The Pacific Elders’ Voice (PEV), comprising former heads of state, US congresspersons and regional figures, has issued an urgent call regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and Papua Barat. Former presidents and prime ministers of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu, a former Secretary-General of the Pacific Island Forum, and a former member of the U.S. Congress signed the statement, calling upon the Indonesian Government to allow the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua. The Pacific elders stressed demands which had already been expressed by Pacific leaders in a Pacific Islands Forum Communique published in August 2019. In addition, the elders called upon the international community to address the human rights situation in West Papua at Indonesia’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in November 2022.
Pacific Elders’ urgent call
