‘Forgotten’: a personal comment and communiqué on West Papuan refugees

Abstract

Objective: To raise awareness of the ongoing human rights violations of the Indigenous residents of West Papua and their mental health consequences. Method: The author, herself a refugee from West Papua, provides a summary comment from a presentation to the Leadership in Mental Health: Island Nations course, based on personal experience in West Papua and Papua New Guinea, and a telephone survey of West Papuan refugees resident in Australia. Result: A communiqué in solidarity from all course delegates was produced and is included. Conclusion: Human rights violations continue in West Papua, and the plight of its indigenous residents and West Papuan refugees in Papua New Guinea and Australia are dire and should not be ‘forgotten’.