From The Outrigger Issue 52, Spring 2008

Lords Papua plea

THE Government was urged in a Lords debate in February to step up efforts to persuade Indonesia to put an end to the abuse of human rights and torture of political detainees in West Papua.

THE proportion of indigenous Melanesians in West Papua is expected to drop from 96 per cent of a 900,000 population in 1971 to around 15 per cent by 2030, the House of Lords was told in a recent debate.

“Papuans are becoming a minority in their own country”, said the Rt Rev Lord Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford, quoting a UN source as describing West Papua as being among those countries whose population were “at risk of extinction”.

Leading the debate on Feb 26, he said that human rights abuses in West Papua were “very grave”. The systematic brutality was in support of the 1969 “act of no choice” when a handpicked 1,000 Papuans voted under military pressure to remain part of Indonesia instead of seeking independence.

He wanted the Government to work for an international presence in West Papua to ensure that those who are raising human rights issues could do so “without the present fear of intimidation, torture and death”.

Speakers referred to international reports alleging brutality by army, police and paramilitary units in stamping out peaceful protests, and the widespread use of torture of detainees, and extra-judicial executions.

Lord Archer of Sandwell said that history would not understand how human suffering on such a scale continued year after year while the world looked on complacently. He urged the Government to go to the Security Council.

Baroness Cox said that the conflict was primarily a struggle for West Papuan independence or self- determination.

The Lib-Dem spokesman, Lord Avebury, who is a former president of TAPOL, the Indonesian human rights campaign, asked for pressure to be applied to Indonesia to train the judiciary and police, and Lord Astor (Cons) wanted the Government to get Indonesia to try to achieve a basic standard of human rights.

“Torture is a central pillar of West Papua rule,” he said.

For the Government, Lord Malloch-Brown acknowledged that Lord Harries had raised issues that were not acceptable anywhere.

But Indonesia was a country that had changed enormously in the past decade, including making significant improvements in human rights.

Britain recognised the shortcomings of Indonesia but “we believe that the way forward is an internal dialogue between the people of Papua and the Government of Jakarta”, he said.

The Hansard Report of  the Lords Debate of  26   Feb 2008 can be  found  by following  the link below:

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/80226-0011.htm#08022672000001