Papua New Guinea police illegally evicted families at gunpoint and burned down their homes alongside a large gold mine in the country’s remote highlands, Amnesty International said in a new report.
The motive for the alleged violence by police was not clear, although the government ordered extra police into the region last year after reporting a surge in violent crime and tribal fighting.
The Amnesty report released on Tuesday said that between April and July last year police raided areas adjacent to the Porgera Gold Mine and forcibly evicted families from their homes before setting the structures on fire. At least 130 buildings were burned down, the London-based rights group said.
Many residents reported getting no forewarning of the raids, and were unable to remove their belongings before their homes were set ablaze, Amnesty said. The families — including children, pregnant women and the elderly — had no alternative housing made available for them by the government.
“Instead of being able to rely on the police to protect them, people who were living next to the mine’s facilities have been the victims of human rights violations by police who illegally burnt down their houses and destroyed their belongings and gardens,” Amnesty’s Shanta Martin said.
The Porgera Joint Venture, which is 95 percent owned by Canada-based Barrick Gold Corp, supplies accommodation, food and fuel to police in exchange for security in the remote area under an agreement the company has said was conditional on police abiding by national laws and international standards.
Amnesty said the company should have reported the police eviction activity to Papua New Guinea authorities as soon as company officials became aware of it, but instead had supported the police.
Barrick said it was not informed in advance of the police operation, and did not request the destruction of any structures.
The company said that law and order had been largely restored as a direct result of the police deployment.
Barrick rejected Amnesty’s claims that company officials acted inadequately, saying their personnel immediately communicated with police authorities and community leaders after learning of the evictions, and had acted in good faith.
Barrick said Amnesty’s report did not take into account social and other issues such as clan rivalries.
“These omissions raise serious questions about the adequacy and objectivity of [Amnesty’s] investigation and analysis,” Barrick said in a statement.
Acting police Divisional Commander Thomas Eluh said by telephone that he was new in the position and could not comment on the Amnesty claims. Other police officials did not immediately respond
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair on Monday was found guilty of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too, but officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Brendan Banfield set
RSS