ULMWP chairman Hon. Mr. Benny Wenda have received the prestigious Freedom of the City award. He dedicated this award to the people of West Papua. First time in our history.
It was an Honor.
Today I had the honour of receiving Freedom of the City of Oxford as a messenger of the West Papuan people. This award does not belong only to me, but it belongs to all the people of West Papua, as an acknowledgement of all West Papuans who continue to tirelessly struggle for self-determination and independence.
I would like to thank Oxford City Council, all international supporters but above all, all the people of West Papua who continue to unite and stride forward together for the liberation of West Papua.
There are so many others who have made contributions, big and small. Each person can make history, and no matter what background you come from, you can help the struggle to free the people of West Papua. Every one of you is making history, and your assistance and solidarity is kept in the hearts of the people of West Papua.
With my spirit I thank you all so much. Papua Merdeka
Congratulations and Thank You Letter from Chief Gen. WPRA Mathias Wenda from Vanimo, PApua New Guinea
ULMWP chairman Hon. Mr. Benny Wenda have received the prestigious Freedom of the City award. He dedicated this award to the people of West Papua. First time in our history.
It was an Honor.
Today I had the honour of receiving Freedom of the City of Oxford as a messenger of the West Papuan people. This award does not belong only to me, but it belongs to all the people of West Papua, as an acknowledgement of all West Papuans who continue to tirelessly struggle for self-determination and independence.
I would like to thank Oxford City Council, all international supporters but above all, all the people of West Papua who continue to unite and stride forward together for the liberation of West Papua.
There are so many others who have made contributions, big and small. Each person can make history, and no matter what background you come from, you can help the struggle to free the people of West Papua. Every one of you is making history, and your assistance and solidarity is kept in the hearts of the people of West Papua.
With my spirit I thank you all so much. Papua Merdeka
Congratulations and Thank You Letter from Chief Gen. WPRA Mathias Wenda from Vanimo, PApua New Guinea
ULMWP chairman Hon. Mr. Benny Wenda have received the prestigious Freedom of the City award. He dedicated this award to the people of West Papua. First time in our history.
It was an Honor.
Today I had the honour of receiving Freedom of the City of Oxford as a messenger of the West Papuan people. This award does not belong only to me, but it belongs to all the people of West Papua, as an acknowledgement of all West Papuans who continue to tirelessly struggle for self-determination and independence.
I would like to thank Oxford City Council, all international supporters but above all, all the people of West Papua who continue to unite and stride forward together for the liberation of West Papua.
There are so many others who have made contributions, big and small. Each person can make history, and no matter what background you come from, you can help the struggle to free the people of West Papua. Every one of you is making history, and your assistance and solidarity is kept in the hearts of the people of West Papua.
With my spirit I thank you all so much. Papua Merdeka
Congratulations and Thank You Letter from Chief Gen. WPRA Mathias Wenda from Vanimo, PApua New Guinea
Benny Wenda adalah salah satu pengungsi West Papua yang diselamatkan keluar dari pulau New Guinea karena dikejar oleh Negaera Kolonial Republik Indonesia (NKRI). Kami kirim dia keluar tahun 2002, dan sepuluh tahun kemudian dia balik, menggunakan paspor Inggris. Sekarang salah satu dari pengungsi West Papua ini mendapatkan penghargaan oleh negara lain.
Tuan Elimar Gombo, paling kiri (berkumis tebal) dan berikutnya Soni Yossi (baju merah dengan anak kecil)
Itulah antara lain kata-kata dari Soni Yossi, Wakil Ketua West Papua Refugee Relief Association (WPRRA) bermarkas pusat di Gerehu Stage 2, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Turut hadir sejumlah perwira dari West Papua Revolutionary Army (WPRA) dan juga aktivis Papua Merdeka bertempat tinggal di Port Moresby.
Dengan mencucurkan air mata, Soni Yossi mengatakan,
Saya dulu sudah punya bayangan hal-hal ini akan terjadi. Dan ini pintu terbuka, maka pintu-pintu lain lagi akan terus terbuka, dan terbuka, terus terbuka. Sampai akhirnya pintu kemerdekaan West Papua terbuka. Dia hanya tunggu kita orang West Papua sendiri yang harus mempersiapkan diri untuk menerima kemerdekaan. Ulur-ulur waktu selama ini terjadi bukan karena orang luar tidak mau menyerahkan kemerdekaan, tetapi kami orang Papua sendiri belum siap menerimanya.
