Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Papua New Guinea (Ratification: 1976)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. The Committee notes a communication dated 31 August 2011, received from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which contains allegations concerning cases of trafficking in persons for sexual and labour exploitation. It notes that this communication was sent to the Government, on 13 September 2011, for such comments as it may wish to make on the matters raised therein. According to the allegations, there are cases where women and girls, especially from the tribal areas, are forced into prostitution or domestic servitude, and men are forced into labour in logging camps and mines. The ITUC alleges that there have been no investigations, prosecutions or convictions for trafficking in persons.

The Committee refers in this connection to its observation addressed to the Government under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), in which it noted the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees on trafficking in persons in Papua New Guinea (“Trafficking Report”), which states that trafficking is a significant problem in the country. According to the report, women and children are trafficked within the country for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, and women and children from China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand are trafficked to Papua New Guinea for forced prostitution. In this observation, the Committee expressed its deep concern that comprehensive legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking has yet to be adopted.

The Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures, in the near future, in order to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons. In particular, the Committee hopes that measures will be taken with a view to adopting comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation and that perpetrators of human trafficking will be prosecuted and punished with adequate penal sanctions, as required by Article 25 of the Convention. The Committee asks the Government to provide, in its next report, information on the progress made in this regard.