Report - Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights

Or did I not hear it right
Women and Children’s health was what <strong>the</strong>y were targeting.
No you are mistaken; it is micro – finance,
For that is <strong>the</strong> way to go mate, <strong>the</strong> way to alleviating poverty.
I look at myself, at us and wonder…
Have <strong>the</strong>y reached <strong>the</strong>ir goal yet
Did <strong>the</strong>ir aid money do us any good
How sustainable was <strong>the</strong> cause
What about <strong>the</strong> community partners
Have <strong>the</strong>y grown Are <strong>the</strong>y still <strong>the</strong>re Are <strong>the</strong>y in a coma
Has sustainable development been achieved
– Sr. Lorraine Garasu
Conclusion
Let me conclude by saying that <strong>the</strong> women <strong>of</strong> Bougainville are no different from <strong>the</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> our
women in <strong>the</strong> Asia-Pacific Region. Who daily face issues <strong>of</strong> social and economic discrimination,
injustice, poverty, lack <strong>of</strong> proper housing, basic sanitation and opportunities to improve <strong>the</strong>ir lives.
Yet, women as in our matrilineal society are <strong>the</strong> “key pillars” to <strong>the</strong> survival <strong>of</strong> and <strong>the</strong> continuance
<strong>of</strong> human development mankind.
The Bougainville Region was once <strong>the</strong> most developed and most advanced in Papua New Guinea.
It is now <strong>the</strong> least developed, having badly affected by <strong>the</strong> Bougainville conflict/war, where we lost
between 15,000 to 20, 000 civilians mostly women and children; and also its entire social and economic
infrastructure.
The women <strong>of</strong> Bougainville were also <strong>the</strong> first in <strong>the</strong> sixties, with <strong>the</strong> first mining company to lose
<strong>the</strong>ir land, from unfair legislation that favoured <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>n government <strong>of</strong> Papua New Guinea and <strong>the</strong>
Conzinc RioTinto - and not <strong>the</strong> landowners. In its place <strong>the</strong>y left one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> biggest man-made holes
in <strong>the</strong> Southwest Pacific with <strong>the</strong> TOTAL LOSS <strong>of</strong> Land to <strong>the</strong> landowners.
Having just come out from a ten-year war/conflict <strong>the</strong> women and children <strong>of</strong> Bougainville are still
struggling to put <strong>the</strong>ir lives toge<strong>the</strong>r in <strong>the</strong> midst <strong>of</strong> a great lack <strong>of</strong> social and economic opportunities,
where <strong>the</strong>y could be assisted to improve <strong>the</strong>ir lives.
We also humbly now request <strong>the</strong> assistance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> various United Nation Agencies on Women and
Children; our sisters in our Asia-Pacific Region to help your sisters in Bougainville combat all <strong>the</strong>se
kinds <strong>of</strong> injustices. As I once heard a leading woman leader from Africa say in a radio interview, “you
educate a man, and you only educate him; but educate a woman and you educate <strong>the</strong> whole world”.
Actions/Interventions –
– Some positive initiatives already being implemented are – AFT police training, micro-finance
training; women’s participation, HIV/AIDS awareness;
– Outstanding loans to <strong>the</strong> PNG Banking Corporation incurred before <strong>the</strong> conflict be waived;
– PNG government to allocate budgets for rebuilding Bougainville;
152 WOMEN’S RIGHTS TO ADEQUATE HOUSEING AND LAND