Report - Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights

etween <strong>the</strong> PNG government and male leaders, women and <strong>the</strong>ir issues (e.g. dispossession, freedom
<strong>of</strong> movement and land tenure) were largely neglected. While women play significant roles Bougainville
society, <strong>the</strong> reality is that women are still coping with <strong>the</strong> trauma, stress and medical ailments from
<strong>the</strong> conflict. Due to <strong>the</strong> conflict women have lived as marginalized peoples not knowing how <strong>the</strong>
outcomes <strong>of</strong> negotiations between men on land and tenure would be resolved.
(2) Public goods and services - PNG military blockade
The next year in 1990, <strong>the</strong> Blockade was imposed all around <strong>the</strong> Island. A total communication blockade
cut us <strong>of</strong>f from our families for <strong>the</strong> next nine years while we lived in Australia. The blockade violated
a wide range <strong>of</strong> human rights by denying people access to communication, media, health, culture,
development, families outside <strong>of</strong> Bougainville. A recent publication, “Mo<strong>the</strong>rs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Land”, has
captured many women’s personal testimonies from during <strong>the</strong> blockade.
It was a strange and frightening experience to be living in a foreign country, different people, and have
those thoughts still going around in your mind as a nine-year old child. It took many months for my
bro<strong>the</strong>rs and me to stop looking for cover, when a helicopter flew over us here in Sydney. Our family
home in Sydney immediately became a point <strong>of</strong> contact for humanitarian aid, media, and lobbying
for Bougainville’s right to self-determination. Even though we lived in Australia throughout <strong>the</strong> war,
Bougainville was talked about every morning and every night; I think this is what it means to be a
political exile. We have since found that our home in Arawa was burnt down and our village home
taken over to be used as <strong>the</strong> church.
When I was in high school I received smuggled letters from my closest cousin sister who survived
in Buka behind <strong>the</strong> blockade. The letters were not addressed to me, but sent as to my Australian aunty,
hidden inside <strong>the</strong> package was <strong>the</strong> letter for me. They could not address things directly to us, because
<strong>the</strong>y actually became targets <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> PNGDF, because <strong>of</strong> what my fa<strong>the</strong>r was doing. Saying things like
“Australian aid money was going into PNGDF bullets, helicopters, and so on”. So my cousin sister
was still very brave to send those letters.
We were <strong>the</strong> same age at 14 or so. Here I was getting an education, and living an Australian life, I
had a home to live in, with my grandmo<strong>the</strong>r and <strong>the</strong> rest <strong>of</strong> my family: while at <strong>the</strong> same time I read
about her hiding in <strong>the</strong> jungles, always moving, she never seemed to write from <strong>the</strong> same place. She
told me about witnessing shootings, and killings, and <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> news came about her, that she got raped
by four rascal men.
Under <strong>the</strong> blockade women were victims <strong>of</strong> rape, forced marriages and many were widowed. The anxiety
and trauma from <strong>the</strong> war continues for many today.
(3) Environment goods and services (land and water) – indigenous land rights and rights to
natural resources
The people <strong>of</strong> Bougainville were <strong>the</strong> first indigenous in <strong>the</strong> Southwest Pacific to face globalisation in
<strong>the</strong> sixties by way <strong>of</strong> a Trans-national Corporation (Conzinc RioTinto); when <strong>the</strong> first copper mine in
<strong>the</strong> region was carved out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mountains and valleys <strong>of</strong> Central Bougainville. Our people were totally
unprepared for this new intrusion. Before long <strong>the</strong>y soon witnessed <strong>the</strong> destruction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir environment,
flora and fauna; but also <strong>the</strong> loss <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir traditional and customary land, valleys and mountains -
to create <strong>the</strong> biggest man-made hole in <strong>the</strong> Southwest Pacific.
144 WOMEN’S RIGHTS TO ADEQUATE HOUSEING AND LAND