Item 15
Indigenous issues
Oral
statement by the Transnational Radical Party, a
non-governmental organisation in general consultative
status
Delivered by Giulia Spagnoletti - Zeuli
Geneva, 19 April 1999
Madam Chairperson,
In many countries
where Indigenous Peoples are located policy and
legislative reform is occurring in response to the
demands of Indigenous Peoples to enjoy, without
discrimination, the universally recognized human
rights and freedoms.
Recalling the
resolution adopted by the General Assembly in
relation to the International Decade of the World's
Indigenous People which among others states that
"the goal of the decade is to strengthen
international cooperation for the solution of
problems faced by indigenous people in such areas as
human rights, the environment, development, education
and health", some facts occurring in West Papua
strongly indicate a systematic genocide of the ethnic
Melanesian people in that region.
These indicators
include the transmigration projects, indiscriminate
shooting, summary killing, destruction of property,
intimidation, arbitrary detention, disappearance, and
other kinds of human rights violations towards the
indigenous people of West Papua who ask for
independence. At Jayapura 1998, Steven Suripatti, a
student of Cenderwasih University was shot to death
and the traditional community leader, Theys Eluay has
been arrested. It is obvious that the development
policies of Soeharto's regime have denied among
others the cultural-heritage and biological rights of
indigenous people of West Papua. Until now there have
been more than 500,000 Papuans killed whilst more
than 600,000 migrants from other provinces have been
moved in into West Papua under the transmigration
program.
These severe
conditions remind the people of West Papua that the
United Nations (UN) had taken the decision which led
to the replacement of the "act of free choice
" in 1969 with "act of no choice ".
This unjust democratic process was actually initiated
by the Bunker Plan as suggested by the United States
and was supported by other countries that deny the
existence and well-being of the West Papuans.
Such attitudes have
been justified by an official memo written by a US
advisor in November 1961:
" inevitably,
West Irian will go ... to Indonesia. The only
question is will it go with our help and in such a
way that we can get some credit for it ... ? "
Furthermore an
official memo from the UN representative in West
Irian during that occasion, Dr. Ortiz Sanz, in
accordance to the New York Agreement, article 251
justifies his regret to express his reservation
regarding the failure of the implementation of
article XXII.
And therefore, on the
26th of February 1999, a hundred delegates from West
Papua were able to peacefully make a political
statement before His Excellency, President B.J.
Habibie in Jakarta. The statement demands that
Indonesia should recognize the independence of West
Papua which was declared in December 1961. For West
Papuans, finding a just and peaceful answer to this
aspiration will be a comprehensive solution to a long
standing problem of ethnic cleansing in West Papua..
In return, President Habibie was very democratic by
asking the West Papuans to reconsider their demand.
Madam Chairperson,
The violation of the
rights of indigenous peoples in West Papua has in
fact been driven by political motivations. While
appreciating the genuine dialogue initiated by
president Habibie and the oral statement made by a
team from World Council of Churches, we would also
like to call upon the United Nations to kindly take
preventive initiatives by
* encouraging
continual and genuine dialogue that benefit the West
Papuans and Indigenous Peoples in general
* assigning a Special
Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples with an
understanding of the need to provide financial
resources for the staff of OHCHR
* establishing a
Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples
* adopting the draft
declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples as it
is.
And finally madam
Chairperson we appeal to all states to please
contribute to the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous
Populations and the Voluntary fund for the
International Decade of the World's Indigenous
Peoples.
Thank you, Madam
Chairperson.
