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http://www.oxfam.org.nz/whatwedo.asp?s1=What%20we%20do&s2=Where%20we%20work&s3=Pacific&s4=Papua%20New%20Guinea&s5=KWP

 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - KUP WOMEN FOR PEACE

Photo: Mary Kini, a leading women’s activist with Kup Women for Peace (centre, wearing T-shirt), leads peace negotiations between warring factions.

Kup Women for Peace are working to address issues of tribal fighting and violence against women and to build peace among tribal groups in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Highlands.

Oxfam is supporting the work of the women by helping them to strengthen and build up management and planning skills so that their inspiring work can continue to grow in size, impact and influence.

Who are the Kup Women for Peace?

The Kup district is a comparatively undeveloped area in Simbu Province in the rugged PNG Highlands. Although coffee is the major cash-crop, poor roads and market infrastructure make it difficult for people to get their produce out to markets and so incomes are low. Tribal fighting in recent years has also severely damaged development in the area.

Tribal fighting has been a problem in the region since the 1970s. In 1999, however, the scale of the fighting was much worse than previous years. Many people were killed, entire villages were burnt down, women were raped, children and the elderly were attacked.

Women from four rival tribal groups in Kup came together following this devastating breakout of violence and formed the group, Kup Women for Peace, with the intention of Downim heavy belong all mama (reducing the sorrow of the mothers) by putting a stop to tribal war and promoting peaceful development.

The next time fighting broke out, the women decided to walk out onto the battlefield. They spent two weeks camping on the battlefield using a loudhailer to call for a truce and stayed in the villages of the warring factions talking about peace and the possibility of self-led peaceful development.

The Kup Women for Peace have been successful in promoting peace in Kup. People can now move freely between tribes and the town and tribal fighting has ended. The women have also encouraged a sense of self-help and civic pride among the community.

Building a network of peace-builders

The Kup Women for Peace continue to maintain a network of people in the major villages of Kup. Each network includes members from the tribal watch group, village courts, churches and leading women activists.

These networks of peace-builders serve as an early warning system and a response team to any conflict and also an awareness-raising group about the destructive impact of tribal fighting. Their work has also helping create a sense of self-help and local pride amongst the post-conflict communities.

The group has three main objectives:

Defending women’s rights to live free from violence

The right of women to live free from violence and to have a say in decisions that affect them underpins all Oxfam’s work with poor communities across the world.

Oxfam and Kup Women for Peace now feel strongly that their next task in the Highlands should be to address the problem of violence against women.

Women and young girls have become targets in tribal fighting, for vengeance and to provoke and shame the enemy. Even where there is no tribal fighting, however, violence against women is an endemic problem.

Women are the main target of witch-hunts, being regularly accused of sorcery when someone falls ill or dies. Terrible pain, sometimes to the point of death, is inflicted on those suspected of practising sorcery to try and get them to confess. Rape is another serious issue with women and girls as young as seven reportedly being attacked.

Cases of domestic violence are sometimes heard at the village court level, which tends to be dominated by men. Opinions on crimes against women are formed by deeply held beliefs about the subordination of women to the interests of men.

There is also the issue of bride-price, where a prospective husband makes a payment to the brides' family. Cultural attitudes towards the payment of bride-price often equate to a sense of ownership over wives. In cases of domestic violence where a bride-price has been paid, the magistrates often simply dismiss the case, with no regard for the woman’s rights.

Gender violence is an area that most people find hard to address in PNG. In Simbu province many people and women in particular are not aware of their basic human and legal rights.

Oxfam and Kup Women for Peace believe that strong and equal partnership between men and women is necessary to reduce violence and discrimination and to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development.

That is why we are currently working in the following ways to achieve peace and the protection of women’s rights:

Kup Women win Human Rights award (December 2007)

 

Kup Women for Peace Sow Seeds of Hope in the PNG Highlands

 





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