11 May 2015

Promise of Papua media access welcomed

4:45 pm on 11 May 2015

A New Zealand-based rights group says the Indonesian President's promise to open up Papua to foreign media will allow the rest of the world to better understand human rights abuses there.

President Joko Widodo announced over the weekend international journalists will now be able to go to West Papua.

West Papua Action Auckland's Maire Leadbeater says this is a hopeful sign that the rigid repression of the provinces by Indonesia could be softening.

Maire Leadbeater with Greens MP Catherine Delahunty at an Auckland rally.

Maire Leadbeater with Greens MP Catherine Delahunty at an Auckland rally. Photo: RNZ / Alex Perrottet

She says one of the biggest problems for West Papua was being shut away from the outside world and its Pacific neighbours.

"If people understand what's happening in West Papua, and they understand that the people there don't have full freedoms and their human rights are abused, then they engage with the issue more strongly, and they press their governments to engage with the issue, and I think we can start to hope for change in West Papua."

Maire Leadbeater says she's hoping media in New Zealand will now take the opportunity to visit West Papua freely, as the President has promised.