The publication of deeply disturbing images showing the aftermath of an Indonesian military ’sweeping operation’ in the village of Bolkame, close to the West Papuan highland town of Wamena, should serve as a warning to the international community of Indonesia’s intent to continue their drive to wipe out the Papuan population.

In the latest episode, 25 houses were burnt to the ground, Indonesian troops opened gunfire on elderly, precious livestock were killed, and women raped in front of their children. Those that fled remain in hiding in the jungle without so much as a blanket to keep warm.
Little wonder the Indonesian authorities were so keen to expel the International Committee of the Red Cross recently. Worrying times indeed. Let us hope that the UN are watching developments.

The Papuan people have suffered for too long under Indonesian occupation. On the tenth anniversary of East Timor, it’s time that the international community helped this other troubled region. Lack of action will have devastating consequences for humanity. The West Papuan people should be granted the right they have always been denied – self determination. Then they can finally be free to democratically choose their own future. No one can deny them that right.

With daily reports coming through of brutality and killings in West Papua, in addition to the 40 years of genocide, bloodshed, rape, torture, intimidation and suffering that the Papuan people have endured under Indonesian occupation, now more than ever before urgent international intervention is required to bring about a peaceful solution to the conflict. Time is running out. The lessons of East Timor need to be learnt.
The large numbers of British politicians who have signed up to the International Parliamentarians for West Papua in recent days is a sign that the ongoing human rights violations being committed by Indonesian military and Islamic militias against the Papuan population have not gone unnoticed by the outside world. The people of West Papua have suffered for too long under Indonesian occupation. They just want to live in peace as a free nation. Free from the toxic Indonesian regime that has pillaged their land, raped their mothers and sisters, killed hundreds of thousands of their people, and attempted to destroy their sacred culture.
It is time for a Free West Papua. The human rights of each of us are undermined if the human rights of others are denied.

An elderly Papuan tribal woman lays dying after being shot by Indonesian military following a raid on her village.

Reports that at least four people were wounded when police opened fire on a peaceful protest in Indonesia’s remote Papua region on Monday, highlight the need for urgent international intervention to prevent a repeat of the atrocities committed by the Indonesian authorities in East Timor.
The protesters were shot when police fired into a crowd of around 200 indigenous Papuans rallying in the streets of Nabire town in West Papua province demanding independence from Indonesia and a boycott of the upcoming elections.
‘The people didn’t react or throw anything but Brimob (paramilitary police) attacked them,’ Mr Douw said, adding that the four injured were in ‘critical’ condition in hospital.
The crowd chanted ‘boycott the election’ and called for the release of 17 activists arrested last week in a raid on the headquarters of the Papuan Customary Council, the top cultural representative body for Papuan tribes.
Pro-independence sentiment runs high in Papua, which sits on the western end of New Guinea island and is populated mainly by the Melanesian ethnic minority.
Indonesia took formal control of the region in a 1969 UN-sponsored vote by select tribal elders widely seen as a sham and the area has seen a long-running insurgency by poorly armed pro-independence guerrillas. It is estimated that over 400,000 Papuans have been killed and countless others raped and torutured by Indonesian military since the illegal occupation began.