This article examines the policies employed by United Nations (UN) peacekeeping leadership and mid-level staff
to silence West Papuan anti-Indonesian activists and dismiss the population’s political opinions as immaterial to
their territory’s sovereign future. The UN brokered the New York Agreement, legitimising Indonesia’s claims ...
This article examines the policies employed by United Nations (UN) peacekeeping leadership and mid-level staff
to silence West Papuan anti-Indonesian activists and dismiss the population’s political opinions as immaterial to
their territory’s sovereign future. The UN brokered the New York Agreement, legitimising Indonesia’s claims to
the region following a decade of international discussions and military skirmishes between Indonesia and the
Netherlands over the territory of West Papua. The Agreement vested the UN with sovereign control of West
Papua for seven months to facilitate the transition in authority from Dutch colonial rule. Drawing on a multiarchival study of the mission, this article offers depth and balance to previous high-policy-focused scholarship on the
dispute, rendering mid-level peacekeepers visible and bringing their role in shaping peacekeeping practices to light.
It illuminates how the mission staff dismissed the views of West Papuan representatives in 1962-63 and
contributed to the project of disenfranchisement carried out by the Indonesian government. In doing so, the mission
leadership decisively participated in the re-colonisation of the population and disregarded rights violations on the
ground.