Urgently need your help to support West Papua Refugee detainee by Papua New Guinea PNG Defence and Police Force in Vanimo
Dear friends of West Papua,
I need your help urgently.
I have just heard that 73 men, women and children from a refugee camp in Vanimo have been taken from their homes and imprisoned and their houses and crops destroyed by the Papua New Guinean army and police forces.
My heart cries every time I hear of injustices visited on my people. However, this time is even more difficult for me as this atrocity has taken place in the same camp where I fled in 2002 to join my wife Maria and our daughter Koteka who had fled there from West Papua 2 years earlier.
I left Papua New Guinea to come to the UK believing that my Peoples I left behind would be safe as we consider the people of Papua New Guinea to be our brothers and sisters – after all, we are all Papuans. If we cannot be safe there, where can we be safe?
You can help immediately by either sending money, no matter how small, that we will ensure is used to provide the food, water, medicines and clothes that our friends so desperately need, or by writing to your Ambassador to urge them to call on their Government to release our friends immediately.
If you can help with any money at all, please send by bank transfer to Free West Papua Campaign: Sort Code 089299 Account Number 65142631
Below this e-mail is a suggestion of what you might write to your PNG Ambassador.
Finally, we are also seeking urgent legal help – if you know of anyone who could help us in this regard, please e-mail me at
Your help really is desperately needed. I understand a full report from Vanimo is being written and I will share this when it is ready if you want more information. We are scared our friends will be deported to West Papua where they face possible torture and imprisonment if we do not act fast.
On behalf of my people, thank you for anything you can do,
Yours in hope,
Benny Wenda
West Papuan independence leader in the United Kingdom & Chair of the Koteka Tribal Assembly P.O Box.656, Oxford,OX3 3AP England UK
More Information from Vanimo please click here http://westpapua.net/
Suggestion of what to write:
You can find the address of you PNG High Commission at this link - http://www.pngembassy.org/government.html.
Dear [name of Ambassador],
I am writing to urge you to do all you can to ensure the immediate release of the 73 women, men and children who have recently been arrested in a refugee camp in Vamino. These innocent people, many of whom already have right to remain, have had their homes and crops destroyed and face possible death if they are deported to West Papua.
The Papua New Guinean Government cannot stand by whilst babies of less than 2 years of age languish in prison uncertain of their fate, whilst a whole community now lives in fear of whether they will be next.
The people of West Papua have struggled for independence for 48 years. Many have fled their homes and have looked to you for support and acceptance. If they cannot be safe in Papua New Guinea, where can they be safe?
Yours sincerely,
[your name]
Details for the United Kingdom are:
Papua New Guinea High Commission
High Commissioner Jean L. Kekedo
14 Waterloo Place
London SWIR 4AR
Phone (44) 20 7930 0922
Facsimile (44) 20 7930 0828
Email