End profit-driven approach to refugees

November 14, 1995
Issue 

The Australian government has informed PNG-based officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that it is cutting funds to the main camp for refugees who have fled Indonesian-controlled West Papua. Australian officials are reportedly insisting that refugees either return to West Papua or become PNG citizens. The Australian government claims it is safe for West Papuans to return, something West Papuan refugee spokespeople vehemently reject. West Papua became a province of Indonesia after a flawed UN-sponsored "Act of Free Choice" in 1969 transferred control from the Netherlands. West Papuan resistance to Indonesian occupation began in 1962 when temporary authority was first given to Jakarta. Indonesia has conducted a vicious war against the West Papuan people and the rebels of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) war ever since. There are currently over 10,000 West Papuan refugees in PNG, 3500 of whom live at the East Arwin refugee camp. Only those resident in east Arwin are recognised by the UNHCR as refugees and entitled to services. Most fled to PNG in 1984 after facing severe repression by Indonesian forces. Support for the independence struggle and for the OPM remains strong among the refugees. The Australian government's claim that it is safe for West Papuans to return home is being made at a time when the continuing brutal treatment of the West Papuan people is apparent for all to see. In April, a report was released by the Australian Council of Overseas Aid in which eyewitnesses recounted torture, killings and disappearances in the area near the giant Freeport copper and gold mine. Between June 1994 and February 1995, 22 civilian and 15 rebels were killed or "disappeared". Others were beaten, tortured or had their homes burnt. Even the tame-cat official Indonesian Human Rights Commission recently confirmed that troops massacred at least 11 people (most accounts put the number at 14) at a prayer meeting in May. Amnesty International estimates Indonesia holds at least 140 West Papuan political prisoners. The Australian government's inhumane decision comes in the wake of its refusal to grant asylum to East Timorese refugees fleeing Indonesian terror. It is motivated by the same goals: to whitewash Jakarta's disgusting human rights record in order to increase the penetration of Australian big business interests into Indonesia and regions it occupies. Australian big business sees West Papua as a potential bonanza. Huge quantities of gold, copper, oil, minerals and timber await to be exploited or discovered. The huge British/Australian RTZ-CRA combine, operator of the hapless Bougainville copper mine, is a part owner of the huge Freeport-McMoRan company including the mine at Mt Ertsberg which is reportedly worth $40 billion. It is the second largest copper mine in the world and contains the largest gold deposit yet discovered. Supplying Freeport's operations alone pumps $235 million into the Australian economy via Cairns each year. Some 740 Australian companies supply the mine. The Australian government is sacrificing West Papuan refugees on the altar to profits. Human rights atrocities by the Indonesian occupiers of West Papua do not concern Australian big business and its toadies in Canberra when speaking up would only jeopardise their exploitation of that unfortunate country.

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