Since February, the activists have held rallies in churches in Jayapura every Sunday, airing their demand for the Vatican to appoint native Papuan priests as bishops in their region.

The issue has come to a head with the imminent retirement of Franciscan Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar of Jayapura, Indonesia.

Bishop Ladjar applied for retirement before reaching 75 years, the usual age for bishops to retire.

"Until now, I waited for [the pope's] answer with great longing. Turns out there has been no response. Why so? Ask the pope," the now 78-year-old bishop was quoted as saying by news portal Tabloid Jubi.

Bishop Ladjar has been criticised for his lack of attention to humanitarian issues. In particular, they cite the problems in the easternmost region where conflict continues between rebels and the Indonesian military and police.

The activists want Bishop Ladjar, who is from a different region of Indonesia, to be succeeded by a native Papuan.

Soleman Itlay, one of the activists present at the Sunday rallies, said he hoped the Vatican would hear their aspirations.

"If the appointed bishop is a non-Papuan, especially one who does not know the local dynamics and the will of the people, we will continue our actions," he told UCA News.

He said they did not have personal hate for Bishop Ladjar and other non-Papuan bishops.

Their dissatisfaction, Itlay said, was triggered by the Church's silence on issues of violence and the marginalisation of indigenous Papuans.

"The Catholic Church in Papua is not doing well. Even now, there are groups who choose to remain Catholic and recognise the pope but no longer want to recognise the hierarchy of the Church in Papua and Indonesia," he said.

Many Indonesian missionaries from other islands of the nation are sent from different dioceses to Papuan dioceses in a "twinning" and exchange of priests between Indonesian dioceses.

Sources

• UCA News

Father Nico Syukur Dister who is is Professor at the Fajar Timur School of Philosophy and Theology in Jayapura accepts there are a variety of opinions on the question of independence for for West Papua.

While he understands why church leaders see it as their duty to unify the people, he says, "the real politics in West Papua make it impossible for the churches to remain neutral."

Dister pointed out that leaders of three Papua churches (GIDI, Baptist and KINGMI), whose members and leaders are predominantly native Papuans, recently released a pastoral letter condemning the ongoing violence and discrimination against Papuans.

"As far as I know, the Catholic Church seldom or even never made such a clear statement," he said. "Why is that the case?"

Dister's comments were made after Catholics staged a protest outside the annual bishops' meeting in Jayapura.

They were protesting because the bishops had not spoken out against the marginalisation and social injustice they suffer.

"The bishops stay silent instead of speaking up more about injustices faced by indigenous people. They let our dignity be torn up by unfair developments in areas such as health, education and even politics," protest organizer, Christianus Dogopia said.

Responding to the protesters, Bishop Aloysius Murwito of Agats-Asmat he and other bishops will work together with priests and parishes to deal with the issues.

"We will pay more serious attention to their demands," he said.

(A translation of the words on the placard the protesters are holding in the image above has been supplied. It says: "Where are the shepherds when their sheep are being hunted by wolves?")

Source

• UCAnews
• West Papua Daily
• Facebook

Image: Vatican Radio

Catholic Bishops of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands have been meeting at St.Anthony's Pilgrim House, Vanimo, for their Annual General Meeting from 4 to 15 April 2016.

The bishops had a meeting with 4 of the 5 bishops of West Papua.

They discussed issues of cooperation between the dioceses of West Papua and the dioceses of PNG/SI.

The issue of the refugees and the cry of independence of the people of West Papua were also discussed.

The bishops heard about on-going violence and repression faced by Papuan people.

In a letter presented to the bishops, Catholic Women of West Papua wrote of the significance of the visit.

"Few foreigners and even fewer esteemed guests like yourselves are able to get permission to come, or are willing to risk visiting our country," the statement said.

"We want you to know that we are not free.

We are confined in a situation that is full of violence.

Because of the Indonesian police and military we do not feel safe in our own land.

We desire to determine our own future, freely and fairly.

We want you to know that the United Liberation Movement for West Papua represents us. They have our full support.

Sadly the Catholic Church in West Papua is largely silent about this and does not give voice to our cry for justice."

The letter calls on the Conference of Bishops to encourage the Pacific Island Forum to immediately send a human rights fact-finding. mission to West Papua.

The bishops will come up with a statement at the end of the meeting.

The bishops' visit to Jayapura, follows the release of a Church report released last month containing allegations of recent military and police intimidation, beatings and torture, kidnapping and murder in West Papua.

The report author, Josephite Sister Susan Connelly, a respected human rights advocate, visited West Papua, accompanied by Brisbane archdiocese's Catholic Justice and Peace Commission executive officer Peter Arndt.

They interviewed more than 250 Papuan community leaders.

Connelly compared the situation there to "stepping back twenty years when I first went to East Timor".

"The same oppressive security presence everywhere, the same suspicion, bewilderment, frustration and sadness," she said.

Source

• catholicleader.com
• onepng.com
• Image: catholicleader.com

• Continue Reading Radio New Zealand
• Continue reading West Papua News Alerts

Examples of crimes by the Indonesian security forces include:

• The bombing of the parliament Jayawijaya building on 1 September 2012 by OTK (Orang Tak Dikenal)
• the throwing of bombs at the Jayawijaya police station traffic on 18 September 2012
• the discovery of a bomb in Timika, Friday, October 19, 2012
• the discovery of three bombs in Manokwari on October 9, 2012
• Explosion of three homemade bombs in Sorong on Sunday, October 28, 2012.

