Abuses: Abuses by the armed separatist Bougainville Revolutionary Army, including deliberate and arbitary killing and hostage-taking, continue.
Between November 1991 and 1993, Amnesty International reported at least 60 people were victims of extrajudicial executions by Government security forces.
Since then, Amnesty has recorded the killings of 62 people by the PNGDF and Resistance Forces. At least 13 "disappearances" of individuals taken into custody by the PNGDF also happened.
Of the total number, 11 of the killings and five "disappearances" occurred after 1994.
Forty-four people, including women and children were killed or "disappeared" last year alone.
The BRA has been responsible for 36 deliberate and arbitrary killings since the start of 1993. The real figure of all killings by both forces is undoubtedly higher.
In recent years, human rights violations on Bougainville have largely been ignored by the international community.
This has been partly due to an assumption that the worst violence was over, and because Bougainville was seen as remote, and PNG has little strategic importance.
The evidence gathered by Amnesty International, however, indicates that the level of violations has not declined, but rather in recent months has reached heights not seen for several years.
The people of Bougainville have been subjected to extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture, including rape, ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and surveillance by the security forces while at the same time there has been little external pressure on the PNG Government to bring the atrocities to an end.
Last June, an Amnesty International delegation travelled to PNG to gather information on human rights violations on Bougainville. The organisation was granted access to Buka, but was refused permission by the authorities to travel to Bougainville itself.
Pressure: During the visit to Buka, Amnesty's delegation and some of the people with whom it had contact came under pressure from the military authorities. Even though Amnesty had permission from then Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan to be in Buka, the delegation was asked by the PNGDF to leave.
A Bougainvillean man who travelled for one day with the Amnesty International delegation was taken into military custody and questioned for several hours about the organisation's activities.
Despite the restrictions, Amnesty International gathered considerable information about continuing violations by the security forces.
Many of the serious violations by the Government security forces reported to Amnesty International took place close to or on Buka itself. Since Amnesty's visit to PNG, there have been further reports of violations by both the security forces and the BRA.
Amnesty International fears human rights violations will continue unless the PNG Government immediately addresses the issue.
Control: The organisation believes that it is essential that both security forces and the BRA strengthen their chain of command and exercise effective control to prevent human rights violations continuing.
Strict orders must be issued, instructing all forces to abide by standards embodied in humanitarian law - especially those relating to hostage-taking and the humane treatment of civilians and others taking no part in hostilities.
For the Government's part, Amnesty International believes that in order to bring an end to human rights violations on Bougainville, it must immediately:
Establish a clear chain of command for the security forces operating on Bougainville.
Regularise or disarm the Government-backed paramilitary Resistance Forces operating on Bougainville.
Grant immediate and long-term access to Bougainville for domestic and international human rights monitors and the media.
Establish mechanisms to the full and impartial investigation of all human rights violations which have happened on Bougainville; ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
Amnesty International believes that the international community also has an important role to play in pressuring the PNG Government to take these steps. The organisation therefore urges member states of the United Nations to ensure that the human rights situation on Bougainville is raised at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva in March 1997 and that the commission urges the PNG government to implement promptly all outstanding recommendations of the commission.
Ninth year: Now in its ninth year, the conflict started when the BRA began a military campaign for Bougainville's independence and compensation for land occupied by Bougainville Copper Ltd's Panguna mine, jointly owned by the PNG Government and the Australian mining company CRA (Conzinc Rio Tinto).
About 7600 civilians have been killed in the fighting or died because of a lack of medical facilities since the war began in November 1988.
Serious discipline problems within the PNGDF have contributed to the level of human rights violations, and it is frequently clear that both the PNGDF in Port Moresby and the Government or the military leadership have displayed serious interest in trying to rectify this situation.
In addition, little effort has been made to follow up on reports of human rights violations.
Amnesty International considers this apathy by the Government and military leadership to be a significant factor in the continuation of the human rights violations.
Criticism of the indiscipline of the PNGDF intensified late last year with the release by the Government of findings of an internal military investigation into the killing of 12 PNGDF soldiers at Kangu Beach, South Bougainville, in September 1996 by the BRA.
The inquiry found that poor command and control in the PNGDF resulted in harassment of local women by the PNGDF soldiers and drunkenness.
According to the report, Resistance Force members operating with the PNGDF at the time were enraged by this behaviour and, with the collaboration of the BRA, attacked the PNGDF.
The security forces operate on Bougainville virtually unmonitored - a situation which exacerbates the human rights problems.
International human rights monitors have been restricted in their access to Bougainville.
The media suffers similar limits.
Disappearances and killings
SOME EXAMPLES of recent "disappearances" and unlawful killings believed to have been committed by the PNGDF and its vigilante Resistance forces on Bougainville:
13-16 December 1995: Alphonse and two other men were allegedly removed from military custody in Buka by soldiers. Alphonse was shot but escaped. The youths ³disappeared². Action taken by authorities not clear.
Early 1996: John Esi, village chief from Sikeo, who had come to collect his wife from living at a care centre. Allegedly arrested by PNGDF and killed. No action.
May 1996: Three boys running away from Tonu Care Centre -- Isaiah Magung and Ampo Tarokuru killed; Nasuri wounded. No action.
June 1996: Angela, church worker, believed to have been killed by a soldier at Buin. No action.
19 June 1996: Hubert Oparive plus seven other former BRA members; shot by soldiers because of fears they were collaborating with BRA. Internal military inquiry claimed. No results made public.
12 October 1996: Bougainville Premier Theodore Miriung, assassinated by Resistance vigilantes with PNGDF involvement. Independent coroner's inquiry held but no arrests.
Arbitary killings believed to have been committed by the BRA include:
September 1995: Francis Kavere, from the Hahon area, was believed killed by the BRA after being detained. His body has never been returned.
September 1996: Twelve soldiers killed at Kangu beach after being disarmed by the BRA and Resistance vigilantes. Four soldiers, one policeman still hostages.
September 1996: Two civilians killed, others wounded, in BRA ambush at Inus.
31 October 1996: Corporal John Gareitz travelled to Sahum village as an unarmed observer to a peace ceremony with a local BRA group. Reportedly shot dead by the BRA.
November 1996: Nine civilians, including two children, believed to have been shot dead by the BRA in a revenge raid on Sisiapai village, near Sipai.
This report is an extract from the Amnesty International report Papua New Guinea: Bougainville: The Forgotten Human Rights Tragedy, 26 February 1997, AI Index: ASA 34/01/97.
