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Dear Sir/Madam,
It appears to be a sadly ironic quirk of fate that a week before scientists announced the discovery of a rare wildlife untouched by humans in West Papua (recently covered by the media on Feb 8^th), Juan Mendez, the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on the prevention of genocide, stated that the territory’s indigenous population is at “risk of extinction”. Last month, 43 Papuan men, women, and children were forced to flee to Australia in fear of their lives to seek asylum from persecution by the Indonesian authorities; two days later Indonesian troops opened fire on a group of unarmed protesters killing one 13-year-old and seriously wounding two others.

At present two West-Papuans, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage are serving respectively 15 and 10 years imprisonment for raising the West-Papuan flag in a peaceful protest at Abepura in December 2004.

The human rights abuses suffered by the Papuans are gross and widespread; over 100,000 Papuans have died at the hands of the Indonesian security forces since Indonesia took control of the territory in 1963.

It is deplorable that the Irish and international media have devoted so much coverage to the discovery of new species of plants and animals in West Papua when it has largely ignored the terrible plight of the indigenous Papuans for more than four decades.

Marzia Baldassari
West Papua Action
134, Phibsborough Road, D7
Ireland