west papua
about West Papua
“West Papua” refers to the Indonesian half of the Island of New Guinea, which is home to some of the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforests and coral reef systems in the world. It has a higher level of plant biodiversity than any other island on earth, and hosts thousands of unique species of flora and fauna including rare orchids, birds of paradise and tree kangaroos.
West Papua is also one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse places in the world - with over 250 ethnically diverse groups who speak over 280 languages and dialects, and who play a critical role in protecting these vital ecosystems and enabling and nurturing their role as climate regulators.
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The eyes of the world are closed to the fate of West Papuans. We have suffered in silence for too long. Now is the time for change.
The conflict
Unfortunately, decades of conflict, political instability, human rights violations and inequitable and illegal resource extraction have begun to take their toll, as outsiders - including the Indonesian government - have looked to profit off West Papua’s rich natural resources. An Indonesian-led programme of ‘development’ is carving open Papua’s forests, burning its peatlands, polluting its rivers and decimating its wildlife as the state seeks to access everything from fossil fuels to gold, and to create space for a new food estate by removing an estimated 1.3 million hectares of primary rainforest.
Meanwhile, Indigenous West Papuans - who have long contested Indonesia’s annexation of West Papua - are becoming a minority in their own lands as a result of ongoing marginalisation, and ever increasing migration from other islands. West Papuan calls for liberation and self-determination are being met with excessive violence and repression, and many consider themselves to be being subjected to a genocide by the Indonesian state.
Conflict timeline
West Papua is colonised by the Netherlands (or the Dutch East Indies) along with the rest of the islands that currently constitute modern-day Indonesia.
After seven decades of Dutch colonial rule the 'Proklamasi' is signed and The Republic of Indonesia is formed, declaring independence from the Netherlands and appointing Sukarno as its first President. West Papua (or Netherlands New Guinea) remains under Dutch control, and starts preparing for its own independence.
It takes until December 1949 for The Dutch - chastised and threatened by the US - to officially withdraw from Indonesia and cease their military operations in the region. They still refuse to relinquish West Papua at this point, which they initially planned to retain as a colonial halfway house for hundreds of thousands of displaced Indies Dutch.
Eventually, again under pressure from the US who were concerned about Indonesia slipping under Soviet influence, The Dutch give this plan up in favour of cynical support for West Papuan self-determination.
The Indonesian government – which recognises the profits that could be derived from Papua’s rich natural resources – contests the idea of Papuan independence, arguing instead that Western New Guinea should become part of Indonesia, such that Indonesia would be the successor state to the whole of the Dutch East Indies.
For President Sukarno, West Papua becomes an obsession. Meanwhile, his vice-President General Hatta is less in favour of a long drawn out Papua campaign, instead arguing for West Papuan self-determination on the basis of ethnic and cultural differences with the rest of Indonesia.
Bilateral negotiations between Indonesia and the Netherlands take place between 1950- 1953 without Papuan representation, and from 1954 Indonesia takes the ongoing dispute to the United Nations. Meanwhile, the Dutch oversee a cautious 'Papuanisation' of the civil service in West Papua, in preparation for Independence.
A congress of Indigenous Papuans (The New Guinea Council) raises the Morning Star Flag on December 1st in what is now known as Jayapura, singing a new national anthem and announcing that West Papua is officially an independent nation. This announcement - alongside the formation of a new Parliament - was declared 'in accordance with the ardent desire and yearning of our people'. From then until now, this is known as Independence Day.
The declaration of West Papuan independence is not officially recognised by the international community, nor the Republic of Indonesia. Under pressure from America - still concerned about the potential spread of Communism across Indonesia - the Dutch agree to relinquish Netherlands New Guinea to Indonesia under a UN Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA). After a decade of diplomatic and military manoeuvring, Sukarno had successfully won UN and US backing for his Papuan ambitions.
The New York Agreement is signed between The Netherlands, Indonesia and the US - again without Papuan representation or involvement. The Agreement stipulates that The Dutch immediately transfer control of West Papua to the UN, who will hand administration over to Indonesia in increments.
The Agreement stipulates that a Papuan vote on independence must be held before 1969.
The Free Papua Movement, or Free Papua Organisation (OPM), is formed, seeking to take over Indonesian administration of Western New Guinea and declare an independent West Papua.
The Indonesian military organises the promised independence referendum, ironically known as the ‘Act of Free Choice’, which today is referred to by many West Papuans as 'The Act of No Choice'.
