"text":"<p>Papua New Guinea (PNG) was first settled between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. PNG’s harsh geography consisting of mountains, jungles, and numerous river valleys, kept many of the arriving groups isolated, giving rise to PNG’s incredible ethnic and linguistic diversity. Agriculture was independently developed by some of these groups. Around 500 B.C., Austronesian voyagers settled along the coast. Spanish and Portuguese explorers periodically visited the island starting in the 1500s, but none made it into the country’s interior. American and British whaling ships frequented the islands off the coast of New Guinea in the mid-1800s. In 1884, Germany declared a protectorate - and eventually a colony - over the northern part of what would become PNG and named it German New Guinea; days later the UK followed suit on the southern part and nearby islands and called it Papua. Most of their focus was on the coastal regions, leaving the highlands largely unexplored.<br><br>The UK put its colony under Australian administration in 1902 and formalized the act in 1906. At the outbreak of World War I, Australia occupied German New Guinea and continued to rule it after the war as a League of Nations Mandate. The discovery of gold along the Bulolo River in the 1920s led prospectors to venture into the highlands, where they found about 1 million people living in isolated communities. Japan invaded New Guinea in 1941 and reached Papua the following year. Allied victories during the New Guinea campaign pushed out the Japanese, and after the end of the war, Australia combined the two territories into one administration. Sir Michael SOMARE won elections in 1972 on the promise of achieving independence, which was realized in 1975. <br><br>A secessionist movement in Bougainville, an island well endowed in copper and gold resources, reignited in 1988 with debates about land use, profits, and an influx of outsiders at the Panguna Copper Mine. Following elections in 1992, the PNG Government took a hardline stance against Bougainville rebels and the resulting civil war led to about 20,000 deaths. In 1997, the PNG Government hired mercenaries to support its troops in Bougainville, sparking an army mutiny and forcing the prime minister to resign. PNG and Bougainville signed a truce in 1997 and a peace agreement in 2001, which granted Bougainville autonomy. An internationally-monitored nonbinding referendum asking Bougainvilleans to chose independence or greater self-rule occurred in November 2019, with 98% of voters opting for independence. However, the PNG Government and Bougainville officials remain in negotiations about the status of the island.</p>"
"text":"Oceania, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia"
"text":"population concentrated in the highlands and eastern coastal areas on the island of New Guinea; predominantly a rural distribution with only about one-fifth of the population residing in urban areas"
"text":"<p>active volcanism; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis</p><p><strong>volcanism:</strong> severe volcanic activity; Ulawun (2,334 m), one of Papua New Guinea's potentially most dangerous volcanoes, has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Rabaul (688 m) destroyed the city of Rabaul in 1937 and 1994; Lamington erupted in 1951 killing 3,000 people; Manam's 2004 eruption forced the island's abandonment; other historically active volcanoes include Bam, Bagana, Garbuna, Karkar, Langila, Lolobau, Long Island, Pago, St. Andrew Strait, Victory, and Waiowa; see note 2 under \"Geography - note\"</p>"
"text":"<p><strong>note 1:</strong> shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; generally east-west trending highlands break up New Guinea into diverse ecoregions; one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast<br><br><strong>note 2: </strong>two major food crops apparently developed on the island of New Guinea: bananas and sugarcane</p> <p><strong>note 3:</strong> Papua New Guinea is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire</p>"
"text":"Tok Pisin (official), English (official), Hiri Motu (official), some 839 indigenous languages spoken (about 12% of the world's total); many languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> Tok Pisin, a creole language, is widely used and understood; English is spoken by 1%-2%; Hiri Motu is spoken by less than 2%"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> data represent only the citizen population; roughly 0.3% of the population are non-citizens, consisting of Christian 52% (predominantly Roman Catholic), other 10.7% , none 37.3%"
"text":"population concentrated in the highlands and eastern coastal areas on the island of New Guinea; predominantly a rural distribution with only about one-fifth of the population residing in urban areas"
"text":"the indigenous population of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the most heterogeneous in the world; PNG has several thousand separate communities, most with only a few hundred people; divided by language, customs, and tradition, some of these communities have engaged in low-scale tribal conflict with their neighbors for millennia; the advent of modern weapons and modern migrants into urban areas has greatly magnified the impact of this lawlessness"
}
},
"Environment":{
"Environment - current issues":{
"text":"rain forest loss as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; unsustainable logging practices result in soil erosion, water quality degredation, and loss of habitat and biodiversity; large-scale mining projects cause adverse impacts on forests and water quality (discharge of heavy metals, cyanide, and acids into rivers); severe drought; inappropriate farming practices accelerate land degradion (soil erosion, siltation, loss of soil fertility); destructive fishing practices and coastal pollution due to run-off from land-based activities and oil spills"
},
"Environment - international agreements":{
