III. A Continuing Practice of Police ViolenceIn 2006, Human Rights Watch again found a clear pattern of police violence, including sexual violence. Police also took victims money or possessions. Police continue to target female sex workers and men and boys perceived to be homosexual for violence and extortion (although one NGO reported some improvements on the part of individual officers in 2006). Police are able to do so in part because the can threaten arrest using laws criminalizing homosexual conduct and certain forms of sex work, and because social stigma against homosexuality and sex work shields police from public outrage.16 Men and boys with male sexual partners appear to be especially targeted when they appear effeminate or have reputations for homosexual conduct: while many do not identify as gay, their perceived sexual behavior makes them regular targets of police abuse. Beatings, Shootings, and Excessive ForceOur research in Lae and Port Moresby in 2006 revealed continued police use of excessive force. In some cases our research revealed instances of torture. These acts take place during encounters in the community, in the course of arrest, during transport to the station, and during interrogation, for the purposes of on-the-spot punishment, to extract confessions, or for sheer abuse of power. Children in Conflict with the LawIn 2006 Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 children and persons who were children at the time of the incidents recounted who said that police had recently beaten or otherwise physically abused them. Although we also interviewed several children who said they were not mistreated upon arrest, as in 2005, the pattern of testimonies by children and professionals working with them indicate that most children who are arrested face abuse at the hands of police. One of the most well-publicized recent cases in which police opened fire on unarmed schoolboys in Enga province in October 2005 is discussed in section VI, below. A person who works closely with detained children told us that, based on personal experience,
The story of Lucas P., age 17, was typical (like all children in this report, his real name is not used). He told us that police task force officers caught him in Lae in September 2005 when he was about to steal something from a car.18 There were 12 officers, he said, and they dragged him to the task force vehicle:
Then they took him to the main wharf at around 6 p.m. He said,
Wilfred N. told us that six mobile squad members arrested him in mid-2005 in Lae, after a robbery.20 They beat me on the forehead with a gun butt [indicating his forehead just above his right eyebrow]it cut through the skin. The officers took him to Chinatown police station and then to Town police station, where the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) questioned him. He recounted, During my questioning by the CID, I was hit because they wanted me to confess. But I didnt do it so I refused to confess. I was hit with a metal bar from a homemade gun inside the Town station. I was hit on the head.21 Albert L., age 15 or 16, said he was arrested in late December 2005 and taken to Lae Town police station and interrogated by the CID: They were kicking me with their boots. They used the barrel of their gun. They said they would take me up to the river and kill me and throw me into the water. . . . They used an iron on my leg, the sharp edge. . . . They said, Like in the movies well hang you with a rope. . . . Because they were threatening me and beating me, I was afraid for my life, so I said I did it, because I was scared.22 Johnny I., who said he was 18 but who looked much younger, told us that when police officers caught him trying to steal a tire in March 2006, they beat him on the head with tree branches.23 Then they forced him to stand with the wheel on his wounded head and tried to make him swallow a bolt from the wheel, which he was unable to do: When they put the wheel on my head I thought my brain had died. I didnt feel anything. The bolt on the wheelthey made me put it in my mouth and swallow. It was that big [indicates water bottle cap]. I couldnt do it. They made fun of me and were laughing at me.24 Peter O. told us that task force police beat him and his friends with a fan belt and gun barrels on the beach in Lae in 2004 when he was 17 years old.25 One gun went off, he said, and shot him in the leg (he showed us a large scar on his calf). Then the police ran them off without arresting them: They ordered us to run in the middle of the road and were chasing us in their vehicle and we were falling down and scratching ourselves. I was dragging my leg. The muscle was cramped and I couldnt move it. Blood was running down my leg.26 Other boys in Lae and Port Moresby told us similar stories in 2006. Sex WorkersPolice often use beatings and other forms of violence and humiliation to administer on-the-spot punishment for sex work. This is particularly evident in Lae during police raids on the old airstrip near the center of town, where sex work occurs openly. Homeless individuals live in some parts of the area; in other parts, people go there during the day but sleep elsewhere. Women, girls, and men described being beaten and robbed in police raids. The account of 16-year-old Elizabeth H. of a raid in May 2006 is typical:
