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October 25, 2017

Emeritus Professor tells story of hostage situation

Captives for Freedom book launched at UOW. 

A pregnant woman who works for the UN, Martha, is taken hostage by a group of tribal West Papuan freedom fighters along with her partner, other foreigners and Indonesians.

The tribesmen find out she is pregnant and decide that the baby is a “Gift from God” and must be their new “Messiah”.

They plan to keep Martha hostage until the baby is born, and then carry the baby, to be called Papuani, into battle as a mascot to protect them against the Indonesian military bullets.

Just six months into a role with the United Nations in the mid 1990s, UOW Emeritus Professor Stephen Hill AM had two members of staff taken hostage by rebels in West Papua. A senior UN official and Ambassador of the United Nations to Indonesia at the time, Professor Hill was responsible for the UN’s role in negotiating the safe release of the hostages and the subsequent aid initiatives.

On Wednesday 25 October, Professor Hill officially released his book, Captives for Freedom, at a special event at the UOW UniShop.

The book reads like a detective’s novel and gives real-life accounts of the events that unfolded throughout the negotiation and release of hostages.

Captives for Freedom continues the story of the West Papuans until now, revealing the level of hidden military repression of the people which continues to this day.

About Stephen Hill

Emeritus Professor Stephen Hill retired from the post of Director, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Office, Jakarta at the end of 2005 after working for UNESCO for 10 years. In that position he was Regional Director for Science for Asia and the Pacific and additionally UNESCO Representative or Ambassador to Brunei Darussalem, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Timor Leste and Envoy of the Director General to Singapore. 

In 2008 Professor Hill was granted an Emeritus Professorship at UOW.