Pacific civil society and solidarity groups today stepped up their pressure on the French government, accusing it of a “heavy-handed” crackdown on indigenous Kanak protest in New Caledonia, comparing it to Indonesian security forces crushing West Papuan dissent.

A state of emergency was declared last week, at least people have been killed — four of them indigenous Kanaks — and more than 200 people have been arrested after rioting in the capital Nouméa followed independence protests over controversial electoral changes

In Sydney, the Australia West Papua Association declared it was standing in solidarity with the Kanak people in their self-determination struggle against colonialism.

“New Caledonia is a colony of France. It’s on the UN list of non-self-governing territories,” said Joe Collins of AWPA in a statement.

“Like all colonial powers anywhere in the world, the first response to what started as peaceful protests is to send in more troops, declare a state of emergency and of course accuse a foreign power of fermenting unrest,” Collins said.

He was referring to the south Caucasus republic of Azerbaijan, which Paris has accused of distributing “anti-France propaganda” on social media about the riots, a claim denied by the Azeri government.

“In fact, the unrest is being caused by France itself,” Collins added.

France ‘should listen’
He said France should listen to the Kanak people.

In Port Vila, the international office of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) issued a statement saying that West Papuans supported the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) in “opposing the French colonial project”.

“Your tireless pursuit of self-determination for Kanaky people sets a profound example for West Papua,” said the statement signed by executive secretary Markus Haluk.

In Suva, the Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) called for “calm and peace” blaming the unrest on the French government’s insistence on proceeding with proposed constitutional changes “expressly rejected by pro-independence groups”.

The alliance also reaffirmed its solidarity with the people of Kanaky New Caledonia in their ongoing peaceful quest for self-determination and condemned President Emmanuel Macron’ government for its “poorly hidden agenda of prolonging colonial control” over the Pacific territory.

“Growing frustration, especially among Kanak youth, at what is seen locally as yet another French betrayal of the Kanaky people and other local communities seeking peaceful transition, has since erupted in riots and violence in Noumea and other regions,” the PRNGOs statement said.

The alliance called on the United Nations and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders to send a neutral mission to oversee and mediate dialogue over the Nouméa Accords of 1998 and political process.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, Kia Mua declared it was “watching with grave concern” the Macron government’s attempts to “derail the process for decolonisation and usurp the Nouméa Accords”.

It also called for the “de-escalation of the militarised French response to Kanak dissent and an end to the state of emergency”.

‘Devastating nuclearism, militarism’
For more than 300 years, “Te Moananui a Kiwa [Pacific Ocean] has been subjected to European colonialism, the criminality of which is obscured and hidden by Western presumptions of righteousness and legitimacy.”

The devastating effects of “nuclearism, militarism, extraction and economic globalisation on Indigenous culture and fragile ecosystems in the Pacific are an extension of that colonialism and must be halted”.

The Oceanian Independence Movement (OIM) demanded an immediate investigation “to provide full transparency into the deaths linked to the uprising in recent days”.

It called on indigenous people to be “extra vigilant” in the face of the state of emergency and and to record examples of “behaviour that harm your physical and moral integrity”.

The MOI said it supported the pro-independence CCAT (activist field groups) and blamed the upheaval on the “racist, colonialist, provocative and humiliating remarks” towards Kanaks by rightwing French politicians such as Southern provincial president Sonia Backés and Générations NC deputy in the National Assembly Nicolas Metzdorf.

Constitutional rules
The French National Assembly last week passed a bill changing the constutional rules for local provincial elections in New Caledonia, allowing French residents who have lived there for 10 years to vote.

This change to the electoral reform is against the terms of the 1998 Noumea Accord. That pact had agreed that only the indigenous Kanak people and long-term residents prior to 1998 would be eligible to vote in provincial ballots and local referendums.

