Papua New Guinea delays elections

Papua New Guinea on Thursday declared it will delay national elections for six extra months. The country is experiencing a political crisis with two men claiming the office of Prime Minister. The delay was declared because Parliament was told electoral rolls were not ready and
police were not yet able to provide security for polling stations.
Meanwhile, Rashida Manjoo, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women has concluded her first fact-finding mission to Papua New Guinea. She called on the government to launch programmes that to keep women safe and reinforce the laws that govern violence against women.
“In theory, everyone can use the criminal justice system” she said. “In practice, women rarely find this a responsive system, and access to justice then is not a reality for women through formal legal system.”

Manjoo said women are using the alternate forums of either the village courts or dispute-resolution mechanisms that exist at the community level.

She said these are “staffed by lay magistrates who have very similar patriarchal attitudes as officials in the formal justice systems, who also feel that private matters need to be settled by people in their homes, that it shouldn’t be brought in public forums.”

“More importantly... for victims - especially in the context of poverty and underdevelopment - is that they would rather go to those forums because they can receive compensation in those forums against the perpetrators, which they don’t necessarily get in the formal justice system,” Manjoo said. “So there is still no accountability of the perpetrator, but at least there is monetary compensation.”

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