Help West Papua

West Papua is a province of Indonesia. It was once a Dutch colony, but it was invaded in 1963 by Indonesia. Indonesia craved access to West Papua’s vast natural resources including Grasberg, a mountain which has since become the world’s largest goldmine. For over 50 years the people of West Papua have been suffering under the occupation of the Indonesian government. It is estimated that over 500,000 people have been killed. There are not much media reports because foreign journalists have been banned from freely reporting about this. In 1969, the United Nations promised the people of West Papua a free and fair referendum on independence to be held “in accordance with international practice”. The reaction of the Indonesia government was to handpick 1,026 people and force them at gunpoint to vote for Indonesian rule.

"In 1969, the Indonesian military marched 1026 West Papuans (0.2 of the population) at gunpoint to the voting station, and told to raise their hand at the right moment, or be shot. Many of their families were being held by the military. They all voted in favour of Indonesia. The West Papuan people have been fighting for their right for a fair & free referendum for 55 years."

After that day, the people of West Papua have campaigned for their fundamental right to self-determination. The UN has promised them an independence referendum and they want that to happen. The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) is leading the call to #LetWestPapuaVote and has organized a national and international petition to get the support from the world and to send the message that the people of West Papua demand to be free. The Global petition for West Papua officially has been launched in January this year. There is also an online petition on Avaaz. Here is the link: Help to end the genocide in West Papua. Please sign and share.

"It only took a week for Indonesia’s Orwellian ‘Minister of Communications’ backed by the military to ban the petition and in fact the entire petition hosting website of Avaaz throughout the whole of Indonesia."

Last year a  group of young swimmers decided to raise awareness for the people of West Papua through swimming. They agreed that this month they would swim the petition 69 kilometers across Lake Geneva and into the hands of the United Nations.



People from West Papua also began to sign the petition manually, at great personal risk. Saverius Mokai Gebse and Reimundus Ndiken were arrested by the Indonesian police for signing the petition in their own village. That was back in May, and there is still no information what happened to them. The Indonesian military and police said that anyone who participates in the signing of the petition for West Papua “will be arrested”.

"West Papua is a country where just displaying your national flag can get you 15 years in jail; for signing this petition, can get you 15 years in prison."
You can read the full article here: Swim for West Papua. Here’s why your name matters to the people of West Papua.


These people need help from the whole world. Please sign and share the petition. Spread the word. You can use the hashtags #BackTheSwim and #LetWestPapuaVote.

For more information about the swim and the team, visit: https://www.swimforwestpapua.com/

Here is the official website of The United Liberation Movement for West Papua: https://www.ulmwp.org/