With the support of the United States, Indonesia and The Netherlands signed the New York Agreement without the West Papuan peoples on August 15, 1962. This agreement transferred the administrative control from the Netherlands to Indonesia over West Papua. This cemented the annexation of West Papua to Indonesia a year later even though the New York agreement had a provision to guarantee the people of West Papua their self-determination through a vote for self-determination after the transfer of administrative control. The "Act of Free Choice" vote with hand-picked individuals and at gun point.
On the 62nd anniversary of the New York Agreement, the people of West Papua held peaceful demonstrations in the towns of Nabire and Wamena in West Papua to demand freedom from Indonesian colonialism and US imperialism. Militant mobilizations commemorates the New York Agreement denouncing Indonesia's occupation of West Papua and the killings of hundreds of thousands of West Papuans to date.
Peoples action were met with police brutality, beatings of protestors, forceful dispersal with gunfire, and torture of a number of protestors at the Nabire police station, subjecting these towns to a complete military siege. Days before, the police had also arrested activists and students who distributed flyers for today’s peaceful demonstrations, with two students remaining detained in Nabire.
The Merdeka West Papua Support Network stands in solidarity with the people of West Papua in asserting their rights for West Papua’s freedom and self-determination. The violence against West Papuan in the protest today adds to the impunity and crimes of the Indonesian government that has been ongoing for decades.
We demand the immediate release of those arrested in the protests and swiftly hold the Indonesian police and military accountable on their brutality.
Without a global assertion for the recognition of the right to self-determination, and without correcting the historical injustice against the West Papuan people from the New York Agreement and the "Act of Free Choice" vote, we will be idle watchers to the occupation, racial discrimination, violent repression, human rights violation, and environmental destruction of West Papua and its peoples.
We call on the international community to continue calling out the Indonesian government and the imperialist countries enabling its state forces with military support. We call everyone to denounce foreign powers and corporations benefitting from the ongoing occupation with its investments and businesses exploiting West Papua’s resources.
End the Occupation!
Uphold West Papua’s Right to Self-Determination!
Papua Merdeka!
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