Transcript
The petition had been banned by Indonesia and it was signed in secret before being smuggled out of the country.
Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua this week brought the petition to New York where the UN General Assembly was in session.
The exiled independence leader says the petition refutes the 1969 Act of Free Choice where the UN recognised the sovereignty of Indonesia, purportedly at the will of the West Papuan people.
"This is the people of West Papua's voice. Nearly 50 years the United Nations' ignored. This is to symbolise the voice and the bones of the people of West Papua we carry, handed over to you."
Mr Wenda says he handed the petition to the UN's Special Committee on Decolonization, the C24, which monitors the progress of former colonies towards independence, on Tuesday in New York.
The petition demands the UN re-lists West Papua as a Non-Self-Governing Territory with the C24, a move supported by Pacific leaders in speeches at the General Assembly in the past week.
The Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare described the petition as a vote for self-determination.
"West Papuans inside West Papua are watching... praying and are hoping for a brighter future. They've come in numbers to express their hope for a better future."
Indonesia's third secretary at their mission to the UN, Ainan Nuran, responded by saying that Papua region's incorporation into Indonesia was final.
"Papua and West Papua provinces are an integral and sovereign part of Indonesia. They will always remain an integral part of Indonesia."
She added Indonesia had brought massive development and progress to the two provinces of Papua region.
"With the economy growing at 9.21 percent. All make Papua and West Papua provinces the fastest growing regions in Indonesia."
However, a West Papua expert from the University of Sydney Dr Jason MacLeod says this is of little to no benefit for the indigenous people.
"When you go to West Papua, what you see is economic apartheid. You see Indonesian migrants controlling all aspects of the economy. Just in the trip from the airport to the capital Jayapura, you just see police and military bases and posts every couple of kilometres. In some cases every couple of hundred metres. It's an occupied country."
Ainan Nuran said countries supporting West Papuan self-determination were being deceived by individuals with separatist agendas.
However Jason MacLeod says the days are gone when the global community chose not to intervene in a sovereign nation's territorial integrity and is shifting towards a norm of responsibility to protect.
"In the case of West Papua you have the indigenous population there who genuinely feel that they are facing a slow motion genocide."
Benny Wenda says the 1.8 million people who signed the petition did so at great personal risk after the Djakarta government outlawed its signing.
He says 57 people were arrested and a further 54 tortured between April and June while the petition was being circulated.
Jason MacLeod had been in West Papua during this period to witness and validate the signature collecting process.
He says it's a fair and accurate representation of the West Papuan people's will, and the UN needs to pay due attention.
"They've got two choices before them. They can either re-list West Papua on the UN Committee for Decolonization or they can put pressure on the Indonesian government to hold a referendum. One of those two things really need to happen."
Benny Wenda says the UN's Special Committee on Decolonisation has officially acknowledged acceptance and receipt of the petition.
However, the Indonesian embassy in Wellington has contacted RNZ International to say this is not the case.
With the mistrust between the independence movement and Jakarta unlikely to change, action from the international community is increasingly seen as the only solution to the West Papua question.
The UN Chairman of the Committee of 24 bureau has been contacted for confirmation. He had not responded at time of broadcast.