Other women described police beating them with gun butts, forcing men and boys to do push-ups, and stealing their money.28 The police, when they go in, dont have betel nut to chew, dont have money, so they can belt us up and take money or our things like a robbery, a 22-year-old woman said.29 Women and girls in Lae told us they were occasionally arrested, but arrest does not appear to be a main purpose of the raids. Street VendorsPolice continue to use violence against and extort money from street vendors, who typically sell betel nut and cigarettes. Human Rights Watch spoke with several street vendors in Lae in 2006 who described such incidents. If and where street vending should be legal has been the topic of considerable public debate. While the government has a right to regulate street vending, persons violating city ordinances must be treated in accordance with the law. They should not be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, arbitrary detention, and other human rights violations. As explained in Human Rights Watchs earlier report, laws restricting street vending disproportionately affect women and girls, who already face discrimination in other areas of employment.30 Sexual ViolenceHuman Rights Watch continued to collect evidence of police using sexual violence against females and males, including gang (pack) rape, in 2005 and 2006. Not surprisingly, cases often involved opportunistic abuses of power: women and girls are especially vulnerable when they are detained in police cells, or when they are engaged in sex work and can be threatened with arrest. But women and girls also told us that any contact at all with police put them at risk. When I see any cop car, I walk off. Im scared, said a woman who told us she was raped by a policeman in a Port Moresby police station in August 2005. I dont trust any cop nowadays. I dont accept anything from them because they are going to come for my body in the end.31 NGO case workers and others again confirmed that police especially target young girls, including sex workers who may be as young as 12 or 13, for rape.32 An HIV/AIDS educator told us that [i]f the police see a young girl, they dont want to use condoms with them because they are so young. If they are older, they suspect they have been working a long time, so they wear a condom.33 In 2005 and 2006, two allegations of police rape of very young girls drew widespread public outrage. In July 2005, Inspector Gideon Kaugi, a senior police prosecutor, was alleged to have raped the seven-year-old daughter of another officer on police premises in Port Moresby. The girl died of a brain tumor in February 2006, and the district court dismissed the case for lack of evidence in August.34 On July 18, 2006, a reserve policeman sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl in Chinatown police station in Lae when her mother left her there while buying food at a nearby store.35 The girls mother told journalists that she had originally gone to the station to make a domestic violence complaint but found the officer who attended her to be unhelpful.36 According to professionals who treated the girl, medical evidence was consistent with penetration; the girl told her mother that the policeman called her into an office, took off her clothes, and molested her.37 Following public protest, police arrested and charged the man.38 When Human Rights Watch visited both Buimo prison and Town police station in Lae on August 8, 2006, officials at each place claimed that the man was not there but was detained in the other location.39 Another incident in 2006 in Lae, involving a16-year-old girl, is described below (see Targeting Crime Victims). Human Rights Watch also interviewed two women in Port Moresby who said that police raped them in 2005.40 One woman described what happened one night around late July 2005:
