Amnesty International Report 1996 - Papua New Guinea

There were continued reports of torture and ill-treatment by members of the security forces, resulting in the death of at least one person. At least five people were believed to have been extrajudicially executed by members of the security forces on Bougainville and in other areas of the country. The government failed to clarify previous "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions on Bougainville. A death sentence was passed for the first time since the reintroduction of the death penalty for wilful murder in 1991, but no executions were carried out. An armed secessionist group reportedly committed human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings. In April the government of Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan established a Bougainville Transitional Government following negotiations to end the seven-year conflict on the island of Bougainville. By the end of the year, this initiative had not secured the full support of key leaders of the secessionist Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), and fighting continued between the BRA and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) and government-backed paramilitary Resistance Forces. In May the government announced an amnesty for all those who had committed crimes during the Bougainville conflict, including members of the government security forces, the Resistance Forces and the BRA. While the scope of the amnesty remained unclear by the end of the year, it was understood that it could offer impunity to those responsible for human rights violations. In March the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution about Bougainville, calling on the Papua New Guinea Government to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on torture to visit the island and report on the human rights situation there. In October the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions went to Papua New Guinea to meet government officials and to conduct investigations into extrajudicial executions, but he did not travel to Bougainville. Continuing reports of extrajudicial executions by the security forces and deliberate and arbitrary killings by the BRA on Bougainville were difficult to confirm because of continued restrictions on access to the island. There were continued reports of torture and ill-treatment by the police and members of the PNGDF. In August a Catholic priest, Father Nawata, was reportedly detained and beaten by members of the PNGDF on Bougainville. He was released in September following intervention by PNGDF headquarters. In October villagers in Banz, Western Highlands, lodged a complaint with the Public Complaints Unit alleging that police had shot unarmed villagers in the context of a land dispute and had beaten a young man to death in custody. The youth had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a police weapon. The Western Highlands police commissioner announced an inquiry into the allegations, but by the end of the year it was not clear what action had been taken. There were further reports of extrajudicial executions of civilians by the police and the PNGDF. In February Pyakalu Iliyato, a shop assistant, was reportedly shot dead by police during a raid on an illegal market in the capital, Port Moresby, when he refused to enter a police vehicle. The police immediately announced an inquiry into the shooting, but its outcome was not known by the end of the year. In August Win Tumu Paguk was shot dead by members of the PNGDF on the University of Papua New Guinea campus in Port Moresby during a protest by students. An inquiry was launched into the incident and a soldier was reportedly arrested as a result. By the end of the year, however, it was not known whether any member of the PNGDF would be tried in relation to the incident. In October, three former members of the BRA were allegedly shot while they were sleeping by the Resistance Forces in south Bougainville. In February a PNGDF commander announced that an inquiry would be launched into the killings of Damien Ona, Apiato Bobonung and Robert, and the "disappearance" of Shane Seeto, on Bougainville in December 1994. However, no progress appeared to have been made on the inquiry by the end of the year. Despite statements by the government expressing its commitment to investigating human rights violations, no information was made public about investigations into other human rights violations which had occurred since the beginning of the conflict on Bougainville, including extrajudicial executions and "disappearances". In February Charles Ombusu, convicted of rape and wilful murder, became the first person to be sentenced to death since the death penalty was reintroduced for wilful murder in 1991. Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan stated his opposition to the death penalty shortly after the sentence was handed down, but specific comment on the case was prohibited as subjudice by the Chief Justice. By the end of the year, an appeal to the Supreme Court against the conviction and the death sentence remained unresolved. The BRA reportedly committed human rights abuses including deliberate and arbitrary killings of unarmed individuals. Individual incidents were difficult or impossible to verify because of restrictions on access to the island. In a report published in February, Bougainville: Political killings and "disappearances" continue, Amnesty International expressed continued concern over extrajudicial executions and "disappearances" on Bougainville and urged the government to conduct a full and impartial inquiry into the December 1994 incident and to allow independent human rights monitors access to the island. An Amnesty International request to investigate the human rights situation on Bougainville, sent to the government in November 1993 and renewed in February 1995, remained unanswered.