West Papua Human Rights Center
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| WP Human Rights Center | |
|---|---|
| File:WPHR Logo.jpg | |
| Location | |
Washington, D. C United States | |
| Information | |
| Founded | December 2018 |
| Website | [1] |
The West Papuan Human Rights Center was formally organized in the late 2018 and launched in 2019 by the West Papuan Representative to the United Nations and the US Congress Herman Wainggai. On December 14, 2018, the first meeting took place that gave birth to the idea of establishing a Human Rights Center that documents human rights abuse cases in West Papua. That idea materialized a year later and was formally recognized by the United States government with the approval of the center as an official NGO on May 25, 2019. [1]
The Objective
The main objective of the Center is to help educate the world about the Human Rights issues in West Papua by highlighting the issues facing both the West Papuan indigenous people and the Indonesian government.
Brief History of West Papua
West Papua was former colony of the Netherlands up until 1962 when Indonesia claimed then Western New Guinea as part of Indonesia. The debate between the newly established Indonesia government reached new heights and the two nations engaged in military combat. The Indonesian forces launched a series of attacks against the Netherlands in an attempt to take over West Papua. Those attacks, however, were repelled by Dutch Forces. [2].
After failing to annex West Papua militarily, the Indonesian government turned to the United Nations. The UN helped brokered a deal between the two warring factions, and West Papua became part of the UN Mandate pending a national referendum on the issue.
[3] In 1969, the UN launched what many indigenous West Papuans claimed to be an unfair or biased election known as the Act of Free Choice election. Of the nearly a million indigenous West Papuans at the time, only 1025 (less than a percentage) of the population was handpicked to vote in that election. The result was highly predictable. The result of the election gave Indonesia the legal justification for its occupation of West Papua. [4]
Documentation Human Rights Violation
Since Indonesia formally occupied West Papua in 1969, the Indonesian government had established military bases and police posts in major cities and towns in West Papua. Their job is o keep the indigenous population in total subjection. For more than five decades, the indigenous people see their rights being stripped away from them. According to a report published in July 2017 by The Human Rights Papua stated that indigenous women are highly likely to suffer racial discrimination and physical abuse as a result of the occupation of West Papua. [5]
Central to the goal and the main objective of the Center is the collection and documentation of human rights abuses against the indigenous people of West Papua. Names of victims and every information associated with them are recorded and maintained by the WPHRC as part of the work.
Types of Human Rights Violation
The West Papua Human Rights Center is documenting human rights violations in three categories: The Human Rights Violations, The Religious Rights Violations, and the Environment Rights Violations.[6]
See Also
United Liberation Movement for West Papua
Act of Free Choice
Dr. Thom Wainggai story.
Benny Wenda
Jacob Rumbiak
References
- ^ "About us". wphrc. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
- ^ "West Papua Forgotten War". Cultural Survival. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
- ^ "UN's Checkered Record in West Papua". GPF. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
- ^ "WEST PAPUA'S 1969 "REFERENDUM" RE-VISITED". PI Report. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
- ^ "Salvaging Democracy for West Papuans in the Face of Australia-Indonesia Obstruction". Institute for Research on Globalization. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
- ^ "Human Rights Abuses". WPHRC. Retrieved August 12, 2019.