2005

PNG police beat, rape children, says rights report
September 1, 2005 – (Reuters) Papua New Guinea police are engaging in brutal beatings, rape and torture of children and risk spreading HIV/AIDS in the South Pacific island nation, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday.

BOUGAINVILLE MP WANTS MORE SERVICES
June 10, 2005 - (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The only female member of the caretaker cabinet in Papua New Guinea's province of Bougainville is urging the new government to focus on providing basic services to the island's female population.

BOUGAINVILLE PRESIDENT NAMES CABINET
June 6, 2005 - (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The first president of the Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville, Joseph Kabui, has named his cabinet. Mr Kabui has named Joseph Watawi as vice-president and Madelaine Toroansi as women's representative in his caretaker cabinet, which will be sworn in next Friday.

CAMPAIGN BLONG MERI: AN ENEWS SPECIAL BULLETIN FROM FEMLINK PACIFIC: MEDIA INITIATIVES FOR WOMEN, SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LEITANA NEHAN WOMEN'S DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, BUKA, AUTONOMOUS REGION OF BOUGAINVILLE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
May/June 2005
It’s Bougainville Revisited in this femTALK Enews special as we celebrate the participation of women in the recent elections for the new Autonomous Region of Bougainville. “Tenk Yu Tru”, UNIFEM Pacific for responding to the call from Helen Hakena for women’s media coverage of women’s participation in this historical event in our region. It was also the powerhouse coordination of Helen and her team at Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency in Buka which gave me the opportunity to interview so many women. I would be remiss if I did not mention Monica Samu, who is a tru’friend.
I was humbled by all the women who came to us. It was certainly an honour to have met you all and a privilege to bring you their stories…. Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Coordinator, femLINKpacific.

PACIFIC WOMEN WILL ADD THEIR PERSPECTIVE TO INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S PEACE GATHERING
April 11, 2005 - (femLINKpacific) The Coordinator of the Gender and Peace Programme of the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy, Koila Costello Ollson, and femLINKpacific's Coordinator, Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, will join fellow women peacemakers including representatives from Bougainville and West Papua at a week long international consultation, will bring about 15 previous participants together, from the International Fellowship on Reconciliation's Women Peacemakers Program's (WPP) Intercontinental consultation which h will be held in Amsterdam from 16 to 22 March. Last year, the WPP Pacific consultations were staged in East Timor in January.

2004

4th Anniversary of UN SC 1325 Will Be a Low Key Commemoration for Women's Peace Groups
October 28, 2004 - (femLINKpacific) "The 4th anniversary celebrations has been postponed as there is still no funding," said an email from Helen Hakena, of the Leitan Neihan Women's Development Agency in Buka, Bougainville. She was referring to the plans that had been collectively drawn up by the Women, Peace and Security Board members in Bougainville on Friday 8th October, however the WPS Board is still keen to stage the regional level commemoration, as soon as funds were available, according to Pamela Meura who is the current Executive Coordinator of the Bougainville Provincial Women's Council, also a member organisation of the WPS Board.

femTALK ENews Bougainville special edition
October 2004 (femLINKPacific) This edition features an update on the Bougainville Women, Peace and Security Board, including their plans for the 4th anniversary of Resolution 1325.

BOUGAINVILLE - A GENERATION LOST, A GENERATION'S WORK
August 29, 2004 - (The New Zealand Herald) After 16 years working in Africa, I felt I was prepared for Bougainville. I had seen the remnants of war in communities. I had witnessed what genocide, violence and deprivation can do to individuals. But Bougainville is different. No one has come away unscathed.

WOMEN ARE REGION'S PEACEMAKERS, BUT EXCLUDED FROM LEADERSHIP
March 9, 2004 – (The Sydney Morning Herald) In the South Pacific, it is often women who suffer the most during and after the conflict, writes Elsina Wainwright.


2003

FIJI WOMEN CONDUCT WORKSHOP IN BOUGAINVILLE
August 18, 2003 – (PACNEWS – Bougainville) Three of Fiji's top women counsellors are in Bougainville to conduct a two-week workshop on counselling skills for the island's leaders.

...1996

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN PROMOTING PEACE AND RECONCILIATION
1996 – (CSN) From the early days of the Bougainville crisis, women's groups played important roles in initiatives to end the violence and promote a sustainable solution to the conflict. Women of all political, religious and regional groupings mobilised and spoke out for peace. We prayed, marched and negotiated for peace and reconciliation.

The following articles focus on the situation of women more broadly throughout Papua New Guinea

THE DEADLY SPREAD OF AIDS
September 2, 2004 (The Post Courrier) In PNG, more and more women and young girls are falling victims of the epidemic because of subordination to men which makes it difficult for women to negotiate safer sex in relationships.

SIR MICHAEL SUPPORTS CALL FOR DEATH PENALTY
September 1, 2004 - (Pacnews) "I am embarrassed for Papua New Guinea," Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare declared on Monday (30 Aug) regarding the country's worsening culture of sexual violence against women and children.

WOMEN DESERVE HIGH RESPECT
August 31, 2004 - (The Post Courrier) Members of the community in Port Moresby yesterday took to the streets in a protest march to halt violence against women. This followed on from the Goroka march last week and received the support of the East New Britain Council of Women. “We slap, punch, kick and rape our women in PNG society,” they protested. 

PNG PRIME MINISTER LOOKS TO LOW ALCOHOL BEER TO CUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
August 30, 2004 - (Go Asia Pacific) Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister says low-alcohol beer may be one way of reducing the country's domestic violence problem.

AUSTRALIAN POLICE SET FOR PNG MISSION
August 29, 2004 - (ABC News) The first contingent of Australian Federal Police officers bound for Papua New Guinea will fly out of Brisbane today.

GOROKA WOMEN TAKE LEAD IN MARCH
August 27-29, 2004 - (The Post Courrier) The women of Goroka took to the streets yesterday to register their disgust at the perpetual violence against women. Women in Port Moresby will do the same on Monday during which they will present a petition to the Prime Minister on the issue.

THE NEED FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION: ACCELERATING GIRLS’  EDUCATION  IN PNG  WITH DR THOMAS  WEBSTER
August 27-29, 2004 - (The Post Courrier) At a recent conference, I was asked what Papua New Guinea society would be like in 10 years if we continued the current trend and half the population of the country did not have the opportunity to get a primary school education.

MEN WORKING AGAINST VIOLENCE
August 19, 2004 - (The Post Courrier) August 12 was World Youth Day and the focus was on peace, getting youth to become part of peace building for a peaceful world.

PNG DELEGATES PROMISE COMMITMENT
August 16, 2004 - (Pacnews) A three-member Papua New Guinea delegation is at the Pacific Women's triennial conference in Nadi, Fiji with one aim - to share with fellow participants that PNG will continue to make a commitment to all international instruments on women on gender issues.

The opinions expressed in the articles carried by this site are those of the authors and are not necessarily shared by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, PeaceWomen Project.