"party to":{
"text":"Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands"
"text":"the word \"papua\" derives from the Malay \"papuah\" describing the frizzy hair of the Melanesians; Spanish explorer Ynigo ORTIZ de RETEZ applied the term \"Nueva Guinea\" to the island of New Guinea in 1545 after noting the resemblance of the locals to the peoples of the Guinea coast of Africa"
}
},
"Government type":{
"text":"parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm"
},
"Capital":{
"name":{
"text":"Port Moresby"
},
"geographic coordinates":{
"text":"9 27 S, 147 11 E"
},
"time difference":{
"text":"UTC+10 (15 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)"
"text":"20 provinces, 1 autonomous region*, and 1 district**; Bougainville*, Central, Chimbu, Eastern Highlands, East New Britain, East Sepik, Enga, Gulf, Hela, Jiwaka, Madang, Manus, Milne Bay, Morobe, National Capital**, New Ireland, Northern, Southern Highlands, Western, Western Highlands, West New Britain, West Sepik"
},
"Independence":{
"text":"16 September 1975 (from the Australia-administered UN trusteeship)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Independence Day, 16 September (1975)"
},
"Constitution":{
"history":{
"text":"adopted 15 August 1975, effective at independence 16 September 1975"
"text":"proposed by the National Parliament; passage has prescribed majority vote requirements depending on the constitutional sections being amended – absolute majority, two-thirds majority, or three-fourths majority; amended many times, last in 2016"
"text":"National Executive Council appointed by the governor general on the recommendation of the prime minister"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"the monarchy is hereditary; governor general nominated by the National Parliament and appointed by the chief of state; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the governor general pending the outcome of a National Parliament vote"
"text":"unicameral National Parliament (118 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies - 89 local, 20 provincial, the autonomous province of Bouganville, and the National Capital District - by majority preferential vote; members serve 5-year terms); note - the constitution allows up to 126 seats"
"text":"Supreme Court (consists of the chief justice, deputy chief justice, 35 justices, and 5 acting justices); National Courts (consists of 13 courts located in the provincial capitals, with a total of 19 resident judges)"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Supreme Court chief justice appointed by the governor general upon advice of the National Executive Council (cabinet) after consultation with the National Justice Administration minister; deputy chief justice and other justices appointed by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, a 5-member body that includes the Supreme Court chief and deputy chief justices, the chief ombudsman, and a member of the National Parliament; full-time citizen judges appointed for 10-year renewable terms; non-citizen judges initially appointed for 3-year renewable terms and after first renewal can serve until age 70; appointment and tenure of National Court resident judges NA"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"district, village, and juvenile courts, military courts, taxation courts, coronial courts, mining warden courts, land courts, traffic courts, committal courts, grade five courts"
"text":"Advance PNG [Muglua DILU]<br>Allegiance Party or AP [Bryan KRAMER]<br>Destiny Party [Marsh NARAWEC]<br>Liberal Party [John PUNDARI]<br>Melanesian Alliance Party or MAP [Joseph YOPYYOPY]<br>National Alliance Party or NAP [Patrick PRUAITCH]<br>New Generation Party or NGP [Keith IDUHU]<br>Our Development Party or ODP [Charles ABEL]<br>Papua and Niugini Union Party or PANGU PATI [James MARAPE]<br>Papua New Guinea Country Party or PNGCP [Chris HAIVETA]<br>Papua New Guinea Greens Party [Richard MASERE]<br>Papua New Guinea National Party [Kerenga KUA]<br>Papua New Guinea Party or PNGP [Belden NAMAH]<br>People's First Party or PFP [Richard MARU]<br>People's Labor Party or PLP [Peter YAMA]<br>People's Movement for Change or PMC [Gary JAFFA]<br>People's National Congress Party or PNC [Peter Paire O'NEILL]<br>People's Party or PP [Peter IPATAS]<br>People's Progress Party or PPP [Sir Julius CHAN]<br>People's Reform Party or PRP [James DONALD]<br>Social Democratic Party or SDP [Powes PARKOP]<br>Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party or THE [Don POLYE]<br>United Labor Party or PLP [vacant]<br>United Resources Party or URP [William DUMA]"
"text":"divided diagonally from upper hoist-side corner; the upper triangle is red with a soaring yellow bird of paradise centered; the lower triangle is black with five, white, five-pointed stars of the Southern Cross constellation centered; red, black, and yellow are traditional colors of Papua New Guinea; the bird of paradise - endemic to the island of New Guinea - is an emblem of regional tribal culture and represents the emergence of Papua New Guinea as a nation; the Southern Cross, visible in the night sky, symbolizes Papua New Guinea's connection with Australia and several other countries in the South Pacific"
},
"National symbol(s)":{
"text":"bird of paradise; national colors: red, black"
