United Nations Temporary Executive Authority

West New Guinea West-Nieuw-Guinea (Dutch) Nugini-Barat (Indonesian)
1962–1963
Flag Emblem
West New Guinea in Oceania
Status	Subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly[1]
Capital	Hollandia[2]
Common languages	Dutch English Papuan languages Austronesian languages
Administrator
• 1962–1963	Jalal Abdoh
Historical era	Cold War
• Established	1 October 1962
• Disestablished	1 May 1963
Currency	Dutch New Guinean gulden
Preceded by Succeeded by Dutch New Guinea Indonesia

United Nations Administered West New Guinea refers to the period between 1 October 1962 and 1 May 1963 when Western New Guinea was administered by the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) in accordance with article two of the New York Agreement reached between the governments of the Netherlands and Indonesia in August 1962.

This was the first time in its history that the United Nations assumed

Western New Guinea became the focus of a political dispute between the Netherlands and Indonesia following the recognition of the independence of the latter. The Indonesian side claimed the territory as its own while the Dutch side maintained that its residents were not Indonesian and that the Netherlands would continue to administer the territory as Dutch New Guinea until it was capable of self-determination.

In May 1959 a United States diplomat proposed a scheme for using a "a special United Nations trusteeship over the territory for a limited number of years, at the end of which time sovereignty would be turned over to Indonesia";^[3] and in March 1961 the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta asserted "the Indos once contended that UN trusteeship would be anathema under any circumstances. Now, although they have not gone so far as to be willing to call a trusteeship a trusteeship, they talk in terms of "one or two years" of some kind of interregnum as being acceptable."^[4] The Netherlands refused to directly transfer the colony to Indonesia and, with Operation Trikora underway, requested the UN dictate self-determination rights in 1962.^[5] On 15 August, Indonesia and The Netherlands signed the New York Agreement, which promulgated a transfer via a temporary United Nations administration.

The United Nations General Assembly approved the agreement and accepted administration on 21 September in General Assembly resolution 1752.^[6] The UN administration took effect on 1 October 1962.

The transfer of authority took place on 1 May 1963 and West New Guinea became a province of Indonesia known as

The New Guinea Council, first elected in January 1961, was reconvened by the administrator on 4 December 1962 and members took new oaths of office, swearing allegiance to UNTEA. The administrator had the power to appoint new members of the council to fill any vacancies that may arise. Eleven regional councils were also established.^[11]

UNTEA was initially led by acting administrator José Rolz-Bennett [es] of Guatemala from 1 October 1962 to 15 November, and then by Jalal Abdoh [fa] of Imperial Iran who served as administrator from 15 November 1962 to 1 May 1963.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
-		José Rolz-Bennett [es]	1 October 1962	15 November 1962	45 days
1		Jalal Abdoh [fa]	15 November 1962	1 May 1963	167 days

UNTEA had the authority to issue travel documents to residents of Western New Guinea. The Netherlands and Indonesia were responsible for providing consular assistance and protection abroad to persons carrying UNTEA issued travel documents.^[12]

The following countries established liaison offices in Hollandia:^[13][14]

•  Netherlands
•  Indonesia
•  Australia

In addition to civil administration, the United Nations also had a peacekeeping role through a United Nations Security Force (UNSF). The maximum force strength was 1,500 infantry and 76 aircraft personnel. Pakistan, Canada and United States contributed personnel with Pakistan providing 1,500 troops and the United States and Canada contributing 60 and 16 air force personnel respectively.^[15] The locally recruited Papuan Volunteer Corps, established by the Netherlands in 1961, was also placed under UNSF command.^[13] The Force Commander for the UNSF was Said Uddin Khan of Pakistan.

Following the departure of Dutch police officers, Philippine officers were initially drafted in as an interim measure, before being replaced by Indonesian officers under UNTEA command.^[13]

Nineteen postage stamps, as well as some postal stationery items, were issued by UNTEA. These were created by overprinting existing stocks of Netherlands New Guinea issues.^[16] At the time packets of all stamps were sold at UN Headquarters by the United Nations Postal Administration and they remain readily available on the retail market.

• 
  UNTEA postage stamp
• 
  Netherlands New Guinea stamps were overprinted by UNTEA

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