Attachments
INTRODUCTION
Since July 2022, Papua New Guinea's Highlands region has been witnessing multiple incidents of electionrelated violence, causing a slew of negative consequences, including loss of human lives, destruction of property and population displacement.
In this context, women and girls have become more vulnerable to Gender-based Violence (GBV), and a number of communities have reported incidents of GBV following the displacement.
Co-led by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the National Disaster Centre (NDC), the Camp Coordination and Camp Management, Shelter and NonFood Items cluster deployed the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) rapid assessment tool (October November 2022) with the support of local authorities and partners and collected data on the situation of persons displaced by election-related violence in Hela, Southern Highlands, Jiwaka and Eastern Highlands provinces.
Data on the population displaced by election-related violence in Enga province was collected from selected sites pending the deployment of the DTM rapid assessment.
To better understand the displacement situation in the Highlands region, including informing evidence-based responses and recovery planning that target the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the DTM rapid assessment tool was deployed also to identify and assist communities displaced by other hazards, such as tribal violence.
Conflict continues and the situation remains tense in the Highlands region. Therefore, the IDP population reported in this document is not exhaustive and covers only those sites reached through displacement tracking at the onset of the crisis.
The DTM has identified a total of 31,481 IDPs (6,054 IDP households) across 29 sites in Hela, Southern Highlands, Enga, Western Highlands, Jiwaka and Eastern Highlands provinces. Therefore, the IDP population has increased by 56.59% since 22 August 2022.
It is estimated that the IDP population is however higher and very dynamic. IOM is working on improving the tracking and updating of its reporting of the continuous localized displacements and more information will therefore be shared as it becomes available.
Of the 29 displacement sites identified, the DTM rapid assessment tool has so far collected multi-sectoral data from 20 sites that are hosting 18,651 IDPs in Hela, Southern Highlands, Western Highlands, Jiwaka and Eastern Highlands provinces.
The remaining 12,830 IDPs living in nine sites in Hela, Southern Highlands and Enga provinces, are yet to be assessed through the DTM rapid assessment tool. Therefore, the sectoral findings from IDPs in these nine sites are not fully represented in this report. IOM will nevertheless work to overcome this gap and improve the detail of sectoral findings in its next report.
Though fighting has ceased in several sites, including Mendi town in Southern Highlands, the displaced population reported that they do not feel safe returning to their homes.
The assessment team comprising of IOM and local authorities found that selected communities in Hela, Southern Highlands and Western Highlands provinces continue to experience violence, and it is expected that more people will be displaced.
Key informants and local community members contacted in the selected sites reported that they had been displaced for over two months, and many of them are living within host communities, while others are living in the mountains and bushes, feeling unsafe about returning to their homes.