The bill has yet to be ratified by Congress, a combined sitting of the Senate and National Assembly. The change would add an additional 25,000 non-indigenous voters to take part in local elections, dramatically changing the electoral demographics in New Caledonia to the disadvantage of indigenous Kanaks who make up 42 percent of the 270,000 population.

Yesterday, in the far north of Kanaky New Caledonia’s main island of Grande Terre, a group gathered to honour 10 Kanaks who were executed by guillotine on 18 May 1868. They had resisted the harsh colonial regime of Governor Guillan.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The humanitarian aid has been delivered on a My Indo Airline B737-800 cargo aircraft that departed from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and landed at Vanuatu’s Bauerfield International Airport today.

A representative of the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, Doddy, said the relief consisted mainly of food, tents and agricultural tools.

According to BBN Breaking News, Indonesia is also sending a 14-member humanitarian mission to Vanuatu.

“The team will include representatives from the Coordinating Ministry for Cultural Affairs, Foreign Affairs Ministry, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN),” BNN Breaking reported.

“They will work closely with local authorities and international organisations to ensure that the aid is distributed effectively and efficiently.”

“Indonesia’s commitment to providing aid to Vanuatu showcases its strong ties to the Pacific region and its continued efforts to promote regional cooperation and support.

It also highlights the importance of international solidarity and cooperation in addressing global challenges.”

However, the vice president of the Vanuatu Free West Papua Association, Lai Sakita, who was at the airport this morning, said the arrival of the relief supplies was “suspicious”.

He warned that the Vanuatu government needed to be very careful of the Indonesian assistance with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) leaders summit due to be held in July this year.

The Free West Papua movement wants the MSG leaders to approve West Papua’s application to become a full member of the sub-regional agency at this summit.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As 2022 draws to a close, I would like to thank everyone who has supported the West Papuan struggle this year. To our worldwide solidarity groups, including those within Indonesia, to Alex Sobel and the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP), the International Lawyers for West Papua, to our friends in the Basque Country and Catalonia, the Pacific Conference of Churches, the government of Vanuatu and all our supporters in the Pacific: my deepest thanks.  

The struggle for West Papuan liberation is a struggle for humanity, dignity, and fundamental rights. By supporting us, you are making history in the fight against modern day colonialism. 

2022 was a difficult year for West Papua. We lost great fighters and leaders like Filep Karma, Jonah Wenda, and Jacob Prai. Sixty-one years since the fraudulent Act of No Choice, our people continue to suffer under Indonesian’s colonial occupation.

Indonesia continues to kill West Papuans with impunity, as shown by the recent acquittal of the only suspect tried for the “Bloody Paniai’” massacre of 2014. 

Every corner of our country is now scarred by Indonesian militarisation. This month, nearly 100 West Papuans on Yapen Island were displaced from their villages by a sudden wave of military operations. Along with tens of thousands of West Papuans displaced since 2019, they will be forced to spend Christmas in the forest, as refugees in their own lands.

We continue to demand that Indonesia withdraw their military from West Papua in order to allow civilians to peacefully return to their homes.  

At the same time, support for the ULMWP and for West Papuan independence has continued to grow. Our voice is being heard — nearly half the world’s nations have now urged Indonesia to facilitate a UN Human Rights visit to West Papua, including the member nations of the Pacific Islands Forum, the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States, the EU Commission, Netherlands and the UK.

In July, we signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding with our Melanesian brothers and sisters in Kanaky, strengthening the bonds of friendship and solidarity that have always connected our two movements.

In October, countries including Australia, Canada, and the US called for immediate investigation of rights abuses in West Papua at the UN, while the Marshall Islands called for West Papuan self-determination. Throughout the year, we have continued to build up our infrastructure on the ground.

We are ready to reclaim the sovereignty that was stolen from us and govern our own affairs. 

To all West Papuans, whether in exile, prison, in the bush or the refugee camps, I say your day will come. Though the road to freedom is long and hard, we are making incredible progress at all levels.

