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Flaws in laws boosted smuggling
By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
WAR and cultural relics worth millions of kina have been smuggled out of the
country because of flaws in Papua New Guinea’s laws, Culture and Tourism
Minister Charles Abel said.
He said some staff working in the National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) and
the National Cultural Commission (NCC) had colluded with foreigners to rob
the country of its history.
It was therefore necessary for the War Surplus Material Act and Cultural
Preservation Act to be tightened, he said.
“There is now a general process of reviewing the Acts to address their
deficiencies in relation to such matters as the sale of war relics and
repatriation of human remains and the administrative process behind them,”
he said last Friday.
Mr Abel said under these legislations, historical items relating to World
War II were the responsibility of the NMAG and NCC.
“By virtue of the Geneva Convention in relation to human remains and through
the pertinent Acts, the gallery and commission have allowed Japanese and
former allies countries to come to PNG and recover the remains of their
dead.
“This process was facilitated through the appropriate representative
agencies of their countries and the sale and export of war remains to
tourists and other parties outside this process was illegal,” he said.
Mr Able also said that the sale of bones by villagers in Sanananda, Buna,
Gewoto, Waju and surrounding areas in the Oro province was a criminal act
and the police and immigration officers must investigate this trade.
“My officers will also make arrangements to go there and carry out our own
investigations.”
Mr Abel said that if it was found to be true, he would talk to the Japanese,
Australian and American embassies to arrange for a proper hand-over of the
remains of the soldiers killed in the war.
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