‘Making Their Own Rules’ Police Beatings, Rape, and Torture of Children in Papua New Guinea

Summary

Papua New Guinea’s serious crime problem is being met with a violent police response. Children, who make up nearly half of the country’s some 5.6 million people, are especially vulnerable. The experience of Steven E. reflects that of many children at the hands of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, the country’s police force. Brutal beatings, rape, and torture of children, as well as confinement in sordid police lockup, are widespread police practices. Although even high level government officials acknowledge this, almost nothing has been done to stop it. The vast majority of children who are arrested are severely beaten and often tortured by members of the police. Almost everyone Human Rights Watch interviewed in each area we visited who had been arrested was beaten. Children reported being kicked and beaten by gun butts, crowbars (“pins bars”), wooden batons, fists, rubber hoses, and chairs.

In 2003, the government, as a result of the efforts of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and an interagency working group of government and civil society representatives, began to create a juvenile justice system. In 2004 and 2005, policies for dealing with juveniles were adopted for police, magistrates, and correctional officials. These policies severely limit the circumstances under which children can be detained and require separation from adults. The challenge remains to implement these policies.