Possibilities for Restorative Justice in Papua New Guinea.
High crime rates and high levels of insecurity place effective crime control at the forefront of policy debates in Papua New Guinea. Much of the public outcry focuses on stronger law enforcement measures: increasing the training, equipment, and personnel for the police force. However, some initiatives draw from traditional approaches to resolving conflict.
Village Courts
Established in 1974, Village Courts are a hybrid model of community justice that hearken back to pre-colonial practices of exchange and cooperation in resolving conflicts. Separated from the national judicial system, these courts only handle customary law cases and minor crimes. Sanctions include community service and fines. Although the Village courts were originally developed for use in rural areas, they now operate in both rural and urban areas over 84% of the country.
Village Courts have been criticized for their susceptibility to the male-oriented values of society. Particularly in the Highlands, the courts have been charged with reinforcing the subordination of women and children. At times women have not been permitted to speak, and women victims have been held responsible for crimes such as rape or for marital problems. On occasion, Village Courts have illegally ordered prison sentences or taken cases that were outside their jurisdiction.
Mass Surrenders
In mass surrenders, large groups of offenders participate in public ceremonies in which they confess the crimes they have committed, surrender their weapons, and ask for assistance in leaving the criminal lifestyle. These ceremonial displays, often brokered by churches or individual pastors, resemble older Papua New Guinean traditions of reciprocal exchanges used to end conflicts. They are sometimes related to large revival meetings. In these surrenders, the repenting offenders ask forgiveness and promise to leave offending. The community group responds by promising to address underlying contributors to offending behavior by, for example, providing employment, education, and micro-enterprise and social development programs.
Gang Retreats
Gang retreats are also a community-brokered attempt to find solutions to offending behavior. Gangs, known as raskols, are a major problem in Papua New Guinea. Comprised of unemployed young people, these criminal organizations can be highly structured and account for much of the increase of violence. Gang retreats are meetings organized by churches, community leaders, politicians, and business people and gang members. The discussion concentrates on structural reasons leading to criminal activity and ways to help offenders become productive members of society.
Teaching Conflict Resolution
Peace Foundation Melanesia is a non-governmental organization working to introduce restorative justice and peaceful conflict resolution throughout Papua New Guinea. The organization has been active in many areas of the country including the rebuilding of community structures in Bougainville after the war.
The group offers training courses in people skills, conflict transformation and community development. Training sessions are held in targeted villages so that as many people as possible from that village are able to attend. This also helps build more support for the new ideas at the community level, and allows more women to participate. There are two goals for including women in the training sessions:
Since 1994, Peace Foundation Melanesia has trained several hundred mediators and trainers, helped to open mediation centers in many communities, and set-up an oversight team for conflict resolution activities.
Resources used for this article are:
Dinnen, Sinclair. (2001). "Restorative justice and civil society in Melanesia: The case of Papua New Guinea.” In Restorative justice and civil society, eds. Heather Strang and John Braithwaite, 99-113. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Papua New Guinea National Judicial System. About the Courts.
Lynette Parker
August 2002
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Last modified Jul 11, 2006 11:51 PM
