Papuans pin hopes on new UN chief

WEST PAPUA – There are hopes among West Papuans that the new United Nations Secretary-General will help protect the human rights of Papua’s indigenous people.

Antonio Guterres, the former Portuguese prime minister, was been unanimously elected to take over the UN top job from Ban Ki-moon at the start of next year.

As Portugal prime minister, Guterres played a key role in the UN internvention in East Timor shortly before it gained independence from Indonesia.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua’s Pacific regional ambassador, Akouboo Amatus Douw, said that unlike Portugal’s efforts to do the right thing by Timor, the Dutch have not met their moral obligation to Papuans.

However he hoped that Guterres can similarly help Papuans facilitate calls by seven countries at the UN general assembly last month for an investigation into alleged rights violations in Papua.

Guterres was also the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for ten years and his work in this role was acknowledged by Douw. Under Guterres’s leadership, the UNHCR provided legal and humanitarian assistance for over 10,000 West Papuan refugees in PNG.

“In my rough estimation we have 30,0000 Papuan political refugees all around the globe including myself,” said Douw.

He said the main reason that Papuans have to flee Indonesian rule is the denial of their absolute rights of self-determination in their home country.

“As I was one of 43 West Papua political asylum seekers who escaped from West Papua and landed in Australia in 2006, I have very positive thoughts on Guterres’ priorities in seeking to revolve core issues behind why these people became marginalised and suffered in all aspects.”

- RNZI