News Stories
Category: Human Rights
Scores arrested and beaten as West Papuans in Timika protest for a referendum
July 27, 2014
On 17th July 2014, hundreds to thousands of people outside the local Indonesian Parliament office in Timika, West Papua, peacefully protested for an independence referendum and for the release of the scores West Papuan political prisoners who continue to be…
Over 80% of West Papuans boycott the Indonesian elections
July 13, 2014
On Wednesday 9th July, the people of West Papua held a nation-wide boycott of the Indonesian presidential elections after many pro-independence groups issued statements calling for a mass refusal to vote for any Indonesian government. This is because all successive Indonesian…
Indonesian military crackdown on West Papuans who refuse to vote in the Indonesian Presidential elections.
July 8, 2014
Press Release The following statement has been released by Benny Wenda, West Papuan independence leader living in exile in the UK: On Wednesday July 9th West Papuan people will boycott the Indonesian Presidential elections. If there was any democratic space…
Free West Papua Campaign joins Cowley Road Carnival in Oxford
July 6, 2014
The Free West Papua Campaign proudly joined the world famous Cowley Road Carnival in Oxford, United Kingdom, where the first office of the campaign was opened. This was a very significant date for the people of West Papua as exactly…
Indonesian police shoot at crowd injuring three West Papuans
May 6, 2014
UPDATED MAY 8, 2014 Take action to call for a full investigation into the incident. Three West Papuans have been seriously injured today after police from the…
Human Rights Law Centre urges Australia to end association with human rights abuse in West Papua
May 6, 2014
The Director of Communications at the Human Rights Law Center in Australia urges the Australian government to “introduce laws that would minimise the risk of Australian policing or military assistance supporting human rights violators.” The Australian government funds and trains…
Photos from FWPC office launch in Perth, Australia
May 3, 2014
Here is a selection of photos from the launch of our new office in Perth, Australia, which was officially opened by West Papua independence leader Benny Wenda on Sunday 27th April.
2011 Operation Sunset Merona Replica Mooted to contain Border Crisis
May 1, 2014
The following is a statement from the Free West Papua Campaign office in Port Moresby, PNG In January 2011, Special Operation Sunset Merona (led by the Papua New Guinea police and army) burned down villages and camps of West Papuan…
Benny Wenda article in The Guardian
April 30, 2014
Source: The Guardian This Anzac Day weekend, we opened the first ever Free West Papua campaign office in Australia. For more than 50 years, my people have suffered what I considered to be a slow-moving genocide under the repressive military occupation of…
Benny Wenda’s statement on the current situation in West Papua
April 11, 2014
Dear friends, brothers and sisters, fellow Papuans, I am writing this statement today to express my concerns over current events within West Papua. I want to tell the world that now is a time when our people are in incredibly…