PORT MORESBY/GENEVA (9 February 2018) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein...called on the Government of Papua New Guinea to take firm measures to combat corruption, build good governance and strengthen the rule of law, particularly in holding businesses accountable for the human rights impacts of their activities...

High Commissioner Zeid said it was unacceptable that many businesses had been granted licenses to engage in extractive industries without the free, prior and informed consent of the people living on the affected land, particularly under the Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABL). Many communities have been forcibly evicted from their homes, often reportedly violently, with impunity and allegedly sometimes with the complicity of local police...