News Stories
Category: Human Rights
Benny Wenda: Interim President: Prabowo reviving Suharto’s New Order in West Papua
February 28, 2025
Indonesia is now waking up to what I said after Prabowo Subianto was elected last year: that the ghost of Suharto has returned. The New Order dictatorship was buried twenty-five years ago, but under Prabowo’s rule it is being reborn. He is filling political posts with military figures, is sending his cabinet to army boot camps, and has reactivated the dual […]
Interim President: The ULMWP says no to dialogue with Indonesia
February 5, 2025
Dialogue with Indonesia is not the answer for West Papua. The ULMWP has a clear stance on the question of dialogue: not until self-determination is on the table. West Papua is a colonised nation, not a province of Indonesia. We will not become another Aceh. The only long-term solution is for us to be allowed a genuine […]
Interim President: Is Indonesia again using chemical weapons in West Papua?
January 30, 2025
Indonesia may have again used the chemical weapon White Phosphorus on indigenous West Papuans in Kiwirok. I am calling for an urgent international investigation into these very serious allegations. The evidence of chemical weapon use was gathered by the media outlet Paradise Broadcasting in their new film Frontier War. In the film, West Papuan civilians give […]
Free West Papua Chair Benny Wenda’s Christmas Address
December 19, 2024
On behalf of the ULMWP and the people of West Papua, I would like to wish all our supporters around the world a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope that all our solidarity groups, parliamentary allies, friendly diplomatic missions, and civil society supporters will continue to stand up for West Papua in […]
Benny Wenda: Mass displacements in West Papua show Prabowo’s true face
December 16, 2024
A massive wave of forced displacement is happening in West Papua, as Indonesia ramps up its military operations ahead of Christmas. In multiple regencies, including Yahukimo, Maybrat, and Intan Jaya, thousands of West Papuans have been forced to flee into the bush by the sudden arrival of Indonesian soldiers into their villages. The entire region of Oksop […]
Benny Wenda: The Permanent People’s Tribunal proves that West Papua needs freedom
December 9, 2024
As Interim President of the ULMWP, I welcome the release of the judgment of the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) on West Papua. After testimonies from West Papuans on the ground and legal and academic experts, the PPT found Indonesia guilty on all four counts: This judgment is a total vindication of everything the West Papuan liberation movement […]
December 1st Free West Papua flag raisings
December 2, 2024
December 1st 2024 marked the 63rd anniversary of West Papua’s 1961 Independence Day, when the Morning Star flag was first raised across West Papua and the New Guinea Council declared independence. Flag raisings were held across the world in solidarity with occupied West Papua.
Interim President: West Papua Independence Day Speech, December 1st
December 1, 2024
Below is the full version of the speech that ULMWP Interim President Benny Wenda gave while opening the Oxford Green Fair at Oxford Town Hall on December 1, 2024. In the name of Yahweh, in the name of the West Papuan ancestors, in the name of the bones of our…
UK House of Lords: Spotlight on West Papua
November 28, 2024
On 13 November 2024, the UK House of Lords engaged in a special session addressing the situation in West Papua, with Lords Harries, Purvis, Gold, Lexden, and Baroness Bennett – holding the government to account on the issues of self-determination, ecocide, and the long-delayed UN visit. We need this kind…
Free West Papua Campaign protests against Prabowo’s UK visit
November 20, 2024
A demonstration was held outside 10 Downing Street and the Indonesian Embassy in London on 19th November 2024 to protest Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s state visit to the UK. Protestors from the Free West Papua Campaign and Republic of South Maluku (RMS) drew attention to Prabowo’s long record of human rights violations and complicity in […]