British human rights activists hold rallies in order to strongly condemn the involvement of children as soldiers in Papua. This exploitation conducted by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TNPB) which openly recruited teenagers as soldiers to attack the Indonesian military and civilian.
The group of British activists deplored the action because clearly the actions involving children as soldiers violated international conventions as stated in the Rome Statue 1998. Under international law, a child is anyone under 18 and the use of individuals under 15 years in conflict is a war crime. Nearly 170 countries, including Indonesia, have ratified the UN treaty requiring governments to stop recruitment of anyone under the age of 18 and work to end exploitation of children by state and non-state armed groups.
The activists disappointed with the attitude of the British government, especially the attitude of the Oxford Mayor who deliberately turned a blind eye and allowed the crime committed by Benny Wenda in exploiting child soldiers. This feeling of disappointment deepened because the Mayor of Oxford actually treated Benny Wenda as a celebrity humanitarian fighter.
They also regretted the fall of civilian and innocent citizens in Papua as a result of violent acts carried out by TNPB in Papua. The activist group from the UK carried out the action by holding a number of posters reading “Oxford Major Shame on you”, “UK Student support Indonesia No to West Papua, and” Stop aiding FPWC child soldier recruitment”.
Protests by British activists were triggered by the TNPB’s attitude which has documented the formation of child soldiers as propaganda material. In one of TNPB’s photos, there are photos of children and teenagers with faces painted black. They held rifles complete with ammunition and wore military-style uniforms. The photo was taken somewhere in the remote hills of West Papua and published by the TNPB.
Tell The Truths hopes that the attitude shown by the British activist group will open the eyes of the world to view the conflict that occurred in Papua, which was actually deliberately enlarged by Benny Wenda and his separatist groups.
