'You are No Representation of Papuans': Indonesia Tells Vanuatu at UN

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia used its right of reply during the recent United Nations General Assembly to lash out at Vanuatu over its accusation of human rights violations in Papua.

“You are no representation of the people of Papua and stop fantasizing of being one,” said Silvany Austin Pasaribu, second secretary of Indonesia’s permanent mission at the United Nations on Saturday, September 26.

In the official United Nations video footage, Silvany said Vanuatu had an excessive and unhealthy obsession with how Indonesia should govern itself.

Vanuatu has been raising the issue of alleged human rights violations faced by the Papuans almost every year during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Indonesian government considers this accusation as Vanuatu’s advocacy for separatism.

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“Indonesia will defend itself against any continuing advocacy of separatism conveyed under the guise of artificial human rights concern,” Silvany said.

The young diplomat said that the Provinces of Papua and West Papua are an irrevocable part of Indonesia since 1945. It has also been formally endorsed by the United Nations and the international community decades ago.

“The fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter that Vanuatu has failed to understand is to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries,” she said.

In the reply to a statement by Vanuatu’s prime minister Bob Loughman, Silvany also questioned how Vanuatu — that has yet to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and has yet to sign the international treaty on economic, social, and cultural rights — could teach Indonesia on the human rights issue in Papua.

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“We called on the government of Vanuatu to fulfill your responsibilities to your people and the world. Until you have done so, please keep the sermon to yourself,” she said.

Earlier, in his pre-recorded speech prime minister Loughman accused Indonesia of violating human rights in Papua.

He said that the allegations of human rights violations in Papua are of concern to Pacific countries who have called on Indonesia to allow the United Nations Office of the Human Rights Commissioner to visit Papua. However, the prime minister added, there has been little progress on the matter.

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“I, therefore, call on the Indonesian government to respond to the previous call of the Pacific leaders,” he said.

Last year, Vanuatu also accused Indonesia of not allowing the Human Rights Commissioner to visit Papua.

“We are concerned about the Indonesian Government delaying the confirmation of time for the Human Rights Commissioner to visit Papua,” said Vanuatu's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sumbue Antas in 2019.

(Editor: Icha Rastika)

Source: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/09/28/06173911/indonesia-ke-vanuatu-anda-bukan-perwakilan-papua-berhentilah-berfantasi.