One day soon we will celebrate Christmas in an independent West Papua. Until then, we must be strong and united in our struggle. As our national motto says, we are One People with One Soul. 

To everyone around the world reading this message, I urge you to remain steadfast in your support for West Papua. Please pray for all West Papuans who cannot celebrate this Christmas, whether in Yapen Island, Nduga, Puncak Jaya, or elsewhere. Until we win our freedom, we need your solidarity.  

On behalf of the ULMWP and the people of West Papua, thank you and Merry Christmas. 

Benny Wenda
Interim President
ULMWP Provisional Government

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

In solidarity with West Papua, the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) has called for a boycott of all Indonesian products and programmess by the Indonesian government.

The Fiji-based PCC said this should be done until Indonesia facilitated a visit by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate alleged human rights abuses in West Papua, which included torture, extrajudicial killings, and systemic police and military violence.

General secretary Reverend James Bhagwan said the call for a boycott came in response to the lack of political will by the Indonesian government to honour its commitment to the visit, which had been made four years ago.

“Our Pacific church leaders are deeply concerned that the urge by our Pacific Island states through the Pacific Islands Forum has been ignored,” he said.

“We are also concerned that Indonesia is using ‘cheque-book diplomacy’ to silence some Pacific states on this issue. Our only option in the face of this to apply our own financial pressure to this cause.

“We know that the Pacific is a market for Indonesian products and we hope that this mobilisation of consumers will show that Pacific people stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers of Tanah Papua.”

On Thursday, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) held a flag-raising ceremony to mark 61 years since the Morning Star, the West Papuan national flag, was first raised.

Women, girls suffered
FWCC coordinator Shamima Ali said as part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign, FWCC remembered the people of West Papua, particularly women and girls, who suffered due to the increased militarisation of the province by the Indonesian government.

“We also remember those women, girls, men and children who have died and those who are still suffering from state violence perpetrated on them and the violence and struggle within their own religious, cultural and societal settings,” she said.

Ali said Pacific islanders should not be quiet about the issue.

“Fiji has been too silent on the issue of West Papua and the ignorance needs to stop,” she said.

“Keeping quiet is not the answer when our own people are suffering.”

Shayal Devi is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Global climate talks have started in Glasgow, Scotland, but most Pacific leaders cannot get there.

While the leaders of four Pacific nations are attending the United Nations’ COP26 summit, covid travel restrictions are preventing the leaders of 10 Pacific nations from attending with their delegates.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown is one, and he said it was verging on hypocrisy that Pacific countries are denied a voice unless they attend in person.

“I would have been committed to go to Glasgow as one of the climate change champions for finance for the Pacific, but the situation, of course, with the outbreak in New Zealand – the travel restrictions meant that I could possibly be locked out of my own country for a period of time that wasn’t acceptable,” he said.

Brown said COP26 organisers should allow virtual voting.

“We’ve come through two years of attending virtual meetings with the covid situation, the inability to travel.”

Brown said the Cook Islands’ Europe-based representative would go to COP26 while he and his team would be pushing their climate messages hard from home.

Four Pacific leaders attending
Leaders from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tuvalu and Palau are attending the summit.

But covid-19 travel restrictions have grounded the leaders of 10 Pacific nations — the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Nauru, Marshall Islands, and Niue.

Meanwhile, travellers heading to Glasgow have been left stranded by major rail disruption caused by “intense storms”.

Hundreds of people were left waiting at London’s Euston station after fallen trees caused all trains to be suspended.

At the G20 summit in Rome, which would up on Monday morning, the leaders of the world’s richest economies have agreed to pursue efforts to limit global warming with “meaningful and effective actions”.

But the agreement made few concrete commitments, disappointing activists.

‘Little sense of urgency’
Oscar Soria, of the activist network Avaaz, said there was “little sense of urgency” coming from the group, adding: “There is no more time for vague wish-lists, we need concrete commitments and action.”

