Vanuatu's prime minister has again pressed the United Nations General Assembly over human rights abuses in West Papua.
During his speech in New York, Charlot Salwai lamented how some Pacific territories are yet to break the shackles of colonialism.
Mr Salwai cited France's territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia, as well as Indonesian-ruled West Papua.
He called on the administering powers to respect UN processes and ensure people in these territories can have their self-determination views heard.
Mr Salwai called for use of the UN system to find solutions to violations of West Papuans' human rights.
"The resolution of the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum calls on the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua to conduct an assessment based on concrete proof regarding the human rights situation."
Rayyanul Sangadji, a junior Indonesian diplomat from Ambon, Maluku, exercised the country's right of reply to Vanuatu's statement.
"As an Indonesian with Melanesian roots, I can tell you we do not like to be clustered, categorised, or worse, divided by another, faraway country," he said.
"Papua is, has [been] and will always be, part of Indonesia."
Exclusive: West Papua continues to be rocked by bloody violence as Indonesian security forces and pro-independence protesters clash. And Australia has been urged to do more to end the bloodshed.
BY VIRGINIA LANGEBERG
Australia has been urged to “step up substantially on the issue of West Papua”, with Vanuatu’s leaders taking to the stage of the UN General Assembly to “emphatically condemn” alleged human rights violations in the region.
Following reports of a mass exodus from the town of Wamena, in the Indonesian province of Papua, and increased violence on Monday, Vanuatu urged global leaders to assist West Papuans.
“We condemn, emphatically, violations of human rights of the indigenous people of West Papua,” Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas told the UN.
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas at the UN. FR170574 AP
The island nation’s foreign minister declared “history will judge us”, urging Australia to step up.
“We’re very worried because it’s happening right now there is a crisis going on,” Ralph Regenvanu said.
“Some international law experts have called it genocide; I mean it fits the criteria of a genocide. History will judge us and we have to be on the right side of history.
“Australia’s got to step up substantially on the issue of West Papua, particularly because it’s on the Human Rights Council, it is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum.”
Activists said Papuans responded by setting fire to several buildings.
On Saturday, the Indonesian Embassy stated the official death toll was 33 – saying most died in the fires and some 3,500 locals were displaced following the chaos.
Smoke rise from a burning building during a violent rally in Wamena, Papua Province, Indonesia. AP
But a report in The Guardian has suggested the actual death toll was at least 41, with one witness saying he saw up to 20 people shot dead by police, while Papuans tried to fight back with rocks and arrows.
“Papuans are also terrified. They are thinking, ‘if the government is so quick to help settlers leave, what is being planned after that’,” one Wamena local told The Guardian.
Exiled West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda was among a group of Pacific leaders who met with the UN Secretary-General earlier this week to stress the importance of a UN visit to the region.
“I continue to lobby that in here in the United Nations to send the UN High Commissioners to West Papua but Indonesia (will) not allow,” he told SBS News.
“So I hope that Indonesian government and President Jokowi will allow the UN High Commissioner to visit West Papua because this is a human rights crisis happening right now in West Papua.”
West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda. Supplied
In recent weeks, Indonesia has deployed more than 6,000 troops into West Papua to quell the growing push for independence and Amnesty International has called Monday’s violence, one of the bloodiest days for Papua in 20 years.
But Australian has urged restraint on both sides, with Foreign Minister Marise Payne urging “absolute restraint” to deescalate the situation.
“We are obviously very concerned about the reports of violence in Papua [and] West Papua,” she told SBS News this week.
“They are matters which our post in Jakarta is following up with authorities there.”
Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong condemned the violence, but also stayed neutral.
“We have raised concerns about human rights violations in West Papua and we will continue to work to uphold the universal right of all people to peacefully express their political views including in West Papua,” she said in a statement.
“Labor fully respects the territorial integrity of Indonesia; respect for each other’s territorial integrity is enshrined in the Lombok Treaty, which remains the bedrock of security cooperation between our two countries.”
Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Dame Meg Taylor, is visiting Vanuatu this week.
Dame Taylor says her visit to Vanuatu is to consult with various arms of the Vanuatu Government as well as speak at a symposium at the University of the South Pacific about China in the Pacific.
“I’ve had meetings with both the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.
“I’ve also sat down with key government officials to look at key issues that are of concern to them.
“This for us is a way of getting and understanding of what is the thinking of people in the region.
“We’ve also had a team here with us to looking at the governance arrangements and the functional aspects of the Pacific Resilience Facility.
“This is a Fund that the Finance Ministers want set up and it has been endorsed by the Leaders.
“That is to raise a substantial amount of money that we would, as countries, as private sector and also communities to be able to utilize to ensure that we are investing in infrastructure that will be able to withstand climatic impacts.
“Also to refit old infrastructure,” she told Kizzy Kalsakau from 96 Buzz FM.
Dame Taylor says Vanuatu is important in such conversation because after Cyclone Pam 64% of the GDP of this country was lost.
“That cannot happen again.
“We have to make sure that we find instruments so that Vanuatu protects itself and takes action for itself,” the Forum Secretariat SG said.
The Forum SG says she is also here because she has been invited to speak at a symposium on China in the Pacific at the University of the South Pacific’s Emalus Campus today.
“For us it is very important because of a number of our member states that recognize the People’s Republic of China.
“The challenges, opportunities- so I’ll be addressing that tomorrow (today) morning at the University of the South Pacific.”
