latest West Papua Report for August 2014

Read here: http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/2014/1408wpap.htm

CONTENTS

This month's PERSPECTIVE takes the form of West Papua Advocacy Team's (WPAT) open letter to President-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo urging him to address fundamental problems in West Papua.
UPDATE notes that Widodo won substantial majorities in West Papua, but that many Papuans boycotted the election. A prominent Papuan activist fled West Papua to Australia following attempts to abduct her. The Asian Human Rights Commission called the President-elect's attention to outstanding human rights problems in West Papua and elsewhere. Leaders of the "Federal State of West Papua" were released after serving nearly three years in prison for their roles in the Third Papuan People's Congress. Planning is under way for a meeting of Papuan groups in Vanuatu. President-elect Widodo has criticized a deal with Freeport McMoRan signed by outgoing president Yudhoyono. West Papuan students staged coordinated protests in Java over the denial of Papuan rights, including the right to self-determination.Recent shootings have raised concerns over a possible "sweeping operation" as a retaliatory "collective punishment" response. The new Army Chief of Staff has a record of provocative statements which point to an intent to defame and persecute rights advocates.

CHRONICLE highlights a motion by the Green Party's Catherine Delahunty in the New Zealand Parliament concerning the absence of media freedom in West Papua. A new documentary reveals repression in West Papua. Amnesty International urged Widodo to address human rights abuses and security force impunity. A new article focuses on institutional racism in West Papua. Groups write urging Indonesia to implement the UN's Universal Periodic Review recommendations concerning West Papua.

Link to this issue: http://etan.org/issues/wpapua/2014/1408wpap.htm 
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NZ Green MP Catherine Delahunty and Maire Leadbeater (West Papua Action Auckland)
 receive the John Rumbiak Human Rights Defenders Award,given annually
by the West Papua Advocacy Team. Photo by AWPA.