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Asia and Oceania
Papua New Guinea |
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Last reviewed: 06 August 2009 |
Country information
Area: 463,000 sq km (288,000 sq mi)
Population: 6 million
Capital city: Port Moresby (pop: 400,000 in the National Capital District)
People: Mainly Melanesian, but some Polynesian and Micronesian.
Language(s): There are over 820 different languages with English, Pidgin and Hiri Motu the most widely spoken.
Religion(s): PNG's constitution declares that PNG is a Christian country. About 27 % are Catholics, 19 % Evangelical Lutheran, 11.5 % belong to the United Church and the remaining Christians follow the Evangelical Alliance, Seventh-Day Adventist, Pentecostal, Baptist and Anglican churches. Declared Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus each number in the hundreds.
Currency: Kina
Major political parties: National Alliance (the party of Sir Michael Somare, the Prime Minister), Peoples National Congress (PNC), Papua New Guinea United Party (PANGU), People's Progress Party, Melanesian Alliance Party, People’s Action Party, National Party, New Generation Party, PNG Party.
Government: PNG is a Realm within the Commonwealth with a democratically elected government based on the Westminster model. Executive power lies with the Prime Minister and the National Executive Council (NEC) - the Cabinet.
Head of State: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second
Governor-General: Grand Chief Sir Paulias Matane GCL, GCMG, K St J
Prime Minister: Grand Chief Rt Hon Sir Michael Somare MP, GCL, GCMG, CH, CF, K St J
Foreign Minister: Hon Sam Abal MP
Membership of international groups/organisations: United Nations (UN), Commonwealth, International Monetary Fund, World Bank; Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pacific Islands Forum, South Pacific Commission, and Melanesian Spearhead Group. ASEAN (Associate Member).
Health
Life expectancy in PNG is 57 years. The leading causes of death are malaria, pneumonia, peri-natal deaths, tuberculosis, meningitis, heart disease, cancer, accidents and violence. Health care remains basic and many of these deaths could be prevented with more medicinal care and advice. HIV/AIDS has become one of the leading causes of death in Port Moresby and elsewhere in the country. More than two percent of the population is believed to be infected and urgent steps are being taken to try to prevent the spread. But PNG is likely to become a major HIV/AIDS epicentre within ten years.
Economy
Basic economic facts
GDP: K20.9 million (2009 proj)
GDP per head: K3.065 (2008 proj)
Annual inflation forecast: 7.2% (2009 proj)
Real GDP growth: 4.0% (2009 proj)
Major industries: PNG's economy has a dual economy; a 'modern' economy based on mining (gold, silver, copper, nickel) and petroleum and natural gas production, and a 'traditional' one based on fishing, forestry, coffee, palm oil, copra, cocoa and vanilla.
Major trading partners: Australia, Japan, China, Germany, USA, UK, Singapore, New Zealand and South Korea
Trade and investment with the UK: There is approximately £600 million worth of British trade in PNG. The UK is the destination for 2.6% of PNG's exports; 0.9% of PNG's imports come from the UK. The Swire Group of Companies, Maybey & Johnson (bridges), Price Waterhouse Coopers (Consultancy), Courts (retail), British American Tobacco, Arup Pacific Pty Ltd (consulting engineers), Intercontinental Hotel Group and Rio Tinto are among the British companies with subsidiaries in PNG.
Aid and development: Australia is the largest foreign aid donor to PNG, followed by the EU. There is no UK bilateral aid programme, but the UK contributes 5 Million Australian Dollars a year to PNG's development through the European Union. The UK Government also funds a network of more than 60 advisers in PNG. 55 of these operate through the UK Volunteer Service Overseas Network with a further 5 ODI fellows on attachment to Government Departments. The British High Commission also administers a small-scale development programme called the UK/PNG Bi-lateral Fund.
Exchange rate: Kina 1 = £0.2319 April 2009
Current strengths are rich natural resources and strong foreign donor support. High international prices for major export commodities drive a strong export performance, helping to realise stability in the exchange rate and a record level of foreign exchange reserves equivalent to seven months import cover.
GDP is forecast to rise by 6.2% in 2009, the sixth successive year of GDP growth equal to or above the population growth of 2.7%. Inflation and interest rates are expected to remain at low levels. In 2009 proceeds from windfall revenue from high commodity prices is expected to be minimal due to the global economic downturn.
History
In 1884, Germany raised its flag in the north while the UK raised its own in the south. Formal division was established between German New Guinea and British Papua in 1886. British Papua was handed over to Australia in 1906. Australia took control of German New Guinea at the outbreak of the First World War. In 1949, the Trust Territory of Papua and New Guinea was given to Australia to administer until self-government on 1 December 1973. Papua New Guinea became a wholly independent State on 16 September 1975.
After 30 years of independence, PNG still faces major challenges. HIV/AIDS is growing towards southern African proportions, fuelled in part by extraordinary levels of violence against females. Serious law and order problems hinder inward investment. An under performing public service and corruption also slows development. Logging takes its toll on the diminishing rainforest. Education and health services remain weak and are difficult for many to access due to poor road communications. Such access difficulties also hamper development of rural economies.
Bougainville
Bougainville Island, part of PNG, has a history of separatist feelings. Behind some Bougainvilleans' separatism was the view that the money from the Panguna Copper Mine, a development which accounted for much of PNG's export revenue, was going to the national government and overseas and not back to the local community. This simmering resentment, together with other local tensions, led to the outbreak of hostilities in 1989. The conflict spread throughout the island and lasted 9 years. Twenty thousand Bougainvilleans lost their lives.
