MAPW has been advocating for peace with justice for over forty years. In this ‘From the Archive’ series of posts, we revisit key issues, actions, and statements.
Media Release, 21 November 2011: Call for suspension of military ties with Indonesia over West Papuan shootings.
The shootings and arrests of people meeting peacefully at the Third West Papuan People’s Congress at Abepura this week are the latest instance of Indonesia’s violent and repressive rule in West Papua.
Australia has an agreement for military cooperation with Indonesia which includes the supply of weapons. It opens with the phrase “reaffirming the sovereign equality of the parties, their faith in the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments”.
The Medical Association for Prevention of War supports calls upon the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, to immediately announce a suspension of defence cooperation with Indonesia and to demand access for Australian and other journalists to West Papua. We call on our government to proceed with an investigation into these appalling events in West Papua.
Australia took an honourable stand over East Timor. We should do so again now over West Papua.