A 10,000 signature petition is today being presented to the government calling for action on the SABL land grab.
The petition is being presented by Paul Pavol, who was last year awarded the international Alexander Soros Foundation Award, in recognition of his communities efforts to oppose four unlawful SABL leases over their land.
Mr. Paul Pavol, from the Pomio District of East New Britain, was awarded the Alexander Soros Foundation Award for Environmental and Human Rights Activism at a ceremony in New York last Thursday.
Community activist group ACT NOW! says the recent corruption case in Singapore involving former Prime Minister Michael Somare emphasises the need for Australia to do much more to crack down on money laundering from PNG.
The court victory for the Baining people of East New Britain in overturning two unlawful SABL leases only highlights the failure of the government to take action to protect landholders rights, says community advocacy group ACT NOW!
Around 70 community leaders from Madang Province are meeting this week to discuss the lack of development taking place in the Provinces and to begin organising ahead of the 2017 National Election.
The meeting has been arranged by ACT NOW! and is being hosted by the Tropical Gem community network. The theme for the meeting is "Rise Up! Return to Your Roots".
“Successive governments have failed to improve the lives of most people, especially those living in rural areas and urban settlements”, says ACT NOW! Program Manager, Effrey Dademo.
For three years Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has failed to cancel unlawful SABL leases affecting over 5 million hectares of land and has failed to deliver on his promises to return the land to its customary owners.
“Tomorrow, June 24, will mark the three-year anniversary of the Commission of Inquiry reports that exposed the whole scam and confirmed the leases are unlawful”, says Eddie Tanago, Campaign Coordinator for ACT NOW!
A new on-line petition calling on Papua New Guinea’s Treasurer to launch an urgent investigation into the logging industry and its tax record has collected over 800 signatures in just 10 days.
The petition is a response by community advocacy group ACT NOW! to revelations most logging companies operating in Papua New Guinea avoid paying any corporate taxes, depriving the country of hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenues.
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).
The government is planning to convert unlawful SABL leases into registered land. Community advocacy group ACT NOW! says there are seven strong reasons why the government’s plan is wrong and should be rejected.
“The Department of Lands is drafting amendments to the Lands Act which will allow the government to endorse the unlawful SABL land grab”, says ACT NOW! Program Manager Effrey Dademo.
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.
“The PNG government must appear before the United Nations Human Rights Council in May as part of a process called a Universal Periodic Review (UPR)” explains Eddie Tanago, Campaign Coordinator with ACT NOW!