‘They’re wiping us out’: Church leader warns about young West Papuans killed in escalating conflict in Indonesia
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/595281/they-re-wiping-us-out-church-leader-warns-about-young-west-papuans-killed-in-escalating-conflict
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Short summary from the article:
“A West Papuan church leader has warned that ongoing killings of young Papuans allegedly by Indonesian security forces have the hallmark of genocide. Since the start of the year there’s been no stop to violent incidents in Indonesian-ruled Papua region – known internationally as West Papua.
Indonesia’s government blames recent violence on armed, pro-independence West Papuan fighters. However, human rights defenders say the violence is escalating violence, and the young, indigenous people of West Papua are in the firing line.”
If you don’t know the history of West Papua here’s a little summary. The Netherlands relinquished control of West Papua in 1962 and the following year Indonesia took control of the territory. In 1969 Indonesia had West Papua vote on integration, but only allowed 1,025 selected representatives from the population of around 800,000 to vote. Not having a proper vote on self determination has led to an independence movement going for the last 5 decades. The conflict hasn’t been peaceful with nearly 100,000 people having been displaced.