Author:
TO:
Secretary-General United Nations Mr. Ban Ki-moon
European Union Foreign Affairs representative Catherine Ashton
Former US president Bill Clinton
UN Under-Secretary General and OCHA Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos
Director, US National Intelligence James Clapper
Interpol President Khoo Boon Hui
Secretary, US Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
Former President of the Philippines Fidel Valdez Ramos
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair
18 March, 2012
Dear Madam,
Dear Sirs,
It is with great expectation that we learn that a distinguished delegation under your leadership will visit Jakarta from March 19 until March 21 for the Jakarta International Defense Dialogue.
We, the undersigned, Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi, on behalf of the West Papuan people, take the opportunity of this visit to alert you to the following in the form of an Open Letter. Presently, we are both under illegal detention in Jayapura in West Papua for no reason other than making continuous efforts for human rights, democracy and self-determination for West Papua. We are victims of human rights violations, as are many West Papuan citizens.
We want to draw your attention to instructions given by the Indonesian authorities (on 9 February 2012 :10am in the Ashton Hotel Papua in Jayapura) to Indonesian Army chiefs, Police chiefs, the Governor of Papua, Policy Information Services, Indonesian Intelligence (BIN) officers, Indonesian Military Intelligence (BAIS), BMP and others, to not refrain from violating human rights during our trial for treason. Government officials also warned judges at the meeting to give no room for any defense of the undersigned. We are therefore not being legally represented.
It is the hope of the West Papuan people and the undersigned that the delegates at the Jakarta International Defense Dialog will not ignore the major problems faced by West Papuans in the absence of a fair and democratic approach to human rights, rights of self-determination, and a fair partition of the wealth generated by our natural resources.
Successive Indonesian regimes and their successive Governments have never been prepared to introduce human rights, democracy and self-determination to West Papua. They have neglected, and continue to neglect international law in terms of the West Papuan peoples basic rights which are fully consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other applicable instruments in the field of Human Rights law.
The political motivations of the undersigned are only those directly related to basic Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 16 December 1966, which came into force on 23 March 1976 and was acceded to by the Republic of Indonesia on 23 February 2006.
The undersigned act in good faith in accordance with the principles of Human Rights, and nothing in the present Open Letter stands contrary to the provisions of the United Nations Charter.
Hereunder is a non-exhaustive list of fourteen categories of human rights violations that have occurred, and that also have a high risk of re-occurrence:
1. The denial of self-determination
2. the rights of indigenous people
3. The rights of minorities
4. Arbitrary detention
5. Enforced and involuntary disappearances
6. Extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions
7. Torture and other cruel or degrading punishments
8. The right to food
9. The right to peaceful assembly
10. Freedom of opinion and expression
11. The right of media access to the territory
12. The right to environmentally sound disposal of hazardous substances and waste
13. The right to safe drinking water
14. Violence against women.
For the sake of order and comprehension, we present a general history of Indonesia’s violations of West Papuans human rights and the denial of their self-determination.
1. In 1969 the Indonesian government, having been given provisional administration over West Papua by the United Nations, organized the so-called “Act of Choice”;
2. The Act of Choice took place under conditions that were the complete opposite of the conditions required for an act of self-determination, and what the UN had specifically decided as appropriate for the West Papuans to express their wishes;
3. Since the “Act of Choice” the West Papuan population has consistently decried the “Act of Choice” as having taken under non-democratic conditions;
4. The process for determining the future of West Papua therefore never took place under conditions that would extinguish the basic civil and political rights of the West Papuan indigenous people. Therefore the West Papuan indigenous people retain their right of self-determination;
5. The United Nations General Assembly accepted the result of the fraudulent Act of Free Choice, resulting in Indonesia annexing West Papua and West Papuans remaining in a colonial system;
6. The legal result in terms of International Law is that West Papua never lost its rights to step out of the colonial system;
7. The West Papuan people under the present system, of annexation and integration into Indonesia, still have their full right of self-determination, as well as their civil and political rights;
8. The West Papuan region is by geography totally separate from Indonesia;
9. The ethnic origins of the West Papuan people are Melanesian, not Indonesian;
10. The languages spoken are also from origins that are different to the origins the official Indonesian language;
11. 80% of the West Papuan people are Christian; more than 80% of Indonesians are Muslim;
12. The fundamental differences between Indonesians and West Papuans were recognised by the former [Dutch] administration;
13. The Dutch administration organised its administration over West Papua totally separate to its administration over Indonesia (Netherlands) Indies;
14. Indonesia obtained independence in 1949; without link to, or demand by Indonesia, for the annexation of West Papua;
15. During preparations for Indonesia’s independence, the Netherlands did not demand or suggest that West Papua should be annexed to Indonesia;
16. After Indonesia’s independence West Papua stayed without change under Dutch Rule;
17. In 1963 West Papua was put under temporary Indonesian administration under conditions well defined by the United Nations;
18. No decision by the United Nations General Assembly can remove a people’s basic right to self-determination, or their civil and political rights;
19. The people of West Papua therefore never have never lost their right to self-determination, their civil and political rights, or their right to free themselves from colonialism;
20. The Republic of Indonesia is at fault for its infringement or the West Papuans rights because it falsified the conditions required for a fair and democratic organisation of the ”Act of Free Choice”;
21. The Republic of Indonesia is fully responsible for the situation whereby West Papua has never had the occasion to exercise their fundamental right to leave the colonial system under fair and democratic circumstances;
22. That the 1969 United Nations General Assembly did not reject the results of the “Act of Free Choice” does not extinguish the West Papuans most fundamental human rights;
23. The fact that West Papua became an integral part of Indonesia because of the decision made in 1969 by the United Nations General Assembly does not extinguish the West Papuans’ rights to leave the colonial system by way of an act of self-determination;
24. The West Papuan people did not lose and can never lose their internal rights for self-determination, which is a non-contested right of International Public Law;
25. West Papua also fulfils the conditions for external rights to independence following the UN Res. 2625 (1970) Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States;
26. The protection of the territorial integrity of a State is conditioned by the State’s behaving in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination, and by Government representing the whole of the State’s population without discrimination on grounds such as race, religion or color.
