What is the issue in West Papua?
In 2019 unrest broke out in West Papua after police in Java—Indonesia’s most populous island, home to the capital Jakarta—reportedly called a group of Papuan students racist names like “monkey.” At least 43 people were killed, including at least one Indonesian soldier, according to Human Rights Watch.
Why does Australia support Papua New Guinea?
A stable, prosperous, peaceful and resilient PNG is critical to Australia’s interests. We are PNG’s largest development partner; its main partner on economic and security issues; and its most active supporter in helping it respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
How many West Papuans have been killed by Indonesian?
Since the Suharto dictatorship of Indonesia annexed West Papua in a 1969 U.N. referendum – largely viewed as a land grab – an estimated 500,000 West Papuans have been killed fighting to achieve independence.
What is the Papua conflict?
The Papua conflict is an ongoing conflict in Western New Guinea between Indonesia and the Free Papua Movement ( Indonesian: Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM).
What is happening in West Papua?
Since then, West Papua has been an area of conflict and exploitation for its indigenous people who have suffered discrimination, eviction from their land and the gradual loss of their means of livelihood, while the basic freedoms of expression, assembly and association are harshly curtailed.
What is the West Papuan War?
Nowhere in the modern world has an armed liberation struggle persisted for so long – nearly 30 years – and with such secrecy, as the West Papuan war of resistance against the military government of Indonesia. West Papua is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly known as Dutch New Guinea.
Why did Indonesia ignore the West Papua refugees?
Indonesia’s deliberate cover-up of events in West Papua continued as the Papua New Guinea government tried to ignore the more than 10,000 refugees camped inside its border. The intense secrecy, the closed access to the two colonial territories.
