Overview

West Papua is a colony, a territory under foreign occupation of the United Nations in 1962 and Indonesian occupation since May 1963. Neither the United Nations nor Indonesia have consent of the Papuan people to be in West Papua.

Trophy videos become public in 2010 of the Indonesian military and police celebrating torture (*), ridicule of the Papuan population as a man dies on camera (*); and abuse of villagers (*, *). Videos of rallies (*) calling for independence and for foreign access to the territory have also become readily available during the pass several years. Issues in dispute in the territory include freedom of speech, mining, corruption, the environment, HIV/AIDS, education, disappearances (*), and United Nations protocols for UN trust territories and self-determination.

WPIK.ORG is an archive for people in need of the historical context or an understanding of on-going events in Indonesian administrated Papua. It is envisioned that source documents and historical news reports will assist both NGOs and journalists who are in need of filing reports about the territory. From the above links WHERE  WHAT  WHEN  WHY  HOW  WHO  Sources  you will find information and resources to aid your understanding of West Papua, its people, and a range of issues.

Administrative overview

West Papua as part of the Australian continent was occupied by Melanesian people around 50,000 BC, Dutch missionaries arrived circa 1860s and Europe conceded a nominal Dutch claim for the territory in 1895. Japanese forces occupied the territory in 1942 but were evicted by American forces (General MacArthur) with local support in 1944. Dutch administrators were unopposed when they returned circa 1946 and when they advised the United Nations that the territory was a Pacific colony(*).

Indonesia during the 1950s made demands at the United Nations for the Pacific territory but despite Soviet and Arab support was unsuccessful. Then in 1961 John F Kennedy was advised that America should seek benefit by helping Indonesia obtain the territory. (sources: US Dept of State, and United Nations)

After the death of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjiold in September 1961, the Dutch proposed the United Nations occupy West Papua, a process known as trusteeship under chapter XII of the UN Charter. After US intervention the Dutch, UN, and Indonesia signed an agreement (New York Agreement). drafted by the US. The United Nations occupied West Papua in October 1962 and invited Indonesia to occupy the colony in May 1963.

Indonesia in 1967 sold a 30 year mining licens to the Freeport corporation and in 1969 designed an Indonesian process which they called "act of free choice" by which they alleged the population had chosen to become Indonesian citizens.

Although the United Nations and Indonesia had agreed in the 1962 agreement to allow "self-determination" by "all adults, male and female, not foreign national" within seven years, the UN while noting the 1969 event chose not to give its opinion whether the Indonesian event constituted a referendum or "self-determination", and chose did not mention whether the sovereignty of West Papua had changed (*). However, Reuters pronounced that the UN had done so, and since 1969 news organisations have repeated this claim without reviewing the UN statement resolution(*).

The United Nations has yet to respond to speculation that West Papua is still a trust territory as defined in chapter XII of the UN Charter.

Names

The territory has had several different names including: Duth New Guinea, Netherlands New Guinea, West New Guinea, West Papua (by the locals), Irian Barat, Irian Jaya, West Papua; and since 2002 it has been divided into competing provinces of