Monday, October 3, 2016

1) Pacific Island countries show their support for West Papua with speeches at UN

2) West Papua activist: PNG government position not reflected by community sentiment

3) Workers’ strike hampering mine operations, Freeport Indonesia says 
4) FM dismisses ‘pretty diplomat’ juror
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-03/pacific-island-countries-show-their-support-for/7897414

1) Pacific Island countries show their support for West Papua with speeches at UN

Updated yesterday at 9:20am
Human rights in West Papua have been brought to the attention of the world at the recent United Nations General Assembly with no less than six Pacific Island nations raising the issue in prepared speeches in front of their international audience.
Most of them had not spoken about their concerns publicly before.
Solomon Islands, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Tonga joined long-time West Papua supporter Vanuatu in expressing concern over Indonesia's actions in the Papuan provinces it has held since the 1960s.
Notably absent were voices from fellow Melanesian nations Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Camellia Webb-Gannon is a convenor of the West Papua Project, an Australian-based group promoting dialogue between West Papuan and the Indonesian people.
She says the recent events at the UN are significant.
Audio

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2) West Papua activist: PNG government position not reflected by community sentiment

Updated yesterday at 9:19am
While several Pacific nations raised their concerns for the first time at the United Nations, Papua New Guinea held its traditional position, that West Papua remains a part of Indonesia with Foreign Affairs Minister, Rimbink Pato, re-stating the country's position.
But in Port Moresby, West Papuan activist Frank Makanuey says Mr Pato's position is not in-line with the way Papua New Guineans feel about the issue.
Audio
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3) Workers’ strike hampering mine operations, Freeport Indonesia says 
Atom Amindoni The Jakarta Post 
Jakarta | Mon, October 3 2016 | 02:30 pm
The strike conducted by around 1,200 employees of Freeport Indonesia over six days demanding the copper and gold mining company increase their salary has disrupted the operation of  the Grasberg open pit mine, a company official has said.
Freeport Indonesia spokesman Riza Pratama said the company was still working to resolve the issue so the open pit operations could be resumed as soon as possible, adding that the strike started on Wednesday. 

"We are currently still negotiating with the workers. Hopefully, we will find a way so that it can operate again," Riza told The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding that the protest had not affected underground activities. 
"The operation of the processing plant is still ongoing on a limited basis," he went on. (dan)

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4) FM dismisses ‘pretty diplomat’ juror
Sat, October 1 2016 | 09:33 am

Nara Masista Rakhmatia - Tribunnews.com
The Foreign Ministry on Thursday brushed off concerns that Indonesia had insulted no fewer than six Pacific Island heads of state, following a viral video of a junior diplomat trashing their allegations of human rights violations in Papua and West Papua during the recent UN General Assembly (UNGA).

Social media users this week have been agog over the UNGA session where Nara Masista Rakhmatia, the second secretary at Indonesia’s permanent mission to the UN, responded to last Saturday’s speeches of the heads of state of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Tonga. 

“Nara was speaking using the right of reply on Saturday [Sept. 24], which was after the heads of state had finished giving their statements. She didn’t speak during the session of the heads of state,” ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said. 

The 71st UNGA was held in New York from Sept. 19 to 29.

Many viewers of the video of the “pretty young diplomat”, viewed almost 200,000 times on Youtube as of Friday afternoon, praised Nara’s response, saying it had “checkmated” or “crushed” the heads of state. 

Among other things, the Indonesian diplomat said criticism against Indonesia amounted to “interference” and encouraged separatism in the two provinces.

However, others questioned why the ministry had assigned a lower-ranking diplomat to respond to the heads of state, which could be interpreted as a deliberate insult to them and their countries. 

Furthermore, reports on Friday said Nara was drawing fury from “separatists”, who cited repeated and unresolved human rights violations against residents of Papua and West Papua. 

Evi Fitriani, a lecturer of international law at the University of Indonesia (UI), said Indonesia had not violated any convention, “but diplomatically there is this rule of reciprocity, that if a head of state says something, the response shall come from another head of state” or at least from a high-ranking official.

She added it was legally acceptable, “but not diplomatically appropriate” for Indonesia to have the second secretary deliver the responding statement.

Arrmanatha said Nara’s response was “Indonesia’s position, which has been discussed thoroughly” within the ministry. “It doesn’t matter who says it. Whoever conveys the message, it is still Indonesia’s position,” he said. 

For the country’s diplomats, he added, “the unitary state of the Indonesian Republic is a fixed price” where interference in Indonesia’s sovereignty and separatism is unacceptable.

Hikmahanto Juwana, another international law expert, said it was normal for Nara, as a diplomat in the Indonesian delegation, to convey the reply. “It was an Indonesian voice,” he said on Friday.

On Monday, Australia’s state broadcaster ABC quoted Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare as saying at the UN General Assembly, “Human rights violations in West Papua and the pursuit for self-determination of West Papua [Papua] are two sides of the same coin.” 

“Many reports on human rights violations in West Papua emphasize the inherent corroboration between the right to self-determination that results in direct violation of human rights by Indonesia and its attempts to smother any form of opposition.”

Nara said such criticism “only reaffirmed the persistent violation of […] the UN Charter by blatantly interfering in the internal affairs of other states, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations.”

The Indonesian government has previously said it is examining 22 cases of alleged human rights violations in Papua, three of which it hopes to complete by the end of this year.

Critics say the government persistently approaches issues relating to Papua with policies that rely heavily on doling out money while ignoring human rights abuses.

The alleged failure of Papua’s special autonomy has given rise to attempts to support independence movements, particularly from Pacific nations. (vny)

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