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
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| 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.