Prime Minister Peter O’Neil has recently written to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, as the depository for the UN Refugee Convention for Papua New Guinea to lifts its 7 Reservations on Article 17 (1) “Wage Earning Employment: Right for Refugees to engage in wage earning opportunities in PNG” Article 21 “Housing: PNG to provide housing for Refugees” Article 22 (1) Education: PNG to provide public education to Refugees and their children” Article 26 “Freedom of Movement: Rights for Refugees to choose their place of residence anywhere in PNG” Article 31 “Refugees Unlawfully in the Country of Refuge: Refugees not to be penalized on the account of their illegal entry or presence in PNG provided they show good cause for their illegal entry or presence in PNG. PNG also to allow such refugees reasonable period and all necessary facilities to obtain admission into another country” Article 32 “Expulsion: PNG not to expel refugees lawfully save on grounds of national security or public order. Such expulsion should be necessary given compelling reasons of national security, the refugee must be given the opportunity to clear him/ herself in a competent authority. The refugee must be given reasonable period to seek legal admission into another country” and Article 34 “Naturalization: PNG to facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of refugees. PNG should make every effort to expedite naturalization and to reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings”. Strangely enough, the PNG Permanent Mission in New York received O’Neil’s letter from the Australian Permanent Mission to dispatch to the Secretary General. Did Prime Minister O’Neil forgot that PNG has a Permanent Mission in New York and sent it to the Australian Permanent Mission instead??! Or did the Australian’s drafted the letter and our idiot of a Prime Minister just signed on it??! Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has been kept in the dark all this time and was surprised when PNG Mission in New York informed them of O’Neil’s letter been conveyed to them by the Australian Mission and not from Foreign Affairs HQ at Waigani. It must be noted that DFA has been working on a proposal to withdraw the 7 Reservations since 2010 when then Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Moses Manwau committed PNG to withdraw the 7 Reservations in Geneva. This decision was taken in light of the situation of West Papuan Refugees who have been living in Refugee camps at East Awin in Western/Sadaun boarder since 1950s. Given PNG’s sound economic situation it was seen that PNG was able to provide all of the provisions of the Refugee Convention to our fellow West Papuan wantoks. However, this proposal was not endorsed by the Government until the recent Asylum Policy Agreement with Australia. Also note that PM’s letter stated that the Withdrawal has immediate effect and applies only to refugees transferred from Australia to PNG while the Reservations remains in effect for all other persons seeking refuge in PNG, and that includes our Melanesian brothers on West Papua of which the PM’s decision to lift the 7 Reservations does not apply to. This is contrary to Article 3 of the Refugee Convention which states that ”The Contracting States shall apply the provisions of this Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin”. So whose interests is Prime Minister Peter O’Neil serving here??? 12 minutes ago Peter Au > Sharp Talk
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 06:55:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015