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Some authorities in Papua New Guinea are aware of problems
in how the state treats children and have begun to introduce appropriate policy
changes to reduce the rates of detention of children. Police violence, however,
has not been addressed. Obstacles include an institutional culture within the
police that encourages or tolerates violence; impunity for police who beat,
rape, and torture children and for their commanders; a lack of political will
to reform among police management and other government bodies; and insufficient
capacity among existing external bodies to monitor police and hold them
accountable. The problem of police violence is so endemic, so institutionally
engrained, that efforts to reduce it will not succeed unless made part of
widespread reforms and demanded from the highest levels of government to the
public.
Any serious effort to stop police violence, including severe
beatings, rape, and torture, of children, must include three key components:
public repudiation of police violence by officials; criminal prosecution of
perpetrators; and ongoing, independent monitoring of police violence.
Human Rights Watch urges the government of Papua New Guinea, with support from Australia, UNICEF, and other donors, to immediately implement
the following recommendations:
- The minister of police and the police commissioner should
publicly repudiate police use of torture, rape, and excessive force
against children, and violence against sex workers, street vendors, and
men who have sex with men. Other government officials, including the Prime
Minister, members of Parliament, the National AIDS Council, and the
Ombudsman’s Commission, should similarly condemn such violence and call on
the police to take action.
- The commissioner, with the support of the government,
should make clear the guidelines for the use of force consistent with
international legal standards, including the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, the U.N. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, and the
U.N. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement
Officials.
- The police force should include in training for new police
and ongoing police training a component dedicated to stopping the use of
torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, including during
interrogation.
- The government should implement the recommendations of the
September 2004 administrative review of the police to the minister for
internal security regarding enforcement of existing disciplinary codes;
reform of mobile squads, task forces, reserve and auxiliary police;
proving basic resources; and improving police response to domestic
violence and sex abuse cases. (These recommendations are detailed in the
section on the failure of police response, above.)
- The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary should take swift
and meaningfulaction against police officers who torture, rape, or
use excessive force against children. This should include administrative
measures, including dismissal, and criminal prosecution. Commanding
officers who know or should know of such acts, and who fail to take action
to prevent and punish them, should face similar sanctions.
- The police commissioner should issue a directive to each
deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner, and civilian equivalent
advising that he or she will be held personally responsible for ensuring
the officers under his or her command comply with the existing
Disciplinary Code, as recommended by the September 2004 administrative
review of the police.
- The minister of police and the police commissioner should
strengthen the police force’s Internal Affairs Directorate by providing
strong support for the unit’s authority to enforce its decisions and by
penalizing officers who do not comply with its directives.
- The police commissioner should require that police wear
their names and regimental number on their uniforms and carry an
identification card, as recommended by the September 2004 administrative
review of the police.
- The Ombudsman’s Commission should continue and strengthen
the work of its human rights desk, which should prioritize cases of police
violence against children. The government should provide sufficient
resources for the human rights desk to take up police violence.
- The Office of the Public Solicitor should continue to
pursue cases of police misconduct and strengthen the unit responsible for
constitutional claims (human rights cases). The government should provide
sufficient resources for the office to represent victims of police
violence.
- The government should deduct successful claims against the
state from the budget of the department involved and penalize officers who
fail to cooperate with investigations. It should also ensure that any
measures to reduce the amount paid in civil claims do not create
additional impediments to legitimate claims and seek ways to make civil
claims serve as a deterrent to police violence.
Accountability for the raid on the Three-Mile Guesthouse
o
Police and public prosecutors, with the Department of Justice and
the Attorney General, should prosecute police officers and their commanders
found responsible for beatings and rape during the March 2004 raid on the
Three-Mile Guesthouse.
o
The police force’s Internal Affairs Directorate, with the support
of the minister of police and the police commissioner, should thoroughly
investigate the officers responsible and, where appropriate, apply
administrative sanctions.
o
The National AIDS Council and the Ombudsman’s Commission should
make available evidence collected by the Council about the raid, while
maintaining protections for victims.
o
The Ombudsman’s Commission should make public the results of
their inquiry into the raid.
