Oct 21, 2026
Papua[1], the world’s largest tropical island, came about 8,000 years ago at the end of the last interglacial. West Papua, the western side of the island, was claimed by the Netherlands in 1824 (Figure 1). Up until World War Two however administration covered only five percent of the Territory.[2] For 50,000 years, Papuans and their fellow Melanesian neighbours have lived in decentralised, autonomous, egalitarian communities practicing mutual-aid and respecting their Ancestors, Nature and God.
Adapting to the vast array of local habitats, the people developed unique languages, cultures and physiologies in a symbiotic relationship within Nature. Living with kin and neither government nor state, it is a political paradigm that may be called indigenous anarchism.[3
With the onslaught of World War Two and the arrival of Imperial Japan, the Dutch administration fled to Australia while Papuans fought behind enemy lines as Coastwatchers and transmitted the locations of Japanese troops back to Australia.
When the Allies entered the Territory in 1945, the Papuans fought and died alongside Dutch, American, Australian and British troops and were thus unofficial members of the World War Two Allies (Figure 2).
Failed Decolonisation
Following World War Two, West Papua was a registered Non-Self-Governing Territory where the colonial power had a ‘sacred trust’ under Article 73e of the UN Charter to deliver ‘self-government’ and ‘complete independence and freedom’ under UN resolution 1514 of 1960.[4] The Dutch and Australian governments recognised the arbitrary border dividing the island cut across tribal lands, customary gardens and villages such that in 1957 both governments agreed to coordinate administration across the island so that the arbitrary colonial borders might be removed and the Territories united as an island nation.[5]
In 1961 the Netherlands submitted their last report to the United Nations as required under the UN Charter. It detailed how the West Papuan people had embraced their forthcoming independence creating a decentralised system of political representation forming village councils, regional councils and a national council.[6] West Papuans attended meetings at Pacific regional bodies and the General Assembly of the United Nations. And on 1 December 1961 the West Papuan flag flew alongside that of the Netherlands as the people sang their national anthem and declared to the world their forthcoming nation, West Papua.
In breach of their ‘sacred trust’ however, the Netherlands transferred the Territory to the United Nations in 1962 which then transferred the Territory to Indonesia in 1963 via an agreement brokered by Washington. Furthermore, the colonial powers involved were all aware that transferring a Non-Self-Governing Territory to the United Nations created a Trust Territory.[7]
United Nations Malfeasance
The Secretariat of the United Nations also covertly breached multiple articles of the UN Charter to facilitate the illegal annexation. These include: the Secretary-General’s secret collusion with Sukarno and Washington in designing an agreement for the ‘affirmation of Indonesian sovereignty’, in violation of Article 100 of the Charter;[8] the Secretariat removing West Papua – then listed as Netherlands New Guinea – from the 1962 List of Non-Self-Governing Territories prior to any act of self-determination;[9] the Secretariat’s withholding of the Agreement for five weeks prior to its introduction to the General Assembly, in breach of Article 102 of the Charter;[10] the Secretariat’s failure to retain United Nations experts to monitor and assist in the preparations for self-determination, in violation of Article XVI of the Agreement;[11] the ‘Act of Free Choice’ – where 1026 Papuans were hand-picked from a population of 800,000 – in breach of UN resolution 1541 (XV) demanding universal suffrage;[12] the Secretariat’s withholding of the Secretary-General’s report from the General Assembly in 1969, and only introducing it ‘at such notice and time as to hinder unwanted scrutiny and debate’, in violation of Article 102 of the Charter;[13] and how UN resolution 2504 (XVII) of 1969 only ‘takes note’ of a report of the Secretary-General.[14] As the co-founder of International Lawyers for West Papua Melinda Janki details, there is no UN resolution that stipulates the General Assembly’s approval of the integration of West Papua into Indonesia.[15]
Upon arrival the Indonesian military embarked on a programme pillaging shops, hospitals and even homes transporting food and consumer goods back to Jakarta.[16] Anyone opposed to the Indonesian take-over was arrested and disappeared leading to uprisings across the Territory.[17] In 1965 a mass uprising of 14,000 people is deemed the birth of the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) or Free Papua Movement. The OPM has been waging a low-level yet growing guerrilla war for liberation ever since.[18]
Genocide and Western Complicity
While attention today is rightfully given to the ongoing genocide in Palestine, little to no media coverage is given to the ongoing genocide alleged to be occurring in West Papua – now into its seventh decade – despite numerous reports by legal scholars,[19] intelligence agencies,[20] and the United Nations.[21] Recent reassessment puts a population deficit of the indigenous Papuan people in excess of two million.[22]