Professionals who work with female victims of sexual violence, speaking to us in August 2006, also confirmed having cases of women and girls who had been raped by police.41 Human Rights Watch interviewed in 2005 and 2006 three men who engage in homosexual activity who said police had forced them to have oral and anal sex with them and had also gang raped them.42 Government services for victims of sexual violence, including health care, counseling, and other forms of support remain difficult or impossible to access or are of poor quality, especially outside of urban areas.43 Sexual Abuse by Guards at Buimo Prison in January 2006An especially egregious example of abuse of detained children occurred on January 15, 2006, when corrections officers at Buimo prison in Lae beat and sexually abused boys by forcing them to have anal sex with each other in the institutions reception center. Although this case concerns abuse by correctional officers, not police, it is highlighted because it illustrates both how widespread the problem of violence against children in custody is and the failure to punish officials responsible. It is reminiscent of cases involving police mentioned in Human Rights Watchs 2005 report.44
Reception center at Buimo prison where corrections officers beat boys and sexually abused them by forcing them to have anal sex with each other in January 2006. © 2006 Zama Coursen-Neff/Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch spoke with correctional officials working at Buimo prison at the time, an eyewitness, and the Deputy Commissioner of Correctional services about the case.45 We heard different explanations for the officers motives: that younger boys had complained about rape by older boys and officers were allowing the younger boys to pay back their rapists, or that the officers caught boys having sex in the dormitory and were punishing them.46 Regardless, all agree that the officers beat and forced the boys to have anal sex.47 The day after the incident, detainees at Buimo prison went on hunger strike in protest; they also communicated with the press and the local police. Acting Commander Judy Tara, who had recently undergone juvenile justice training, told journalists a few days later that she met with the prisoners, that things have returned to normal, and that an internal investigation was ongoing.48 Nevertheless, almost eight months later, the officers continued to work at the prison, according to correctional officials, who said that the officers had been disciplined in some (unspecified) fashion, a claim that press reports challenge.49 Targeting Crime Victims
Poor police response to gender-based violence, including domestic violence, is well documented.50 Compounding the harm, fear of sexual violence by the police themselves deters victims of all types of crime from going to the police for help. While many people we spoke with told us police refused to help them or asked for sex or money,51 sex workers and men and boys who are perceived to be homosexual in particular reported that they cannot turn to police for protection from other forms of violence. In 2006, women, girls, and boys described instances in which police asked them for sex when they went to report a crime. For example, Elizabeth H., age 16, said that two police officers had recently demanded sex from her when she went to the station to make a complaint: I felt scared. . . They used a condom and had sex with me. They took turns.52 Monica K., age 19, described what happened around June 2006, when she went to complain at Laes Town police station about being robbed on the street. One policeman took me into his office. He asked me for sex. I opened the door and said I didnt want to. So he shouted at me, If I see you on the street I will really belt you. He wanted to have sex in his office.53 A 16-year-old boy who now describes himself as gay told us,
Many people are afraid to approach the police for any reason at all. A police officer at the juvenile reception center in Lae told us, Some parents are afraid to come to the police station and find out why their child is locked up.55 The wife of a police officer told us that her husband, who was fed up with how police treated women, says to keep away from police.56 A woman who was asked for sex by police told us: We are scared to talk to the police because when we go to them to ask for help, they ask for sex. Especially [of] the young girls. So we dont feel safe going to the police station for help.57 16 See Summary Offences Act (1977), consolidated to No. 16 of 1993, secs. 55-57; Criminal Code (Sexual Offences and Crimes Against Children Act) (2002), secs. 229(K), (L), (Q), and sec. 110. Several men also described to Human Rights Watch being blackmailed either by or with the cooperation of police. 17 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 4, 2006. 18 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. A task force is a special police unit formed by a police station commander. 19 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. 20 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 8, 2006. 21 Ibid. 22 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 8, 2006. 23 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. 24 Ibid. 25 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. 26 Ibid. 27 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. 