West Papua 1942-2022: the legals, politics, and the only way forward by Jacob Rumbiak is a 50-page fully referenced image-and-text study guide of the West Papuans’ experience of World War II, and as a progressive UN Non-Self-Governing Territory during the 1950s; Of UN Secretary-General Hammarskjöld’s assassination and the UN’s subsequent failure to uphold the West Papuan’s self-determination project; Of Indonesia’s belligerence and the nefarious behaviour of CIA Director Allen Dulles in taking over the Papuans’ homeland. It includes legal commentary on the New York Agreement (1962—69) and a detailed rebuttal of the claims Indonesia used to justify its colonisation of the Papuans’ 459,412 square kilometres of richly resourced territory. The final section outlines West Papuans’ most recent resistance and nation-making, including raising a transitional government and being listed on the UN Decolonisation Agenda (what Dag Hammarskjöld wanted to do during the 1961 UN General Assembly).
The guide does not examine the peoples’ rich Melanesian and Papuan cultures and religious beliefs; nor does it, except in general terms, detail human rights violations by the Indonesian security forces. Jacob Rumbiak, as Spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), first presented the paper to a seminar hosted by the Pacific Institute at the Australian National University on 28 November 2019.
(click to download/print) West Papua 1942 to 2022, the legals, politics, and only way forward
West Papua 1942-2022, the legals, the politics, and the only way forward
A 9-min discussion between two robots derived from West Papua 1942-2022: the legals, politics, and the only way forward
Four important legal papers referred to in the document
i) George Lambert (2000) WEST PAPUA: Real-Politik v International Law
https://dfait.federalrepublicofwestpapua.net/document/west-papua-real-politik-v-international-law-by-george-lambert-icj-2000/
ii) Melinda Janki (2010) West Papua and the Right to Self-Determination under International Law
Melinda Janki, West_Papua_and_the_right_to_self-determination_under_international law
iii) Annette Culley (2016) WEST PAPUA: Decolonization, Boundaries and Self-determination
https://dfait.federalrepublicofwestpapua.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/West-Papua-Decolonization-Boundaries-and-Self-Determination-Annette-Culley.pdf
iv) Annette Culley (2022) State Responsibility in International Law
State Responsibility, July 2022, merged PDFs
