21 May 2014

West Papua calls for consistency from UN

11:17 am on 21 May 2014

Advocates for West Papuan self-determination have called for a UN decolonisation committee to be consistent and make a fact finding trip to Indonesia's Papua region.

The special committee on decolonisation is meeting in Nadi this week to look at how 17 Pacific territories on the list are faring.

The Australia West Papua Association's Joe Collins says it's now common knowledge that the Act of Free Choice in West Papua in 1969, facilitated by the United Nations, was a farce, and it's about time the UN returned to check on progress.

Joe Collins says the provinces of Papua and West Papua should be on the list and he says the UN should be consistent, as it visited New Caledonia in March.

"It's your duty, a moral obligation to go and visit West Papua, see what 51 years of administration has done to the West Papuan people, the exploitation of the resources but little or no benefit to themselves, ongoing human rights abuses. They should go and see how the West Papuan people have fared after 51 years."

Joe Collins of the Australia West Papua Association.