Pacific leaders urge Jakarta to allow UN visit to West Papua

Pacific Islands leaders have used their addresses to the United Nations General Assembly to urge Indonesia to allow the UN human rights chief access to West Papua.

Pacific Islands Forum countries in 2019 requested that Indonesia allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Papua to assess claims of widespread rights abuses.

No visit has resulted, leading to frustration for various Pacific governments.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale made an emotional plea to Indonesia at the UN, urging it to allow the UN human rights chief to have access to West Papua.

“Solomon Islands respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia, and we value our friendship with its government and people,” Wale said at the UNGA.

“It is precisely because of that friendship that we speak with candour. Reports of human rights violations in West Papua have persisted for far too long. They must be independently verified, not left in dispute.”

Earlier this month, Solomon Islands and other countries in the Melanesian Spearhead Group said if the UN rights chief’s visit was not facilitated by Indonesia in order for a report on human rights issues in West Papua to be produced by their next summit in 2027, then Indonesia’s associate member status in the MSG will be reviewed.

“We therefore renew the call of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders for the Government of Indonesia to facilitate, without further delay, the long awaited visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to West Papua.

“Such a visit is an act of confidence between friends, and an affirmation that there is nothing to fear from the light.”

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine added her country’s voice to the push for action on West Papua.

“The Marshall Islands affirms the region’s Pacific Islands Forum communiqué position regarding West Papua, including the 2018 invitation by Indonesia to the UN Human Rights Commissioner,” she said.

A response of sorts was given by Indonesia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Sugiono: “As a nation of more than 280 million people, Indonesia has learned that diversity is not something to overcome; it is something to manage, respect and turn into strength to democratic participation, dialogue, and respect for differences,” he said.

“We preserve our unity from Aceh to Papua, from Miangus to Roti. Indonesia is one people, Indonesia is one nation.”

Meanwhile, Wale also called for the international community to complete the work of decolonisation in parts of the world including the Pacific.

“Solomon Islands reaffirms its longstanding support for the right to self-determination of the Kanak people of New Caledonia and the Maohi Nui people of French Polynesia,” he said.

Wale said the UN decolonisation process must offer more than hope.

“It must provide practical pathways to the full emancipation of peoples in Non-Self-Governing Territories, and to their freedom to determine their own political future and development aspirations.”