The press release states that 7.62 calibre ammunition has been discovered in nine different places, "5 TJ 5.6 bullets in as much as 121 points, 5.6 servant bullets in 20 points and the arrest of four youths known by the initials DIH (26), a resident of Organda, YP (28), a resident Sampan Timika, AK (24) a woman, a resident of Organda, and YJW (27) a Karubaga citizen. (Cenderwasih Pos News, Wednesday, October 31, 2012)".

The press release goes on to say that on the part of the Indonesian security forces there is a "systematic effort to thwart the Papuan demands to work towards a peace dialogue, to destroy the peaceful struggle of the Papua people for self-determination and to brand those Papuan who strive for independence as terrorists.

It says that "The security forces of the Republic of Indonesia must stop committing crimes against humanity by an engineered situation of bombs and ammunition discovery at the houses of indigenous Papuans" and that "The Government of the Republic of Indonesia immediately open a space for an unconditional peace dialogue between the Government of Indonesia and the Papuans, mediated by a neutral third party, as a political solution to the Special Autonomy has FAILED to answer the complexity of the issue of Papua".

The press release is signed by Sofyan Yoman Socratez, Chairman of the Central Body for the Fellowship of Baptist Churches in Papua.

Sources

• West Papua Media Alerts
• Image: Around the Fire

According to Papua New Guinea Mine Watch (PNMW) Freeport has been directly or indirectly responsible for gross human rights abuses in West Papua since it was first granted a highly favourable contract to exploit gold and copper in the days of the Suharto dictatorship.

These abuses include torture, illegal detentions, and killings.

Freeport has given $79.1 million to police and military forces in the past 10 years, according to a group called Indonesian Corruption Watch. Most of that funding has been through in-kind contributions such as food, housing, fuel, and travel costs, but officers have also received direct payments. A report by the NGO Global Witness shows that, between 2001 and 2003, Freeport gave nearly $250,000 to a controversial commander who in 1999 led military action in East Timor, where soldiers killed more than a thousand people.

According to Rev Socrates Yoman, a leading human rights advocate, Freeport is like an ATM for the security forces - when there is conflict they can be sure of money.

It is alleged that the mine has destroyed a mountain considered sacred by the indigenous Amungme people and displaced thousands, destroying their forest-based subsistence lifestyle in the process.

PNMW says Freeport uses a system for disposing of the mine waste tailings in the river - outlawed almost everywhere else in the world. Over 200,000 tonnes of waste a day are deposited in the river leading to the creation of vast dead zone where nothing grows.

Source

• The Jakarta Globe
• Papua New Guinea Mine Watch
• The Atlantic
• Image: The Atlantic

The Indonesian authorities say they wanted him to stand trial for murder and arson, offences he denies.

But Interpol decided the case against Mr Wenda was "political".

Benny Wenda, was convicted of inciting people to attack a police station and an arson attack that resulted in several deaths. However, he escaped from prison while awaiting sentence in 2002.

Wenda later arrived in the U.K. and successfully claimed political asylum, arguing that the case against him was a fabrication designed to stop his political activities. He has lived with his wife and children in the English city of Oxford.

There are currently about 26,000 outstanding red notices. While they are only designed to alert other nations' police forces that an Interpol member state has issued an arrest warrant, some countries will take suspects into custody based on the red notice alone.

Interpol is facing legal threat for helping oppressive regimes hunt dissidents

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• NBC World News
• NBC World News
• Image: asopa

The three — Jefry Wandikwo, Zakius Saplay and Calvin Wenda — allegedly acted in conjunction with slain independence activist Mako Tabuni to perpetuate a series of shootings in Jayapura, including a seemingly random attack on a German tourist.

Mako, who was deputy chairman of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), was shot dead earlier this month by plainclothes police sent to arrest him.

The officers said they had to shoot Mako because he resisted arrest and made a grab at one of their guns. But witnesses interviewed by the National Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) say the police were in their cars when they gunned him down.

"This is nothing new, these gross human rights violations against those accused of being supporters of separatists," Rev. Benny Giay, told the Jakarta Globe after the event. "This is how they try to weaken, try to control the civilians."

Source

• The Jakarta Globe
• Image: Scoop World

On Tuesday 28 February the Australia-Pacific chapter of International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP) was launched at Parliament House, hosted by the Greens and attended by some parliamentarians. It is worrying that acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Craig Emerson told Labor MPs not to attend (a rightly ignored by some of the more lion-hearted, including Laurie Ferguson).

That the Greens organised the meeting and that Labor recognises West Papua as an integral part of the Indonesian Republic are not sufficient reasons to expect Australian MPs to ignore the serious human rights abuses on our doorstep.

Letters to our Government by frustrated Australians are answered for the most part by reminders that we recognise the territorial sovereignty of Indonesia, that internal security is a matter for the Indonesians themselves, that the situation in West Papua and Papua is improving, that Australia is dedicated to the promotion of human rights everywhere and that we continue to train the Indonesian military because they are our partners in the region and we help to raise their standards.

This official line fits the Australian-Indonesian partnership, but ignores the Papuan people. The rights of nation-states are not absolute, and where there is engagement in systematic maltreatment of people, no matter where, the rest of the world has an obligation to protest.

There is noble rhetoric in claims that Australia condemns human rights abuses and urges investigation of them. But this is not the experience of the Australian-East Timor relationship.

The previous Australian Government dismissed the findings of the 2005 CAVR Report on the crimes against humanity in East Timor as containing 'errors' (read: accusations against Australia). Official Australian comment on this very large human rights document thereby evaporated, and the recommendations concerning Australia have languished ever since. Read more

Sources

• Sr Susan Connelly in Eureka Street
• Image: A K Rockefeller