Australia will report to the upcoming 70th Session of UN CEDAW. DAWN has collaborated with four NGOs in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) to prepare a shadow report. The report raises grave concerns about the Australian government’s continuing, significant investment in support of Australian owned Extractive Industry (EI) companies that have operated in the past and current large-scale projects in remote, rural and under-serviced areas of PNG and post conflict AROB.
The report covers the historical legacy of large-scale projects operated by Australian extractive industry companies, including armed conflict, devastating environmental damage and, not least, pronounced gender-specific impacts. There is a general failure to learn lessons regarding the harm caused to women in EI- impacted communities and resistance to programs that enable women to empower themselves, to lead and participate, influence and benefit. The report looks at the marginalisation of local women in the 100% Australian owned and operated Lihir gold mine. The report also builds on a decade of social and economic research that has cautioned strongly against the hasty development of the current and planned expansion of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) projects. The PNG Liquified Natural Gas project (PNG LNG) has for more than four years sourced and processed LNG in a conflict-affected part of the remote PNG highlands, and piped LNG to the coast for offshore export markets. The rushed development of this project in Hela Province, operated as a joint venture by ExxonMobil, with 42.5% Australian ownership, in a province and among communities that are disrupted and terrorised by heavily armed and angry youthful warlords, is wreaking havoc on the lives of women and children. Lack of due diligence in landowner identification and in establishing principles and processes for just and gender equal benefit sharing have recently fuelled escalation of violence across Hela Province, contributing to political and economic destabilisation of the whole country – PNG. The Shadow Report shines a light on Australia’s extraterritorial obligations and holds Australia accountable for its violation of CEDAW articles and provisions in General Recommendations 19, 28, 30 and 34.
Summary
This submission is made by Civil Society Organisations working in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Bougainville – HELP Resources Inc., Voice for Change Inc., Bougainville Peoples Research Centre and Hela Women Never Give Up – together with Development Alternatives With Women for a New Era (DAWN), a feminist, human rights and social justice advocacy group from the global south based in Fiji. Through this submission we wish to draw attention of the CEDAW Committee to the following:
• The failure of the Australian Government to meet its obligations to protect the human rights of women outside Australian territory, specifically in PNG, where women’s rights are being seriously denied and violated as a result of the operations of Australian-owned extractive industry companies operating extraterritorially;
• The culpability of the Australian Government in financially aiding the expansion of extractive industries in PNG in the interests of Australian companies, despite knowledge of both the highly destructive social and environmental impacts of previous Australian mining operations in PNG, and the very high risk of extractive industries escalating armed conflict and violence in the new province of Hela, where Australian companies hold 42.5% shares in the controversial PNG LNG project;
• The failure of the Australian Government to ensure that:
o free, prior and informed consent is obtained by Australian owned companies from women in communities in mining areas;
o gender equal sharing of mining revenue is instituted as part of mining agreements/contracts made by Australian owned Extractive Industry (EI) companies with the PNG state;
o gender-equal access to jobs and training in Australian owned EI companies and associated businesses is practiced;
o women’s security and access to justice in areas affected by the activities of Australian-owned EI companies are guaranteed.
Download the full report: CEDAW Australia’s ETO_PNG Extractive Industries_June 11 Final version