International MPs campaign to help West Papuans keeps building

Papuan Culture

A New Zealand MP who is part of the the International Parliamentarians for West Papua movement says the growth of the network can help foster change in Indonesia’s troubled eastern region.

Parliamentarians from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand are expected to attend the Australia launch of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua outside parliament house in Canberra tomorrow.

A New Zealand Green Party MP, Katherine Delahunty, believes more regional parliamentarians will start to speak out against ongoing human rights abuses in Papua.

She admits that a lack of international awareness about West Papua in general has helped Indonesia suppress information about the abuses.

“Many MPs, once they have the information and have the information and an understanding of this issue, they recognise that as parliamentarians, there is a responsibility, a regional responsibility, to stand up against the dirtiest little secret in the Pacific region.”

Katherine Delahunty

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