UN Review Campaign Launch

DUBLIN, IRELAND

March 26, Mansion House, Dublin: (clockwise from right): West Papuan activist Mr Fred Korwa singing West Papuan National Anthem as Morning Star flag is raised in presence of Lord Mayor; Mr Fred Korwa; Senator David Norris; Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Desmond J. O'Malley, TD; Mr. Fred Korwa; Gráda provide the music. In the chair: Róisín Boyd.

See report and advance report in The Irish Times:

The Irish Times 27 March 2002

The Irish Times 25 March 2002

Dr. John Saltford was also interviewed on Today With Philip Boucher Hayes at 10.50am on Tuesday March 26. The Irish Mirror, The Dublin People, Raidio na Gaeltachta news, and Dublin's Anna Livia FM also covered the event.

Photos: All photos this page Rabea Henze, except top: Darren Kinsella.

The Irish Times
Mon, Mar 25, 02
Launch of campaign on plight of West Papua
By David Shanks

An international campaign for a United Nations review of
Indonesia's 39-year occupation of West Papua will be launched
tomorrow in Dublin and in New York.

The campaign, calling on the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan,
"to act on the suffering of the West Papuan people", will be
launched at the Mansion House. In New York, a Papuan delegation
will present a submission to the UN Secretariat.

A veteran Papuan leader from the mineral-rich eldorado, Mr Fred
Korwa, will call for a rethink of the UN's 1969 "Act of Free
Choice" by 1,022 elders, which was taken as validating Indonesian
rule after the Netherlands ceded control in 1963.

The elders "were hand-picked and forced to declare their loyalty
to Indonesia under the brutal dictator Suharto", according to the
West Papua Action solidarity group.

The group's launch is to be attended by the former minister for
foreign affairs, Mr David Andrews; Senator David Norris; Mr
Desmond O'Malley, chairman of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs
Committee, and the Lord Mayor, Mr Michael Mulcahy.

West Papua Action is calling on the Government to "work actively"
in pressing Mr Annan to review the UN's role in 1969.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has told the Dáil of
his concern "about reports that the rights and freedoms of the
West Papuan people were restricted" in 1969 and at reports of
ongoing human rights abuses.

West Papua Action's co-ordinator, Mr Mark Doris, said 100,000
people or 10 per cent of the population had been killed since
1963.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Irish Times
Wed, Mar 27, 02
Campaigners seeking UN review on status of disputed West Papua
By David Shanks

INDONESIA: The forbidden anthem of a would-be independent West
Papua was sung as the disputed territory's flag was raised at a
ceremony in Dublin yesterday.

Mr Fred Korwa (63), a veteran exile of the 39-year campaign to end
Indonesian rule in the former Dutch colony, sang the anthem, Hai
Tan ahku Papua.

He told a large audience of being in New York in 1969 and
protesting at the UN's conduct over the "Act of Free Choice" which
was taken as validating the Indonesian takeover of the former
Dutch colony. The raising of the "Morning Star" flag is forbidden
in Papua as it is a symbol of independence. Senator David Norris
said it was "tragic" that it could be raised in the Mansion House
but not in Mr Korwa's own land. Yesterday's ceremony was to launch
a campaign to press UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, to review
the 1969 act, widely acknowledged as an undemocratic sham.

Mr Desmond O'Malley, chairman of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs
Committee, said 1,022 tribal elder were taken as representing a
population of one million and many were threatened with being shot
if they did not opt for Indonesian rule.

New York, New Zealand, Australia, UK...

New York

Listen to Democracy Now! interview in New York at Campaign Launch

KOFI ANNAN URGED TO EXAMINE UN'S MISCONDUCT IN WEST PAPUA

March 27, 2002 - Human rights activists from around the world, including representatives of West Papua's leading human rights organization, ELSHAM, submitted a petition to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan this week urging him to conduct an investigation into the United Nations' endorsement of a sham referendum held over 30 years ago endorsing Indonesia's take over of West Papua. After the so-called "Act of 'Free' Choice, the UN General Assembly removed West Papua from its agenda, consigning the people of West Papua to decades of brutality and mass murder under Indonesian rule.

Military repression in West Papua has intensified in the past year in many parts of the territory, culminating last November in the assassination of pro-independence leader, Theys Hiyo Eluay. Human rights organizations in West Papua are convinced that the assassination was perpetrated by elements within the Indonesian military.

