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West Papuan church leader to spotlight Indonesia's forgotten tragedy in UK visit

TAPOL Press Release - June 30, 2005

"The churches in Papua can no longer remain silent if injustice and human rights abuses continue. Violence by the Indonesian military forces has increased. West Papuan people have been pursued, detained, terrorised, intimidated, imprisoned, tortured, raped, killed and disappeared."

A prominent advocate of human rights in West Papua will visit the UK from 3-31 July to highlight the tragedy of his homeland, which has suffered from more than 40 years of Indonesian military rule, and build support for the Papuans' struggle for peace and justice.

Revd. Socratez Sofyan Yoman is the President of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches of West Papua.

He has been invited to the UK as a guest of TAPOL to raise awareness of a brutal conflict which remains unknown to the majority of the British public.

The UK has increasing links with West Papua with BP investing in a US$5 billion project to exploit the territory's liquid natural gas reserves despite concerns about the project's impact on Papuan rights. Rio Tinto is a major investor in the massive Freeport copper-and-gold mine associated with abuses of human rights and land rights.

During meetings with politicians, church leaders, NGOs, and members of the public, Revd. Yoman will reveal how efforts to promote West Papua as a 'Land of Peace' are being thwarted by military operations, which are claiming an untold number of lives, and the failure of the Indonesian government to engage in peaceful dialogue.

Revd. Yoman will speak at public events hosted by Rt Revd. Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford (University Church, Oxford, 4 July), Free West Papua Campaign (Oxford, 5 July), St Ethelburga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (London, 13 July) and Churches Together in Coventry and Warwickshire (Coventry Cathedral, 25 July). He will also visit Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany.

Notes:

1. Ever since West Papua's annexation by Indonesia in the 1960s through the fraudulent 'Act of Free Choice', the Papuan people have been subjected to systematic political and military repression. Tens of thousands of have been killed in acts of terror aimed at those opposed to rule from Jakarta. The Papuan people are calling for West Papua to be made a 'Land of Peace' and for peaceful dialogue with Indonesia.

2. For additional background, see 'West Papua: Land of Peace or Killing Field' at http://tapol.gn.apc.org/reports/r050430.htm and 'West Papua military build-up threatens Land of Peace campaign' at http://tapol.gn.apc.org/reports/r050621wpmil.htm
 

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