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INFO PAPUA : West Papua News

15 August 1962 NEW YORK Agreement was Take Place in New York without any Papuan involve.
By WPNews
Aug 16, 2010, 03:21

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FREE WEST PAPUA CAMPAIGN (UK)
www.freewestpapua.org

FWPC in London on 15 August 2010 to remember

NEW YORK
in the Summer of ‘62

The Statue of Liberty: Was she blind-folded in 1962?
UNDER THE WATCHFUL GAZE OF THE STATUE OF FREEDOM (a.k.a. Liberty) in August 1962, representatives of three countries, the USA, Netherlands & Indonesia, gathered round a table at UN HQ to decide the fate of another country, WEST PAPUA.

No West Papuans were allowed at the table, in the room or even in the building. Imagine a conference on Indian independence without any Indians, or on majority rule for South Africa without any Black South Africans?

At the end of the negotiations, on 15 August 1962, the Netherlands & Indonesia “having in mind the interests and welfare of the people of the territory of West New Guinea”, signed a binding international treaty. Just over month later the treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly as Resolution 1752 (XVII), 21 September 1962 http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/192/60/IMG/NR019260.pdf?OpenElement

The treaty became known as “The New York Agreement”. (NYA)
For the full text of the treaty see: http://www.freewestpapua.org/docs/nya.htm

What did the Netherlands & Indonesia promise West Papua in 1962?
WITHOUT THE PRIOR CONSENT OF THE WEST PAPUAN PEOPLE, the Dutch government agreed to hand over West Papua to Indonesia, BUT only on the express condition that an “act of self-determination will be completed before the end of 1969” (NYA Article 20).
Under Article 18 of the treaty, Indonesia solemnly undertook to “make arrangements, with the assistance and participation of the United Nations Representative and his staff, to give the people of the territory the opportunity to exercise freedom of choice” to ascertain the “freely expressed will of the [West Papuan] population” as to “(a) whether they wish to remain with Indonesia; or (b) whether they wish to sever their ties with Indonesia”.
Also under Article 18, the arrangements would include allowing “all adults, male and female, not foreign nationals, to participate in the act of self-determination to be carried out in accordance with international practice...”
And finally, Article 22 fully guaranteed the West Papuan people “the rights of free speech, freedom of movement and of assembly…”

What actually happened in the “Act of Free Choice” in 1969?
In West Papua in 1969 -- in flagrant breech of virtually all the terms of the binding treaty they had signed a mere seven years earlier and against every aspect of the international law on self-determination -- Indonesia carried out one of the most disgraceful affronts ever to democracy and the rule of law.
Indonesia called it the “Act of Free Choice”. West Papuans call it the “Act of NO Choice”.
Contrary to Article 18 and entirely against “international practice” on self-determination, instead of a plebiscite (i.e. a referendum in which all adults are eligible to vote), “a thousand hand-picked [West Papuan] representatives were largely coerced into declaring for Indonesia” (as accurately described by the British government in 2004).
You may also like to consider whether Indonesia complied with Article 22 on the right of freedom of speech of the West Papuans in 1969. Here are the words of Brigadier-General Ali Murtopo, special envoy of the Indonesian dictator Suharto, speaking to West Papuans selected to take part in the “Act of Free Choice”, August 1969.

“This is what will happen to anyone who votes against Indonesia. Their accursed tongues will be torn out. Their full mouths will be wrenched open. Upon them will fall the vengeance of the Indonesian people. I will myself shoot them on the spot.”

Have you got a message for the Dutch & Indonesian governments about West Papua’s right to self-determination?

15th August 2010 will be the 46th anniversary of the New York Agreement. Join Benny Wenda and Free West Papua (UK) to take that message to the Dutch & Indonesian Ambassadors in London!

© Copyright by w@tchPAPUA

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