While members of Indonesia’s government, military and police may be deemed guilty of genocide before a competent court, Article IV of the Genocide Convention states that ‘leaders, officials and individuals’ who assist the perpetrator, may be deemed complicit. The United Kingdom provides fighter jets and armoured personnel carriers.[23] Germany provides Leopard tanks.[24] Switzerland provides assault rifles, submachine guns and pistols.[25] Israel provides jets and machine-gun drones.[26] France provides Thales munitions, Nexter howitzers, and Airbus attack helicopters.[27] Serbia provides Krusik bombs and mortars (Figure 3).[28] Belgium provides FZ Thales rockets and M113 armoured vehicles.[29] New Zealand provided police training until concerns were raised[30] while the Netherlands parliament blocked the minority government’s plan to supply one hundred Leopard battle tanks due to ongoing human rights violations.[31] Australia gifted four C130 Hercules air-force planes,[32] an unknown number of Bushmaster armoured personnel carriers,[33] and continues to train and host the Indonesian military.[34] Washington recently gifted twenty-four refurbished F16 fighter jets,[35] regularly sells attack helicopters,[36] and continues to train the Indonesian military.[37]
Discussion
Had the United Nations Secretariat and complicit Member States not covertly intervened to deny the West Papuan people’s right to self-determination and planned independence, the Netherlands / Australia Agreement would likely have led to the removal of the colonial boundary and an independent Papuan island nation. Furthermore, the nascent decentralised system of political representation adopted by the inhabitants of West Papua – reflecting the indigenous fabric of the hundreds of autonomous Melanesian communities – would logically have been extended across the eastern side of the island and set a precedent for other Melanesian and indigenous peoples. Instead, the Papuans have been subjected to a ruthless programme of intentional genocide since the UN transferred administration to Indonesia in 1963.
Fully aware of West Papua’s right to independence, the colonial powers arm and train Indonesia’s Republican forces, which under Article 4 of the Genocide Convention deems them complicit. Without the modern fighter jets, military transport planes, ships, tanks, helicopters, rockets, napalm, cluster bombs, automatic weapons and training supplied by the European and other Member States, the West Papuan genocide and Indonesia’s oppressive military regime would evaporate overnight. A direct consequence of this has been a population deficit estimated today to be at least two million with those responsible ostensibly immune from prosecution.
As the former President of the International Association of Prosecutors Nicholas Cowdrey reminds us:
“The rule of law is not an optional consideration if human rights and democracy are to be assured. […] We cannot afford to be complacent or to place uncritical trust in our political representatives and rulers. […] To them the rule of law may be no more than a slogan – to us, it is of essential substance and has very practical consequences.”[38]
In the case of West Papua, the very practical consequences of our complacency has resulted in our representatives and rulers being complicit in genocide. The case of West Papua highlights the failure of global governance and the failure of the current neoliberal paradigm where the accumulation of capital usurps humanity. With the United Nations and our leaders responsible for this crime of all crimes, ‘we the people’ must surely revolt.
Notes & References:
[1] Credit is usually given to the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Menezes for naming the island Ilhas dos Papuas or Land of Papuas in 1526 however Poulgrain (in press) states that the Portuguese use of the name preceded this date by several decades.
[2] With the Charter of the United Nations demanding the decolonisation and self-determination of colonised people, the re-annexation by the Netherlands in 1945 is deemed illegal.
[3] McKinlay King, J. 2026, History of West Papua and the OPM: Indigenous anarchism on the periphery, Pacific Dynamics. (in press).
[4] Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, United Nations resolution 1514 (XXV), 1960.
[5] Joint Netherlands/Australia Statement, 1957, 28(11), Current Notes on International Affairs, 888.
[6] Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Report on Netherlands New Guinea for the Year 1961: Presented to the Secretary General of the United Nations pursuant to Article 73(e) of the Charter.
[7] McKinlay King, J. with Johnson, A. 2018, West Papua Exposed: An Abandoned Non-Self-Governing or Trust Territory, Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity, vol. 6, no. 2, (online) https://griffithlawjournal.org/index.php/gjlhd/article/view/1078
[8] Julian Alec McKinlay King, ‘A Soul Divided: The UN’s Misconduct over West Papua’ (2019) 16(1/2) PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies 59, 67.
[9] Jennifer Robinson, ‘Self-Determination and the Limits of Justice: West Papua and East Timor, Future Justice (online, 2010) https://www.writing.org.au/wp-site/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Jennifer_Robinson2.pdf 172.
[10] McKinlay King (n 8) 64.
[11] All UN staff departed the Territory on the 1 May 1963, the same day of the Indonesian take-over. See John Saltford, The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962–1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal (Routledge Curzon, 2003).
[12] Melinda Janki, ‘West Papua and the Right to Self-Determination under International Law’ (2010) 34(1) West Indian Law Journal 1, 10, 13.
[13] McKinlay King (n 24) 75.
[14] Janki (n 28) 27.
[15] Janki (n 28) 28.
