part to the collaboration of the Oxford-based Free West Papua Campaign.
The Free West Papua Campaign has organised a public screening of the film at The Vaults and Gardens Cafe in Radcliffe Square , Oxford , from 7pm tonight.
The campaign has also been collecting messages of solidarity from students across the city. The messages, collected in a huge card, will be sent to West Papuan students currently in refugee camps over the border in neighbouring Papua New Guinea .
Dr Lucas added: “West Papuan have suffered 42 years of human rights violations, discrimination and abuse at the hands of Indonesia after it fraudulently took control of West Papua in a staged ‘referendum’ organised by the UN.
“Like East Timor, West Papua had been a European colony before Indonesian occupation – but unlike East Timor, the UN is yet to rectify the mistakes of the past and grant West Papuans their right to self-determination.”
She is to table a Written Declaration – the European parliament’s equivalent of an early Day Motion in the house of Commons – calling for the EU to back a referendum on West Papua’s future.
ENDS
