Eighty seven percent of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) seven million people live in rural areas. Almost all the rest live in small urban centers, the majority of which have a population of well below 30,000 people. Only Port Moresby and Lae have sizable populations at about 365,000 and 88,000 respectively1. Average national population density is low at about 14 per km2. PNG’s population is characterized by a very diverse number of social groups, with strong local and clan-based affinities and allegiances. There are over 800 distinct languages.
Papua New Guinea has ratified all eight core ILO labour Conventions. In view of restrictions on the trade union rights of workers, discrimination, child labour, and forced labour, determined measures are needed to comply with the commitments Papua New Guinea accepted at Singapore, Geneva and Doha in the WTO Ministerial Declarations over 1996-2001, and in the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its 2008 Social Justice Declaration.