UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 36) A further amendment to the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2014 criminalised sorcery-related violence and killings and provides protection for women who have been accused of sorcery-related activities.

Para 132) Following a nationwide consultation on the issue of sorcery, the Sorcery Act 1971which provided for sorcery allegations as an offence, was repealed in 2012. Given the nature of serious crimes being perpetrated against alleged sorcerers, a new offence of wilful murder has been inserted into the Papua New Guinea Criminal Code on account of accusation of sorcery and carries the maximum penalty.

UN Compilation:
Para 7) The Special Rapporteur on summary executions and the country team noted as positive step that, in 2013, Parliament had repealed the Sorcery Act (1971)

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 5) PI, HRW and CS welcomed the fact that, in May 2103, Parliament repealed the Sorcery Act.

Para 22) HRW and JS3 recalled that, during its 1st UPR, PNG accepted several recommendations related to sorcery related crimes. JS3, however, noted that, despite the repeal of the Sorcery Act, people, particularly women, continue to be accused of sorcery, and many are subjected to violence including torture and killing. The real extent of sorcery-related violence was difficult to estimate because many cases go unreported.

National Report:
Para 14) Papua New Guinea's commitment to ratifying the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was fulfilled on 26 September2013.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 52) ... Since its previous UPR, PNG ratified the CRPD and established a National Disability Policy 2015-2025 in line with the Convention ...

National Report:
Para 55) The Government, through the Office of the Civil Registry, has the mandate to register all births of children in the country. Awareness programs on the role of the Office of the Civil Registry and the requirement to register all births has been conducted nationwide.

Para 56) In 2014, the Government initiated the National Identification Project which addresses the issue of registration for all Papua New Guinea citizens. Under this initiative, all Papua New Guinea citizens are required to be registered.

Para 57) There is no accurate registration statistics for the number of births throughout the country, particularly in the rural areas of Papua New Guinea.

UN Compilation:
Para 24) The country team noted the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act and the National Identity Project launched in 2015, which aimed to register all citizens and provide them with a birth certificate. The country team recommended establishing civil and identity registration capacity beyond the provincial capital to further improve access to civil registration services.

National Report:
Para 31) The Family Protection Act 2013 passed by the National Parliament on 18 September 2013 provides a comprehensive legislative framework to combat domestic violence against women in Papua New Guinea and to provide for family and interim protection orders. It also criminalises domestic violence; allows for neighbours, relatives and children to report domestic violence; as well as gives police the power to remove perpetrators from their homes to protect the victim. Penalties for breach of the Act include fines up to K5,000.00 (US$1,650.00) and 2 years in prison.

"""National Report:
Para 44) The Village Courts and Land Mediation Secretariat, has incorporated human rights issues into its training manual and programs for village court officials and land mediators. Through this program village court officials and land mediators are trained in cross cutting issues such as gender, family and sexual violence, HIV and AIDS.

Para 47) Village Courts in PNG are mandated by law to uphold basic Human Rights as guaranteed under the Constitution in relation to protection for women and children from all forms of violence.

Para 48) The Government, through the Magisterial Services, has commenced training for district court magistrates on human rights in general and in relation to the protection orders under the Family Protection Act to protect women and children, including men, against domestic violence including threats and intimidation.

Para 87) The Government developed and established hospital based Family Support Centres (FSC) to assist victims of violence with a one-stop shop for coordinated medical, psychosocial and referral services, and case-management support has improved the situation of women survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). The establishment of FSCs is in line with the National Health Plan (2001–2020), which emphasises on the value of rolling out FSCs as a strategy for addressing the poor indicators related to maternal and child health and HIV/AIDS and STIs, and to improve healthy lifestyles. The FSC guidelines were finalised in 2012 and disseminated in 2013

GESI Policy (2013–2015)
Para 119) The Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Policy provides a progressive mechanism for the empowerment of women and girls within the Public Service. The GESI is specifically aimed at promoting, building skills and capacity of women to be leaders in the Public Service and the wider community. It also provides for the protection of women from gender-based violence and exploitation in professional settings.

Para 120) The Family Protection Act 2013 criminalises domestic violence and provides for family protection orders for victims of domestic violence.

Para 126) The Government has taken steps to review laws to protect women against discrimination and gender-based violence and to promote gender equality in the country. The Government is in the process of completing a Report with recommendations to harmonise CEDAW with domestic legislations.

Para 127) The Government has developed the Papua New Guinea National Strategy to prevent and respond to Gender Based Violence (2015–2025). This Strategy is aimed at strengthening and institutionalizing all initiatives and work on gender based violence in order to achieve zero-tolerance towards gender based violence. The Strategy will focus on the prevention of gender based violence and family sexual violence and on the delivery of quality services to survivors of gender based violence and family sexual violence. It also focuses on strengthening existing structures and interventions based on best practises at national, regional and international levels rather than re-inventing previous work.

Para 128) However, Gender Based Violence (GBV) remains a concern as it is endemic which continues to pose major obstacles to development. The Government remains committed to addressing these issues. To a large extent, Gender equality and women’s empowerment are dependent on freedom from violence, and an enabling environment to give all women and girls the opportunity to participate in all aspects of development. The global Gender Development Index and Human Development Index for successive periods persistently continue to place Papua New Guinea amongst the lowest ranking countries in the world.

Para 130) The Government established a multi-sectoral technical working group which started the process to develop asexual and gender based violence strategy (Sexual Gender Based Violence Strategy (2015–2020)).The Government has also conducted training programs on sexual and gender based violence for relevant stakeholders.

Measures/achievement
Para 131) Some of the measures being implemented by the Government to address violence against women and girls include:
- The creation of domestic violence centres and family support centre which are accessible in the urban and provincial centres;
- Gender mainstreaming within different government departments through the GESI Policy;
- Criminalising gender-based violence.

UN Compilation:
Para 5) The Special Rapporteur on summary executions noted the positive step of the adoption of the Family Protection Act (2013), which criminalized domestic violence.16 According to the country team, Papua New Guinea was taking actions, supported by the United Nations, donors and national civil society actors, to implement the Act.

Para 21) In 2013, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women noted that the country had undertaken legal and institutional initiatives to address the situation of women and girls in the country. However, those had not been translated into concrete improvements in the lives of the majority of women, who remain marginalized, discriminated against and at high risk of being subjected to violence.

Para 35) The country team indicated that, in 2014, the Government had drafted the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence 2015-2050

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 4) HRW recalled that, during its 1st UPR, PNG committed to take specific measures to eliminate domestic violence. In this regard, CS, International Presentation Association (IPA), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Medecins sans Frontières (MSF) and Passionists International (PI), recognized as a positive step that PNG had adopted the 2013 Family Protection Act, which criminalizes family and sexual violence and gives police power to arrest and prosecute perpetrators. However, although the Act came into force in March 2014, it had not yet been implemented. CS added that despite the Act, women still commonly suffered from physical and sexual assault.

Para 27) HRW welcomed the establishment of police Family and Sexual Violence Units and hospital-based Family Support Centres, as well as the process initiated to develop a gender-based violence strategy."