Source: Sarawak Report - 8 September 2019

ACT NOW! has published an updated version of its sucessful short video 'SABL Scandal Buried and Forgotten' to mark the six year anniversary of the SABL COI findings.

The stain of the SABL land grab is hanging over the head of the new Marape government says Community Advocacy group ACT NOW!

“It is now six years since the Commission of Inquiry reports were presented in Parliament revealing that over 5 million hectares of land had been stolen from the local communities”, says Campaign Manager Eddie Tanago.

By Kireni Sparks-Ngenge

Halo, nem blong mi em i Kireni Sparks-Ngenge.

Papa blong mi kamaut long Lou Ailan long Manus Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Mi bon lo PNG na bikpla long Madang, PNG, na long Vanuatu.

Mi save visitim ples blong mi olgeta taim tu na dispela vidio mi wokim blong wanem mi wari lo tokples blong Lou em I wok long go daun – planti mama papa no wok long tokples gen long ol pikinini blong ol.

ACT NOW! has launched a new video toolkit, titled Giraun Emi Laif, to assist rural communities to better understand the benefits of customary land and the threats they face to their livelihoods, natural environment and culture.

The toolkit shares stories of resistance, resilience and hope from communities around the world whose territories are central to their way of being but who have found themselves on the frontline of the global rush for land.

The toolkit features communities:

Source: Scott Waide / My Land My Country

Our economic investment model as it relates to job creation is wrong.  We have had it wrong for nearly half a century. We followed a colonial model of job creation where an enterprise is established, jobs are created and people get a paid job.

Customary land tenure is an inherent feature Papua New Guinea society and culture and its protection is enshrined in the nation’s legal framework. It is also highly contentious. Powerful economic interests ensure customary land tenure is always at the forefront of national and local debates about development and wellbeing. 

The recently completed National Land Summit is just the latest manoeuvre by government to try and take control of customary land away from communities. That fact is exposed in both the 2019 Budget Statement and the recently published Summit Outcomes [attached below].

Source: FRANKLIN KOLMA / Post Courier

THE PNG government now has one week left to give a response to the United Nation’s third letter of concern on the issue of ill-treated SABL – special agriculture business lease.