Papua New Guinea Bans Discussion On Waste Dumping by China

In the South Pacific, the government of Papua New Guinea has issued an extraordinary ban on reporting and discussion of amendments to environmental laws which could allow a Chinese mining company to pump waste out to sea. Civil rights groups are reported to be outraged.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most diverse countries on Earth, with over 850 indigenous languages and at least as many traditional societies, out of a population of just under 7 million. It is also one of the most rural, with only 18% of its people living in urban centers.

The country is one of the world’s least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.

One third of the population of this equatorial state live on $1.25 per day.

Justice Minister and Attorney-General Ano Pala sent a two-page statement to the impoverished South Pacific country’s media on Friday, saying he was putting a halt to public debate on the laws.

‘There shall be no more discussion, comment or reference in the media to the Environment Act amendments,’ he said in the statement, published in part by The National newspaper. ‘This mean there will be no talkback radio programmes or interviews, no more advertisements, no more letters to the editor and above all no more protest meetings, no public demonstrations, and no public marches.’

Mr Pala’s office refused to comment on the statement, saying only that the minister was unavailable. Critics argue that the amendments reduce landowners’ legal rights to oppose projects approved by the government.

The changes to the law are being contested in court by landowners from the Madang coast, who are against a pipeline which will dump millions of tonnes of waste into Basamuk Bay. Mr Pala warned the public there was to be no discussion of the case, given that a court was determining whether the amendments were constitutional.

In March, the courts ordered a halt to work on the Ramu nickel mine, operated by the Chinese Metallurgical Construction Group (known as MCC), as it prepared to blast away corals to make way for the pipeline. Papua New Guinea civil society group Act Now accused the government of acting like ‘an African dictator’ over the issue. ‘This is an utterly outrageous attempt by a draconian government to stifle public debate and deny citizens their constitutional rights,’ it said in a statement.



Women wearing traditional dress, Papua New Guinea





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