Women leading peacebuilding in Papua New Guinea

In 2008, tribal fighting raged in the remote forests of Tagali, Hela Province. A group of young leaders, the Young Ambassadors for Peace, went to Tagali to mediate with the sixteen tribes engaged in the conflict.

The only woman among them, Mary Tamia, was chosen to lead the mediation.

“A lot of men died on both sides. Children died. A mother died, too,” Mary recalls of the fighting in Tagali. “When we mediated that conflict, our approach was a neutral approach. We didn’t favour one party or another party.”

“Both parties have to comprise.”

Mary was invited to share her experience in conflict mediation with fellow peacebuilding advocates from Hela Province during a panel discussion in Tari. This panel was convened by the UN to highlight local leaders of peace as the Organization celebrates it’s 75th anniversary in October 2020. Mary was joined by fellow Young Ambassadors for Peace member James Komengi, youth advocate Manu Pat and Sergeant Alice Arigo of the Hela Province Family and Sexual Violence Unit in the conversation led by Amos Libe, a Field Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“It was a test that we set up during the mediation in 2008,” says James, a pioneer member of the Young Ambassadors for Peace who joined Mary in mediating the Tagali fighting. “We purposefully put her in charge to lead the mediation and to see how men would react to women leading the process and, hey, there is permanent peace right now.”

“Women were leading,” he says. “This is an example of how Huli women can promote peace. Peacebuilding is everybody’s business.”

Mary is far from the only Huli woman promoting peace in Tari.

In 2012, Janet Koriama led other women in establishing a movement to have women represented in local councils across Hela. Eight years later, the Hela Provincial Council of Women (HPCW) has succeeded with a woman sitting on each district council in Hela.

“We started out with our own contributions,” says Janet. “Throughout Hela we see this way is better than waiting for external support.”

The Organization provides mentoring for these leaders and is uniting women against tribal fighting in the Province. She shares that the women’s motto has become “Kill me before killing her”, a reference to the retaliation that will follow their son’s acts of violence towards other mothers.  

Speaking with us outside the Hela Provincial Office after the official opening of the UN office in Tari, Janet explains how the HPCW is working to break the cycle of violence. “We work closely with the men leaders to bring peace back into the villages,” she says. “Our sons will have no chance to fight because they see we are coming together.”

“They think they can make money but we tell them – ‘You can’t make money from taking someone’s life’.”

Asked about the reaction she has seen from the men in her community, Janet says “The reaction is that almost every fight around Hela has come back to peace now.”

A future free from fighting

HPCW is now working on reconciliation and moving towards a future free from the experience of violence. “Now we are trying to look into how we can say sorry for those who have been lost,” says Janet. “We are trying to help these warlords to say sorry to themselves.”

“I want to do business. I want to live my life. I want to die in my old age, not by being killed.”

Mary Tamia and the others on the UN75 panel share Janet’s desire for peace. “We feel tired,” says Mary of the tribal fighting. “This is the best time in the history of our new province. We will bring everyone back together. We have a very productive land and with this we can have a brighter future.”

“The time is right,” agrees James. “We have suffered a lot and it’s only people who have suffered a lot who will take the lessons and move forward.”

“We can change Hela.”

“We’ve had enough of this. We want peace,” says Sergeant Alice. “We speak positively all the time and what we say will come.”

“There will come a time when we will live peacefully.”

Produced by UN Papua New Guinea. The article was originally published to the UN Papua New Guinea websites on 12 October 2020. To learn more about the work taking place in the country, visit: https://papuanewguinea.un.org/.