Security challenges facing Papua New Guinea and the island states of the southwest Pacific: volume 2

• Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee

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26 February 2010This report identifies the way the region's physical and geographical characteristics combine with limited human and technological capacity to reduce the ability of states to undertake day-to-day policing and respond effectively to large scale breakdowns in law and order. The committee finds that there are many root causes of conflict—unemployment, inter-ethnic tension, land tenure, access to weapons, gender equality and political instability—and that these often interact to bring about rapid deteriorations in law and order. It also identifies how overstretched justice systems are constrained in their ability to prosecute and deter criminal activity. 

The report also identifies external threats to Pacific security ranging from illegal fishing to forms of transnational crime. The committee finds that just as some states struggle to deal with law and order at a community level, they also find it difficult to respond to complex forms of transnational crime. Pacific island states do not have the capacity to police their vast oceanic borders effectively nor do they have the sophisticated tracking and surveillance capabilities required to address transnational criminal activity. 

Finally, the report examines the security implications of climate change and the effect of natural disasters on the region and finds that, while extremely vulnerable, Pacific states have limited capacity to respond to such threats.