28 Feb 2012

International MPs campaign to help West Papuans keeps building

5:04 am on 28 February 2012

Parliamentarians from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand are expected to attend the launch of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua group in Australia today.

The international group supporting the indigenous people of Indonesia's Papua region will launch at Australia's Parliament House.

A New Zealand Green Party MP, Katherine Delahunty, is attending.

She says building the regional network is essential for parliamentarians who want to assist in forging a solution to Papua's deteriorating human rights situation.

"Because if the International Parliamentarians want to take legal issues, for example, to the United Nations, it's very important that the solidarity and support of governments in Melanesia, the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand show solidarity. So we have work to do in our won countries, we have work to do with each other, to make this body truly more effective. It's difficult to do it when there isn't actually strong connections between the actual countries closest to West Papua."

Katherine Delahunty