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Protests held over Indonesia's media blackout of West Papua
Sunshine Coast Daily - April 30, 2015
Similar demonstrations were held in New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, West Papua, the United States and England as part of a globally coordinated effort for the free and open access to Indonesia's most secretive region.
West Papua has been closed to journalists since Indonesia's contested annexation of the resource rich province in 1963, allowing numerous human rights atrocities to go unreported.
Reading a statement on behalf of human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, a leading member of international lawyers for West Papua and legal adviser to Julian Assange, Richard Gifford, said that opening West Papua was vital for free speech, transparency and accountability.
"The fact that Indonesia places special restrictions on travel and reporting in West Papua is a red flag to the world that something is wrong... if you [Indonesia] want to be seen as one of the world's largest democracies then you need to act as such," he said, quoting Jennifer Robinson.
Queensland Greens candidate for Ipswich Pat Walsh, who also spoke at the Brisbane demonstration, said silence on West Papua from Australia represented a failure in Australia's democracy and press.
"How can we as a population tolerate what's going on in Papua so close to our borders?" he said. "We tolerate it because we lack integrity in our politics... and there are vested interests at play."
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