Dr Kristian Lasslett, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Ulster University

The recent shooting of university students brings home the incredible contrast that exists between the streets and the suites in Papua New Guinea. Police bullets don’t mince words, nor should we.

Decades of research and inquiry have established time and time again that the elite corridors of power in government and business operate through corruption, violence and theft. Many complicit individuals populate the most senior levels of government. Fact.

Injured student is rushed to emergency room in Port Moresby after police shot into crowd of peaceful protestors (Getty Images)

Source: Amnesty International

The shooting of students peacefully protesting in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, is a disgraceful attack on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.

Civil society organisations are urging the Papua New Guinea government to take immediate action to end pervasive land grabbing and illegal logging after these issues were highlighted by governments around the world in formal recommendations put before the United Nations yesterday. (1)

Papua New Guinea is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential government revenue through tax evasion by the logging industry. ACT NOW! is calling on the government to take action - but we need your help! 

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Source: Post Courier

The drop in commodity prices is a great lesson for Papua New Guinea which has relied too much on the extractive industries, says Northern Governor Gary Juffa.

The Forest Minister has taken out full page adverts in the media this month [see below] trying to refute allegations of illegal logging and financial misreporting by the logging industry. But his lengthy explanations fail to answer the central allegations and many of his admissions actually add weight to the arguments he is trying to dispute!

Adam Smith staff celebrate

Source: PNG Exposed

Who is Adam Smith International working for when it writes laws and policies in PNG - the people of PNG or its foreign paymasters? And how much do it's staff and owners benefit personally?

Summary of paper given at the 2015 Waigani Seminar, by Tim Anderson

The government’s human rights record and its failure to protect the interests of customary landowners is under the spotlight in Switzerland this week.

Community advocacy group ACT NOW! is in Geneva briefing diplomats at the United Nations on the SABL land grab, illegal logging and experimental seabed mining.

Source: The Christensen Fund

In the language of modern economics, the small island nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific is labeled one of the world’s ‘least developed countries’. At the same time, Vanuatu has ranked number one on the pioneering Happy Planet Index. This incongruity points to major issues with today’s standard measures of human progress, and has many policymakers rethinking notions of wealth and how they shape development policy.