PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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10 August 2001

TAPOL has today written to the President of the Pacific-island nation of Nauru, Rene Harris, urging him to re-consider his decision not to allow West Papuan representatives to attend next week's annual meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum.

According to President Harris, the West Papua delegation has been refused entry to Nauru because of confusion over who represents the independence movement. However, it is likely that heavy pressure from Australia and from Indonesia, which has been invited to this year's meeting as a dialogue partner for the first time, was the deciding factor.

West Papuans representatives attended last year's meeting in Kiribati as part of the Nauru delegation. In their final communiqué, Forum leaders' expressed their concern about the violence and loss of life in West Papua and called for peaceful dialogue and respect human rights. They also stated they would welcome closer dialogue with the Government of Indonesia on issues of concern.

In its letter to President Harris, TAPOL points out that it would be ironic if the West Papuans were to be excluded from this year's Forum meeting now that Indonesia is a dialogue partner. It urges Nauru to encourage dialogue between the Indonesian Government and West Papuan representatives, not to stand in the way of it taking place.

TAPOL commends Nauru for its recent bold leadership on West Papua's right to self-determination and for speaking out about human rights violations in the territory. It urges the President not to undermine his country's position on these issues by bowing to pressure from Australia and Indonesia.

The 16-member Forum is due to meet in Nauru from 16-18 August. It includes West Papua's Melanesian neighbours, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu as well as Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. The Forum's dialogue partners include the United States and the European Union as well as Indonesia.

West Papua was incorporated into Indonesia following a fraudulent Act of Free Choice in 1969, which involved a hand-picked assembly of 1,025 persons voting under duress to become part of Indonesia. Since then violations of human rights have been widespread and tens of thousands have been killed. According to the local human rights group, ELS-HAM, there were 95 extra-judicial killings between July 1998 and May 2001, and the security forces were responsible for 623 cases of arbitrary detention and torture.

ENDS

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