Human Rights Watch September 2005 Vol. 17, No. 8 (C) “Making Their Own Rules” Police Beatings, Rape, and Torture of Children in Papua New Guinea Glossary .......................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Key Recommendations.......................................................................................................... 10 Methods and Scope ................................................................................................................ 12 II. Background............................................................................................................................. 13 Children and Crime in Papua New Guinea ........................................................................ 15 Girls ......................................................................................................................................18 Police Procedures and Children............................................................................................ 19 III. Police Violence ..................................................................................................................... 23 Severe Beatings, Shootings, and Other Violence............................................................... 24 Children’s Testimonies........................................................................................................... 26 Rape and Sexual Abuse of Girls and Boys.......................................................................... 34 Girls ......................................................................................................................................34 Boys ......................................................................................................................................43 Police Abuse of Especially Vulnerable Persons................................................................. 47 Legal Standards on Torture; Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Sexual Violence; and Police Use of Force ................................................... 49 Collective Punishment ...........................................................................................................54 IV. Conditions of Detention .....................................................................................................60 Conditions in Wewak, Goroka, Kokopo, and Alotau....................................................... 60 Detention of Children with Adults ...................................................................................... 64 Detention of Girls .................................................................................................................. 66 Denial of Medical Care ..........................................................................................................67 Legal Standards on the Detention of Children .................................................................. 72 Medical Care in Detention ................................................................................................75 V. Police Abuses and HIV/AIDS............................................................................................ 76 The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Papua New Guinea............................................................ 76 Police Actions and the Spread of HIV................................................................................ 77 VI. Failure of Police Response..................................................................................................82 Structure of the Police Force ................................................................................................ 82 Problems with the Performance of Basic Duties............................................................... 84 Causes of Ineffectiveness and Violence .............................................................................. 87 Impunity for Police ............................................................................................................88 The Failure of Police Training..........................................................................................93 The 2004 Administrative Review of the Police.................................................................. 96 VII. The Roles of Other Government Bodies ....................................................................... 97 The Judiciary............................................................................................................................ 98 The Ombudsman’s Commission.......................................................................................... 99 The Office of the Public Solicitor......................................................................................100 Civil Claims Against the State.............................................................................................101 Procedural Barriers to Victim’s Claims .........................................................................102 The Failure to Deter Police Violence............................................................................105 VIII. The Response of Australia and Others in the International Community ..............106 IX. Recommendations..............................................................................................................110 Recommendations to the Government of Papua New Guinea ....................................111 Stop beatings, rape, and torture of children .................................................................111 Hold police accountable for abuses...............................................................................111 Monitor police treatment of children ............................................................................113 Address police actions that promote the spread of HIV/AIDS...............................114 Reform detention conditions..........................................................................................114 Law reform ........................................................................................................................115 Recommendations to Australia and Other International Donors.................................116 Recommendations to Regional Organizations.................................................................117 Appendix 1: The Raid on the Three-Mile Guesthouse, March 2004................................118 Appendix 2: Selected Findings and Recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child....................................................................................................................122 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................123 Glossary to belt, bash – to hit, beat up buai – betel nut mixed with lime and mustard stick that when chewed, produces copious, bright red saliva and a mild stimulant effect to change your face – to beat so badly that the face is disfigured five-kina police – police who can be bribed line-up – sex act involving multiple males having sex with one person, typically absent consent (see “pack rape”) mobile squads – special police units with paramilitary training responsible for suppressing public disorder but used more broadly, known for especially violent tactics men who have sex with men – term used particularly by people working in the field of HIV/AIDS to describe males who engage in sexual behavior with other males, but do not necessarily identify as “gay,” “homosexual,” or “bisexual” pack rape – gang rape panel beating – to beat from head to toe raskol – popular term used to describe members of criminal gangs remand – pretrial detention reserve and auxiliary police – police designed to supplement regular police officers; reserve and auxiliary police receive less training and pay than regular officers snake bail – a bribe 1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 8(C) task force – a special police unit formed by a police station commander wantok – pidgin term referring to a relative, near or distant, to whom one feels allegiance or obligation; literally, those who speak the same language wantrouble – pidgin term referring to a wantok with whom one gets into trouble; member of the same band of delinquents HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 8(C) 2 I. Summary When police arrested Steven E., age sixteen, for pick-pocketing five hundred kina (U.S.$160) from a soldier, three reserve police officers in a truck chased him to the edge of the sea and caught him, he said.1 He was unarmed, and the officers began to beat him: I was covered in blood. They also hit me with a gun butt and made me go into the sea. They told me to wash the blood off before I got into the vehicle. I was finding it very difficult to breathe. I was really exhausted because they had been bashing me up. Then the officers tied his hands and legs. I didn’t get into the vehicle—they threw me in . the back of the truck. They drove me around town and told people I was a criminal, a pickpocket who they caught. They were saying, “Can you see the criminal in here? This is a pickpocket. This pig—we are going to take him and kill him.” They were talking on a speaker. I couldn’t tell if people could see me because my eyes were full of blood. There was one policeman