By Norm Dixon
Australians concerned about the deteriorating health and human rights situation on the besieged island of Bougainville have formed a network to gather vital supplies and ship them there.
A three-year military blockade of Bougainville by the Papua New Guinea government has meant that almost no medicines, consumer goods or clothing have reached the 200,000 people of Bougainville.
The blockade has taken the lives of over 1% of the population through untreated malaria, respiratory illnesses and complications in childbirth. The organisers of the network describe PNG's blockade, which is financed by Australian military aid, as "an appalling abuse of human rights". They say it "contravenes several international laws including the Genocide Convention of 1948".
The network is collecting medical supplies and sending them through established routes into Bougainville. Already one shipment of medicine weighing 750 kg has been sent. The network will attempt to send a large shipload of medical supplies, building material and clothing direct to Bougainville. Efforts are being made to locate such a "peace ship" to travel at least as far as the Solomon Islands.
The organisers say the ship would attempt to "nonviolently and openly take the supplies through the military blockade with or without the consent of the PNG authorities and military".
As well as delivering vital supplies to the people of Bougainville, the network sees a peaceful breaking of the blockade as focussing attention on, and building, the campaign in Australia to end the blockade. It will also generate public awareness about the Australian government's involvement through military aid to PNG as well as environmental destruction and human rights abuses carried out by Australian big business in Bougainville, PNG and the Pacific region.
The network is asking people to assist. Tasks include: finding a ship no smaller than 50 feet and preferably a sailing boat; contacting drug companies, doctors, hospitals and clinics to ask for new drugs or those just past their use-by dates; contributing and/or collecting second-hand clothes, especially children's clothes; contributing and/or collecting teachings aids, textbooks, stationery and office supplies, building materials and tools.
If Green Left Weekly readers can help in any way, please contact Australian Humanitarian Aid For Bougainville on the following phone numbers: Melbourne - Steve Blair on (03) 383 5785 or Brendan Condon on (03) 417 7448; Sydney - Moses Havini on (02) 804 7602; Brisbane - Jerry Smith on (07) 275 7523. Donations can be deposited into the Australian Aid For Bougainville account, Commonwealth Bank, Brunswick, Victoria, account number 3111 1001 3716. Donations can be made at any branch of the Commonwealth