Papua New Guinea-Indonesia: Papua New Guinea ratified an agreement governing their mutual border in 2023; migrants and separatists crossing the porous 760-kilometer (472-mile) border have complicated diplomatic relations
refugees (country of origin): 11,432 (Indonesia) (mid-year 2022)
IDPs: 91,000 (tribal conflict, inter-communal violence) (2022)
stateless persons: 15 (2022)
tier rating: Tier 3 — Papua New Guinea does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore, Papua New Guinea was downgraded to Tier 3; officials took some steps such as investigating government complicity in a sex trafficking syndicate; however, the government did not prosecute or convict any traffickers or identify and assist victims, and it often deported potential victims without screening them; endemic corruption and complicity among officials, particularly in the logging and fishing sectors, left foreigners and locals vulnerable to trafficking; the lack of resources for anti-trafficking efforts, low awareness among officials and the public, and lack of training and awareness activities continued to hinder progress (2023)
trafficking profile: 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 into marriages or child sex trafficking to resolve debts or disputes, or force children to beg or sell goods on the street; young women and girls face exploitation in sex trafficking and domestic service as part of marriages that involve a “bride price” of money or chattel; traffickers force some children into criminal gold panning; adolescent boys are increasingly involved in intercommunal armed conflict, possibly via forced recruitment by local leaders; LGBTQI+ individuals are vulnerable to trafficking; asylum seekers detained in Papua New Guinea while attempting to reach Australia may face increased vulnerability to forced labor or sex trafficking; Chinese, Malaysian, and local men are forced to work in logging and mining camps; migrant women from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand are recruited by Chinese and Malaysian-based logging companies and subjected to sex trafficking and domestic servitude at logging and mining camps, fisheries, and entertainment sites; local and foreign men and boys seeking work on fishing vessels are at risk of debt bondage, harsh working and living conditions, and physical violence; government officials reportedly facilitate trafficking by accepting bribes or ignoring trafficking in return for political favors (2023)
transit point for smuggling drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine; major consumer of cannabis
NOTE: The information regarding Papua New Guinea on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Papua New Guinea 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Papua New Guinea 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 04 May 24, Copyright © 2024 ITA all rights reserved.