- The government should immediately designate an independent
body outside the police force to monitor police violence against children.
This body should have the mandate and resources to regularly enter police
lockup and detention centers without notice; interview all children alone,
regardless of whether the child makes a complaint; question detainees
about their ages and any allegations of violence; collect other evidence
of abuse from children; compel police to provide evidence; and refer cases
for prosecution. If the Ombudsman’s Commission is given this
responsibility, it should also be provided with adequate resources to do
so. If a Human Rights Commission or Police Ombudsman (recommended by the
September 2004 administrative review of the police) is created, the
government should consider giving one of these bodies this responsibility.
However, responsibility should be assigned to an already-existing body
until a new body is operational.
- The Juvenile Court Service Director should expand the
numbers of juvenile court officers, station them throughout the country,
train and support them to be strong advocates for children, and instruct
them to aggressively monitor for police violence against children. Police
juvenile officers (the station office responsible for supervising all
juvenile matters) should immediately record and investigate juvenile court
officers’ reports of police violence and, where appropriate, refer cases
for administrative sanction or criminal prosecution.
- The chief magistrate should instruct judges to, on their
own initiative, ask children who appear before them about possible police
violence. This should be mandatory when a child is visibly injured. Judges
should order medical care when it appears to be needed and exclude
evidence obtained on the basis of torture. Magistrates should monitor the
use of physical force against children by police, as required by the
Juvenile Court Protocol for Magistrates.
- The commissioner should expedite the establishment of the
Juvenile Protocol Monitoring Unit. Commanding officers should be held
accountable for cooperating with the unit, including collecting nationwide
data about children in detention, such as total numbers, age, sex, place
of detention, and length of time in police lockup. The Juvenile Protocol
Monitoring Unit should regularly publish this data.
- The Juvenile Justice Working Group, with UNICEF’s support,
should pay particular attention to police violence against children. The
group should continue and expand its efforts to support the implementation
of the Juvenile Courts Act. In turn, the government should provide better
administrative support for the working group, and the police should fully
cooperate with the group’s efforts.
- The government should invite the U.N. Special Rapporteur
on Torture to visit Papua New Guinea to investigate and report on police
violence against children.
- The government should prepare and submit to the U.N. Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Papua New Guinea’s
initial report (due on February 11, 1996), second periodic report (due on
February 11, 2000), and third periodic report (due on February 11, 2004)
on its implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The government should include in its
submission information about police violence against girls, including
those who are members of marginalized groups such as sex workers, and information
about the connection between such violence and HIV/AIDS.
- The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary should make
accurate and comprehensive information about HIV transmission and
prevention a mandatory and tested component of training for new recruits
and ensure that all police, including reserve and auxiliary officers,
receive appropriate HIV/AIDS education annually. The police force should
request increased assistance from the National AIDS Council in this
respect
- The commissioner of police should issue a directive that
possession of condoms in itself should not be construed as evidence of
living on the earnings of prostitution, and explicitly prohibit police
officers from interfering in HIV/AIDS education and condom distribution.
The police commissioner should:
- Ensure immediate implementation of the 2005 Police
Juvenile Justice Policy and Protocols that mandates that children be
detained only in “extreme or special circumstances” and never with adults.
- Adopt and implement the Department of Justice and Attorney
General’s “Minimum Standards for Juvenile Institutions.”
- Ensure that police separate males and females in all
police lockups.
- Require that all detainees, and especially children, be
provided medical care as needed and in a timely manner. Failing to provide
medical care should be a separate, punishable offense.
- Ensure that conditions of police lockups comply with
international standards, including the provision of adequate food and
water, separate and sufficient bedding, and adequate bathing and sanitary
facilities.
- Enforce or amend police policy to ensure that police
record all detainees’ names, ages, and location in the station where they
are detained.
- Name staff to monitor places of detention to ensure that
standards of detention are met.
