Over 140 West Papuans received neutralized citizenship

The Papua New Guinea government issued citizenship certificates to 143 West Papuan residents who have lived in the country for close to 50 years.

These people pictured above have lived at the Lowara Camp in East Awin, North Fly District in Western Provinces for over five decades. They qualified under the naturalization citizenship category.

Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso who is responsible for the Ministry of Immigration and Border Security, presented the certificates to this group of people on Tuesday this week.

Mr Rosso said this is the single largest group of residents who have lived and integrated into the PNG community and the PNG way of life, and the government is pleased to grant them citizenship.

“Some of these people have settled in our country for over fifty years, so this is an emotional and significant event for them.

“This process is consistent with the West Papua Registration and Naturalization Project that was implemented pursuant to National Executive Council [NEC] Decision 326/2014.

“The PNG Government through the Immigration and Citizenship Service Authority [ICSA] is committed to continuing the registration and citizenship process for all the West Papuans who have resided in PNG since 1984,” Rosso said.

He said the initial registration exercise for these recipients was completed in 2016 in line with the NEC Decision.

“They were all registered and successful applicants were awarded PNG Citizenship through naturalization during this period. However, ICSA did not conduct the ceremonies to award certificates to successful applicants.

“A total of 1094 West Papuans from the Western Province that were registered at that time were successfully granted citizenship in October 2016 by the then Minister,” Rosso added.

According to the records held by ICSA, there were over 500 outstanding citizenship certificates that were currently pending collection by those recipients who were unavailable to attend the ceremonies in 2017.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that under his leadership and that of the Acting Chief Migration Officer, Mr. Navasivu, ICSA is focused on ensuring that all West Papuan residents in PNG undertake this process as a pathway to citizenship.

“I am honored to present the citizenship certificates in my capacity as the Minister responsible for Immigration and Border Security to our long-time residents of Iowara and Kiunga. On behalf of the Government, I welcome you as our citizens,” he said.