By this point, Indonesia is at war with the OPM and the Indonesian Government has signed a contract with mining giant Freeport McMoran to cultivate the world’s largest gold deposit in the Mimika highlands, in what is now known as Central Papua. As a result, they are not willing to let West Papua go.
1,025 Indigenous Papuans are hand-picked by the Indonesian State to take part in the referendum - less than 1% of those who should have been eligible - and forced to vote against independence at gunpoint.
In spite of being an undemocratic act, the vote is approved by the United Nations, cementing West Papua’s place under Indonesian rule, in spite of reports that many voters had not understood what was going on, had voted under duress and had tried to retract their votes once they did understand what they had voted for.
US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is claimed to have expressed disparity about the referendum or potential for elections in West Papua, which he claimed ‘would be almost meaningless among the stone-age cultures of New Guinea’.
Following the 'Act of Free Choice', Indonesia begins a fully-fledged military invasion into West Papua. Indonesian paratroopers - already dropped into strategic locations across the territory - are reconstituted into a military division under the command of future dictator General Suharto.
West Papuan nationalists are imprisoned and tortured and the rudimentary state apparatus that had been constructed under Dutch supervision is immediately dismantled: all political parties are dissolved, elections are banned, and the indigenous Papuan Volunteer Corps is disarmed.
Indigenous artefacts are destroyed, and Morning Star flags are thrown into a bonfire whilst Papuans are forced to watch.
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-PB) is formed in 1973 as the military wing of the OPM, which is the beginning of decades of actions against the Indonesian state.
Freeport mine (now known as Grasberg) is officially opened, becoming the largest gold mine in the world, and kick-starting decades of environmental and human rights abuses in the Timika region, including the large-scale destruction of forest areas. The mine currently dumps 300,000 tonnes of toxic waste per day into the nearby Ajkwa river, with tailings reaching all the way to the Ocean in the south.
Exploitation of West Papua’s resources begins in earnest.
West Papua is granted ‘Special Autonomy status’ via the Otsus law, with the idea that the Papuan Peoples’ Assembly (MRP) will have the right to administer local government and govern natural resources, including through receiving increased revenue from the Indonesian state.
Members of the MRP remain discontent with the enactment of this law, claiming that in reality all powers remain in the hands of Indonesia’s Central Government.
The Special Automoy Law is ratified, reversing a ban on the use of the Morning Star flag - the symbol of West Papuan independence. The law states that the flag may be raised, as long as it is raised alongside the Indonesian flag, with the latter raised higher than the Morning Star flag.
President Sukarnoputri moves to split West Papua into two provinces (Papua and West Papua) and grants the region special welfare funding.
A United Nations independent expert on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, is blocked from visiting Indonesia, reportedly due to the inclusion of Papua in his proposed itinerary.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) is formed to drive the peaceful case for Papuan independence, with an agreement to elect new leaders every 5 years.
Security forces open fire at protesters who are peacefully opposing military brutality in Paniai, in the Central Highlands, where protesters had gathered to challenge the torture of a 14 year old boy. The order is reportedly given that “if the masses offer resistance more than three times shoot them dead.” Four people are killed and a further 17 injured.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) later rules this to be a “gross human rights violation” and accuses the Indonesian military (TNI) of obstructing justice in regards to the incident.
President Widodo announces that he will lift decades old access restrictions and allow accredited foreign media to have unimpeded access to Papua. This announcement has yet to be followed through.
In response to concerns from the international community about ongoing human rights abuses in the region, Indonesia agrees to issue an invitation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua and assess the humanitarian situation there. The invitation has still not been issued.
Members of the TPN-PB kill 18 people working on the controversial trans-Papua mega highway, which is seeking to open up a 4,300km development corridor across Papua. In response, there is an escalation in violence between the Indonesian military and the TPN-PB.
Further protests break out across Papua after policemen in Java reportedly call a group of Papuan students racist names, including ‘monkey’. At least 43 people are killed, according to Human Rights Watch, including one soldier, and 6,000 troops are deployed to quell the violence. It is described as the largest pro-independence demonstration in a generation.
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) announces that it has set up a government-in-waiting to start working towards independence.
President Widodo reiterates that the Government in Jakarta is the ‘sole authority’ in the region.
The Republic of Indonesia moves unilaterally to renew Papua’s Special Autonomy Law, making a series of amendments and additions that pave the way for Papua to be split into additional administrative areas. Only one of the 51 sub-laws proposed by the Papuan people remains approved, which was the setting up of the MRP.