Under an agreement brokered by the UN in 1962, the international body assumed responsibility for supervising the Act which should have been conducted in accordance with international practice, requiring all adults to participate. In fact only 1,022 persons, handpicked by the Indonesian military, voted without a dissenting voice to accept integration into the Indonesian Republic.

West Papua is extremely rich in minerals, which have been exploited for four decades by foreign companies, in particular the New Orleans-based mining multinational, Freeport-McMoRan, inflicting untold hardship on local communities.

Investigations undertaken by researchers in the past two years have revealed that the UN mission turned a blind eye to manipulations by the Indonesian military to ensure that the vote would secure the territory as Indonesia's 26th province.

The Act, which West Papuans contemptuously call the "Act of NO Choice," took place under conditions of violent repression, under the very noses of the UN mission. UN documents reveal that the mission stood by as the faked vote was held.

In November 2002, the former UN deputy Secretary General, Chakravarthy Narasimhan, who was in charge of the UN mission's work throughout, admitted that the Act was a 'whitewash'.

The petitioners lobbied several important institutions in New York concerned with the situation in Indonesia and met representatives of some South Pacific missions at the UN.

Carmel Budiardjo of the London-based Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, TAPOL, who is currently in New York to present the petition, said: "The UN is responsible for a grave betrayal of the West Papuan people's right to self-determination. Its failure to ensure a proper referendum has resulted in decades of suffering. The UN should re-open the question and rectify one of the worst breaches its commitment and duty to uphold the right of peoples to determine their own future."

Issued in New York by the West Papua Association UK, on behalf of the International Solidarity Movement for West Papua.

Additional background can be found at
http://westpapuaaction.buz.org/unreview/index.htm#briefing-document

New Zealand
West Papua: Call for Action!
March 26, 2002
Source: Peace Movement Aotearoa - pma@xtra.co.nz

Kia ora,

The sun sparkled off four West Papuan 'Morning Star' flags flying on the steps of parliament today as representatives from peace and human rights groups gathered to support the international campaign calling on the United Nations to review its 1969 endorsement of the Act of 'Free' Choice in West Papua. This followed the delivery of a letter from the Indonesia Human Rights Committee to Helen Clark, last Saturday in Auckland, which appealed to her to back the campaign.

At today's gathering, Mark Derby (NZ-West Papua Association spokesperson) presented MP Keith Locke with a letter urging Keith and his parliamentary colleagues to support the call for the United Nations review. The letter outlined the situation in West Papua and pointed out: "New Zealand bears some of the responsibility for the deeply flawed "Act of Free Choice" and for Indonesia's takeover. As a member of the United Nations and a South Pacific neighbour of West Papua, New Zealand failed to promote the rights of the people of West Papua and allowed an injustice to be perpetuated. Now we have a new opportunity to reexamine a past wrong."

Campaign launches also took place today in ten other countries and a formal submission was presented to the UN Secretariat in New York.

Australia
West Papua's old man of the Act of 'Free' Choice challenges Ortiz Sanz to come clean
March 26
Source: Australia West Papua Association (Melbourne) - westpapua@start.com.au

Dirk Ajamiseba, the most senior surviving Papuan leader at the time of the Act of Free Choice, called on Ortiz Sanz to tell the truth about the Act of Free Choice.

The challenge was issue at the conclusion of a press conference held at Parliament House Canberra on Tuesday. The press conference, hosted by The Democrats, launched an international campaign calling on Kofi Annan to personally intervene and order an investigation into the United Nation's role in the corrupted Act of Free Choice.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Ajamiseba said:

"Ortiz Sanz still remembers me - we spent a lot of time together during the Act of Free Choice. This old man wants to tell that old man in New York [Ortiz Sanz] to tell the truth".

Ortiz Sanz headed-up the UN mission that supervised the Act of Free Choice in West Papua, in 1969.

At the time of the Act of Free Choice, Mr Ajamiseba was Vice-Chairman of the Provincial Council of West Papua - the provincial government put in-place by the Indonesian government. He was also one of 3 West Papuans on the panel of seven men appointed by the Indonesian Government to coordinate the Act of 'Free' Choice, which he and all West Papuans thought was going to be a genuine vote for all Papuans on their future. When he discovered what Indonesia and the UN were planning, he resigned from the panel.

Mr Ajamiseba also attended the United Nations General Assembly meeting when the result of the Act of 'Free' Choice was announced. Tuesday's appearance at the press conference was a rare public appearance for Mr Ajamiseba - he wore the same suit he wore to the UN, which he said he had saved for such an occasion.

