Indian Female Peace Keepers Show the Way in Liberia

Better alternatives to the Enhanched Co-operation Programme

If Papua New Guinea feels, that it needs policing support especially during the upcoming elections, there are better options than bringing in the Australian Federal Police (AFP) who does not have a good record performing off shore duties, as in the case of the RAMSI programme in the Solomon Islands and their own internal security programme called the "Intervention" in the Northern Territory.

Are there better alternatives to the ECP for Papua New Guinea? 

Yes there is. Perhaps the one that is catching the most attention at the moment are Regiments of female peacekeepers. The success of using Female Peacekeepers, as the New York Times reports:  

"...the United Nations is intensifying efforts to recruit women for peacekeeping missions that seek to mend what war has wrought.

The theory — which has evolved since pioneering female peacekeepers started participating in U.N. missions in the Balkans in the 1990s — is that women employ distinctive social skills in a rugged macho domain. They are being counted on to bring calm to the streets and the barracks, acting as public servants instead of invaders.

“When female soldiers are present, the situation is closer to real life, and as a result the men tend to behave,” said Gerard J. DeGroot, a history professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland who has written books about women in the military. “Any conflict where you have an all-male army, it’s like a holiday from reality. If you inject women into that situation, they do have a civilizing effect.” 

The Indian approach is perfect for PNG and they could help build a women's paramedical corps to carry on this kind of work after the Indians have gone back to other duties. 

The PNG public is quite weary of Australian neo-colonialism, and the reputation of the Australian Federal Police as a Rigue force. People can also see that after years of AUSAID assistance, there is nothing to show for it in the lives of poor people in urban settlements and in rural villages.

We need a programme that can inspire Papua New Guineans into self help and local action around its own issues.

Charting an alternative path which combines, work towards an improved security situation and engaging with the community through para-medical work is a great idea for Papua New Guinea to consider, if we are really serious about our problems with crime and corruption - and the delivery of health services.


These are good building blocks for local action.

Charter of the United Nations

CHAPTER XI: DECLARATION REGARDING NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES

Article 73

Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount, and accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the utmost, within the system of international peace and security established by the present Charter, the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories, and, to this end:

a. to ensure, with due respect for the culture of the peoples concerned, their political, economic, social, and educational advancement, their just treatment, and their protection against abuses;

b. to develop self-government, to take due account of the political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist them in the progressive development of their free political institutions, according to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and their varying stages of advancement;

c. to further international peace and security;

d. to promote constructive measures of development, to encourage research, and to co-operate with one another and, when and where appropriate, with specialized international bodies with a view to the practical achievement of the social, economic, and scientific purposes set forth in this Article; and

e. to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General for information purposes, subject to such limitation as security and constitutional considerations may require, statistical and other information of a technical nature relating to economic, social, and educational conditions in the territories for which they are respectively responsible other than those territories to which Chapters XII and XIII apply.

Article 74

Members of the United Nations also agree that their policy in respect of the territories to which this Chapter applies, no less than in respect of their metropolitan areas, must be based on the general principle of good-neighbourliness, due account being taken of the interests and well-being of the rest of the world, in social, economic, and commercial matters.

CHAPTER XII: INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP SYSTEM

Article 75

The United Nations shall establish under its authority an international trusteeship system for the administration and supervision of such territories as may be placed thereunder by subsequent individual agreements. These territories are hereinafter referred to as trust territories.

Article 76

The basic objectives of the trusteeship system, in accordance with the Purposes of the United Nations laid down in Article 1 of the present Charter, shall be:

 a. to further international peace and security;

b. to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the trust territories, and their progressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and as may be provided by the terms of each trusteeship agreement;

c. to encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion, and to encourage recognition of the interdependence of the peoples of the world; and

d. to ensure equal treatment in social, economic, and commercial matters for all Members of the United Nations and their nationals, and also equal treatment for the latter in the administration of justice, without prejudice to the attainment of the foregoing objectives and subject to the provisions of Article 80.

Article 77

1. The trusteeship system shall apply to such territories in the following categories as may be placed thereunder by means of trusteeship agreements: 

   

a. territories now held under mandate;

   

b. territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War; and

   

c. territories voluntarily placed under the system by states responsible for their administration.

2. It will be a matter for subsequent agreement as to which territories in the foregoing categories will be brought under the trusteeship system and upon what terms.

Article 78

The trusteeship system shall not apply to territories which have become Members of the United Nations, relationship among which shall be based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality.

Article 79

The terms of trusteeship for each territory to be placed under the trusteeship system, including any alteration or amendment, shall be agreed upon by the states directly concerned, including the mandatory power in the case of territories held under mandate by a Member of the United Nations, and shall be approved as provided for in Articles 83 and 85.

Article 80

1. Except as may be agreed upon in individual trusteeship agreements, made under Articles 77, 79, and 81, placing each territory under the trusteeship system, and until such agreements have been concluded, nothing in this Chapter shall be construed in or of itself to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which Members of the United Nations may respectively be parties.

2. Paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be interpreted as giving grounds for delay or postponement of the negotiation and conclusion of agreements for placing mandated and other territories under the trusteeship system as provided for in Article 77.

Article 81

The trusteeship agreement shall in each case include the terms under which the trust territory will be administered and designate the authority which will exercise the administration of the trust territory. Such authority, hereinafter called the administering authority, may be one or more states or the Organization itself.

Article 82

There may be designated, in any trusteeship agreement, a strategic area or areas which may include part or all of the trust territory to which the agreement applies, without prejudice to any special agreement or agreements made under Article 43.

