Excerpt from newint.org
West Papua is muted. For months, widespread internet blackouts have hampered communication and independent reporters and human rights organizations have been denied access.
The western half of the island of New Guinea is home to one of the world’s least documented humanitarian crises. Ever since Indonesia annexed West Papua, an ex-Dutch colony, it has been met with armed separatist movements and social uprisings. Civilian demand for self-determination has been met by governments in Jakarta (both totalitarian and democratically elected) with brutality, repression, and even chemical warfare.
In late April this year, the Indonesian government, led by President Joko Widodo, branded the West Papuan liberation army Organisasi Papua Merdeka (‘The Free Papua Movement’, OPM) a ‘terrorist organization’. This was swiftly used as a pretext to launch full-scale military operations in ‘hotspots’ in the central highlands, where lesser-equipped guerrilla units confront a Western-backed Indonesian army in a modern version of David versus Goliath.
The army’s sweeping raids over rural areas in Intan Jaya, Nduga and Puncak Jaya regencies have displaced thousands of people who now reside in poorly equipped refugee camps, beyond the reach of international humanitarian aid. Approximately 400 refugees have died during the latest chapter of violence, which erupted in late 2018.
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