| Sports |
Peace building work
impacts positively on elections in Kup
By RACHAEL HINTON & MISCHELLE KOPI
Oxfam International (PNG), Highlands Programme
They started out of their tears, suffering and heartache from
losing their homes, and families, basic government services, and
the desire to end violent tribal conflict and restore peace.
This is the Kup Women for Peace (KWP). Eight years later, the
community is experiencing significant positive impact of their
work.
The recent 2007 national elections is a clear example.
The elections saw notable election-related violence in Simbu
Province, including houses being destroyed and communities
displaced, pregnant women prohibited from accessing basic
maternal health services and high powered weapons being used to
threaten and coerce.
Although not just specific to Simbu, such detrimental practices
by candidates and their supporters impacted upon people's right
to vote in a free and fair election.
Kup sub-district, however, presents a unique and positive case
for consideration.
This rural community, widely known for its large scale conflict
and tribal violence over the last 20 years, has been displaying
a significant improvement in law and order due to the work of a
local non-government organisation, Kup Women for Peace (KWP).
KWP was formed in 1999 by women who had experienced the negative
impacts of tribal fighting and who mobilised others to put
pressure on traditional leadership to stop the fighting. They
have had notable success at stopping tribal fighting in the Kup
area and in promoting peaceful development. KWP has been
actively reinforcing peace through increasing respect and
awareness of human rights, with a focus on gender violence
through capacity building and training. They have also been
promoting restorative justice processes and providing high-risk
groups (especially male youth) with productive alternatives to
crime. A third approach they have taken is to apply sustained
pressure and provide mediation to prevent outbreaks of tribal
fighting and other causes of conflicts. They negotiate for
communities to receive basic social services (such as health,
water supply, education and police), which are used in a way
that reinforces community unity and peace.
The positive impact of the group's collective work in
communities has been evident in the recent election in Kup.
Using the extensive network among their communities, and
building on widespread voter education and a violence-free
election campaign which included candidates signing an agreement
to support a peaceful election, KWP were able to mobilize
community support and put into practice the widely promoted
'free, fair and peaceful' election process. Despite some
pressure from local candidates KWP, with the assistance of
polling officials and one police officer for the entire
sub-district, managed to control the set up of polling booths,
used innovative practices to secure the ballot papers both prior
to and following polling, and managed the voting process,
including enforcing separate lines for men and women, an equal
representation of male and female voters, and privacy to vote.
"We are from this area and we are well known and respected for
our work. If some of the youth started to push or attempted to
vote twice we told them off, and in some cases, put an immediate
stop to voting until we sorted the situation out. I am from here
too, so what can they do"?, (ol as ples, mi as ples tu, bai ol
wokim wanem?) a female KWP member stated. Satisfied with the way
they had conducted their own elections, voters clapped as the
last ballot paper was signed, and voters as well as candidates
and scrutineers dispersed. Everyone was clearly appeased by the
well controlled voting process, to such an extent that the
ballot boxes were safely left unguarded until the Defense Force
arrived hours later.
In past elections few women voted in Kup, firearms were used to
threaten voters and ballot papers were otherwise stolen or
marked by a candidate's supporters. These activities resulted in
large scale outbreaks of violence between supporters and human
rights abuses being committed, which in turn led to resources
being destroyed, displacement of women and children and
withdrawal of basic services. This is not to say there were no
election-related problems in Kup in 2007. Campaign houses for
example were identified as a causal factor of conflict prior to
polling. Furthermore, three men were shot by a candidate in Kup,
one of whom died. Due to the mediation activities of KWP, the
people of Kup, were able to remain at relative peace when in the
past such an incident would have instantly erupted into
violence. It is now preferred that the matter be referred to the
police.
The peace-building activities of KWP over the last 7 years,
combined with widespread voter education and awareness, has
contributed to a conspicuous reduction in election-related
violence in Kup. As a KWP member states, "our work (voter
awareness) goes further than giving awareness at a marketplace
or simply displaying posters, but sees KWP members immersing
themselves at the grassroots level, eating and sleeping with the
community and talking over the issues at night".
Throughout many parts of PNG polling officials working in their
own communities proved ineffective and unable to resist the
pressure of the 'haus lain'. Lack of control over the voting
process at polling booths was widespread. Much can be learned
from the activities of KWP during the recent election period.
The significance of local community support and the influence of
a strong local organisation resulted in a non-violent election
and an impressive improvement in voting rights, practices and
processes. As one female community member proudly states "in all
my life, this is the first time I have ever voted. In the past I
have supported candidates but I have never been able to vote for
them".
 
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