Statement of the Third International Solidarity Meeting on West Papua

6 October 2002

The Third International Solidarity Meeting on West Papua, meeting in London from October 4-6, 2002, attended by over 20 organizations from 15 countries, confirmed its full support for the exercise of self-determination by the people of West Papua, a right belonging to all peoples in the world.

The Meeting called on the Government of the Republic of Indonesia to enter into a process of peaceful dialogue with the West Papua leadership, including the Papuan Presidium Council, and mediated by a third neutral party.

It called on the international community and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia to support the proposal of the West Papuan people to declare West Papua a Zone of Peace. It therefore called in particular on the Government of the Republic of Indonesia to withdraw the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) and Mobile Police Force (Brimob) from the territory of WestPapua.

It called on all UN member states to request UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to review the UN's conduct in relation to the discredited "Act of Free Choice" in 1968-1969, which was part of a fraudulent attempt to legitimise West Papua's take-over by Indonesia.

The Meeting declared its warm solidarity with the Jakarta-based National Solidarity with Papua (Solidaritas Nasional Untuk Papua).

The Meeting was deeply concerned at the further deterioration of the human rights situation in West Papua. Leading human rights activists have received death threats following their efforts to investigate the killing in August 2002 of three employees of the Freeport mining company, and their discovery of evidence which suggests members of the Indonesian army were involved. The Meeting stressed the urgent need for UN human rights monitors to visit West Papua and called for an independent team of experts to investigate the assassination last November of Theys Eluay, the chairman of the Papuan Presidium Council.

The Meeting recognised the important and unique role of Papuan women in society and in the struggle for human rights. It also recognised and encouraged the actions of Solidaritas Perempuan Papua (Papuan Women's Solidarity) and other women's groups in upholding their political, socio-economic and cultural rights.

It called for a campaign to expose violations against Papuan women, including the crime of rape by the security forces and high levels of domestic violence. The Meeting urged aid agencies to support the Papuan women's struggle, including the provision of material aid, and to prioritize resources on empowerment of women at grassroots level, institution-building, and building women's skills - e.g. skills in information technology, in running meetings, budgeting, report-writing, and the media.

The Meeting called on the international community to press the Indonesian government to prevent the violation of the human rights of West Papuans, including their economic, social and cultural rights, by transnational companies including Freeport McMoran, Rio Tinto and BP and by the Indonesian system of granting logging concessions on indigenous customary lands.

Statement of the Third International Solidarity Meeting on West Papua
London, 6 October 2002.

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