John Rumbiak, Chairman of International Affairs for the respected West Papua Human Rights organisation ELSHAM, tours New Zealand between September 20 and October 19. He is available for interview and comment during this time. John Rumbiak, who is currently a visiting Scholar at Columbia University's Centere for Human Rights Study, brings a clear challenge to New Zealanders to face up to the ongoing crisis in Indonesian controlled West Papua. Mr Rumbiak is West Papua's most influential human rights defender. His organisation Elsham is a consistent advocate of peace and dialogue as the means to resolving conflict in West Papua, and undertakes fearless documentation of human rights abuses. When Elsham's independent investigation of the murder of two US citizens near the Freeport mine in 2002 revealed Indonesian military involvement, the Generals responded with a law suit.

When the perpetrators of the 1999 killings in East Timor were absolved recently by the Indonesian Court of Appeal, John Rumbiak said that the failed prosecutions against the Indonesian military would put millions of people at risk of continuing military abuses in West Papua and Aceh.

He said that the failure to punish even a single Indonesian soldier or officer
over the carnage in East Timor in 1999 would reassure the military that it can continue to operate with impunity. The Indonesian military has been recruiting, training and funding militia groups in West Papua mirroring its notorious East Timor strategy, which "subcontracted" some of the worst violent attacks to a network of paramilitary gangs.

Indonesia's official human rights commission recently concluded that the security forces had committed "gross abuses" in several West Papuan towns in the past three years. President Megawati Sukarnoputri has reneged on her promise to ensure that so called "special autonomy" legislation would deliver a fairer division of resources and guarantee political representation for Papuans.

During his time in New Zealand, Mr Rumbiak will meet with politicians and human rights groups. He has been invited to speak at the University of Canterbury Conference "Securing a PeacefulPacific-Preventing and resolving conflict in the Pacific". John will address public meetings in Whangarei, Tauranga, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
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Updated 29 September 2004

West Papua in Crisis

National speaking tour by John Rumbiak

John Rumbiak is a fearless advocate for the rights of the people of West Papua, the Pacific country occupied by Indonesia since 1963. John is the Chairman of International Affairs for the West Papua Human Rights organisation ELSHAM, which has taken a lead in the efforts to establish West Papua as a Zone of Peace. He is visiting Aotearoa during September and October, and will be speaking at public meetings in Whangarei, Tauranga, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin (see details below for remaining, and new, meetings).

For more information about John see
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/johnr04.htm The national and media contact for John's visit is Maire Leadbeater, Indonesian Human Rights Committee, tel (09) 815 9000 or email maire@clear.net.nz Local contacts are included with public meeting details below.

* Auckland *

- Friday, 1 October - Public Meeting at 7.30pm, St Columba Centre, 40 Vermont Street, Ponsonby (opposite the Mosque, parking at rear of Centre). Contact Maire Leadbeater, Indonesian Human Rights Committee, tel (09) 815 9000 or email maire@clear.net.nz

* Wellington *

- Tuesday, 5 October - 'Free West Papua Now', peace vigil featuring the Morning Star - the flag which West Papuans cannot safely display in their own country; 4.30pm at the Cenotaph, corner Bowen Street and Lambton Quay. Contact Peace Movement Aotearoa tel (04) 382 8129, email pma@xtra.co.nz

- Tuesday, 5 October - 'West Papua in Crisis', public meeting which includes the screening of 'Land of the Morning Star'; 5.30pm at the Catholic Centre Cafeteria, 22-30 Hill Street, Thorndon (parking at rear of Centre). Contact Peter Zwart, Caritas, tel (04) 496 1742, email peter@caritas.org.nz or Peace Movement Aotearoa tel (04) 382 8129, email pma@xtra.co.nz A printable publicity flyer for this meeting is available online at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/johnr.doc

- Wednesday, 6 October - 'Focus on West Papua', a lunchtime seminar with John Rumbiak, from 12 noon to 1.30pm at Te Kawa a Maui / School of Maori, Pacific and Samoan Studies, Victoria University, 6 Kelburn Parade. Contact Teresia Teaiwa tel (04) 463 5110, email Teresia.Teaiwa@vuw.ac.nz A printable publicity flyer for this meeting is available online at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/jrvuw.doc

* Christchurch *

- Thursday, 14 October - 'Pacific Report' with speakers including John Rumbiak on West Papua, and Lopeti Senituli on 'Democratisation - Tongan Style'; 7-30pm at Knox Hall, 28 Bealey Avenue. Contact Gillian Southey, Christian World Service, tel (03) 366 9274, email gillian.southey@cws.org.nz

- Saturday, 16 October - 'Conflict in West Papua' workshop, part of the 'Securing a Peaceful Pacific: Preventing and Resolving Conflict in the Pacific' conference, for more information go to http://www.posc.canterbury.ac.nz/pacificpeace/index.shtml

* Dunedin *

Monday, 11 October - Public Meeting, with introduction Metiria Turei MP, at 7.30 pm, Quaker Meeting House, 15 Park Street. Contact Maureen Howard tel (03) 477 8502

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Peace Movement Aotearoa (PMA)
the national networking peace organisation
PO Box 9314, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Tel +64 4 382 8129, fax 382 8173, email pma@xtra.co.nz
PMA website - http://www.converge.org.nz/pma
No raupatu in our time - www.converge.org.nz/pma/fsinfo.htm
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