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Hi Katy, In very simple terms (and it depends on what the legal framework is to some extent) it basically means that once an offence is taken on by the prosecuting authority (which is some way down the line from being reported to the police or referred to the prosecutor to determine if criminal proceedings should be initiated) it is continued by the prosecuting authority regardless of the wishes of the complainant either to continue the proceedings or to give evidence. It removes any prosecutorial discretion to discontinue the proceedings. Depending on how it combines with plea-bargaining arrangements it may lead to more trials. I hope this helps. Tess

Hi Tess Can you please elaborate on what a no-drop policy is? Thanks

Thank you very much.

PNG is not alone in trying to come to grips with this sort of crime. An important issue is one of understanding the origins of why it happens and the perspective of those who are committing the crime. It reminds me of the report on an habitual thief who became absolutely livid when his own house was broken into and many of his own items stolen or destroyed. He couldn’t see the trail of heartache and sorrow he had left behind himself but could only focus on how indignant he alone felt. Would the husbands, fathers, brothers of the victims be prepared to act against those who break the law before they themselves were personally affected and aggrieved? The buck has to stop somewhere. The disruption of village family life and the dysfunctional metropolitan existence, where those who are either under employed or unemployed is a potential breeding ground for all sorts of social problems. Where the previous community constraints of the village are now either non-existent or weak, the efforts of those few who are trying to help the victims and potential victims are often quickly ameliorated. The essence of the issue is to look above the forest instead of trying to continually trip over the fallen trees. No government, public body or leader seems to be prepared to do this as they know they will instantly become bogged down in human emotions and issues of out of control hormones. It seems like everyone has a strong, reactive view of how to combat crimes against women after it happens but no one wants to be the first to be proactive and confront the main reasons behind it? Until enough people get together and start thinking holistically about this issue, nothing much will change. The metropolitan gender imbalance in PNG, ephemeral community values and controls often due to mixed cultural backgrounds and loyalties and an under-funded law enforcement service clearly aren’t helping but only exacerbating what is a common, underlying problem not just peculiar to PNG. Unfortunately, no political or community leader apparently wants to be the first to examine these issues in any detail.

Jonathan and Stephen, To explain the governance program in Myanmar: a $20 million program would be a medium sized program in Myanmar. Large programs (in health and education) are in the order of $60-80 million. Chris Elstoft Port Vila

Thanks Jorge. The benefit of the item-count technique is that it provides a degree of anonymity. In cases where survey anonymity is guaranteed (i.e. an anonymous internet survey with high response rates), then literature shows there is no significant difference in answers sourced from the item-count technique or direct questioning (see <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21307031" rel="nofollow">here</a>). In instances where the survey is not anonymous (say direct questions related to sexual violence in the recent PNG HIES) then there is likely to be a difference between these answers and those sourced from the item-count technique approach. The item-count technique can be used for your stated purpose however large sample sizes are required for statistical significance - which is a disadvantage. Kosuke Imai from Princeton University provides a nice (albeit at times technical) <a href="http://imai.princeton.edu/research/listP.html" rel="nofollow">summary of the advantages and disadvantages</a> of this approach.

Governments reaching 0.7% may easily fall victim to not just loss of political support but also forgetting that aid is about effectiveness and quality and not a silver bullet for development. Being fixated on a development proportion would mean over looking this. See<a href="http://ipeanddevelopment.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/0-7-0-07-7-the-lure-and-wonder-over-how-much-aid-countries-should-give/" rel="nofollow"> this post</a> for more.

Hi, interesting post, especially the Item count technique, I don't know if this technique can be used for victimization surveys and domestic violence surveys, specially violence against the women, if that is the case, what would be the advantages of disadvantages of their use? Thanks

Thanks Stephen and Kamalini for a somewhat disturbing, but enlightening blog. In the end the only thing that can make the PNG criminal justice system function in respect of holding sexual violence offenders to account is the collective will of millions of PNG's fathers and husbands and brothers, standing alongside their women. It would seem then that the issue is partly, or mostly, normative, and it's heartening that you've identified that there are brave people and organisations who are standing up to this scourge. It seems clear that resources are well spent supporting the efforts of these change-makers in PNG, because this is the source of the energy that will turn around for good criminal impunity to sexual violence. ‘Of the three sources of power the most important for sovereignty is the power over the thoughts that give trust. Violence can only be used negatively; money can only be used in two dimensions, giving and taking away. But knowledge and thoughts can transform things, move mountains and make ephemeral power appear permanent’ (Mulgan 2007).

I found this analysis very useful. It's important for those of us in the IDA beneficiary countries to not be overly optimistic. The IDA members should nevertheless be proud of what they have achieved, and we are prepared to assist in conveying the fundraising message in whatever way it might help.

Thanks for this post and comments so far, this is indeed a very important issue and as has been highlighted further research will be needed. I would raise a couple of points which are intended to amplify the issues rather than counter anything that is here. The first is that prosecution is a function of the state not the victim. In relation to criminal offences the state takes prosecutorial action (on behalf of society as a whole), with the victim being a witness for the prosecution. In cases of sexual violence prosecutors encounter the difficulty of the main witness often being unwilling to testify in court for a whole host of reasons (family/community pressure, reluctance to face the attacker, lack of appropriate court facilities to account for special circumstances, e.g where the victim is a child). Some jursidictions have sought to mitigate this by providing dedicated witness support workers (expensive) or instigating a no-drop policy within prosecution offices (can result in victims being designated as hostile witnesses by virtue of the adversarial system used by courts in common law countries). Another more pragmatic response (not examined here and possibly not applicable but it would be good to know) is for prosecutors to negotiate a guilty plea to a lesser charge to save the victim having to testify. The figures here are illustrative but it would be good to see how they compare with other PNG centres and/or other countries. There is a wider issue around the political economy of law, justice and policing which I will mention briefly here (and hopefully expand upon later): there are no votes in these things as they tend to be issues that would normally be part of a national rather than a local conversation. Whenever we talk about 'service delivery' or the lack thereof in rural PNG or elsewhere we talk about health, education and infrastructure but the concept of 'law and justice' as a service is not entrenched on either the supply or demand side.

Stephen and Kamalini - thanks for this informative blog. It provides some hard facts on the sad state of sexual violence in Lae city. The real heroes, as you rightly point out, are the members of the public plus the NGOs such as MSF who provide care and support to the victims. Your data shows the pathetic rates of conviction, but what you miss is the fact that a large number, something like half when I last looked at the statistics, of those sent to jail escape confinement. May be it is time the people of PNG stood up to crime. The Indians have shown us that this can be done.