West Papua and Indigenous Peoples' Rights

WEST PAPUA’S indigenous population is one of the most diverse on earth, consisting of 253 different language groups. Each group is unique not just in language, but follow distinct customs, religious practices, economic interests and social structures.

Indigenous peoples currently represent an estimated 65 per cent of West Papua’s total population of more than 2.3 million citizens. Only 45 years ago, in 1960, they accounted for more than 97 per cent of a population of 736,700.

This change is directly related to Indonesia’s take-over of West Papua in 1963. Hoping to consolidate its control of the island and undermine West Papua’s growing independence movement, the Indonesian government implemented a policy that opened this part of the island to Indonesian migrants enticed there by the promise of cheap land and access to the island’s abundant natural resources. This policy was supported by a new law declaring all land and natural resources property of the Indonesian state and severely limiting land
claims by indigenous West Papuans. This disregard for the land, resource and cultural rights of West Papua’s indigenous peoples—as well as the brutal
measures employed by Indonesia’s military in its effort to enforce Jakarta’s designs for West Papua— helped set the stage for an independence movement that continues to this day.

The plight of West Papua’s indigenous population is mirrored in the struggles of
indigenous peoples worldwide for recognition of their human rights. Indigenous peoples are among the most marginalized and impoverished members of society in every region of the world, a condition that is more often than not due to the loss of their land and resources. Rights & Democracy is a committed supporter of the global struggle for indigenous peoples’ rights, in particular the right to self-determination. Rights & Democracy continues to press ahead with its efforts to see these rights acknowledged through the adoption of international human rights instruments, notably the draft declarations on the rights of indigenous peoples that are currently before the Organization of American States and the United Nations.