Papua New Guinea - Universal Periodic Review

UPR 39, November 4, 2021
Recommendations by Canada

Recommendation

Check against delivery

Thank you, Madam President.

Canada thanks Papua New Guinea for its presentation and commends it for its implementation of the Family Protections Regulation in 2017.

Canada recommends that Papua New Guinea:

1. Continue efforts to eliminate gender-based violence, including domestic, sexual, and sorcery accusation-related violence, by strengthening accountability mechanisms and allocating sufficient budget to relevant programs.
2. Take necessary steps to ensure that hospitals and rural medical services are properly funded and accessible, particularly to those women and girls seeking medical assistance in childbirth.
3. Take immediate steps to decriminalize same-sex sexual relations between consenting adults by repealing section 2010 of the Criminal Code and pass legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
4. Take practical steps to ensure meaningful access to free, quality primary and secondary education for all children, including those with disabilities.

Canada urges Papua New Guinea to improve its protective services for victims of human trafficking and to provide services specifically tailored to the needs of victims.

Background

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has ratified six of the nine principal human rights covenants. Since its last UPR, PNG has taken positive steps to strengthen its human rights framework, including through the Family Protections Regulation (2017) and the opening of new Family Support Centres. While Papua New Guinea has made progress on human rights frameworks since its last periodic review in 2016, many challenges to implement this progress remain.

Gender-based violence remains a widespread problem in PNG, with cases often going unreported. It is estimated that more than two-thirds of women in PNG are victims of domestic violence, although official national statistics are not available. While PNG law criminalizes family violence, it has seldom been enforced. There have been numerous government-led initiatives to provide further support in addressing this issue, including a National Strategy to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and the creation of domestic violence and Family Support Centres.

Much remains to be done to address inequality and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in Papua New Guinea. The country’s criminal code contains provisions that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct between adults, punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment. While there are few reports of prosecutions directed at gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) persons, police often discriminate and are disinclined to investigate reports of societal violence against LGBTI persons.

PNG has made some progress in school attendance since 2012 as a result of PNG’s Tuition Fee Free policy. Nearly a quarter of children aged 6 to 18 are still out of school, with gender parity remaining an issue. Adequate government funding for education remains a key hurdle in ensuring sufficient access to education to accommodate increased enrollment. Sparse funding for schools in rural and remote communities has threatened their ability to remain open. Since January 2021, the TFF has been replaced by the Government Tuition Fee Subsidy (GTFS) policy, which requires parents to fill in gaps in education spending.

In November 2020, the Government of PNG obtained its first trafficking conviction since the enactment of its Criminal Code Amendment of 2013 that criminalized most forms of sex trafficking and all forms of labour trafficking. However, the lack of financial and human resources as well as corruption, remain obstacles to anti-trafficking efforts in PNG.