Papua New Guinea

Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Silas Atopare
Head of government: Mekere Morauta (replaced Bill Skate in July)
Capital: Port Moresby
Population: 4.5 million
Official languages: English, Papua New Guinea Pidgin
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice

There were ongoing concerns about human rights violations by police officers and in the prison system, including suspected extrajudicial executions and ill-treatment. Government neglect of the prison system led to mass escapes and hunger strikes by prisoners in protest at conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

Background

Sir Mekere Morauta was elected Prime Minister in July. Lack of funding for the justice system stifled initiatives to revitalize village court systems. The National Commission on Human Rights, announced by the government in 1997, had still not been established by the end of 1999. The government acknowledged problems with the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. There were signs of an increasing awareness of human rights in civil society, with more victims of human rights violations prepared to assert their rights in court. In July, the National Court found that the actions of heavily armed police conducting a search of a family home in the presence of journalists had been cruel and in breach of constitutional human rights provisions on privacy and the inherent dignity of the human person.

Bougainville

Despite setbacks, there was gradual progress towards a political settlement to the secessionist conflict on the island of Bougainville. A constituent assembly was formed in Bougainville in January. In May John Kabui was elected President of the Bougainville People's Congress to lead negotiations with the national government on a political settlement. The new government of Prime Minister Morauta ruled out a referendum on independence for Bougainville, which had been offered in July by the previous administration. In August, the national government established a Bougainville Peace and Restoration office under the Prime Minister's control. Formal cease-fire agreements continued to hold and Australia announced its intention to negotiate a withdrawal of the international Peace Monitoring Group from Bougainville.

Police shootings

There were serious concerns about shootings by police officers in circumstances suggesting extrajudicial execution. The shootings occurred in the context of the increasing use of high-powered firearms, both against the police and in local inter-ethnic conflicts. The lack of prompt, independent and impartial investigations into the circumstances of several disputed fatal police shootings heightened concerns about impunity. In October the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court criticized the police for human rights violations and for taking the law into their own hands.

At least 17 criminal suspects were reportedly shot dead and more injured by police in Eastern Highland Province alone, some in disputed circumstances. There were reports of indiscriminate shootings of unarmed villagers by police.

  • In December, police in Port Moresby shot down a helicopter which had been hijacked by five heavily armed bank robbers. All the hijackers were shot dead by police, including two who were shot while reportedly trying to flee unarmed. The incident raised questions about the alleged "shoot to kill" policy of the new Commissioner of Police.

Ill-treatment and prison conditions

Prisoners were held in severely overcrowded conditions and given inadequate food. There were reports of ill-treatment by police and by prison guards.

  • Nathan Geno, a prisoner awaiting trial at Buimo Prison near Lae, Morobe Province, died in November after being recaptured by guards following his escape with 17 other prisoners. Prisoners claimed they witnessed Nathan Geno being beaten by guards with iron bars, bottles, batons and a piece of timber. Police investigating the death reportedly failed to question the witnesses and declined to give details of a police report for a coroner's inquest due to be held in 2000. Nathan Geno's death followed at least two hunger strikes by Buimo prisoners in protest at severe delays in court proceedings and overcrowding. A week before Nathan Geno's death, the Lae National Court criticized the government for inadequate prison funding.

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