The MRP seek a judicial review of the law, on the grounds that it reduces their authority, and violates the constitutional rights of Indigenous Papuans
The Central Government signs the Omnibus Law into effect, changing 81 laws relating to environmental preservation, and restricting the right of local Governments to West Papuan lands. This includes a controversial law to allow those who saw illegally operating concessions to retroactively apply for permits and escape sanctions
Plans to split Papua into five provinces rather than two go ahead. Estimates suggest that this will require an additional 8 military command centres in the region, bringing over 6,400 additional troops into what is already the most militarised region of Indonesia.
The Chief Security Minister claims that 82% of Papuans want this split to occur, when in reality Indigenous Papuans have gathered over 700,000 signatures on a petition rejecting the move on the grounds that the MRP were not consulted, that this is a ‘divide and rule’ tactic, and that leadership roles are unlikely to be handed to Indigenous Papuans.
New Zealand Pilot Philip Mehrtens is kidnapped by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-PB), who say they will not release him until West Papua is granted independence.
In response, the Indonesian military declares a ‘combat alert’ and sends thousands of new troops to the region, moving indiscriminately to remove Indigenous Papuans from their lands both in Nduga, where the pilot is being kept, as well as elsewhere. Reports surface of the military use of mortar shells and bombs.
The military, including special unit officers, begin to clear vast areas of customary lands to make way for new provincial government offices. Affected indigenous peoples claim that the land has been taken without the required free, prior and informed consent of customary land rights holders. The military claim that indigenous land rights holders have been consulted and approved the move.
In June, a Permanent Peoples' Tribunal finds Indonesia guilty of all four counts of environmental and state violence that it is investigating, including: violent repression, racial discrimination, land grabs, collusion with national and foreign companies in regards to environmental degradation, and a multitude of human rights abuses.
The report describes how Indonesia’s ‘organized program of state-led ecological degradation’ amounts to ‘the obliteration of the Papuan people as they define themselves together with land, plants, fish, livestock and other living things’. More than one witness to the tribunal described this process as ‘a slow genocide’.
The Tribunal calls for the UN to launch an urgent, sizeable and broad-mandate investigation in the region, and for Indonesia to grant 'immediate and unimpeded' humanitarian access to West Papua. Upon their return to West Papua, witnesses to the tribunal are placed under surveillance, and one is shot.
In September, Pilot Philip Mehrtens is released by the TPN-PB under confusing circumstances after 594 days in captivity.
In the same month, President Joko Widodo breaks ground on the 'world's largest ever deforestation project' in Merauke District, which will eventually form part of a 5 million acre food estate focused on sugarcane production, that will add an estimated 392 million tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere in net terms. A survey warning about the negative human rights and environmental impacts of this project - including it's role in 'ecocide' - is ignored.
Local residents and the Papua's People Council (MRP) insist that they haven't been consulted about the Merauke project, let alone given consent for it to go ahead. Protests begin but are ignored by the Johnlin Group who are in charge of establishing the project, supported by the TNI.
In September, Predident Widodo announces that all development projects in Papuan provinces will need to be escorted by security forces moving forwards due to ongoing tensions in Papua. The TNI announces plans to establish 25 new Battalions in Papuan provinces alone by 2025.
On the 20th October, a former military general who has been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses in East Timor and West Papua is inaugurated as Indonesia's new President. President Prabowo Subianto reaffirms his commitment to dealing with insurgency in Papua, and chooses Merauke for his first official Presidential visit on November 3rd.
One day after President Prabowo's inauguration the Minister for Transmigration announces the revival of Indonesia’s failed Transmigration Programme to West Papua, as a means of 'enhancing unity and providing locals with welfare'. This sparks protests across Papua and other parts of Indonesia, and reports of water canons and tear gas being used against protestors.
The programme was initiated by Prabowo's ex father-in-law President Suharto in the 1980s, and led to the mass-diluting of the Indigenous Papuan population who view it as form of settler colonialism aimed at erasing their identity. In 1985 the then Minister of Transmigration Martano was quoted as saying "By way of transmigration...the different ethnic groups will in the long run disappear because of integration...and there will be one kind of man".
5 additional military battalions (which were announced in early October) totalling approximately 5,000 soldiers are deployed to the Merauke project site to join the 25,000 troops already in Papua, meaning members of the TNI now outnumber the local population in Merauke, estimated to be around 3,000 people.
