The Paradoxical Nature of Sovereignty as Symbolic Form : The International Community’s Complicity in Ongoing Human Rights Abuses in West Papua

Sammanfattning: Since West Papua’s integration into Indonesia in 1969, the Free West Papua Movement has been engaged in a struggle for independence from Indonesia. The indigenous people of the territory have endured murder, rape, and many other abuses. This thesis provides an account of Indonesia’s control over West Papua through a settler-colonial lens. It aims to shed light on the paradox of the extensive involvement by the international community during the handover period in contrast to the limited intervention in addressing the human rights abuses that followed, by employing the concept of sovereignty as symbolic form. The thesis concludes that sovereignty has evolved beyond a mere attribute of modern states. It now serves as a strategic tool for upholding international peace. Interference and intervention are therefore normalized, and utilized arbitrarily, as demonstrated in the case of West Papua. This offers insight into the ongoing human rights abuses that persist with impunity.