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Jayapura, PT. -The
Vanuatu Government is represented at the International Parliamentarians
for West Papua (IPWP) meeting in Westminster (Parliament House of the
United Kingdom) in London by the Minister for Lands, Ralph Regenvanu.
The meeting takes place on 2nd and 3rd of May.
Before
his departure, Minister Regenvanu said the meeting, which will be
attended by fellow IPWP members and representatives of the United
Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), will discuss the future for
West Papuans in accordance with the IPWP belief in their inalienable
right of self-determination.
He said several Heads of Government will also be attending, including the Prime Minister of Tonga.
The
political climate has changed significantly over the last year, with
the formation of the ULMWP and with the achievement of Observer
membership of the sub-regional Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). This
formal diplomatic recognition of West Papua reflects growing support in
the Pacific and beyond for the West Papuan people to realise their
rightful aspirations for a genuine process of self-determination.
Almost
50 years since the Act of Free Choice, the IPWP believes that the time
has now come for a diplomatic push to put an end to the bloodshed, and
at last to allow the West Papuan people an opportunity to determine
their own political future. In the light of this, the May meeting will
be discussing the strategy to bring about an internationally supervised
vote in West Papua by the end of the decade.
Mr Regenvanu, who is also the MP for Port Vila said the meeting will
be briefed by Human Rights Lawyer Jennifer Robinson and the
International Lawyers for West Papua, as well as United Liberation
Movement leaders.
In addition to this meeting, the Minister of Lands said there will
also be a Conference in Oxford held the day before, on Monday the 2nd of
May. The Conference will be organized around ‘The Day of Betrayal’, and
will revisit the Act of Free Choice from an academic, legal and human
rights perspective.
The
group International Parliamentarians for West Papua consists of Members
of Parliament from different countries around the world who have signed
The West Papua Declaration, which states:
"We the undersigned recognise the inalienable right of the indigenous people of West Papua to self-determination, which was violated in the 1969 “Act of Free Choice”, AND call upon our governments through the United Nations to put in place arrangements for the free exercise of that right SO that the indigenous people of West Papua can decide democratically their own future in accordance with international standards of human rights, the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations".(PT/loopvanuatu.com)
By: Rnarayan
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