"text":"fixed-line teledensity in Papua New Guinea has seen little change over the past two decades; progress in the country’s telecom sector has come primarily from mobile networks, where accessibility has expanded considerably in recent years, with population coverage increasing from less than 3% in 2006 to more than 90% by early 2021; the MNOs operate networks offering services based on GSM, 3G, and LTE, depending on location; GSM is prevalent in many rural and remote areas, while 3G and LTE are centered more on urban areas; MNOs’ investments in 4G are growing, though GSM still represents the bulk of all mobile connections owing to the low penetration of smartphones and the concentration of high-speed data networks predominantly in high value urban areas; a lack of sufficient competition and investment in the wire line segment has driven up prices and hampered network coverage and quality; infrastructure deployment costs are high, partly due to the relatively low subscriber base, the difficult terrain, and the high proportion of the population living in rural areas; fixed telecom infrastructure is almost non-existent outside urban centers, leaving most of the population under served; PNG is the Pacific region’s largest poorly developed telecom market, with only around 22% of its people connected to the internet; this falls far behind the recommended targets set in the country’s National Broadband Policy drafted in 2013, which aimed to provide broadband access to 90% of the total population by 2018; the existing submarine cable infrastructure is insufficient to serve the country’s needs; low international capacity has meant that internet services are expensive and slow; the cable links PNG to the Solomon Islands and Australia (landing at Sydney); despite the improvement in recent years, the country is still impacted by a connectivity infrastructure deficit, making it reliant on more expensive alternatives such as satellites, also weighing on the affordability of services for end-users (2022)"
"text":"4 TV stations: 1 commercial station operating since 1987, 1 state-run station launched in 2008, 1 digital free-to-view network launched in 2014, and 1 satellite network Click TV (PNGTV) launched in 2015; the state-run National Broadcasting Corporation operates 3 radio networks with multiple repeaters and about 20 provincial stations; several commercial radio stations with multiple transmission points as well as several community stations; transmissions of several international broadcasters are accessible (2018)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF): Land Element, Maritime Element, Air Element<br><br>Ministry of Internal Security: Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) (2023)"
"text":"the PNGDF is a small, lightly armed, and underfunded force tasked with defense of the country and its territories against external attack, as well as internal security and socio-economic development duties; the Land Element includes two infantry battalions, an engineer battalion, a signal squadron, an explosive ordnance disposal unit, and a preventive medicine platoon; the Air Element is a small air wing operating a light transport aircraft and two leased helicopters while the Maritime Element consists of four patrol boats and two landing craft<br><br>the PNGDF was established in 1973, and its primary combat unit, the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment (RPIR), is descended from Australian Army infantry battalions comprised of native soldiers and led by Australian officers and non-commissioned officers formed during World War II to help fight the Japanese; the RPIR was disbanded after the war, but reestablished in 1951 as part of the Australian Army where it continued to serve until Papua New Guinea gained its independence in 1975, when it became part of the PNGDF<br><br>Papua New Guinea's traditional security partners are Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the US; Australia and the US are assisting the country with expanding and improving the Defense Force naval base at Lombrum on Manus Island; the US first established a Lombrum base in 1944 during World War II; in recent years, Papua New Guinea has established security ties with France and the UK; the US and PNG signed a defense cooperation agreement in May 2023, which included a shiprider agreement that provides the opportunity for PNG personnel to work on US Coast Guard and US Navy vessels, and vice versa, to tackle maritime crime such as illegal fishing (2023)"
"text":"<p><em>Papua New Guinea-Australia</em>: relies on assistance from Australia to keep out illegal cross-border activities from primarily Indonesia, including goods smuggling, illegal narcotics trafficking, and squatters and secessionists</p>"
"text":"Tier 2 Watch List — Papua New Guinea does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; for the first time in four years, the government initiated prosecutions against four alleged traffickers, and identified and provided protective services to a child sex trafficking victim; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared to the previous year; officials did not convict any traffickers, nor provide shelter or services to victims or help NGOs do so; endemic corruption and complicity, particularly in the logging and fishing sectors, left foreigners and locals vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor; the lack of resources for anti-trafficking efforts, low awareness among officials and the public, and lack of training activities continued to hinder progress; the government did not update standard operating procedures for victim identification or allocate funding to its national action plan; therefore, Papua New Guinea remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the second consecutive year (2022)"
"text":"human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Papua New Guinea, and Papua New Guineans are exploited abroad; traffickers use Papua New Guinea as a transit point to exploit foreign victims in other countries; foreign and local women and children are exploited in sex trafficking and in forced labor in domestic service, the tourism sector, manual labor, begging, and street vending; families or tribe members reportedly exploit children in sex trafficking or forced labor; some parents force their daughters in to marriages or child sex trafficking to resolve debts or disputes; Chinese, Malaysian, and local men are forced to work in logging and mining camps; migrant women from Malaysia, Thailand, China, and the Philippines are subjected to sex trafficking and domestic servitude at logging and mining camps, fisheries, and entertainment sites (2022)"
