18 Jul 2014

Netherlands consul in Vanuatu welcomed

1:23 pm on 18 July 2014

The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation has welcomed the nomination of the Netherlands' Honourary Consul to Vanuatu, Elizabeth Van Vliet.

Mrs Vliet has stated that the West Papua issue will be a high priority on her agenda to bring up with the Government of the Netherlands as its representative in Vanuatu.

She has said that she will connect West Papua organisations in the Netherlands with West Papua organisations in Vanuatu to promote the West Papua struggle.

Before it was incorporated into Indonesia in the 1960s, the western side of New Guinea was a Dutch territory.

The Coalition, which has an office in Vanuatu, says the Government of the Netherlands has a moral duty to accept responsibility for the human rights abuse and brutal killings of thousands of innocent West Papuans by Indonesian soldiers in the last 50 years.