After lengthy negotiations, the Comprehensive Political Settlement was struck between the Government of PNG and provincial leaders in August 2001, ending the civil war in Bougainville. The agreement gave Bougainville the right to exceptional autonomy within PNG and granted the province the option of a referendum on its future political status, including the option of independence, to be held 10 to 15 years after the election of an autonomous Bougainville Government. The agreement also included a Weapons Disposal Programme, to which the UK contributed financial support. The autonomous elections took place from 20 May to 2 June 2005, and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) was inaugurated on 15 June 2005. With the formation of the ABG, the Organic Law of Provincial Government and Local Level Governments, which operate everywhere else in PNG, ceased to apply in Bougainville. Bougainville has four Members of the PNG National Parliament who are entitled to attend and speak in the Bougainville House of Representatives but they cannot move motions, vote or be counted towards a quorum. They however have the same entitlements as all other National MPs.
Late President Joseph Kabui, the 1st President for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville passed away on the 7th of June 2008. Born in 1954, the late President was a Commander in the Bougainville Revolutionary Army during the civil unrest on Bougainville and was elected as the President in 2005 after the island gained autonomy from Papua New Guinea. A by-election was held between 6th and 20th December 2008 resulting in the election of President James Tanis with the writs returned on the 31st of December 2008.
International relations
PNG's relations with its neighbours
Australia is PNG's most engaged partner. Along with considerable economic aid and technical assistance, including in areas of good governance, Australia also provides assistance to the PNG Defence Forces.
PNG is a member of the Pacific Island Forum and the South Pacific Commission, and regional sub-groupings such as the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP). PNG has also been a major player in the Melanesian Spearhead Group – a political/economic group established in 1988.
Relations with the countries of East and South East Asia are important, in particular with Indonesia, with which PNG shares a land border, and increasingly so with China.
PNG's relations with the international community
PNG is a member of the UN, WTO and APEC, and is an Associate Member of ASEAN, and signed a Treaty of Amity and Co-operation with that organisation in 1989.
PNG maintains official overseas representation in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, the Philippines, the United States, the EU in Brussels, and the United Nations in New York.
PNG'S relations with the UK
Bilateral relations with the UK are good. Recent UK visitors to Papua New Guinea include: former FCO Ministers John Battle and Bill Rammell, HRH The Princess Royal, the UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, The Royal College of Defence Studies, and HRH The Duke of Gloucester. Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare visited the UK in July 2008. Other recent Ministerial visits to the UK have been made by Benny Allan, PNG's Minister for the Environment and Conservation, and by John Hickey, PNG's Minister for Agriculture.
Geography
Papua New Guinea (PNG) occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, as well as numerous smaller islands and atolls. The country's geography is extremely diverse with a spine of rugged mountains running the length of the island forming the Highlands, (1200 - 2800m). The coastal plains feature spectacular coral reefs and many hundreds of smaller islands with the most notable being New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville. Its neighbours are Indonesia to the west, Australia to the south, the Solomon Islands to the east and the U.S. territory of Guam to the north. The land area is approximately 463,000km² with only 27% of the total landmass inhabited. Large variations in landform cause an extremely diverse range of natural environments. There are 24 dormant and 16 active volcanoes and eruptions are frequent. A number of major rivers drain the mainland, including the Sepik River in the north and the Fly River in the South. These rivers have associated swamps and seasonally inundated floodplains that cover large areas. Almost 50% of the total land area is mountainous and 20% is seasonally or permanently flooded.
Politics
National politics are characterised by a plethora of political parties, coalition governments, shifting party loyalties and motions of no-confidence in the leadership (many of which have succeeded). There is considerable instability to political proceedings in PNG. Under present conditions, elected governments are guaranteed a period of grace 18 months after election before they can be subject to confidence votes. This also applies to the last 12 months prior to a general election, which are held every five years. The Coalition Government of 2002-2007 was the first to run full term.
Elections were held in June and July 2007. A coalition government was formed by the National Alliance Party with coalition partners taken from 12 additional political parties. The leader of the National Alliance Party, Sir Michael Somare MP retained his position of Prime Minister for a second consecutive term. Sir Michael was the first Prime Minister of PNG after it obtained independence in 1975 and subsequently during the periods 1982 - 1985 and 2002 - present. The sole female MP, Dame Carol Kidu, retains her position as Minister for Community Development.
Since independence, members have been elected by the first past the post system, with winners frequently gaining less than 15% of the vote. Electoral reforms in 2001 introduced the Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), a version of the Alternative Vote. The national elections in June and July 2007 were the first to be conducted using LPV.
Human rights
PNG has ratified the following UN human rights treaties:
- International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination;
- Convention on the Rights of the Child;
- Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.
The people, including the police, are prone to extreme violence, although the Interior Minister periodically condemns the numerous instances of Police brutality, corruption and collusion. Human Rights Watch released a damning 124-page report in September 2005, entitled Making Their Own Rules: Police Beatings, Rape And Torture Of Children In Papua New Guinea. The judiciary is largely independent but slow. Remand prisoners can remain in custody for many months and prison conditions are poor. There is a de facto moratorium on the death penalty.
Men traditionally dominate PNG Society and gender imbalance runs deep. Rape and pack-rape of females of all ages are common, as is severe beating of wives and children. It is not legislation that is lacking but the enforcement of it.
The media in PNG is refreshingly open and the Constitution provides for free speech, including freedom of the media.
