A negotiator in early talks to free Phillip Mehrtens from West Papuan independence rebels explains the current stalemate and what might happen now.
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Articles on West Papua
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The kidnapping of Phil Mehrtens is a sign the West Papuan independence movement is again becoming desperate to attract international attention, following decades of violent human rights abuses.
The west has long defined racism as a function of colonial domination and discrimination. But in a changing world this definition must be challenged.
Papua, one of Indonesia’s most rural provinces, struggled with online learning during the COVID-19 crisis. Interestingly, it may just be the right moment to invest in Papua’s education technology.
Tensions have been building over the last month following the killing of an Indonesian intelligence chief. The government has vowed to ‘chase and arrest’ all armed militants in the region.
Biak inhabitants fear a new space project of Elon Musk, if it goes ahead, will damage their environment, cultures and livelihoods, and potentially displace local communities.
To bring attention to the renewed conflict in West Papua, Australian researchers are going back decades to document incidents of violence in a new mapping project.
While Pacific communities need robust public health reporting, local media face harassment and arrest while covering the crisis.
International political dynamics sabotaged West Papuans’ attempts to ride the waves of decolonisation efforts by Asian and African countries throughout the 1940s to the 1960s.
Indigenous Marind in West Papua consider the forest and its plants and animals as kin. These culturally valued multispecies relations, however, are being disrupted by oil palm development projects.
Violence has returned to West Papua over the arrests of students for allegedly desecrating a flag. So much for the new push for reconciliation under Indonesia President Joko Widodo.
The government is focusing on economic development, but ignoring human rights abuses, local politics and indigenous peoples.
The Indonesian government has back-pedalled on an announcement by the head of the country’s military that cooperation between the two countries would be suspended.
Raja Ampat is one of the richest in bio-marine life in the world. But many inhabitants of the cluster of islands in West Papua, Indonesia live in poverty.
Solving the problem of West Papua in a dignified manner should involve not only Indonesian authorities but also Papuans and the international community.
Although Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared Papua open for foreign media in May this year, government obstacles to access the restive region linger.
The future of Papuans remains subject to the swirling mists of Indonesian national and international political intrigue.
Conflicting policies on Papua reveal that the Indonesian government frame its easternmost region as a problem.
The Australian Senate passed a motion last week, with explicit support from the Foreign Minister’s office, expressing concern over the imprisonment of two French journalists for reporting in Indonesia’s…
Recent commentary has compared the situation in West Papua to genocide and drawn parallels to East Timor. There seems to be little doubt that human rights abuses have occurred over a long period of time…
Top contributors
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Lecturer, University of Wollongong
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Honorary Fellow, University of Wollongong
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Postdoctoral Research Associate in History, University of Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, Journalism, Edith Cowan University
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Director, Master of International Relations, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University
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Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Archaeology, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland
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Founding Editor, Pacific Journalism Review / Te Koakoa, Auckland University of Technology
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Associate Lecturer, School of Government, Universitas Jendral Achmad Yani
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Research Fellow at Abdurrahman Wahid Centre for Interfaith and Peace, Universitas Indonesia
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Adjunct Professor, Roosevelt Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, City University of New York
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Adjunct Assistant Professor, Universitas Bakrie
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Lecturer, Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Walter Post Jayapura
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Dosen, Departemen Politik dan Pemerintahan, Universitas Gadjah Mada, University of Birmingham
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Professor of Geography, Newcastle University
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DPhil (PhD) candidate, University of Oxford