Disambung lagi oleh Ketua WPRRA, Tuan Elimar Gombo bahwa penghargaan ini mengandung arti besar bagi banga Papua, bagi nasib bangsa Papua, bagi perjuangan Papua Merdeka.
Elimar Gombo menyerukan kepada seluru orang Papua di manapun Anda berada untuk segera bersiap-siap dan saat ini kami sudah siap untuk mendata semua orang Papua yang ada di luar negeri, dalam rangka mengurus hak-hak semua orang West Papua yang ada di luar negeri karena banyak orang West Papua belum mendapatkan layanan hak-hak sebagaimana mestinya seperti dijamin oleh Deklarasi Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa maupun aturan-aturan nasional dan internasional yang berlaku di seluruh dunia.
Terutama di Papua New Guinea, banyak orang West Papua masih hidup tanpa identitas, tanpa status kewarga-negaraan. Alasannya bukan karena tidak mau, tetapi karena tidak tahu bagaimana mendapatkan hak-hak yang seharusnya bisa dimiliki oleh orang West Papua di seluruh dunia.
Dalam acara ini juga disinggung tentang rencana penggabungan kegiatan Walk for Life Port Moresby dengan Free West Papua Campaign yang diselenggarakan setiap hari minggu subuh. Gubernur NCD Port Moresby Powes Parkop telah diberitahukan dan telah berjanji untuk memberikan ucapan selamat dan terimakaish yang sama dalam waktu dekat.
Benny Wenda adalah salah satu pengungsi West Papua yang diselamatkan keluar dari pulau New Guinea karena dikejar oleh Negaera Kolonial Republik Indonesia (NKRI). Kami kirim dia keluar tahun 2002, dan sepuluh tahun kemudian dia balik, menggunakan paspor Inggris. Sekarang salah satu dari pengungsi West Papua ini mendapatkan penghargaan oleh negara lain.
Tuan Elimar Gombo, paling kiri (berkumis tebal) dan berikutnya Soni Yossi (baju merah dengan anak kecil)
Itulah antara lain kata-kata dari Soni Yossi, Wakil Ketua West Papua Refugee Relief Association (WPRRA) bermarkas pusat di Gerehu Stage 2, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Turut hadir sejumlah perwira dari West Papua Revolutionary Army (WPRA) dan juga aktivis Papua Merdeka bertempat tinggal di Port Moresby.
Dengan mencucurkan air mata, Soni Yossi mengatakan,
Saya dulu sudah punya bayangan hal-hal ini akan terjadi. Dan ini pintu terbuka, maka pintu-pintu lain lagi akan terus terbuka, dan terbuka, terus terbuka. Sampai akhirnya pintu kemerdekaan West Papua terbuka. Dia hanya tunggu kita orang West Papua sendiri yang harus mempersiapkan diri untuk menerima kemerdekaan. Ulur-ulur waktu selama ini terjadi bukan karena orang luar tidak mau menyerahkan kemerdekaan, tetapi kami orang Papua sendiri belum siap menerimanya.
Disambung lagi oleh Ketua WPRRA, Tuan Elimar Gombo bahwa penghargaan ini mengandung arti besar bagi banga Papua, bagi nasib bangsa Papua, bagi perjuangan Papua Merdeka.
Elimar Gombo menyerukan kepada seluru orang Papua di manapun Anda berada untuk segera bersiap-siap dan saat ini kami sudah siap untuk mendata semua orang Papua yang ada di luar negeri, dalam rangka mengurus hak-hak semua orang West Papua yang ada di luar negeri karena banyak orang West Papua belum mendapatkan layanan hak-hak sebagaimana mestinya seperti dijamin oleh Deklarasi Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa maupun aturan-aturan nasional dan internasional yang berlaku di seluruh dunia.
