“Papua New Guinea is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman, with a large number of women experiencing rape or assault in their lifetime and facing systemic discrimination.” While these are criminal offences, domestic violence was specifically proscribed under the 2013 Family Protection Act (FPA), very few perpetrators are brought to justice.1 In a 2011 scoping study conducted by UN Women show 55% of women and girls studied reported that they have experienced some form of violence in the market; and 22% have experienced more than one incident of sexual violence in the market.2
Women and girls in Papua New Guinea face formidable barriers to overcoming poverty and social in-justice. They are severely disadvantaged in all areas of human development including education, work, health care etc. and are largely absent from political participation, market engagement, collective action and educational achievement. PNG ranked 157th out of 197 countries in Gender Development Index.3
Public spaces like market area and public transportation i.e. the buses and taxis are the most unsafe for women in Port Moresby. These places are where most cases of physical violence and sexual harassment are reported. Young, unemployed males and men under the influence of drugs and alcohol are the most common perpetrators of physical violence and sexual harassment.
The Port Moresby Safe City Programme which was launched in 2011 partnered with National Capital District Commission (NCDC) and Royal PNG Police Constabulary (RPNGC) to make public spaces safe, especially for women and girls. The Programme aims to improve institutional support, capacity building, advocacy and the provision of gender-sensitive infrastructure to address women’s and girl’s mobility and safety in and around markets and public transport. It was found that women and girls experience a high degree of violence and harassment at bus stops, on PMVs and in taxis. They do not feel confident to report their experiences of violence or harassment to the police, and overall there is an inadequate response by police to reported incidents of violence and harassment. Notable results from the UN Women Safe Market and Safe Public Transport Programme include redevelopment of market infrastructure and provision of womenonly bus service. This improved safety of women and girls in market place and on public transportation to some extent. The female respondents agreed that removal of betel nut and cigarette vendors from the market somewhat made them less likely to experience violence and harassment, compared to before but they also noted significant loss of income due to a reduction of customers. Further cashless payments were introduced to prevent women vendors from being robbed. Amenities were also provided for women vendors such as bathrooms and showers, renovated market stalls and shaded areas, potable water as well as set-ting up a market vendor association and a referral system for survivors of family and sexual violence in the markets.
The women only bus service also ensured safe public transport for more than 100000 women and girls of Port Moresby. However, women and girls’ experiences of violence and harassment have not entirely disappeared; many vendors and buyers reported that they continue to experience inappropriate touching, whistling, sexual comments, and leering, by both young men hanging around inside the Gordons market and security guards.
The qualitative analysis report of Gordons, Koki and Gerehu market & transport service conducted by The Equality Institute, Australia has determined that in all the three marketplaces as well as the PMVs i.e. the buses and taxis, women and girls continue to experience a high degree of physical and sexual violence and sexual harassment. Women and girls most commonly experience pickpocketing; bag snatching; physical assault; extortion; verbal abuse; intimidation; inappropriate touching; and leering, whistling and teasing. Some horrifying responses were:
“Majority of female vendors face theft every day. Money or good are taken from them under threat. These perpetrators usually use (threats) to get what they want.” (Young Female Vendor, FGD)4
“Sexual violence happens both in the bus and on the bus stop. As discussed, common practice noticeably sighted included touching of private bodily areas, giggling, whistling, applying bodily signs to attract opposite sex, on taxis as told it’s not safe for both sex travelling alone both having the day as well in the night. We can be victimized by the drivers. In most cases related to rape of women. This as well applies to PMV buses.” (Male KII Participant).5
To avoid such violence and harassment, some respondents suggested that women should dress modestly, and should avoid the markets at certain times of the day, or travel with a male relative. Such suggestions highlight the pervasiveness of victim-blaming attitudes and the considerable restraints placed on women’s mobility. 6
All this provides the context and framework to conduct a city-wide safety audit mapping to understand the nature and causes of vulnerability in the city in order to design programs and policies that will address these effectively and sustainably.
1.1 Mapping Port Moresby using Safetipin technology
Under the Port Moresby Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Program, Safetipin has been engaged to build capacity of local authorities to use smart phone solutions in making Port Moresby safe for women and others. The study seeks to map key concerns of women’s safety and security in the city of Port Moresby with focus on sexual violence in public space. This project will work towards fulfilling the aims and goals of the Safe Cities Program.
Safetipin is an app and technology platform developed in India in 2013 as a tool to measure safety and the lack of it for women and girls in public spaces in cities. It uses the methodology of the safety audit as a tool to assess public spaces (Refer to Annex 1). The Safetipin technology platform has two apps that has been used in the project – My Safetipin, a crowdsourced tech platform that will be used by volunteers to give data and Safetipin Nite, a tool to collect night time pictures of the city.
Safetipin apps has been used to map the Port Moresby to assess public spaces for safety, both on infrastructure as well as social usage. The data has delineated why certain spaces are vulnerable by assessing infrastructural parameters as well as social usage by measuring women’s feelings of safety at different places around the city. The collected data has been analysed in this report and can used for actual on-ground responses and actions that will work towards improving safety for citizens on the streets and public spaces.