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| captionthe launch took place in a committee room in the UK Houses of Parliament |
Yesterday in the Houses of Parliament, London, UK, the All Party
Parliamentary Group for West Papua was officially formed and launched
with Rt Hon Lord Harries of Pentregath Bishop of Oxford as Secretary of
the Group and MP Andrew Smith as Co-Chair.
Other cross party MP’s and supporters were also present at the meeting including distinguished journalists.
Mass protests were carried out both inside and out of West Papua today in support of this meeting and the speech by the Prime Minister of Vanuatu at the UN.
The meeting
At the start of the meeting, Co-Chair Andrew Smith reiterated the
commitment of the group to supporting West Papua as to this day the
people of West Papua have still been denied their fundamental rights to
self-determination by Indonesia and the international community ever
since 1962.
Founder of the Free West Papua Campaign, Benny Wenda briefed
the parliamentarians about current affairs in West Papua, regarding the
increasing military presence and violence in the country and the fact
that the region is still closed off from all foreign journalists and
human rights groups.
It was happily reported of the incredible progresses made in regards
to support for West Papua by members of the Regional Body, the
Melanesian Spearhead Group and the recent speech in support of West
Papua at the United Nations by the Prime Minister of the Republic of
Vanuatu.
It was agreed at the meeting to continue to pressure the British
Government to raise human rights concerns and push for genuine
self-determination for the people for West Papua at a UK and UN level
and to continue to increase the number of MPs in the all-party group.
Rallies were held across West Papua in support of the launch
The issue of the Grasberg Mine was also raised at the meeting and it
was discussed how to push for UK Members of Parliament to pressurise
Freeport McMoran Mining Co as it is actively funding and encouraging the
illegal occupation and genocide in Wets Papua.
Also, the Parliamentarians discussed how a future British
Parliamentary delegation can be sent to West Papua to raise human rights
concerns with the Indonesian government and to see first-hand, the
atrocities being committed against the people of West Papua by the
Indonesian authorities.
The future of the Group
We are very happy to report the launching of this group which is ever
increasing in British Parliamentary members from all political parties
and will continue to meet regularly to discuss how further support for
the people for West Papua can be managed.
It is with such meetings that this group and the International Parliamentarians for West Papua as a whole will continue to help to raise support for achieving self-determination for the West Papuan people.
Such high profile political support is only growing for West Papua
and will continue to spread throughout the world until West Papua is
free.
http://freewestpapua.org