The chief magistrate should:
- Revive the visiting justice scheme whereby judges visit
prisons to monitor conditions, expand the program to include police
lockup, and make special efforts to monitor conditions for children.
- Hold all judges accountable for complying with the
Juvenile Courts Act and Juvenile Court Protocol for Magistrates, including
not sending children to institutions not approved for juveniles, requiring
police to justify the detention of children in police cells, and referring
unlawful detentions to the Regional Commander for action.
The government should review the performance and capacity of
the Juvenile Courts Service; the director of the Juvenile Courts Service should
accelerate implementation of the Juvenile Courts Act, including advising the
minister on gazetting institutions where children may be detained and
appointing juvenile court officers.
The government of Papua New Guinea should:
- Ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
- Amend the HIV/AIDS Management and Prevention Act, part 1,
section 3(3) to state that condoms may never be used as evidence of living
on the earnings of prostitution (Summary Offenses Act, section 55).
- Amend the personal service requirement in the Claims By
and Against the State Act so that service by mail is appropriate.
- Amend the Summary Offenses Act, in line with Criminal
Code, to make explcit that children may not be prosecuted for
prostitution.
Recommendations to Australia and Other
International Donors
Given the critical role of international donors,
particularly Australia, in funding the police sector in Papua New Guinea, a serious effort to eradicate police violence against children in Papua New Guinea will require a far more active role on the part of the international community.
Although not unaware of the problem, donors have not made a concerted effort or
devised a comprehensive strategy to assist in curbing police abuses against
children. To supplement existing efforts, international donors, including the
Australian government, should:
- Raise with the government of Papua New Guinea in all
official meetings and at the highest level concerns over police violence,
including torture, rape, and excessive force against children. Call on the
Papua New Guinea government to ensure that police treatment of children
conforms to international human rights standards.
- Substantially increase support for effective human rights
monitoring in Papua New Guinea, whether through existing mechanisms such
as the Ombudsman’s Commission or through the creation of a Human Rights
Commission. The government of Australia should continue and expand support
for the police force’s Internal Affairs Directorate, the human rights
section of the Public Solicitor’s Office, and the human rights desk of the
Ombudsman’s Commission. As an integral part of this strategy, provide
assistance for the development of local human rights groups with the
capacity for independent monitoring of police violence and agencies that
can provide services for victims.
- prioritizes accountability for police violence against
children;
- supports juvenile justice reform.
- Assess the appropriateness and the effectiveness of past
police human rights training, use this information to inform future
training, and monitor whether this training changes performance.
- If redeployed, Australian Federal Police should report
efforts to stop members of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary from
torturing, raping, and using excessive force against children, and
detaining children with adults. Australian Federal Police should report
such instances to both their Papua New Guinean and Australian superiors.
- International donors for programs related to HIV/AIDS
should raise with the government, as well as with police officials in the
provinces in which they work, police violence and its negative effects on
combating the spread of HIV. Donors should ensure that monitoring of
police harassment of sex workers and of men and boys engaged in homosexual
conduct, and related human rights abuses, are an important and regular
part of monitoring programs around HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea.
- When constructing facilities for police stations,
prioritize creating separate areas for children. Officials should visit
Australian-funded facilities to ensure that children are separated from
adults, and condition any aid for the construction of future facilities on
such separation being maintained in these and in existing facilities.
The Pacific Islands Forum at its annual Heads of Government
meeting, senior government law officers at the annual Pacific Law Officers
meeting, and members of the annual South Pacific Chiefs of Police Conference
should:
- publicly condemn police violence;
- promise to adhere to basic international protections for
children including separation from adult detainees;
- commit to ensuring that officers in their countries will
be held accountable for violating these standards; and
- discuss HIV/AIDS and the role of law enforcement.
The Pacific Regional Policing Initiative (PRPI) should
include information about HIV/AIDS in its training to improve basic police
skills; senior government law officers at the annual Pacific Law Officers
meeting and members of the annual South Pacific Chiefs of Police Conference
should also request training on HIV/AIDS.
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