Transcript
JOHNNY BLADES: Vanuatu's Justice Minister Ronald Warsal delivered this statement on behalf of the seven Pacific countries at Geneva. Just picking out some of his speech here, he's saying that numerous well-documented reports of extrajudicial executions of activists and the arrests, beatings and fatal shootings of peaceful demonstrators, including high school students have been noted, as well as reports of persistent violence against Papuan women. And Warsal told the session that there's really been no accountability or justice for any of this stuff. He also mentioned the big problem of migration of non-Papuans to West Papua over decades, leading to a dramatic decline in the percentage of the indigenous Papuan population, and basically saying it's time foe the Human Rights Council to press the High Commissioner for Human Rights to produce a consolidated report on "the actual situation in West Papua". And remember these are the seven Pacific nations whose leaders spoke out so strongly about their concerns about West Papua at the UN General Assembly last September. That was quite an unprecedented high level of discussion about West Papua. And on that occasion, Indonesia in its reply was critical of the Pacific countries for interfering in what Jakarta deems a domestic affair.
JAMIE TAHANA: Indonesia is often quite sensitive to West Papua being raised in these things, so what's been their response this time around?
JB: A very stern response from Jakarta, categorically rejecting allegations made by the Vanuatu minister on behalf of the Pacific countries. It's produced this statement saying its record on the promotion and protection of rights is good, that it speaks for itself. But it's gone on the attack against Vanuatu, saying that Vanuatu should not divert attention from its own human rights problems. I quote from its statement: "the Indonesian Government is prepared to work and cooperate with the Government of Vanuatu in their efforts to address various human rights violation and abuses against the people of Vanuatu, such as violence against women, corporal punishment against minors, appalling prison condition, including torture of prisoners, and other challenges."
JT: Does Jakarta have a point here?
JB: Well, some of those things mentioned are issues in Vanuatu. It's maybe not a great comparison, but it's obviously a move to deflect some attention. In the case of Papua, I guess you'd say you've got the indigenous population who have actively sought help from their Pacific neighbours and their Melanesian kin, these other countries like Vanuatu. That's clear. As you know, that's been going on for years, that they have embraced and want international help in their bid to have some sort of resolution to the core problems, the core grievance that they have about being part of Indonesia.
JT: This week there's been more than just the representations on West Papua at the UN Human rights Council happening in Geneva, hasn't there?
JB: Yeah, that's right. The World Council of Churches has also been meeting in Geneva this week along with an International Coalition for Papua, made up of churches, NGOs and people. They're producing renewed calls for Indonesia to open up access more to humanitarian help, NGOs, foreign media, journalists to Papua, because they say that Indonesia is not really helping to address the core grievances that Papuans have. And yeah they're calling for proper, independent human rights reportage of the situation in West Papua. So you've really got this momentum of international calls for West Papuan human rights advocacy.
