Vanuatu needs to be on UN Committee of 24 - Sope

Transcript

BARAK SOPE: The reason why Indonesia is there is to prevent West Papua's claim. That's all they're doing. They're always wanting to be in the committee to ensure that West Papua is not discussed in the committee. That's why it's important that we have countries that would sup port the idea of West Papua getting independence and the proper way of doing it is to be in the Committee of 24. The reason also is that the United Nations did not do what it was supposed to do, the referendum that took place in 1962 or '69 did not follow the UN Charter where only one-thousand people voted. They said that the reason why only one-thousand people were voting was because people in West Papua at the time were not educated, they were primitive, they were not educated enough to even know how to vote. Look, those were the reasons. That's not a referendum where the whole population decides, they didn't do that. So what would happen if the de-colonisation committee has to push that, to go the General Assembly?

DON WISEMAN: You also want Vanuatu to push to be on the Human Rights Committee at the UN...

BS: Yes, Vanuatu also has to be on the Human Rights Committee of the UN because it's over 50 years now, Indonesia says that the people of West Papua have chosen to be part of Indonesia but then there's over 200-thousand people who have been killed. Why are they being killed? They are being killed because they wanted independence. There is no press, there is no freedom in West Papua so it's not only as if it was last year or two years ago. It's been over for 50-years and over 200-thousand people - mothers, women, children - have been raped and killed. It has to be said and it has to be pushed that people are still getting killed, even now. That's why Vanuatu has to be in the committee.

DW: Vanuatu of course would be very much on its own wouldn't it? I know there has been some support from Solomon Islands for West Papua in the past year or so but Solomon Islands is coming under a lot of pressure and then the other members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group are firmly on Jakarta's side aren't they?

BS: Yeah well the only country which is pressuring them is Indonesia. There's only one country and Indonesia does do anything in these countries anyway. It does not give them aid like Australia does or New Zealand does. It gives them nothing.