PAPUA NEW GUINEA: 2015 Human Rights Report

The principal human rights concerns were severe police abuse of detainees and police and military abuse of citizens; violence and discrimination against women and girls; and vigilante killings and abuses, some related to alleged involvement in sorcery and witchcraft. A significant area of controversy involved the Australian-run regional refugee processing center on Manus Island. A court challenge to the constitutionality of the center reinitiated in March was found null and void in August.Other human rights problems included poor prison conditions; lengthy pretrial detention; infringement of citizens' privacy rights, particularly in highland areas; government corruption; abuse and sexual exploitation of children; trafficking in persons; discrimination against persons with disabilities; intertribal violence; and ineffective enforcement of labor laws.The government frequently failed to prosecute or punish officials who committed abuses, whether in the security services or elsewhere in the government. Impunity was pervasive.