Violence Against Women in Elections in Papua New Guinea
Status of Women
| Areas of Vulnerability | Recommendations | Stakeholders |
|---|---|---|
| PNG ranks 160 of 161 countries on the United Nations 2021 Gender Equality Index. |
Explore how the Theology of Gender Equality, a culturally responsive approach, can be used in gender equality and male advocate training at the community level. | Donor, Department of Community Development and Religion CSOs, |
| Only 12 percent of women in PNG report being the main decision-makers at home |
Scale up the work of civil society organizations (CSOs) in civic education that promotes gender equality among youth. |
International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), PNG Government |
| Patriarchal social norms are pervasive. The cultural bias against women reduces their competitiveness against men in political processes. |
Maintain and nurture coalitions for gender equality both during and outside of the electoral cycle. |
Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission (IPPCC) |
| Women are historically underrepresented in PNG politics and public administration. Since independence in 1975, only nine women have been elected to the national Parliament. Political will is lacking at the highest level (the Office of the Prime Minister) to advocate for reserved seats for women in Parliament. |
Amend the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) to introduce a requirement that all political parties must nominate at least 10 percent women candidates to be eligible to run in national elections. 5 Reduce nomination fees for women candidates; explore how the Central Fund can be used to support women candidates to help level the playing field in a non-partisan way. 6 |
Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission (IPPCC) |
Women’s Access to the Electoral Process
| Areas of Vulnerability | Recommendations | Stakeholders |
|---|---|---|
| Physical, social, and psychological violenceâboth private and in publicâimpacts womenâs ability to vote for candidates of their choice and to engage as scrutineers (a polling or counting watcher to ensure the fairness of the process) and candidates. Family voting is a serious problem in PNG elections, with men instructing female relatives whom to vote for (or voting for them). |
The PNGEC should train the presiding officers of polling places to provide separate entrances, lines, and polling booths for women more consistently and effectively across polling stations to protect the secrecy of the ballot. |
PNGEC |
| In the Highlands region, young men were observed collecting and filling out ballot papers (bloc voting) during the 2022 elections. This practice effectively disenfranchises women, people with disabilities and the elderly. |
The PNGEC should train the presiding officers of polling places to provide separate entrances, lines, and polling booths for women more consistently and effectively across polling stations to protect the secrecy of the ballot. The IPPCC should be empowered to enforce the code of conduct that candidates and political parties sign; it should be able to sanction parties and candidates for election-related offenses, particularly bribery, undue influence, and defamation, to dispel the culture of impunity in PNG. |
Parliament, IPPCC
|
| Even when separate lines are provided, there are opportunities to influence womenâs votes. More than one in four (26 percent) of IFES interviewees believed polling stations were unsafe for women, and half of those respondents cited intimidation at those sites as the reason. |
Peacebuilding activities need to be mainstreamed throughout the electoral cycle and not treated as a defined project with limited funding and timeframes. |
PNG Government, Donors, CSOs |
| The TIPNG 2022 observer report noted sightings of bribery and intimidation of voters during polling in a little over one-fourth of polling places, similar to 2017. In addition, patronage politics during the campaign period results in family or bloc voting. Money politics disadvantages women candidates because they do not have the same amount of campaign funds as male candidates and cannot distribute money and food to the same extent as male candidates (even if they wish to) to win votes. |
Election dispute resolution mechanisms should be more accessible to marginalized populations, including women and persons with disabilities, to hold candidates or political parties. Accountable for election offenses. Voter education should raise awareness of election offenses (including examples of how women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly are impacted by election offenses) and the type of evidence needed, and how to register complaints. The Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform should consider lowering barriers for marginalized groups seeking redress for election offenses. |
Parliament, PNGEC |
Violence Against Women in Elections
| Areas of Vulnerability | Recommendations | Stakeholders |
|---|---|---|
| Violence is not always physical. Public violence in the form of family and bloc voting was widely reported by IFES respondents; however, when asked if women voters experience different types of violence than men, the majority noted instances of private violence such as verbal harassment and threats by male relatives, and physical violence by family members. This may point to a perception that private violence is more prevalent than individual reports suggest, and that women may be unwilling to discuss such treatment. |
Similar to the surge in funding for the 1-Tok Kauselin Helpim Lain (PNG GBV hotline) and shelters for women who were subjected to GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic, surge funding for GBV services should be provided from the start of the campaign period until the seating of the new government. Such funding would recognize an uptick in GBV, given the higher rates of intercommunal conflicts during elections, as well as private violence experienced during this period. Family and sexual violence units (FSVUs) should be better resourced with vehicles, fuel, and staff to reach survivors, conduct investigations, make arrests, and achieve convictions. FSVUs also need to network more effectively with community-based organizations (CBOs) to provide referrals to shelters and counseling services. The PNG government should create new channels for GBV survivors to access justice. This might include creating family courts presided over by judges (a recommendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee on GBV). |
Donors, CSOs PNG Government, GBV service provider (FSVUs and CSOs) |
