December 2022 Newsletter

February 19, 2023

Welcome to this month’s PAPUA MERDEKA newsletter!

Foreign journalists and West Papuans are persecuted for telling the truth about West Papua. We will keep you updated with what is really happening.

FEATURED⚡️
~ Indonesia’s new law imposes death penalty for treason, criminalises same-sex couples & more

~ Join boycott of Indonesian products until Indonesia facilitates UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visit to West Papua (use #boycottindonesia to spread the message!)

boycott-1-768x644.jpeg

HUMAN RIGHTS BREACHES 🚨
~ Mass displacements occurring in every corner of West PapuaPolice fire tear gas on campus to disperse rally, beat students and lecturers, and arrest 7 students who raised the Morning Star Flag

~ Mass arrests and forced dispersals on Human Rights Day (this year’s UN theme: “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All”)

~ Students faced with police brutality despite protest against G20 complying with rules 

~ 3 children tortured with chains, coil and wire by dozens of Indonesian soldiers

~ 7 year-old shotduring the arrest of suspected members of the West Papua National Liberation Army

~ Indonesian court clears ex-soldier of all charges in Bloody Paniai case  

ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS 🌳
~ Moi Indigenous group resist oil palm expansion in West Papua on the ground and in the courts

SOME GOOD NEWS…  ✊🏾
~ 8 countries call out Indonesia’s actions in West Papuaat UN Human Rights Review

~ Activist pressure causes Indonesia to recognise Indigenous rights to 7 ancestral forests

~ Morning Star Flag raised in solidarity on 1st December around the world (just some pictured below!)
sydney dec 1st people.jpegSydney! 🇦🇺
greenland.jpegKalaallit Nunaat, Greenland! 🇬🇱
Screenshot 2022-12-14 at 13.01.25.pngAotearoa! 🇳🇿

Thank you to all those who showed solidarity to the Free West Papua movement on 1st December. International support and spreading the message is vital in the campaign for self-determination for West Papua.
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FEATURED ARTWORK: ‘Silenced’ by Yanto Gombo depicts the difficulty Papuans face in speaking out against oppression. (Courtesy of the Organizing Committee Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021)(Personal collection/Courtesy of the Organizing Commitee Biennale Jogja XVI Equator #6 2021)
mass displacements.jpeg
95 people have been forcibly displaced from Yapen Island.“Every corner of West Papua is now experiencing the violent military displacement situation which began in Nduga Regency, where over 50,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since 2019.” – Interim President, Benny WendaShareTweetFollowCopyright © 2022 Free West Papua Campaign, All rights reserved.