We are writing to urge you to appoint a United Nations Special Representative to Indonesia to monitor and report on the situations in West Papua. This Special Representative could also make recommendations regarding steps the UN Security Council and General Assembly might undertake to end the troubling and deadly conflicts that continue to engulf this region. The peoples in West Papua have the human right for their self determination – Please call for a new referendum!

Human rights groups have established that at least 150,000 people have died since 1969 in their continuing resistance to West Papua's integration. It is significant to note that this sparsely populated province is rich in natural resources.

PAPUA PETITION FOR THE 22ND SESSION OF “WORKING GROUP ON INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS” HELD FROM JULY 19. TILL 23. 2004 IN GENEVA

Honorable Kofi Annan
Secretary General
United Nations New York
New York 10017

Dear Mr. Secretary General:

We are writing to urge you to appoint a United Nations Special Representative to Indonesia to monitor and report on the situations in West Papua. This Special Representative could also make recommendations regarding steps the UN Security Council and General Assembly might undertake to end the troubling and deadly conflicts that continue to engulf this region.

The peoples in Papua have the human right for their self determination – Please call for a new referendum!

Human rights groups have established that at least 150,000 people have died since 1969 in their continuing resistance to West Papua's integration. It is significant to note that this sparsely populated province is rich in natural resources.

THIS PETITION IS POWERED BY:

FRIENDS OF PEOPLES CLOSE TO NATURE, INTERCULTURAL.
“f P c N is an international network of non-governmental organisations, groups and individuals”

A brief history:

For the first half of the last century, the Dutch colonisation had no adverse consequences worth mentioning, on the highland Papuans. However, the situation began to deteriorate drastically in the 1960s, for, despite the fact that the Netherlands had proposed independence for the West Papuans in 1961, President Sukarno of Indonesia claimed the Western half of the island as part of Indonesia.
Under this pressure, the Netherlands and Indonesia signed a contract in 1962, known as "The New York Agreement ". This agreement stipulated that the UN would take over the administration of West Papua for a period of 7 months. Despite this arrangement, the Indonesian army entered West Papua en masse, clearly demonstrating their real intentions. All symbols of independence were instantly burned, including flags and school books.
The Peoples Council of West Papua was removed from power and replaced by an Indonesian Provincial Administration directly appointed by Indonesia. The West Papuans reacted by founding the OPM, the Independence Organization in August 1965, which rapidly established itself throughout West Papua.

Gradually, the Papuans began to see the OPM / TPN (the armed wing), as the
only real hope of successfully removing the brutal Indonesian rule.

Articles in the New York Agreement stipulated, that by 1969, a free vote by the Papuans - known as the ‘Act of Free Choice’, should take place. 1025 representatives were chosen and had they unanimously voted for West Papua, it would have become independent. Intimidation was witnessed at the elections, and the representatives decided one and all, to vote for Indonesia and Integration in 1969.
Although Ortiz Sanz, the UN referendum observer, had protested against the way the West Papuans were bullied into voting, the UN still upheld the decision.

Following the annexation of West Papua, Indonesia began a massive transmigration programme, know as the “Transmigrasi Project”. The plan being to reduce the over population of the Javanese islands, and introduce a greater proportion of Indonesian ethnicity into West Papua, thus balancing the populations. Today, already more than 1/3 of the population of West Papua are Indonesian migrants. This transmigration is a sharpened form of colonialism, because none of the economic or defence sectors, including military posts, are controlled by West Papuans.
The natives have lost vast tracks of their land and become far worse off. It is clear that the presence of great natural resources have greatly influenced the Indonesians decision to remain in this area.

The Director of the Human rights Organisation ELSHAM, Johanes Bonay, has stated:
“For 40 years there has been poverty in West Papua, not of only of material, but also of social [deprivation], like the education of the Papuans, the chance of participating in Government or in commercial interests. The identity and traditions of the Papuans have been disregarded constantly by the Indonesian Government. So each attempt to keep their cultural identity, has also been classed as nationalism or separatism and actively opposed.”

The latest development:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB128/index.htm

Documents show U.S. backed a sham referendum in Papua province.