28 Human Rights Watch individual interviews, Lae, August 6, 2006. 29 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. Betel nut is mixed with lime and mustard stick and chewed to produce a mild stimulant effect. 30 Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules, p. 49. 31 Human Rights Watch interview, Port Moresby, September 3, 2005. 32 See Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules, pp. 34-43. 33 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. 34 Lloyd Jones, Police Officer Charged for Rape of Six-Year-Old Girl in PNG, Australian Associated Press, July 21, 2006; Mental testing for police urged, The National (Papua New Guinea), August 4, 2006. 35 Jones, Police Officer Charged for Rape of Six-Year-Old Girl in PNG, Australian Associated Press; PNG Army Officer Charged with Rape of 5-Yr-Old Niece, Australian Associated Press, February 21, 2006. 36 Cop Molests 6-Year-Old, Post-Courier (Papua New Guinea), July 21, 2006. 37 Human Rights Watch interviews, Lae, August 4 and 7, 2006. See also Jones, Police Officer Charged for Rape of Six-Year-Old Girl in PNG, Australian Associated Press (citing the girls mother and a medical report); Cop Molests 6-Year-Old, Post-Courier. 38 Jones, Police Officer Charged for Rape of Six-Year-Old Girl in PNG, Australian Associated Press; and Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Police Station Commander Leo Lamei, Lae Town police station, August 8, 2006 (confirming arrest). 39 Human Rights Watch interview with Buimo prison officials and guards at Town police station, Lae, August 8, 2006. The following day, the police station commander insisted that the man was not on bail, because of the seriousness of the charges, but did not know where he was held. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Police Station Commander Leo Lamei, August 9, 2006. 40 Human Rights Watch interviews, Port Moresby, September 3, 2005. 41 Human Rights Watch interview with medical professional, Lae, August 7, 2006 (describing the case of a girl raped in a police station in 2004); Human Rights Watch group interview with NGO caseworkers, Port Moresby, August 1, 2006 (stating that their clients continue to face line-upspack rape by police). 42 Human Rights Watc h individual interviews, Port Moresby, September 3, 2005, and Lae, August 5, 2006. 43 See Amnesty International, Papua New Guinea: Violence Against Women: Not Inevitable, Never Acceptable! sec. 5.7. 44 Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules, p. 45. 45 See also Abby Yadi, Sodomy Shock, Post-Courier, January 20, 2006; Buimo Suspension Report Denied, Post-Courier, April 10, 2006. 46 Human Rights Watch interviews with Buimo prison official, Lae, August 7, 2006; Deputy Commissioner Gira Moihau, Correctional Services, Port Moresby, August 14, 2006; and eyewitness, Lae, August 2006. 47 Ibid. 48 Yadi, Sodomy Shock, Post-Courier. 49 Human Rights Watch interviews with Deputy Commissioner Moihau, August 14, 2006, and September 2006 (via telephone). According to a journalist who investigated the incident, the acting commander told him that four officers were responsible, and one was charged and dismissed. However, others told him the officer was dismissed for reasons unrelated to the incident. Human Rights Watch interview with Abbie Yadi, journalist for the Post-Courier, Lae, August 8, 2006; and Buimo Suspension Report Denied, Post-Courier. 50 See Amnesty International, Papua New Guinea: Violence Against Women: Not Inevitable, Never Acceptable!; and Human Rights Watch, Making Their Own Rules, p. 19. Medical professionals who provide care to survivors of domestic violence again told us they have cases of women who do not receive help from police. Human Rights Watch interviews, Lae, August 4 and 7, 2006. Then-Minister of Police Bire Kimisopa (now minister of justice and attorney general) publicly acknowledged this problem in December 2005 and stated that more women were needed in the police force. See Kimisopa: Cops Losing Respect, Post-Courier, December 5, 2005. 51 The experience of one 22-year-old woman was typical: On May 17, 2006, she said, she tried to report having her bag snatched to Lae Town police station. But, she told us, the police didnt do anything to help me. They said, Do you have any money? If you pay us, well help you. If not, we wont. This is what police do all the time. I said, I dont have any money. Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 4, 2006. 52 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 6, 2006. 53 Human Rights Watch interview with 19-year-old woman, Lae, August 6, 2006. 54 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 5, 2006. 55 Human Rights Watch interview, Lae, August 4, 2006. 56 Human Rights Watch group interview, Port Moresby, August 15, 2006. 57 Human Rights Watch interview, Port Moresby, September 3, 2005. |