Nicole Haley

Jumping the gun? Reflections on armed violence in Papua New Guinea

Firearms have played a significant role in exacerbating invidious forms of violence in Papua New Guinea. Victimisation rates in the National Capital District (NCD) are amongst the highest in the world. Port Moresby, the countrys largest and fastest growing urban centre, accounts for some 34 per cent of all nationally reported crimes, despite accounting for only 5 per cent of the countrys population. The Southern Highlands Province (SHP) is also rife with violent armed conflict. This feature reports on the findings from an armed violence assessment administered in NCD and SHP by the Small Arms Survey with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This assessment yields a number of critical and counter-intuitive findings that take issue with the conventional wisdom concerning armed violence in Papua New Guinea and should influence prospective interventions to mitigate insecurity and reduce arms availability and demand.

Evaluation of the Community Officer Project in Solomon Islands

This evaluation assesses the performance of the Community Officer (CO) project, a trial community policing mechanism initiated by the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) in late 2009, with assistance from the Participating Police Force (PPF) of the Regional Assistance to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Current interest in community policing in Solomon Islands is occurring in the larger context of the rebuilding and reform of the RSIPF that has been taking place with the assistance of RAMSI. The Solomon Islands Government (SIG) and RSIPF are committed to introducing a viable form of community policing across the country.

Conducting and Securing Elections in a High-Risk Setting: The Koroba-Lake Kopiago Experience

This chapter offers a security perspective on the elections in Koroba-Lake Kopiago Open electorate during the 2007 general election. It looks specifically at the challenges of conducting and securing elections in a volatile high-risk setting. It finds that the 2007 election was considerably less violent than recent general elections and this was attributable in no small part to the huge investment in security. It also finds that there is considerable room for improvement with respect to inter-agency coordination and electoral administration, and that the role of the security forces should be clarified and pre-deployment training provided to all security personnel prior to the 2012 elections.