It’s all the refugees who fled the Indonesian province are asking for. The new generations do not want independence, but the recognition of Papua New Guinea that allows them access to health and education services. But migration policies change every year and only the local Caritas offers concrete support.
Port Moresby () – “All we want now is a piece of land to be our home. It is the only thing we need to start over”, explain the refugees who fled West Papua to Caritas operators when they visit them. A piece of land and “a national identity document”. To open a bank account an identity document is required, to travel abroad a passport is required. Most of us don’t have a formal identity and therefore still don’t have access to services like health care and education.”
When the operators arrived in the Honola district of Port Moresby, mothers and children came out of their shelters to greet them with smiles. Everywhere there are families sleeping on the floor, in old refrigerators, inside cars and in any space where they can accommodate. When it rains, the whole area is flooded. Most of the refugees have been living in makeshift shacks for more than 30 years after fighting between the Indonesian army and Melanesian nationalists forced people from West Papua, Indonesia to take refuge in Papua New Guinea.
Sonny Karubaba was born and raised in one of these refugee camps. He is one of the lucky few who found work and at the same time is the spokesperson and coordinator of the camp: “We come from different areas of West Papua, but today we live as one family. We share everything, we have to do it to survive.”
Hohola Camp is one of three main camps, along with Rainbow and Waigani, located in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.
“Here most of the children do not go to school and the possibility of a job and a better life to overcome the situation is very difficult. We depend on the sale in the streets to survive”, continues Sonny.
The only hope for the refugees is to buy the land from which they were evicted in 2016. “We can only hope that things are resolved in our favor, otherwise we could be evicted again even from this place, which at least for now we consider our home. We don’t know where we’ll go next.”
Over the years, many human rights organizations have visited the refugees: “They listen to our stories and take pictures of our living conditions, but is there anything they can offer us?” asks Donatius Karuri, one of the refugees. more elderly. “Caritas helps us with school fees for our children and with training opportunities for our women, offering them sewing courses. The rest we can do ourselves. We just need to be recognized as citizens.”
The refugees from West Papua are no longer asking for independence – the current generation thinks otherwise – but for the recognition of Port Moresby. According to the Papua New Guinea Citizenship and Immigration Authority, the lack of formal status “has prevented most refugees from achieving their goals.” The delay in the procedures to obtain the documents is also due to the growth of the refugee population, due to the births and the fugitives who continue to arrive.
But at the same time, refugee policies changed as media attention shifted to the detention center on Manus, one of the Papua New Guinean islands where migrants seeking entry to Australia are held. After relocating almost all of the refugees elsewhere, Australia last year handed over responsibility for the center to authorities in Port Moresby. Faced with the sudden need to process a large number of applications, Papua New Guinea abolished the fee to apply for citizenship, which was 10,000 kine (nearly 3,000 euros) and which none of the refugees could afford because they had no jobs. Sonny commented that “everyday politics decides what happens to us tomorrow.”