[16] Galbraith, F. 1969, United Sates Department of State Airgram A-278, ‘West Irian: The Nature of the Opposition,’ 9 July. Online, available: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//NSAEBB/NSAEBB128/29.%20Airgram%20A-278%20from%20Jakarta%20to%20State%20Department,%20July%209,%201969.pdf
[17] Hugh Lunn, The Dark Side of the Moon: When mankind looked the other way, 18 February 2023. (online) https://hughlunn.substack.com/p/the-dark-side-of-the-moon?utm_source=publication-search
[18] Otto Ondawame, One People, One Soul: West Papuan Nationalism and the Organisasi Papua Merdeka, 2010, Crawford House, Adelaide.
[19] See for example: Elizabeth Brundige et al., Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control, 2004, Lowenstein International Human Rights Centre, Yale Law School, Yale University. (online) https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Intellectual_Life/West_Papua_final_report.pdf ; Jim Elmslie, & Camellia Webb-Gannon, A Slow-Motion Genocide: Indonesian Rule in West Papua, 2013, Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity, vol. 1, no. 2:142–166. (online) https://griffithlawjournal.org/index.php/gjlhd/article/view/578; Paul Antonopoulos and Drew Cottle, Forgotten genocide in Indonesia: mass violence, resource exploitation and struggle for independence in West Papua, 2019, In F. Jacob (Ed.), Genocide and Mass Violence in Asia: An Introductory Reader Walter de Gruyter, 160-188. (online) https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110659054-009
[20] Gregory R. Copley, AUKUS: Operational Vitality: Strategic Challenges, 2023, Defense & Foreign Affairs, Special Analysis, Vol XLI, No. 17 Monday, 17 April 2023.
[21] V. Toki, Study on Decolonisation in the Pacific region, Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues, Twelfth Session, 2013, UN Doc E/C.19/2013/12. (online) https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/238/49/PDF/N1323849.pdf?OpenElement
[22] McKinlay King, J. 2025, The West Papuan genocide: United Nations malfeasance, Western complicity and the failure of international law, Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity, vol. 13, no.1. (online) https://www.griffithlawjournal.org/index.php/gjlhd/article/view/1293/1152
[23] Tim Jones, Indonesians paying 20 million pounds for weapons used in repression, 30 November 2012, Debt Justice. (online) https://debtjustice.org.uk/news/indonesians-paying-20-million-for-weapons-used-in-repression
[24] Berlin Approves Huge Tank Deal with Indonesia, 8 May 2013, SPIEGEL International. (online) https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-government-approves-export-of-tanks-to-indonesia-a-898698.html
[25] War on West Papua, Switzerland. (online) https://www.waronwestpapua.org/switzerland
[26] George C. Wilson, U.S. Is Fronting Israel Sale of Jets to Indonesia, 5 October 1979, The Washington Post. (online) https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/10/05/us-is-fronting-israeli-sale-of-jets-to-indonesia/971f7335-8911-4189-bc33-af75f6f364fa/ ; The Database of Israeli Military and Security Export, Indonesia (online) https://dimse.info/indonesia/
[27] War on West Papua, France. (online) https://www.waronwestpapua.org/france
[28] War on West Papua, Serbia. (online) https://www.waronwestpapua.org/serbia
[29] War on West Papua, Belgium. (online) https://www.waronwestpapua.org/belgium
[30] War on West Papua, New Zealand. (online) https://www.waronwestpapua.org/new_zealand
[31] Indonesia pulls out of Dutch tanks deal, 3 July 2012, Space War, Your World at War. (online) https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Indonesia_pulls_out_of_Dutch_tanks_deal_999.html
[32] Firdaus Hashim, Australia gives Indonesia four c-130H transports, 4 July 2012, Flight Global, (online) https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/2012/07/australia-gives-indonesia-four-c-130h-transports/
[33] Ben Felton, Indonesia receives donated Bushmasters, 10 August 2023, Australian Defence Magazine (online) https://www.australiandefence.com.au/defence/land/indonesia-receives-donated-bushmasters
[34] Australian Army – Back to Business in Indonesia, Media Release, 21 October 2021, Australian Embassy, Indonesia. (online) https://indonesia.embassy.gov.au/jakt/MR21_020.html
[35] Mike Yeo, F-16 fighter jets to begin journey to Indonesia following US regeneration work, 9 December 2017, Defense News. (online) https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/12/08/f-16-fighter-jets-to-begin-journey-to-indonesia-following-us-regeneration-work/
[36] U.S. to sell Indonesia Apache attack helicopters in $500 mln deal, 26 August 2013, Reuters. (online) https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4N0GR238/
[37] Kalika Mehta, Indonesia and US begin joint annual military drills, 25 August 2025, DW News. (online) https://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-and-us-begin-joint-annual-military-drills/a-73753086
[38] Nicholas Cowdery, ‘Terrorism and the Rule of Law’, Paper presented at the 9th Biennial CLANT Conference, Bali, June 2003, p. 13, https://clant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/the-bali-conference/2003/Cowdery-Nicholas-QC-Terrorism-and-the-Rule-of-Law-B-amp-W-.pdf
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