Terutama di Papua New Guinea, banyak orang West Papua masih hidup tanpa identitas, tanpa status kewarga-negaraan. Alasannya bukan karena tidak mau, tetapi karena tidak tahu bagaimana mendapatkan hak-hak yang seharusnya bisa dimiliki oleh orang West Papua di seluruh dunia.
Dalam acara ini juga disinggung tentang rencana penggabungan kegiatan Walk for Life Port Moresby dengan Free West Papua Campaign yang diselenggarakan setiap hari minggu subuh. Gubernur NCD Port Moresby Powes Parkop telah diberitahukan dan telah berjanji untuk memberikan ucapan selamat dan terimakaish yang sama dalam waktu dekat.
A group of West Papuan refugees who’ve been shunted from place to place around Port Moresby for years have been told they have to move again.
The refugees and their families have been living in slum-like conditions for more than a decade while they wait for authorities to fulfil a promise to find them a permanent home.
Late last week council officers, escorted by police, handed people demolition orders to take down the small homes and businesses they’ve built along a drain in the suburb of Rainbow.
Community leader Olaf Wayangkau said they have nowhere else to go.
“We don’t know. We are waiting here while the government of Papua New Guinea find a place for us,” he said.
It was the Port Moresby Governor Powes Parkop, a vocal supporter of the West Papuan cause, who promised to find the refugees a permanent home.
Governor Parkop said he was unaware of the move to serve the demolition orders or what had prompted it.
He said he will work to stop, or at least stall the process to carry out the demolition orders.
“I have committed to resettle them all and I have identified land for them but the National Planning Department has been slow to grant access,” he said.
“I hope I can sort it out soon and get proper allocation of the land so they’ve got security and can build a future
A group of West Papuan refugees who’ve been shunted from place to place around Port Moresby for years have been told they have to move again.
The refugees and their families have been living in slum-like conditions for more than a decade while they wait for authorities to fulfil a promise to find them a permanent home.
Late last week council officers, escorted by police, handed people demolition orders to take down the small homes and businesses they’ve built along a drain in the suburb of Rainbow.
Community leader Olaf Wayangkau said they have nowhere else to go.
“We don’t know. We are waiting here while the government of Papua New Guinea find a place for us,” he said.
It was the Port Moresby Governor Powes Parkop, a vocal supporter of the West Papuan cause, who promised to find the refugees a permanent home.
Governor Parkop said he was unaware of the move to serve the demolition orders or what had prompted it.
He said he will work to stop, or at least stall the process to carry out the demolition orders.
“I have committed to resettle them all and I have identified land for them but the National Planning Department has been slow to grant access,” he said.
“I hope I can sort it out soon and get proper allocation of the land so they’ve got security and can build a future
Today is July 17th, 2019, the date when the Chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and the Secretary-General of The Koteka Tribal Assembly (Dewan Musyawarah Masyarakat Adat Koteka – DeMMAK) is celebrating the day when One of the West Papuan Refugees since 2000, Mr. Benny Wenda who right now lives in the United Kingdom as a refugee being granted British Citizenship, Awarded a Prestigious Award from one of the oldest city in the world “Oxford City” called the “Freedom of Oxford” Honour.
In celebrating this achievements of one of the refugees, we are launching this website in order to:
Document all West Papuan Refugees in the world;
Assist all West Papuan Refugees in the world with anything that will help to get citizenship status, or others that we can offer.
Disseminate news and information on the situation of West Papuan refugees around the world.
We are setting up various WPRRA.club centres around the world, including:
the United Kingdom,
the Netherlands,
the USA,
Australia
South Pacific
Asia
Please drop us your contacts and information by emailing to info@wprra.club
(MissionNewswire) The Refugee Livelihood Program, a program for the refugee population of West Papua, an Indonesian Province on the island of New Guinea, is a collaboration of Caritas of Papua New Guinea and the Don Bosco Technical School in Gabutu, near Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea.
The West Papuan community has more than 2,000 people who are living in five camps across Port Moresby. They had been promised resettlement to allocated state land by the previous government, but have yet to be resettled. With this uncertainty, leaders from the camps approached the Catholic Bishops Conference for help in reducing some of the ongoing challenges at the camps such as food security, clean water, education, land and housing.
