DAP launches new book

Dewan Adat Papua has launched new book called '|Understanding the Rights of the Indigenous People of Papua'.

The 74-page book is jointly published by Yayasan Anak Dusun Papua and ICCO in The Netherlands. DAP chairman Forkorus Yaboisemut said the decision to publish the book was prompted by deep concern at the destruction of the social structure and administration of the indigenous people of Papua as a result of the oppression and the denial of the basic rights of the people by the authorities.

Papuan people's experiences has shown that development in the Land of Papua has destroy the traditional administration of the people and has destroyed their traditional rights to the land as well as their access to their natural resouces.

Expressing deep concern and sadness, he said that the basic resources for traditional living had been overturned, resulting in their marginalisation and impoverishment and turning them into nothing more than spectators of what is happening in their own land.

He said that at a Grand Conference of the indigenous people held in 2008, A Manifesto of the Rights of the Indigenous People of Papua had been drawn up. The Papuan people's struggle was being waged to free them from injustice, dispersal and oppression, and was a part of the struggle of indigenous people throughout the world.

He then referred to the adoption by the UN on 23 September 2007 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). The new book would provide the guidelines and references for the indigenous people of Papua to understand their basic rights.

If this struggle leads to their being arrested and imprisoned. he would speak out against this. What the Papuan people were doing these days was not to bring about disintegration or subversion but a struggle to ensure that the rights of the Papuan people are respected.

It was wrong for people engaged in this struggle to be punished,such as what has happened to Buchtar Tabuni and his colleagues. They were not criminal and had not harmed anyone, so why had they been arrested. They had been beaten up on two occasions, once while in police custody and then while in prison. He called on the chief-of-police to take note of this.

When people are struggling for their rights, they should not be arrested, he said.

Posted via email from papua's posterous