In November, reports emerge of non-consensual military land seizures in Intan Jaya (Silatugapa village) to make way for a new military battalion, sparking outrage amongst local communities and human rights organisations - who call on the Indonesian Government to immediately cease military operations in Papua, respect the rights of Indigenous communities, and hold perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable.
“The situation has just become absolutely critical. We need to talk. I no longer care what happens to me. As long as there is a platform for me to speak about the situation, then I will, because I must. They are eating from our lands and killing our people, and destroying our identity in the process”.
Present Day
The conflict in West Papua has escalated significantly over the past few years, most recently in response to the kidnapping of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens by members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-PB) – the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM). Over 2,000 additional Indonesian military personnel were deployed to the region in March 2023, and the declaration of a ‘combat alert’ in the central highlands of West Papua has seen these troops move indiscriminately to displace indigenous peoples from their lands under the guise of searching for the missing pilot. Since then, the announcement of a new food estate in Merauke district combined with increased militarisation in the region and the revival of a contraversial transmigration programme has sparked further protests.
At Papua Partners, we are extremely concerned about the impact that the presence of additional military personnel is currently having on the lives, lands and livelihoods of indigenous West Papuan civilians, who are becoming innocent by-products of the Indonesian military’s quest to suppress Papua’s independence movement, and gain control over its rich natural resources. Approximately 80,000 Indigenous Papuans are currently recorded as being ‘displaced’, and these numbers are rising on a daily basis.
This ongoing militarisation and programme of forced displacement is causing excessive trauma for generations of indigenous West Papuans, whilst removing the last best chance that Papua’s rainforests have of being protected from environmental destruction. For example, we received reports that 16 villages were raised to the ground in Intan Jaya in April 2023 by the Indonesian military, which has opened up access to the Wabu Block gold mine – the mining contract for which is reportedly set to be awarded to an Indonesian state-owned mining company. By displacing those who own and depend on these lands, the Indonesian state is setting itself up to profit from their exploitation. This situation simply cannot be allowed to continue, and we are redoubling our efforts to support Indigenous West Papuans as they respond on the ground - including through supporting access to Land Rights - and to raise critical awareness about the conflict in ‘the West’,amongst those who have the power to intervene.
Key resources
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal Report (2024)
A report into State and Environmental Violence in West Papua, which convicted the Indonesian State of all four charges in the indictment against them, including environmental destruction, collusion, land-grabs and human rights abuses.
Displaced and Disempowered, TAPOL (2023)
A report exploring the drivers behind ongoing militarization and displacement in West Papua, and the prospects for preventing the conflict from spreading further.
Kill them first...discuss human rights later, HRM (2023)
An investigation and analysis into Indonesian Security Forces’ attacks on indigenous villages in Kiwirok District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province, which highlights the urgent need for international attention and action in West Papua.
Human Rights Monitor (Ongoing)
A website which provides rolling updates on the conflict, based on reporting from the region, including that provided by our partners.
Our Past is Our Future – Indigenous Perspectives on Conflict and Peacebuilding in West Papua, Naomi Sosa (2022)
Our Director Naomi’s masters thesis on the conflict and the potential for peacebuilding in West Papua
Hidden challenges for conservation and development along the Trans-Papuan economic corridor (2019)
A report exploring the social and environmental impacts of the controversial 4,300 km Trans-Papua Mega Highway.
TAPOL - West Papua 2022: Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly
A report into the trend towards worsening police and military violence against civilians in West Papua, including attacks on human rights defenders and the media.
Voices of Papua (Ongoing)
A newsletter sharing stories, ideas, culture and politics from West Papua.
The Gecko Project
An investigative reporting project focusing on land use, rainforests and rights that has a section dedicated to Papua.
Special Report: TP Freeport Indonesia and its tail of violations in Papua (2020)
A report by multiple NGOs on the human, labour and environmental abuses that have followed the opening of Freeport mine in Timika, Papua province.
Human Rights and Conflict Escalation in West Papua (2019)
A report by the International Coalition for Papua and the WestPapua-Netzwerk, which explores human rights abuses and conflict escalation in West Papua.
Gold Rush, Amnesty International (2022)
This report details how the Indonesian state’s mining plans risk exacerbating human rights abuses in West Papua.
Don’t abandon Us, The Early Warning Project (2022)
A report, based on fieldwork, which assesses the risks of mass atrocities and genocide in West Papua.
Licence to Clear, Greenpeace (2021)
A detailed report on Indonesia’s forest permitting system, and the impacts it is having on West Papua’s residents and rainforests.
