West Papua and Indonesia : a forgotten conflict?

Nichole Georgeou, Charles Hawksley

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

Abstract

![CDATA[One of the features of globalisation in the post–Cold War order has been an increased interest in and respect for human rights. At the World Summit in 2005, states accepted that they have an obligation to uphold the human rights of all people within their territories. This first pillar of the responsibility to protect (R2P) is supported by the second pillar, which entails a commitment by the international community to assist those states that are unable to protect their populations. This ‘responsibility to assist’ comes in many forms, but generally focuses on institution-building, especially through creating democratic parliaments, as well as security sector reform in the police and military (Hawksley and Georgeou 2012). Where states deliberately fail to protect their populations, international intervention may occur, but only under specific circumstances: in this third pillar of R2P there must be a compelling case that a state is guilty of, or intending to commit, genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes or crimes against humanity. The greatest threat to people in the modern state system might appear to come from their own governments. If states are indeed the largest perpetrators of human rights abuses, then international agreements—along with transnational and domestic civil society organisations, a free media and international pressure—become important constraints on state action. Yet as the debates over Syria from 2011 onwards have shown, forming a global consensus on armed humanitarian intervention is not a simple matter. Providing that states stop short of deliberate policies of genocide, the likelihood of intervention on the ground is slim. The case of Indonesia and the people of West Papua illustrates that adjusting state sovereignty to incorporate human rights still requires some developmentp]]
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Globalization of World Politics: Case Studies from Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific
EditorsCharles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou
Place of PublicationSouth Melbourne, Vic.
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages121-124
Number of pages4
Edition3rd
ISBN (Print)9780195525663
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Papua Barat (Indonesia)
  • Indonesia
  • globalization
  • world politics
  • case studies

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