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Indonesia objects to Pacific nations' demands over Papua
Pacific nation leaders “reaffirmed recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty over West Papua” and demanded that a human rights report be completed before next year's summit.
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Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers prepare to board a helicopter from Wamena in Papua province on Dec. 5, 2018, to retrieve the bodies of construction workers killed in Nduga regency. (AFP/Anyong)
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ndonesia has expressed its objections to Pacific countries’ concerns over alleged human rights abuses in Papua at a recent annual Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tuvalu.
The summit, held in the island nation’s capital Funafuti from Tuesday to Friday, was attended Pacific nation leaders, including Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
In a communique issued on Friday, they "strongly encouraged" Indonesia to finalize the timing of a visit by the United Nations high commissioner for human rights to investigate alleged human rights abuses and allow the commissioner to create an “evidence-based, informed report” on the situation in Papua.
They further “reaffirmed recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty over West Papua” and demanded that the report be completed before next year’s PIF summit.
“We have raised our objections to [the decision] to bring Papua into the meeting because it is not in line with [PIF's] mandates, which are to talk about environmental issues, promote development in Pacific countries and to overcome the impact of climate change,” Foreign Ministry acting spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said on Friday.
Indonesia was not part of the decision or process of making the communique, but as a dialogue partner of the forum, the country may voice its objection, Faizasyah said.
Established in 1971, the PIF is the region’s premier political and economic policy organization and comprises 18 members. Indonesia has been a dialogue partner since 2001, and concerns over violence and alleged abuses in Papua have been a regular topic in past PIF meetings.