Host nation Italy had hoped that firm targets would be set before COP26.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said leaders’ promises without action were “starting to sound hollow”.

“These commitments… are drops in a rapidly warming ocean,” Johnson said.

The G20 group, made up of 19 countries and the European Union, accounts for 80 percent of the world’s emissions.

The communiqué, or official statement released by the leaders, also makes no reference to achieving net zero by 2050.

Net zero means reducing greenhouse gas emissions until a country is absorbing the same amount of emissions from the atmosphere that it is putting out.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi did, however, say in his closing statement that all of the G20 countries are committed to reaching the target by the mid-century.

Scientists have said this must be achieved by 2050 to avoid a climate catastrophe, and most countries have agreed to this.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

And of course, Australia’s scientists have long, long, long been demanding urgent climate action. Here is one of the billion or so expert calls for the Australian federal government to act responsibly on climate: https://t.co/k4XY01E9uV

— David Ritter (@David_Ritter) October 31, 2021

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Students from six Melanesian countries and territories in the Pacific — Fiji, Kanaky/New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon islands, Vanuatu and West Papua — have gathered at Auckland University of Technology to form a club to “empower wantoks”.

The AUT Melanesian Students Club was launched last Sunday with representative students from each Melanesian country who are currently studying at AUT.

Interim president Majory Kwaina, the driver of the initiative, said she was excited by the move which “marks the beginning for our Melanesian wantoks who are studying here at AUT”.

Wantok, a Tok Pisin word from Papua New Guinea, means a close comrade or a person with whom one has a strong social bond, usually based on a shared language.

The launch of the club was one of the key actions taken by the students who met at AUT, including dozens of students who are currently studying at AUT, Auckland University, Unitec and Waikato University.

“I am overjoyed that today marks the beginning for our Melanesian wantoks who are studying here at AUT,” said Kwaina.

Two main goals
The club has set two main goals:

• Empower and strengthen Melanesian students who are studying at AUT through academic, cultural and social participation in the events provided by the institution and the community; and
• Be the representative voice of Melanesian students through the AUT students Association (AUTSA).

Kwaina, who is doing her final semester of a Postgraduate Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science, said that the establishment of the club was also to build networking among Melanesian students and to provide an avenue for collaboration with the community.

She said the club was formed because there were many Melanesian students studying at AUT but with no representative within AUTSA.

Kwaina, who began her studies at AUT in the second semester of 2020, said her initiative had gained support from AUTSA and other Melanesian students.

“Today marks the first day of our social gathering as we come to witness the official launching of our club,” she said in her opening speech.

“There is so much to build. Today we lay the foundation of our building; this house requires engineers, architects, carpenters, plumbers, and electricians to complete it.

“You are the engineer, architects, carpenters, plumbers, and electricians who will work together to build this house. This place cannot survive by its own, you are the family that needs to live in this house which will be launched today.”

Sharing stories, concerns
Vice-president Billy Kobepa, in his second year of a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering study at AUT, said he was grateful to have this space where Melanesian students could come together and share each other’s stories and concerns.

He called for unity among Melanesian students.

Marianne Afuna, an AUT second year PhD student in accounting at the Faculty of Business from Solomon Islands, said: “Having a club like this is very important — especially for new starters like those coming from high school and leaving family to come here to study.

“It is very lonely for us Melanesians because we look around and we don’t see a lot of us here.

“Having an association will bring students to come and meet other Melanesian wantoks and we can help each other as students and participate in social activities,” said Afuna.

She added that it was difficult for research because many academic staff did not understand the Melanesian culture.

The executive committee:
President: Majory Kwaina
Vice-president: Billy Kobepa
Secretary: Kilakupa Gulo Vui
Treasurer: Junior Timothy Doedoke
Academic coordinator: Marianne Afuna
Events coordinator: Meike Siep

Laurens Ikinia is a Papuan Masters in Communication Studies student at Auckland University of Technology who has been studying journalism. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz