Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Papua/ PNG border not recognised by indigenous people - human rights activist

Posted at 06:44 on 27 January, 2011 UTC

A spokesperson for the Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights says the border between the Indonesian province and Papua New Guinea isn’t recognised by the indigenous people living there.

A group of 77 Papuans was arrested during a large-scale joint forces border security crackdown in the Vanimo area of PNG and the detainees are being assessed for links with the Papua liberation movement or OPM.

PNG’s acting deputy police commissioner says respect for the sovereignty of Indonesia is more important than the shared ethnicity of people living on either side of the border.

But Paula Makabory says the border separates people from both land and relatives.

“The land itself is only one land. The peoples there is one people, the culture is also one. So it’s like just people trespass and divided your house into two. So for them, ’It’s my right, I just go on my land, without having any document’.”

A spokesperson for the Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights, Paula Makabory.