| Intercommunal conflicts and the use of guns played key roles in the electoral violence witnessed during the 2022 elections. Women and children were severely impacted. Three provinces in the Highlands experienced large-scale internal displacement that affected schooling and health care delivery. Women and girls were vulnerable to and experienced rape and SARV. |
PNG should consider making it illegal for civilians to carry weapons from the start of the campaign period through the seating of the new government. The PNG police or PNG Defense Force must be properly resourced to enforce such a ban. The Bire Kimisopa guns control report, tabled in Parliament in 2018, should be reviewed to identify politically viable recommendations to curb gun violence in PNG. Tougher penalties for illegal firearms were passed right before the 2022 elections. The PNG police force needs more human resources to enforce this law, as well as a system to track its own firearms to keep them out of the wrong hands. |
Parliament, PNG Government, PNG Police |
| IFES key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) revealed that women candidates are more likely to be subjected to private than public violence during the electoral cycle. |
The IPPCC could consider using the Central Fund to provide private, non-partisan security to women candidates to level the playing field with male candidates who have funds to hire private security. |
Parliament, IPPCC |
| IFES field research found that the PNG policeâs lack of efficacy in bringing justice to survivors of GBV has a strong impact on womenâs willingness to report VAWE; when they do, they do not expect justice. Indeed, womenâs lack of access to justice undermines their agency and ability to combat VAWE. |
Election violence task forces need to be better resourced and connected with GBV service providers to respond appropriately to GBV. Providing further resources to FSVU and CBOs to provide counseling, shelter, and new channels to access justice will help win back the trust of survivors. The new SARV law is in its early days; enforcement must continue so it is clear that these crimes will no longer be tolerated. The PNG government should provide funding for a joint operations command center (JOCC) to be able to work proactively instead of reactively to election violence. The PNG police and military need to be funded in the pre-election period to deploy personnel from the campaign period through the return of writs (election results) in hot spot areas. The PNGEC should train police and military personnel on electoral offenses, election procedures, and gender considerations during elections. |
Parliament, PNGEC PNG Government, GBV service provider (FSVUs and CSOs) |
What is Violence Against Women in Elections?
Political violence occurs in highly distinct patterns (forms, locations, victims and perpetrators, frequency) according to the victim’s gender identity7. Gender-motivated political violence is “harm that violates an individual’s or group’s political rights on the basis of their gender identity and is motivated by a desire to repress, deter, control or otherwise coerce the political rights of the [survivor] because of the [survivor’s] gender.”8
These forms of VAWE—which are not always physical in nature—are a threat to the integrity of the electoral process. They affect women’s participation as voters, candidates, election officials, activists, and political party leaders, and they undermine free, fair, and inclusive democratic processes. Through increased attention to women’s participation and their voices in democracy assistance, examples of VAWE in their homes, political arenas, and public spaces have become more visible. Common understandings of electoral violence originate in definitional frameworks that often emphasize public acts of physical violence as well as violence between public stakeholders.9 These definitions reflect male experiences of political violence and tend to overlook personal relationships between perpetrators and survivors, the variation in spaces where violence occurs, and nuances within types of potential violence—all of which are essential to understanding the distinct nature of election violence experienced by women.10 IFES defines VAWE as:
Footnotes
Gelu, Alphonse. 2021. Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission Office of the Registrar. Preparations for the 2022 National Elections, July 2021.
“Funding from other donors for women candidates: … the Central Fund is able to receive funding from citizens, non-citizens, and international organisations which can be used to support the proposes of the OLIPPAC. The IPPCC strongly encourages supporters of women candidate to contribute funding to the Central Fund which can be used to support women candidates. The Registry has been exploring options for channeling specific funding to women candidates from such donations; this work could be sped up if there is interest amongst donors.” Gelu, Alphonse 2021. Ibid.
Bardall, Gabrielle. IFES. 2011. Breaking the Mold: Understanding Gender and Electoral Violence
Bardall, Gabrielle S. 2018. “Violence, Politics, and Gender” in Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Politics, Thompson, William R., ed.
IFES defines electoral violence as: “any harm or threat of harm to persons or property involved in the electoral process, or the process itself.” This includes physical and psychological harm, as well as property damage. In 2009, the United Nations Development Program’s Guide to Elections and Conflict Prevention defined electoral violence primarily as “acts or threats of coercion, intimidation, or physical harm perpetrated to affect an electoral process, or that arise in the context of electoral competition….” The United States Agency for International Development’s 2010 Electoral Security Framework concludes that “electoral violence refers to physical violence and coercive intimidation directly tied to an impending electoral contest or to an announced electoral result.” The IFES definition was developed as part of IFES’s Electoral Violence Education and Resolution (EVER) programs around the world. Further discussion of the evolution of the definition and the EVER methodology can be found in Kammerud, Lisa. 2009. IFES. Managing Election Violence: The IFES EVER Program and online at www.IFES.org.
For information about the development of the VAWE typology, see Internal Foundation for Electoral Systems, (2017, February 8) Violence against Women in Elections Framework, p. 12.
Huber, Jessica, and Kammerud, L. 2018. IFES. Violence Against Women in Elections: A Framework for Assessment, Monitoring, and Response