Appendix 3: Papua New Guinea platform for action.

The PNG Platform for Action includes priority recommendations for each of the 9 critical areas of concern. The critical areas of concern identified as the major problems facing women of PNG are listed below with some of the main issues:

Health

Major health problems, which need to be addressed, include:

* Maternal mortality rates;

* Female malnutrition across the life cycle;

* Poor access to reproductive services.

Options/Approaches:

Increase access to affordable community based health care services, particularly those provided through mobile maternal and child health clinics, village patrols and community based distributors.

Education, Training and Literacy

Major education problems, which need to be addressed, include:

* Female illiteracy;

* Poor enrollment and attendance rates of girls in school and tertiary institutions.

Options/Approaches:

Encourage gender balance through affirmative action and quotas for women and girls in the allocation of scholarships. Promote policies which ensure that there are at least 50% of females in all educational institutions.

Mechanisms to Promote the Advancement of Women and Shared Decisionmaking

Major problems, which need to be addressed, include:

* Lack of women in most senior decision making bodies e.g. National Parliament, the bureaucracy and the private sector;

* Poorly resourced national machinery for women.

Options/Approaches:

Upgrade the Women's Division to an Office of the Status of Women that is effectively staffed and adequately resourced. Revitalize the Inter Agency Women's Advisory Committee.

Ensure that all national boards have women's representation and monitor that they regularly consult with women's organizations. Promote the sharing of roles and responsibilities within the family through innovative media campaigns, school and community education programs which emphasize gender equity and non-stereotype gender roles of women.

Economic Empowerment and Employment Opportunities and Conditions

Major economic problems which need to be addressed include:

* Poverty of women and lack of control over economic resources;

* Lack of access to credit;

* Inequality in the workplace.

Options/Approaches:

Legislate and where appropriate introduce policy measures to enable women to participate freely and more effectively in commerce both as employees and entrepreneurs. Impose controls on transport levies to assist small business operators.

Develop national employment policy with emphasis on equal opportunity in employment. Enforce laws and develop policies against sexual harassment, adultery and enticement in the workplace.

Legal and Human Rights, Violence, Peace and National Unity

Major problems which need to be addressed include:

* Domestic violence, rape and sexual assault;

* Lack of access to, or incentive to use counseling and other support mechanisms;

* Lack of legislative measures available to women.

Options/Approaches:

Make available support services for women including rape crisis centers, shelters for women, private facilities for interviews at police stations and court advocates to enable women to take perpetrators of violence to court. Monitor, review and strengthen legislation against sexual abuse and prostitution. Promote legislation and enforcement of policies aimed at eliminating domestic violence. Implement the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission No. 14 on violence against women.

Liaise with police and other relevant agencies to establish an integrated database on violence against women. Enforce legislation on child abuse including incest, rape and prostitution and provide appropriate support services and counselling. Increase the number of police officers with special training to support women who are subjected to violence.

Ensure that school curriculum includes gender issues highlighting the changing roles of girls and boys and promoting equal responsibilities in family and community life.

Culture and the Family Including a Section on Young Women and Girls and Special Groups of Women Such As Women with Disabilities, Elderly Women, Refugee and Displaced Women

Major problems which need to be addressed include:

* Cultural practices which discriminate against women (e.g. bride price, polygamy);

* Clash between traditional culture and modern culture;

* Increasing urbanization.

Options/ Approaches:

Provide appropriate training for village court magistrates and officers to adequately deal with the problems relating to adultery, domestic violence, polygamy and desertion. Introduce family life and adolescent education awareness at grade six level.

Transport, Shelter and Water, and Communication

Major problems which need to be addressed include:

* Access to safe, reliable and affordable transportation;

* Access to secure, adequate and affordable shelter and water;

* Access to communication systems and appropriate technologies.

Options/Approaches:

Ensure women's needs such as safety, accessibility and affordability are taken into consideration when transportation policies are formulated.

Develop and implement government housing policy and programs that are supportive of women, especially single mothers. Research and implement innovative distance communication systems and technologies appropriate to the varying geographic conditions of PNG.

Agriculture and Fisheries

Major problems which need to be addressed include:

* Women's access to extension services and appropriate technology;

* Recognition of women's traditional and unpaid roles in the sectors.

Options/Approaches:

Develop and support an agricultural subsistence improvement program for women using appropriate technology. Create markets for subsistence women farmers with subsidies for transporting goods to the nearest market. Support short courses for women to learn the various methods offish preservation and food processing particularly fruit for canning and making jams, sweet potatoes, yams, bananas and breadfruit.

Environment and Development

Major problems which need to be addressed include:

* Destruction caused by logging and mining on the environment and the effects on women and their families;

* Increased information and access to sustainable farming methods and recycling.

Options/Approaches:

Increase women's representation in environmental management and development, particularly on forestry, mining and landowner boards.

Enforce legislations to strengthen existing mechanisms in the Consumer Affairs Bureau to monitor prices and quality of foods, materials and medicines imported and produced in PNG.