Human Rights Breaches now common in Papua New Guinea


SERIOUS breaches of human rights by police in Popondetta have prompted the senior provincial magistrate there, William Noki, to suspend all court cases before him. Noki, Northern’s only magistrate, refused on Monday to hear any more court cases prosecuted by the Popondetta police in protest of what he termed “serious human rights abuse and violation of the law by police”.

And he gave the police an ultimatum: “If your behaviour continues, I will have no choice but to dismiss cases against suspects who claim they had been tortured or brutalised by police”. Before a crowded Popondetta court room of prominent citizens, journalists, non-governmental organisation representatives and police personnel, Noki said: “This not a police state.” “We live in a democratic country and the rule of law must prevail. “It is the responsibility of police to make arrests, and not behave like mobsters.

“I am tired of cases of people being taken into custody and their rights abused. “Police have no right to use guns when arresting young people for petty offences on the streets.” Noki said it seemed that even the police superiors in Oro had little regard for the rule of law and had no control over how personnel in their command behaved and engaged in unlawful acts. He noted that police terrorised youths and use force that was quite unnecessary, resulting in a lot of people bearing scars of these assaults, including some with amputated limbs.
“It is unacceptable. I have witnessed policemen chasing and beating up youth on the streets and shooting at them. “It is our responsibility to make young people better citizens. The police and the justice systems are there to rehabilitate young wrong doers, not brutalise them.”

Noki said even prisoners and suspects held in custody had rights, including right to visitations by relatives and lawyers, but often when relatives go to visit them, police used force to deny them those visits. He was also very critical of the manner in which police in Popondetta executed arrests without the use of warrants, violating section 15 of the Police Act. “In Oro, it seems that the policemen are the law and this must stop,”  Noki said. He told police prosecutors he would not hear any cases because doing so would show support for their human rights abuses and unlawful acts. He warned police that their actions exposed the state to lawsuits potentially worth a lot of money.

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