UN Authority Figures

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board: Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, survivors of family and sexual violence, including children, often have nowhere to go other than back to an unsafe place where they are likely to be abused again. Photo: A woman and her daughter rest at a safe house in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Source: The Huffington Post, March 1, 2016

Mission of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF): "UNICEF is mandated by the UN General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families. UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children - victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation and those with disabilities. UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority." (U.N. Children's Fund website, "UNICEF's Mission Statement")

Term of office: 2014-2016

Papua New Guinea's Record on Children:
"Other human rights problems included ... abuse and sexual exploitation of children... Recent reports confirmed that girls were at high risk of domestic and sexual violence, sexual harassment in schools, commercial exploitation, and HIV infection, which posed serious threats to their education... Observers believed sexual abuse of children was common. Independent sources confirmed that in two major cities, 1,000 or more cases of child sexual abuse were reported in 2009... numerous instances of police abuse of children... Customary and traditional practices allow marriage of children as young as age 12, and early marriage was common in many traditional, isolated rural communities. Child brides frequently were taken as additional wives or given as brides to pay family debts and often were used as domestic servants. Child brides were particularly vulnerable to domestic abuse." (US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2014, Papua New Guinea)