JAKARTA, July 10 (AP):
Documents recently declassified by the State Department and the Richard Nixon Presidential Materials collection at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), have revealed that the United States supported former dictator Suharto, when he incorporated West Papua into Indonesia in 1969, after a self-determination vote later dismissed as a sham.

“You should tell Suharto that we understand the problems they face in West Papua,” U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger wrote to President Richard Nixon before Nixon's July 1969 trip to Indonesia, according to the U.S. State Department documents. The documents were received on Saturday 10. July 2004 from the Washington-based National Security Archive think-tank.
Nixon's trip coincided with the Indonesian-controlled vote “Act of Free Choice” in which West Papuan tribal and community leaders - hand-picked by Jakarta - unanimously voted to join Indonesia, thus legitimising the annexation of the territory of West Irian (now West Papua). Improving relations with Indonesia's authoritarian regime was a U.S. priority at the time. Kissinger characterized Suharto as:
“a moderate military man ... committed to progress and reform.”
In these newly declassified papers, Kissinger also advised the president that:
“You should not raise this [West Papua] issue with Suharto, except to note U.S. sympathy with Indonesia's concerns.”

Top U.N. officials who supervised Indonesia's takeover have now admitted that most West Papuans were intentionally excluded, emphasizing that this “Act of Free Choice “ vote, used to justify the annexation of West Papua, is now clearly viewed as a sham. The revelations of these formerly secret archives have been published as Indonesia is in the midst of its first direct presidential elections, and as it is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the “Act of Free Choice”.

This briefing book is the first publication of “the National Security Archive's Indonesia Documentation Project”, which is seeking the release of thousands of secret U.S. documents concerning U.S. policy toward Indonesia and East Timor from 1965-1999. The project aims to assist efforts to document and seek accountability for more than three decades of human rights abuses committed during the rule of President Suharto (1965-1998) in Indonesian

Other revelations in these formerly secret documents include:
* Agreement among U.S. and other Western officials that “Indonesia could not win an open election” and that the vast majority of West Irian's inhabitants favoured independence.
* U.S. officials attempted to convince the United Nations representative present at the “Act of Free Choice,“ Bolivian diplomat Ortíz Sanz, that independence for West Irian was “inconceivable.”
* U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Frank Galbraith warned that Indonesian military operations and abuses in West Irian, (resulting in the deaths of possibly hundreds of civilians), „had stimulated fears and rumours of intended genocide among the Irianese.“
_________________________________________________________
THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding. Its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals.

Successive U.S. administrations have backed Jakarta in its insistence that West Papua remain Indonesian.

UN Special Reports on “Violence Against Women and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention” have long documented human rights violations in Papua.
Recently, the Indonesian military's creation of a militia has exacerbated tensions between indigenous Papuans and migrants. A military campaign in the Central Highlands has led to an inestimable number of civilian deaths and significant population displacement. The fate of those hiding in the Papuan forests remains unknown as military authorities have prohibited the provision of humanitarian assistance. Human rights organizations have endured intimidation and threats by government security forces operating with impunity.

Human rights violations in Papua have resulted in a flow of refugees across international borders. Dialogue between the Indonesian National government and Papuan local leaders has recently broken down, as demonstrated by Jakarta's ultimately deadly attempt to divide the province into smaller provinces against the will of the people.
The international community has remained too quiet for too long regarding the conflict in Papua. The scale of human rights violations in these two Indonesian
provinces warrants special international attention.

We, therefore, urge you to appoint a Special Representative to Indonesia to monitor and report on the situations in Papua.

We look forward to hearing from you regarding these concerns.

Sincerely,

fPcN InterCultural
Freunde der Naturvölker e. V.
German section
Salzstr. 6,
21335 Lüneburg/
Germany
www.fpcn-global.org
www.naturvoelker.org
Supporters for this Petition:

DeMMaK & AMP International Office UK
C/O SDEF,Prior House, 6 TillburyPlace,
Brighton,BN2 2GY
UK
www.melanesianews.org/demmak/
www.westpapua.net

Tribal Welfare Society, India
Plot No. 1 West Kidwai Nagar,
New Delhi-110023
India

ECOTERRA Intl.
P.O.Box 177,
Nairobi,
Kenya
www.ecoterra.net