Change to PNG provincial government law

Change to PNG provincial government law

The Papua New Guinea parliament is proposing changes to the Organic Law, which deals with the provisional government system. The law, passed in 1976, guarantees Bougainville autonomy within PNG. It was PNG's compromise to Bougainville's demands for national self- determination.

When PNG was granted independence in 1975, Bougainville declared itself independent. But Australia, as colonial administrator, claimed in the United Nations that without Bougainville, PNG could not afford to be independent. PNG agreed to grant limited autonomy to Bougainville, known as North Solomons Province, under the Organic Law.

According to Mike Forster from the Bougainville Interim Government, the proposed changes will allow the provisional government system to be disbanded. "The agreement established between Bougainville's 1975 leadership and the then PNG government will be rendered null and void for this passage."

The Interim Government has called on member states of the United Nations to immediately recognise the independence of Bougainville.

Forster added, "The proposed abolition of the provisional system, the basis of Bougainville's original inclusion in the state of PNG, means that the world community now has the licence to recognise the independence of Bougainville and respond to the entreaties of the Bougainville people to assist with the protection of their human rights, including the right to self-determination."

From GLW issue 117