Summary indicates little done to fight corruption

HUMAN Rights Watch’s annual summary confirms that the government has done little in the past to tackle corruption, police brutality and domestic violence.
Deputy director for Asia Phil Robertson said despite a change of prime minister in PNG last year, progress on human rights had still been too slow.
“We are talking about a very desperately poor country, one where there’s a lot of violence committed with impunity, where women are particularly affected, as well as children and 40 per cent of the population still lives in poverty with very rich resources in the country,” Robertson said.
He said 25 per cent of children were not in school, and estimated of that, one in thirteen died of preventable disease.
Justice Minister and Attorney-General Davis Steven said he was concerned the non-governmental organisation had ignored various efforts on human rights by the new government which was working to usher in reforms.
Davis said concerns about corruption played a part in the change of government and the new administration was continuing to work with the United Nations and the European Union on areas concerning human rights.
Robertson said the police force needed to be improved, especially in its attitude to its duties and responsibilities.
He said PNG’s human rights challenge remained daunting.
Robertson urged regional countries to apply pressure on PNG to particularly in the areas of economic, social and cultural rights.
National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate head Matthew Damaru said funding had been a big impediment to their investigations, especially in the fight against corruption.
He said the new command in the department was moving in a positive direction to address the issues.