Article 83

1. All functions of the United Nations relating to strategic areas, including the approval of the terms of the trusteeship agreements and of their alteration or amendment shall be exercised by the Security Council.

2. The basic objectives set forth in Article 76 shall be applicable to the people of each strategic area.

3. The Security Council shall, subject to the provisions of the trusteeship agreements and without prejudice to security considerations, avail itself of the assistance of the Trusteeship Council to perform those functions of the United Nations under the trusteeship system relating to political, economic, social, and educational matters in the strategic areas.

Article 84

It shall be the duty of the administering authority to ensure that the trust territory shall play its part in the maintenance of international peace and security. To this end the administering authority may make use of volunteer forces, facilities, and assistance from the trust territory in carrying out the obligations towards the Security Council undertaken in this regard by the administering authority, as well as for local defence and the maintenance of law and order within the trust territory.

Article 85

1. The functions of the United Nations with regard to trusteeship agreements for all areas not designated as strategic, including the approval of the terms of the trusteeship agreements and of their alteration or amendment, shall be exercised by the General Assembly.

2. The Trusteeship Council, operating under the authority of the General Assembly shall assist the General Assembly in carrying out these functions.

--------------

Source: Charter of the United Nations

Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975

Preamble

WHEREAS certain territories and islands formerly constituting the Possession of British New Guinea and placed by the Crown under the authority of Australia were administered by Australia under the Papua Act 1905-1940 as the Territory of Papua:

AND WHEREAS, in accordance with a Mandate under the Covenant of the League of Nations, certain territories and islands, being former German possessions, were administered by Australia under the New Guinea Act 1920-1935 as the Territory of New Guinea:

AND WHEREAS the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea were, for a period, administered jointly by Australia under the Papua-New Guinea Provisional Administration Act 1945-1946:

AND WHEREAS Australia's administration of the Territory of Papua became subject to Chapter XI of the Charter of the United Nations:

AND WHEREAS, in accordance with Chapter XII of that Charter, the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 December 1946 approved the terms of a Trusteeship Agreement for the Territory of New Guinea, submitted to it by the Government of Australia, in substitution for the terms of the Mandate, which agreement designates the Government of Australia as the sole Authority to exercise the administration of the Territory of New Guinea:

AND WHEREAS the Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 provided for the administration of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea by Australia in an administrative union, by the name of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, whilst maintaining the identity and status of the Territory of New Guinea as a Trust Territory and the identity and status of the Territory of Papua as a Possession of the Crown:

AND WHEREAS on 18 November 1963 a House of Assembly was established by the Papua and New Guinea Act 1963 to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea:

AND WHEREAS, by virtue of the Papua New Guinea Act 1971, the Territories governed in the administrative union became together known as Papua New Guinea:

AND WHEREAS on 9 July 1974 the House of Assembly resolved that Papua New Guinea move to independent nation status:

AND WHEREAS the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 December 1974 noted that resolution and resolved that, on the date on which Papua New Guinea became independent, the Trusteeship Agreement would cease to be in force:

AND WHEREAS on 18 June 1975 the House of Assembly nominated 16 September 1975 as the date on which Papua New Guinea is to become independent:

AND WHEREAS on 16 September 1975 Papua New Guinea is to become an independent sovereign state by the name of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, having a constitution established, adopted and given to themselves by the people of Papua New Guinea acting through their Constituent Assembly:

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:

PAPUA NEW GUINEA INDEPENDENCE ACT 1975

1  Short title

This Act may be cited as the Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975.

2  Commencement 

This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

3  Interpretation

(1) In this Act:

Independence Day means 16 September 1975. Papua New Guinea has the same meaning as in the Papua New Guinea Act 1949 -1975.

(2) In this Act, a reference to an Act or to an Imperial Act includes a reference to an instrument made under an Act or an Imperial Act.

4  Withdrawal of sovereignty etc. of Australia

On the expiration of the day preceding Independence Day, Australia ceases to have any sovereignty, sovereign rights or rights of administration in respect of or appertaining to the whole or any part of Papua New Guinea.

5  Repeal etc. of laws

On the expiration of the day preceding Independence Day:

(a) the Acts specified in the Schedule are repealed; and

(b) every Act, and every Imperial Act, extending to the whole or any part of Papua New Guinea as part of the law of Papua New Guinea ceases so to extend.

6  Regulations

(1) The GovernorGeneral may make regulations making provision for or in relation to matters arising out of or connected with the attainment of the independence of Papua New Guinea, including regulations making modifications or adaptations of any Act.

(2) Regulations under subsection (1) made before Independence Day shall not have effect before that day.

Schedule 1—Acts repealed

Section 5 

Papua and New Guinea Act 1949

Papua and New Guinea Act 1954

Papua and New Guinea Act 1957

Papua and New Guinea Act 1960

Papua and New Guinea Act (No. 2) 1960

Papua and New Guinea Act 1963

Papua and New Guinea Act 1964

Papua and New Guinea Act 1966

Papua and New Guinea Act 1968

Papua and New Guinea Act (No. 2) 1968

Papua and New Guinea Act 1971

Papua New Guinea Act 1971

Papua New Guinea Act 1972

Papua New Guinea Act 1973

Papua New Guinea Act (No. 2) 1973

Papua New Guinea Act 1974

Papua New Guinea Act (No. 2) 1974

Papua New Guinea Act 1975

Notes to the Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975

Note 1

The Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975 as shown in this compilation comprises Act No. 98, 1975 amended as indicated in the Tables below.

Source: Commonwealth Consolidated Acts