Report - Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights

Environmental goods and
services (land and water)
Affordability
Accessibility (physical)
Information, capacity and
capacity-building
• Women lack basic sanitation, health and counselling
services; (In inland Bougainville <strong>the</strong>re are no aid posts and
as a result, it costs 50 kina to get to <strong>the</strong> hospital. People,
<strong>the</strong>refore, do not go to hospital unless <strong>the</strong>y are dying. Many
indigenous women are prevented from accessing healthcare
and are ei<strong>the</strong>r living with health problems that <strong>the</strong>y are not
aware <strong>of</strong> or cannot address (e.g. liver problems) or are dying
<strong>of</strong> preventable diseases. Women bear <strong>the</strong> brunt <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> burden
<strong>of</strong> stress, anxiety and fear <strong>of</strong> finding <strong>the</strong> financial means to
cover <strong>the</strong> costs for <strong>the</strong>ir family’s medical care;
• Women who have to go to hospital in towns face <strong>the</strong>
problem <strong>of</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> accommodation in <strong>the</strong> town and lack <strong>of</strong>
finances for transport to and from town;
• For women who manage to go to town to access hospital
services, <strong>the</strong>re is a lack <strong>of</strong> adequate follow-up care when
<strong>the</strong>y return to <strong>the</strong>ir homes in rural areas;
• Lack <strong>of</strong> crisis centres and women’s shelters;
• People are dependent on <strong>the</strong> wantok (clanship) system to
access services and financial assistance;
• Lack <strong>of</strong> education;
• Public service <strong>of</strong>ficials are poorly paid and corrupt;
• In Bougainville, <strong>the</strong>re is only one airport, located on
indigenous land. The government continued to make money
from <strong>the</strong> land without acknowledging or negotiating any
benefits for <strong>the</strong> landowners. In retaliation, <strong>the</strong> landowners
blocked <strong>the</strong> airstrip, preventing access to essential transport
services.
• Economic impacts <strong>of</strong> mining;
• Lack <strong>of</strong> water makes people dependent on o<strong>the</strong>rs.
• In Port Moresby, under <strong>the</strong> wantok system, having no
money presupposes ei<strong>the</strong>r homelessness or dependence
on o<strong>the</strong>rs;
• Many thousands <strong>of</strong> kina are lost to ‘pyramid schemes’
(Papua New Guinea);
• Some micro-credit schemes are being introduced, but <strong>the</strong>ir
benefit is not properly explained and thus <strong>the</strong>y are not
widely used.
• Overall, services are insufficient, but more so for people
with disabilities. There are no wheelchairs, and thus people
have to be carried around increasing <strong>the</strong>ir dependency on
o<strong>the</strong>rs. (Bougainville);
• Poor infrastructure.
• In Bougainville, due to <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> media services, people
do not receive information about sexually transmitted
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 27