Papua New Guinea: Attack on media workers, flags taken down while mining company forced to talk to communities

Papua New Guinea’s civic space is rated as ‘obstructed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Among concerns documented are the harassment and threats against human rights defenders, particularly those working on land and environmental rights, intimidation and threats against journalists and excessive force during protests.

Papua New Guinea’s police chief has told officers to use “lethal force” to quell violence in Enga province, where one of the world’s largest gold producers and its Chinese partner plan to reopen a mine with a long record of human rights abuses. The directive in an August 2023 memo from Commissioner of Police David Manning is in response to reports of escalating violence in Enga, a remote highlands region prone to tribal conflicts, but also applies across the country.

In recent months, two journalists were shot at by unidentified assailant while intelligence officers took down the West Papua flag ahead of the Indonesian president's visit. A mining company has been forced to consult with environmentalists and communities while fish factory workers went on strike.

Expression

Two media workers shot during power station tour

A journalist and camera operator with the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) were injured in August 2023 after being shot in the village of 9-Mile, near the nation’s capital of Port Moresby.

According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), on 9th August 2023, around six gunshots were fired in two bursts as the journalists took lunch. One of three initial shots grazed the NBC camera operator before striking senior NBC journalist Gwendella Rea in her right forearm.

Rea was transported by staff of PNG Power Ltd to Paradise Private Hospital in Port Moresby. The journalist sustained a fracture in her left arm and was admitted for medical observation.

PNG assistant commissioner of Police, Anthony Wagambie Jnr, said the police were investigating the incident. IFJ said that the motivation behind the attacks is unclear, though reports suggest that the media workers were caught in a line of fire between unidentified assailants and police.

The Media Council of Papua New Guinea (MCPNG) called for greater respect and protection for journalists in the wake of the shooting, advocating for greater safety measures for members of the press during media tours. The IFJ said: “It is paramount that the PNG authorities promptly investigate this incident and find the perpetrators.”

Intelligence officers take down West Papua flag ahead of Indonesian president's visit

The authorities clamped down on displays of the West Papuan independence flag ahead of the Indonesian president’s visit to Papua New Guinea in July 2023.

Papua New Guinea, which has a 760-kilometre border with Indonesia, is home to thousands of refugees from the Papuan provinces in Indonesia, where an indigenous Melanesian independence movement and armed insurgency has simmered for decades.

According to Benar News, officers from Papua New Guinea’s National Intelligence Organisation arrived at the refugee camp in Port Moresby in two unmarked white vehicles with tinted windows. Their activities caused a commotion and some women and men wept as they sang the West Papuan national anthem in protest.

The officers removed Morning Star independence flags and banners at the Rainbow refugee camp in the capital Port Moresby. Supporters of Papuan self-determination were marking the 1 July anniversary of a decades-old proclamation of independence from Indonesia.

Vincent Manukayasi, director of civil society group PNG Trust, said the intelligence agency’s actions called into question the independence of a state institution. He added: “As a sovereign state, the NIO cannot be seen to be dictated to by another foreign government.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo was in Papua New Guinea for a two-day visit.

Association

Mining company forced to consult with environmentalists and communities

In October 2023, The Australian National Contact Point on Responsible Business Conduct, which reports to the OECD, found that the company PanAust - which has proposed a copper and gold mine - would need to have prior consent from those communities that would be affected.

Project Sepik, with the assistance of advocacy group Jubilee Australia, complained two years ago to an Australian government-sponsored independent body set up to resolve complaints made against multinationals about plans for the huge mine adjacent to the Frieda River, a tributary of the Sepik River.

The Sepik River is the longest and most significant waterway in Papua New Guinea and is a vital resource for hundreds of thousands of people.

They alleged that the Australian based, Chinese owned mining company PanAust had failed to gain the free, prior and informed consent of communities who live along the Sepik River; failed to adequately assess and mitigate environmental risks; and inadequately disclosed key information affecting the communities.

The Project Sepik program co-ordinator, Emmanuel Peni, said: "Since we started working in 2016 they have belittled us, sidelined us, marginalised our voice and gone out to the media saying that we are misinforming the communities, telling them things that are not true."

Peaceful Assembly

Fish factory workers strike

On 2nd October 2023, employees of Frabelle PNG Limited in Lae held a protest over low wages and poor employee benefits. The group of employees brought their complaints in a peaceful protest to the Lae police station and Lae City Authority.

According to the Post-Courier, the strike united the workers and saw many of them walking off the job. The workers stood outside the company area and sent in representatives to speak with the general manager. They demanded that the management explain the low wages but did not get a proper response.

Spokesperson for the workers William Maiya said he spoke to the general manager about the low pay rate. He said: “I represent the employees and told him about the issues affecting the staff. I even asked for a pay rise, but he told me to ask my government. What we do is more than what we get paid for. We work from 7am to 4pm and if there are still loads of work we work overtime and yet we are not paid for our overtime hours.”

Maiya said the Lae City authorities will attend to their issue and see what they can do to help the workers.