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February 10, 2016

Help West Papua At International Court of Justice, Pacific CSOs Urge Governments

Suva – Pacific Island governments must sponsor the West Papua case to seek judgment on the legality of the 1969 Act of Free Choice in the international Court of Justice.

The call comes after a week of deliberations by over 40 representatives of civil society from Vanuatu, West Papua, Fiji, Kanaky, PNG and Australia at the Civil Society Melanesian Spearhead Group parallel meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu early this week.

The meeting, organized by the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association (VFWPA) and supported by the Pacific Islands Association of Non-Government Organizations (PIANGO), further called on Pacific island governments and the international community to sponsor a resolution for the re-inscription of West Papua into the United Nations Decolonisation list.

In the meeting outcomes called Owen Hall Communique, civil society leaders also appealed for External international intervention into the West Papua emergency situation and called for the MSG to denounce the ongoing genocide of West Papua Melanesians and colonial rule by Indonesia.

“The current situation in West Papua is a  high-level emergency and very dangerous, with the systematic genocide, arrests and killings that continue against the people of West Papua,” said PIANGO executive director Emele Duituturaga.

“This Communique is the outcome of the efforts of the communities on the ground in Vanuatu under the Vanuatu solidarity group (VFWPA) of which PIANGO is supporting as it seeks the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP’s) full membership in the MSG,” Duituturaga said.

ENDS