The Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully should meet with and
listen to the views of West Papuan leader Benny Wenda, Green Party MP
Catherine Delahunty said today.
Mr McCully advised National MPs
not to support a forum at Parliament which would have had Mr Wenda as
the key speaker. The Speaker of Parliament David Carter later refused
permission for the forum.
"The Government’s current policy of only
dealing with Indonesia when raising human rights in West Papua means
the voice of the indigenous people, the West Papuans, are missing from
the dialogue," said Ms Delahunty.
"Mr McCully’s advice to
Government MPs to avoid a forum aiming to highlight human rights abuses
by the Indonesian Government in West Papua reflects poorly on him and
the current policies of the Key Government.
"Stopping Mr Wenda
from having a platform to speak at Parliament sends the message that
freedom of speech is being sacrificed in order to placate a trading
partner," said Ms Delahunty.
"The Government and the Minister of
Foreign Affairs should reconsider how they deal with Indonesia, and stop
providing military and police training to Indonesian forces while human
rights abuses are occurring in our backyard."
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