United Nations refuses to accept West Papua independence petition, says it will not ‘do anything against Indonesia’
International body’s decolonisation committee said it will only deal with 17 states identified non-self-governing territories
The UN’s decolonisation committee will not accept a petition signed by 1.8 million West Papuans calling for independence, saying West Papua’s cause is outside the committee’s mandate.
In New York on Tuesday, the exiled West Papuan leader Benny Wenda presented the petition – banned by the Indonesian government, but smuggled across Papua and reportedly endorsed by 70 per cent of the contested province’s population – to the UN’s decolonisation committee, known as the C24.
The committee is responsible for monitoring the progress of former colonies towards independence.
The petition asked the UN to appoint a special representative to investigate human rights abuses in the province and to “put West Papua back on the decolonisation committee agenda and ensure their right to self-determination ... is respected by holding an internationally supervised vote”.
But on Thursday the chair of the decolonisation committee, Rafael Ramirez, said no petition on West Papua could be accepted because the committee’s mandate extended only to the 17 states identified by the UN as “non-self-governing territories”.