History of West Papua

During the era of colonisation the Netherlands claimed the western side of the island of Papua in 1824 dividing the island along the 141 East meridian. This artificial border cuts through customary lands, villages and gardens.

Up until 1962 West Papua was a listed Non-Self-Governing Territory with the United Nations Decolonisation Committee under the colonial administration of the Netherlands. Like the eastern side of the island under Australian administration, West Papua was on the path to independence.

In 1957 the Netherlands and Australian governments announced the commencement of joint administration of their Territories so that the Papuan people in both West Papua and Papua New Guinea could gain their independence as one nation.

By 1961 the West Papuan people had already announced to the world their new nation would be called ‘West Papua’ with a national flag, the ‘Morning Star’ and national anthem ‘Hai Tanah Ku Papua’. West Papuans had representatives attending the General Assembly of the United Nations and the regional South Pacific Commission.

As described in the Netherlands 1961 report to the United Nations on decolonisation as required under Article 73e of the UN Charter, the West Papuan people had designed a decentralised system of governance with autonomous Village Councils, coordinating Regional Councils, and a coordinating National Council, the Nieuw Guinea Raad.

In 1962 however and without consulting the West Papuan people, the Netherlands signed agreements transferring this Non-Self-Governing Territory to the United Nations which had the discretion to transfer the Territory to Indonesia. These agreements (6311 and 6312) however were not approved by the UN General Assembly and the so called ‘act of free choice’ in 1969 was not an act of self-determination as required under UN resolution 1541.

Instead Indonesia hand-picked approximately 1000 people out of a total population estimated at near one million – a mere 0.1% of the population in clear breach of the required universal suffrage – and forced them to vote for integration. Since then the people of West Papua have been campaigning for their legitimate ‘complete freedom and independence’ as enshrined in the UN Charter and UN resolution 1514 (XV) of 1960.

With ongoing human rights abuses by the Indonesian military since 1962, the people of West Papua formed a liberation army, Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM), or Free Papua Movement. In 1965 OPM launched its first large-scale attack on Indonesia’s military and made a formal Declaration of Independence. A second Declaration of Independence was made in 1971 along with the announcement of OPM’s constitution.