OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM TRUDY OF THE FREEDOM FLOTILLA We, the crew of Trudy of the Freedom Flotilla travel to West Papua under the authority of the Original Nations and in solidarity with the Indigenous elders Uncle Kevin Buzzacott and Jacob Rumbiak in their peaceful mission for freedom, cultural survival and sovereignty for the Indigenous peoples of West Papua and Australia. In the last fifty years it is estimated 500,000 Papuans have been (killed/murdered) under Indonesian occupation, as West Papuans still fight for independence and sovereignty of their country, multinational mining and logging companies are grabbing up large areas of land. Hundreds of asylum seekers have sailed to Australia from West Papua fleeing, in particular one faction of Indonesian military forces from Detachment 88: An AUSTRALIAN FUNDED, TRAINED and EQUIPPED ($AU40 million per year) special ‘anti-terror’ unit widely reported by independent observers of committing human rights atrocities including abduction, torture, murder and rape, as well as intimidation and displacement of West Papuan people. This while Australia claims neutrality. We deplore the Australian Governments recent changes for asylum seeker policy. 1000 homes have been destroyed and families displaced on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea to build the new detention centres for the current government’s cruel solution to the human rights crisis Australian policies have created and presumably either labour or the liberals intend to worsen. Asylum seekers are being sentenced to years of mandatory imprisonment in the inhumane conditions of offshore detention centres despite Australia being signatory to UN conventions regarding the treatment of refugees. We congratulate the Indonesian people for their freedom from colonial rule and sail to support the struggle for similar freedom, sovereignty, and self-determination of the Indigenous people of West Papua and Australia and to expose the veil of hypocrisy, doublespeak and fear mongering which covers Australia’s participation in these ongoing human rights atrocities. We sail for freedom and we sail for peace Merdeka!
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:01:50 +0000
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