NEW YOK - A number of media in Indonesia reporting that Benny Wenda, a figure fighting for Papuan independence from Indonesia, was expelled from the UN General Assembly room last week turned out to be untrue.
A source who explained to the media that Wenda was
expelled was a Papuan figure, Nick Messet. The reason for the expulsion,
according to Messet, is because Wenda who joined the Vanuatu delegation was not
a citizen of Vanuatu.
"It is not true that Benny Wenda joined the
courtroom with the Vanuatu delegation because the UN made strict rules and only
allowed state representatives to enter the courtroom in New York," Messet
said, as reported by Antara on Sunday, September 29 and quoted by Liputan6.com.
"The rules applied by the United Nations are
very strict. Only citizens can represent their countries and enter the
delegation at the UN General Assembly," continued Messet who attended the
74th UN General Assembly.
Benny Wenda's Identity Card attends the UN General Assembly.
"The rules applied by the United
Nations are very strict. Only citizens can represent their countries and enter
the delegation at the UN General Assembly," continued Messet who attended
the 74th UN General Assembly.
Tempo correspondent Raimundos Oki, who
attended the 74th UN General Assembly on September 23-28, 2019, said he did not
see and hear the UN police or United Nations Police and UN staff expel Wenda
from the courtroom.
"Benny Wenda has followed delegations
from Vanuatu and he has always attended Vanuatu events at various commissions
at the UN, even to the point of sitting in the UN General Assembly room when
Vanuatu raised the issue of Palestine, New Caledonia and West Papua," Oki
explained the results of his report during attend the UN General Assembly.
In addition to interviewing Wenda, Oki
also interviewed Vanuatu's Foreign Minister, Ralph John Regenvanu on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
"Vanuatu asked the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights to enter West Papua to investigate the cases
of violations that have occurred so far," he said.
The Vanuatu Foreign Minister later stated
that it was not true that Wenda was expelled from the UN General Assembly room.
"The report that Wenda was banned
from entering the UN General Assembly is untrue, he was allowed to enter
because he was officially accredited as a Vanuatu delegation and in fact during
a state statement by the Prime Minister of Vanuatu and other world leaders he
sat in the General Assembly room," Ralph said via electronic mail to Tempo
Correspondent, Raimundos Oki, 30 September 2019.
In addition, Benny Wenda and his entourage
used the official UN identity card to attend the UN General Assembly. On the
card, a photo and name of Wenda was written as Vanuatu's advisor.
A version of this article published in TEMPO.CO, Jakarta:
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