Mr Ajamiseba also pointed out that the current UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, was a member of Ghana's UN delegation, which was one of a handful of African countries, which opposed acceptance of the Act of 'Free' Choice at the UN. Ghana moved an unsuccessful amendment to the UN motion, calling for a new "act of free choice in accordance with international practice".

Here is the press release for the Australian press conference at parliament House, Canberra, next Tuesday.

INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE TO WEST PAPUA'S ACT OF FREE CHOICE: AUSTRALIA IMPLICATED IN THE WHITEWASH - DEMOCRATS.

Australia was implicated in the corrupted process of the Act of Free Choice that handed West Papua to Indonesia in 1969 claims Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett.

This week a campaign will be launched around the world to ask Kofi Annan to review the UN's role in the 1969 sham referendum, but Senator Andrew Bartlett is laying blame closer to home in pointing to the Australian involvement.

"Australian government officials removed two Papuans from a plane at Port Morseby airport preventing them from telling the United Nations in New York that their act of self-determination was completely corrupted, and that Indonesia was killing Papuans who protested" said Senator Bartlett.

To end a protracted conflict between the Netherlands and Indonesia, over what was then known as Dutch West New Guinea, the United States brokered the New Agreement in the United Nations in 1962. Under the terms of the agreement, all Papuan adults were to have the opportunity to vote on their future. This did not happen. Instead, Indonesia selected 1025 Papuans to represent the entire 800,000 population, and, under severe duress, they voted to remain a part of Indonesia.

Jacob Rumbiak, a West Papuan leader now living in Australia, who spent 11 years in brutal captivity in Indonesian jails, says they were "threatened with having their tongues cut out if they voted for independence".

Last November, Mr Chakravarthy Narasimhan, the United Nation's Under-Secretary General who was in-charge of the hand-over of West Papua to Indonesia following the New York Agreement, admitted that the vote was "just a whitewash".

An intensive international campaign, will target over 3000 church, union, humanitarian, political and student organizations. It will call on them to write to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asking him to personally intervene and initiate an investigation into the UN's behaviour during the sham vote. The campaign will be formally launched in New York on the 26th March, when a submission will be presented to the United Nations.

Please note photo opportunity: Dirk Ajamiseba, former Vice-Chairman of the West Irian Provincial Council (the interim government put in place by Indonesians after 1962), the most senior West Papuan leader at the time of the Act of Free Choice, will make a presentation to Senator Vicki Bourne.

United Kingdom
Press conference: 1 Parliament Street, Room C, 10 am, 21st March 2002
Call to Kofi Annan to review UN betrayal of West Papua

Unresolved status poses investment risk for British shareholders

Convened jointly by the All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) and West Papua Association - UK

Chaired by Jeremy Corbyn MP, Vice-Chair PHRG

With Viktor Kaisiepo - European representative West Papuan Presidium and Carmel Budiardjo - TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign

West Papuan supporters around the world, according to the wishes of the West Papuan people living under Indonesian military occupation, are launching a campaign to secure a review of how the UN failed the West Papuans in the 1969 Act of 'Free' Choice referendum, resulting in West Papua's incorporation into Indonesia. A formal submission will be made to Kofi Annan in New York on 26 March based on detailed research of official records which confirms the process was a sham.

A recent statement by the retired UN Under Secretary-General, Chakravarthy Narasimhan, in charge of the UN presence there at the time, condemned what happened as 'a whitewash'

In 1969, Indonesia conducted what was supposed to have been a referendum 'in accordance with international practice', on West Papua's future status. Instead, 1022 people out of a population of around 800 000 were forced to vote, under intimidation and threats to themselves and their families, for their country to become part of Indonesia. The UN, which was supposed to 'advise, assist and participate in proceedings', effectively turned a blind eye to the process.

Since 1969, at least 100 000 West Papuans have been killed or disappeared as a result of the military occupation. President Suharto's media ban gave the military a free hand to control the resource-rich territory through violence, a situation which recently saw the Papuan leader, Theys Eluay, murdered.

With the UK Government pushing hard for increased investment in Indonesia, with Rio Tinto set to own 40% of West Papua's expanded Freeport copper-and-gold mine, the world's largest, and with BP set to initiate a huge gas project in the territory, UK boardrooms and shareholders may be forced to take account of people's rights in relation to investment risk. A meeting in London on BP's West Papua project will coincide with the New York campaign launch on 26 March.

Copies of the submission to Kofi Annan are available on request. Contact: Paul Barber on 01420 80153; mobile 0776 180 8095

Tapol Bulletin: West Papua Campaign Launched at UN