The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.

New Guinea is perhaps the most linguistically diverse region in the world. Besides the Austronesian languages, there are some 800 languages divided into perhaps sixty small language families, with unclear relationships to each other or to anything else, plus a large number of language isolates. The majority of the Papuan languages are spoken on the island of New Guinea, with a number spoken in the Bismarck Archipelago, Bougainville Island, and the Solomon Islands to the east, and in Halmahera, Timor, and the Alor archipelago to the west. The westernmost language, Tambora in Sumbawa, is extinct. One Papuan language, Meriam Mir, is spoken within the national borders of Australia, in the eastern Torres Strait. The only Papuan languages with official recognition are those of East Timor.

Benny Wenda is a West Papuan tribal leader and an international lobbyist for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia. He lives in exile in the United Kingdom. In 2002 he was granted political asylum by the British government following his escape from custody while on trial.

He is a leading figure on the international scene for the independence movement of West Papua and has been a special guest in the British Parliament, United Nations and European Parliament as a representative of the Papuan people.

Benny was born in Pyramid Village in the Baliem Valley in the central highlands of West Papua. In 1977, when he was two years old, the Indonesian military undertook aerial bombing raids over the highlands and most of Benny's family were killed. He was subsequently raised by an uncle. Wenda was appointed leader from the elders in his tribe. He attended university, in Jayapura, studying Sociology & Geo-Politics.

After leaving university, Wenda became Secretary-General of Demmak (Dewan Musyawarah Masyarakat Koteka), the Koteka Tribal Assembly. Demmak was established by highland tribal elders with the goal of working towards recognition and protection of the customs, values and beliefs of the tribal people of the West Papuan Highlands. It advocates independence from Indonesia, and rejects special autonomy or any other political compromise offered by the Indonesian government. As Secretary-General of Demmak, Wenda represented the council of elders. The organisation supported PDP negotiations with Jakarta to the extent that they represented the aspiration of the Papuan peoples, which they claimed was independence from Indonesia.