Caritas launched its support by providing educational scholarships to 20 West Papuan youth so that they can attend courses at the Don Bosco Technical School, Gabutu. The short four-month courses give disadvantaged young men and women an opportunity to attain basic certificates in computing, administration, electrical and motor mechanics.
Thomas Wangai, one of the scholarship recipients, will soon to be studying metal fabrication and welding. He spoke of the hardships he faced and said the scholarship was a turning point in his life. He noted, “I am honored to receive this scholarship. I faced many negative situations, but I never lost faith. I am grateful to God that He has heard my prayer.”
Hans Wonsiwor, representative of the Nine-Mile West Papua community, also expressed how much the scholarships meant. “I’m proud of the partnership between Caritas and the Don Bosco Technical School. I thank them both in providing this wonderful scholarship program to assist the West Papuan Community.”
Salesian missionaries in Papua New Guinea provide primary and secondary education as well as technical skills training to prepare youth for the workforce. Missionaries also help to ensure that basic needs like shelter, food and water are met so students are able to focus on their studies.
“’They welcomed angels’ is our Mission theme for 2019. In keeping with the theme, we are happy to welcome the West Papuan refugees and offer them education at Don Bosco Technical School in Gabutu. The program will develop their skills, and most importantly, help them find a decent job,” says Kenneth Gonzales, deputy principal for technical affairs at the Don Bosco Technical School.
Caritas Australia’s Program Quality and Support Coordinator in Papua New Guinea, Marie Mondu, emphasized the need for empowerment and a sense of purpose to be imparted to the refugees. She says, “Refugees in Papua New Guinea today need our help, particularly our brothers and sisters from West Papua. This program provides them with the tools necessary and the opportunity to rebuild their lives.”
Papua New Guinea has a population of approximately 7.5 million. It is a resource-rich country with oil, gas and gold reserves as well as fertile land capable of producing high crop yields. Despite this, an estimated 40 percent of Papua New Guinean’s live below the poverty line of $1.25 per day, according to the World Bank.
Close to 50 percent of adults are illiterate and 25 percent of children are unable to attend school in the country. Part of the problem with getting to school, work and hospitals has to do with the country’s infrastructure. In rural areas where nearly 88 percent of the population resides, there are few roads or means of transportation to get to schools or places of employment.
About 250 West Papuans have been served notices of eviction to leave their settlement in Port Moresby, reports The National.
National Capital District Commission officials, escorted by police officers, handed the settlers demolition orders last Thursday and told them to leave their home in the suburb of Rainbow where they had lived for 11 years.
Communal leader Elly Wangai said that some of them were now PNG citizens after former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill allowed them to gain citizenship without paying the K10,000 application fee.
Demolition orders served on West Papuan settlers in Port Moresby. Image: ABC
“But unlike other PNG citizens, we don’t have any land to go to. When we were given citizenship, the government did not give us land to settle. And this is the fifth time we have been evicted since 2007.
“We were first evicted from 8-Mile settlement and we settled outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Office at Ela Beach.
“Then we moved to the Boroko Police station. Then to Apex Park at Boroko and now to here.”
Wangai said they were willing to move from the settlement.
‘Drainage area’ “This is a drainage area and we know that and we will move. But we want NCDC to provide land for us.
“If NCDC can evict other PNG settlements from 2-Mile and resettle them at 6-Mile, they should do the same for us.”
Wangai said they had once been given land at Red Hills in the suburb of Gerehu.
“But when we went there, developments were already taking place.
“So we had to return here. Since we were given eviction notices, our children were traumatised and did not attend school.
“Our mothers who are involved in small economical activities like selling doughnuts and ice blocks have stopped.
“They are finding it hard to earn money to look after their family. If we are given land to move, we will be confident to live our daily lives.”
According to ABC, Port Moresby Governor Powes Parkop was unaware of the move to serve the demolition orders or what had prompted it.
A vocal supporter of the West Papua cause, Parkop said he would work to stop – or at least stall – the process to carry out the demolition orders, and fulfill his promise to find the settlers a permanent home.
“I hope I can sort it out soon and get proper allocation of the land so they’ve got security and can build a future.”
West Papuan refugees in Port Moresby …”unlike other PNG citizens, we don’t have any land to go to”. Image: The National
WPRRA Port Moresby 