Law, violence and colonial racism: a politico-philosophical contribution to international legal policy for West Papuan self-determination.

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This project will explore a range of strategies for protecting the human rights of West Papuans, with particular reference to rights to self-determination.In 1963, West Papua New Guinea was taken over by the Indonesian government for what was supposed to be a five-year period of temporary rule. Following this, 1,002 out of a population of over two million voted, under significant pressure from the Indonesian military, to formally join Indonesia. West Papuans were slaughtered at the governments command, igniting the Free West Papua movement for self-determination. The oppression of West Papuans and their struggle against human rights abuses continues today. Working in collaboration with International Lawyers for West Papua, ILWP, this project will bring together philosophical and archival analysis in order to explore the coloniality of international law, bringing this to bear on an analysis of legal avenues for protecting West Papuan human rights. It deploys Georgio Agambens analysis of signatures and Achille Mbembes concept of Necropolitics, inspiring an archaeological study of the colonial racism inherent in the history of international law, as well as how this links to the New York Agreement that transferred authority of West Papua to Indonesia and its violent aftermath. This critical inquiry will then serve to illustrate the relevance of this analysis for today's international legal strategies for West Papuan self determination available to the ILWP and across the United Nations system.This inquiry is timely, as the cause defending West Papua's self-determination has recently been stimulated by the work of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, with the emergence of the interim president, Benny Wenda, and the creation of an independent government for West Papua with the vision for transforming West Papua into a 'Green State', despite the absence of legal recognition