Australia: West Papua’s Bad Neighbour

Green Left Weekly presents a public forum on Australia: West Papua’s Bad Neighbour at

7pm on Wednesday Feb 15,
Resistance Centre
23 Abercrombie St
Chippendale

Speakers will be:

• Max Lane Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific
• Joe Collins Australia-West Papua Association

In West Papuan asylum seekers need our support, Sarah Stephen writes

The asylum seekers had hung a huge banner which read: "Save West Papua people soul from genocide intimidation and terrorist from military government of Indonesian. Also we West Papuan need freedom peace love and justice in our home land." But if not for photographer Damien Baker and the Cairns Post, which hired a helicopter, we might never have seen the boat and its political message.

Emphasis Mine

And

ICJ Australia representative Justice John Dowd pointed out on January 19 that the asylum seekers "should not be sent offshore processing camps in Nauru or Manus Island as they are quite distinct from other boat arrivals as they have come directly from the place where they were persecuted. The 1951 Refugee Convention requires that states do not punish asylum seekers for illegal entry if they have come directly from a place where their lives were threatened."

Emphasis Mine

Once again, the Australian government aligns itself with the persecutors and punishes the victims for daring to escape. This is not out of malice but simply to protect the interests of Australian businesses in Indonesia.