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National Network establishes Facebook Page

West Papua Action ~ Aotearoa



West Papua Action ~ Aotearoa the recently established national network of West Papuan solidarity groups and activists has established a Facebook page - you can find it here  

Public Seminar

'Pacific Reset:

West Papua's Self Determination'


Tuesday March 26th

 5pm for
 5:30 - 7pm

Rehua Building (off Forestry Road)
Level 2, Room 226 Moana
University of Canterbury
map below

Parking is free after 5pm

Please RSVP here

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has called for a “Re-set” to help our Pacific family to be independent and self-sufficient (29 June 2017).

This special forum, with a number of special guests, will consider the repercussions of this call for Indonesian-controlled West Papua.

Papuans are being forced off their fertile lands and forests which are being mined, logged and turned into massive palm oil plantations. NZ Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has called for a “Pacific-Reset” to enable Pacific countries to set their own direction and achieve self-determination.

Join Dr Jeremy Moses, Senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Canterbury, and our special guests, for a topical discussion of how a Pacific “Re-set” can help our Pacific family to be independent and self-sufficient in the context of a slow motion-genocide in West Papua.

We highly encourage audience participation during our Q and A session, especially from students, so please visit the United Nations Association education portal for overview of key issues facing West Papua.

Speakers:
Poto Williams, is MP for Christchurch East, of Pacific heritage and Parliamentary Advocate for the Independent free vote for indigenous West Papuans.
Raf Manji, is a Christchurch City Councillor, who studied the legal case for West Papuan Self-Determination as part of his Masters in International Law and Politics.
Celeste Donovan is a member of West Papua Action Canterbury who wrote her MA thesis on NZ’s training of Indonesians for community policing in West Papua.


This event is jointly hosted by


Responding to the Mosque Massacres

Standing Against White Supremacism & Terrorism


A media report from Tuesday night’s meeting, sponsored by   Canterbury Progressive Network and EcuAction, can be found here

A video of the meeting itself is here

Donate to the victims and families
The New Zealand Islamic Information Centre has set up a crowdfunding campaign on Launchgood (a crowdfunding platform for Muslim people) with all funds raised distributed to the victims and families affected by the Christchurch attack. All proceeds will go towards helping with their immediate, short-term needs. 
The New Zealand Council of Victim Support Groups has also set up a crowdfunding campaign on Givealittle. Victim Support says it will use all donations received to the page to provide support and resources for people affected by the Christchurch shootings and their family members. This one has already raised $3 million from everyday New Zealanders, which I think is a bright spot in an otherwise very dark time.

Responses to the attack

Background to the attack



Responding to the Mosque Massacres

public meeting will be held Today


Tuesday March 19 

7.00pm 

 Cardboard Cathedral
 Latimer Square

ALL ARE WELCOME

The purpose of the meeting is for the public to say how they want to respond to the massacres that occurred last Friday at the Deans Ave & Linwood Muslim Mosques.


TOPICS EXPECTED TO BE DISCUSSED INCLUDE
  • How widespread are white supremacist views (including Islamophobia) in Canterbury?
  • How really welcome are minority cultures and ethnic groups in Canterbury?
  • Is religion a unifying or dividing force in society?
  • Have the NZ security services paid too much attention to potential Jihadists and too little to white supremacists?
  • Do gun control laws need tightening?
  • Will the Crusaders really face a name change?
  • What needs to happen to build a more cohesive and inclusive NZ society?


The Dean of the Cathedral, The Rev Lawrence Kimberley will welcome all and hand over to the co-conveners of the meeting…

·         Paul Hopkinson of Canterbury Progressive Network (CPN)
·         Brian Turner of EcuAction, a Canterbury based Interfaith network.

Further info from Paul (ph 027-2308439) or Brian (ph 021-1294305)

We have some incredible news!

In 2017, the West Papuan people instructed the ULMWP to hand the West Papuan People's Petition to the UN Decolonisation Committee, the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN General Assembly. In 2017, the petition was independently handed to the UN Decolonisation Committee.

On Friday 25th January 2019, with state level support from the Vanuatu Government, Chairman of the ULMWP, Benny Wenda, met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet and officially submitted the Petition, taking another giant stride towards freedom.

"On behalf of the West Papuan people, I can state that the West Papuan People’s Petition, carrying the voices of 1.8 million West Papuans, has been officially handed to the UN High Commissioner."- Benny Wenda

Benny described the meeting as "A great moment of victory" for the West Papuan self-determination struggle

PETITION FACTS

·  > The West Papuan People's Petition to the United Nations was hand-signed by around 70% of the West Papuan population across several months in 2017.

That's a staggering
1.8 million
                people


·   >The petition was banned across Indonesia and West Papua. Despite banning the petition, confusingly, the Indonesian Government also denied its existence.
· >West Papuans were threatened with arrest, torture, and death if they signed the petition.
· > The petition resulted in the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of key West Papuan activists. Local leader of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), Yanto Awerkion, was imprisoned for eight months without access to a fair trial as is his fundamental right. 
Submitting the petition to the High Commissioner for Human Rights is a huge step forward for West Papua and towards the ultimate goal of securing an Internationally-Supervised Vote for independence.
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