27. Indonesia on the occasion of its accession to the so-called BUPO Covenant (see below) made clear that it doesn’t respect the conditions imposed for making use of, or benefitting from, the protection of territorial integrity;
28. It cannot be ascertained that the West Papuan people have participated in their self-determination, or in decision-making on the way it should be administered;
29. Indonesia’s installation of Autonomy under International Public Law in 2001 is not a substitute for an act of self-determination, or a substitute for West Papuans’ civil and political rights;
30. The Autonomy Act has been used by the Indonesian Government as an instrument for continuing to administer the West Papuan people in a way that does not comply with its Human Rights obligations;
31. After giving Autonomy a fair chance for four years, the West Papuan Congress rejected it;
32. Infringements against Human Rights are ongoing and present a high risk of re-occurring;
33. Indonesia has effectively shown that its administering of the West Papuan people in terms of internal, and international law, is one of window dressing and lacks any legal ground;
34. Indonesia acceded to the so-called BUPO Covenant on 23 February 2006, but excluded Article 1;
35. Article 1 of the BUPO Covenant:
(i) All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
(ii) All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.
(iii) The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
36. On the occasion of its accession to the BUPO Covenant, Indonesia made the following declaration: ”With reference to Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia declares that, consistent with the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States, and the relevant paragraph of the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action of 1993, the words “the right of self-determination” appearing in this article do not apply to a section of people within a sovereign independent state and cannot be construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent states.”
(i) By acting in this way Indonesia put itself above its obligation to respect basic Human Rights;
(ii) By this exclusion Indonesia clearly showed its way of administering the West Papuan people excludes it from having to respect the people’s basic Human Rights;
(iii) Indonesia’s Declaration excluding the application of Article 1 of the BUPO Covenant, is without legal effect since the declaration nullifies a most substantial part of the covenant;
(iv) The wording in the Declaration implies that all of the states that ratify the BUPO Covenant ignore the Declaration, rendering it null and void and without legal legitimacy;
(v) It has to be concluded that Indonesia, even while accessing international treaties with human rights clauses, excludes the West Papuan people of basic human rights such as the right to self-determination, and their Civil and Political rights;
(vi) Indonesia’s declaration is an infringement of basic articles of the United Nations Charter, and of membership-conditions of the United Nations Organisation.
The undersigned apply for all appropriate actions by the world leaders participating in the Jakarta International Defense Dialog (19-21 March) to recognise that the West Papuan situation must be resolved in accordance with the West Papuan’s human rights and right to self-determination.
The undersigned confirm their wish to re-establish normal speaking terms with Indonesia, and make workable a new modus vivendi for the future and welfare of West Papua and its people.
In this framework the undersigned aim to be directly involved in the renegotiations of mine, gas, and oil contracts recently cited as a political priority by the Minister of Energy, His Excellency Jero Wacik. The undersigned request a neutral audit by an international audit firm to examine the application of the 2001 Autonomy Act in terms of the 70-80% repartition of wealth generated by these contracts.
The undersigned hope that their action leads to a better re-distribution of wealth, and more prosperity to all stakeholders, at all levels, in total conformity with international private and public law. The undersigned have asked the ILO in Geneva for assistance in establishing well regulated labor organisations under UN norms.
The undersigned are delighted to learn about a revival of economic interest in the region, and the visit of private sector entrepreneurs. The undersigned aim to be associated and to actively take part in these discussions.
The undersigned hope that the World leaders, the President, Vice-President, and Government of Indonesia, enter into prosperous discussion of the issues mentioned in this Open Letter.
Yours sincerely
Forkorus Yaboisembut and
Edison Waromi.
18 March, 2012
