UN WANTS INTERNATIONAL BACKING TO CURB PNG VIOLENCE
The United Nations is seeking more international assistance as it strives to help Papua New Guinea (PNG) overcome the violence that frequently erupts in the country.
Most recently, tribal fighting in Enga Province claimed dozens of lives, but there were also deadly riots in Port Moresby and other cities in January, and other flare ups throughout 2022 and 2023.
UNDP’s resident director in PNG, Nicholas Booth, said since the earthquakes in 2017 in Hela Province the agency has been involved in trying to tackle the seeds of the violence there.
He said they recognise that before any development can take place peace building needs to be strengthened.
“As we know from all our work around the world, in the UN that’s a really multifactorial thing. So it involves core peacebuilding work. For example, now, in Southern Highlands and Hela, we’ve been creating networks of mediators. “We work very closely with the Catholic Church and the United Church and they have been creating teams of mediators.”
He said what those mediators do is they reach out into communities which are engaged in tribal fighting, and they find the people who actually want to stop the fighting. “And they actually give them the skills to act as mediators inside that community, ‘insider mediators’ as we call them, and use those skills to end conflicts.”
Booth said every tribal fight not only leaves large numbers dead, but there is an unquantifiable number of sexual assaults and thousands are displaced.
“So if there’s going to be peace, we have to help them - men and women, young and old, find sustainable livelihoods.”
He said UNDP’s project in the Highlands also involves helping women and young people.