New anti-human trafficking laws are expected to come into force in Papua New Guinea next month.

The legislation will criminalise all forms of human trafficking, and target criminals involved in trafficking people into, out of and within PNG.

The new laws have been developed with the help of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

George Gigauri, chief of mission for the IOM in PNG, says the programme is unique.

“It is called Counter Trafficking Support to the government of Papua New Guinea,” he said.

“We are working specifically with the department of justice and attorney-general.

“Together with the government we have put together the first legislation that defines and criminalises trafficking in human beings.”

Gigauri says the law, which was passed last year, will provide a legislative frame work and a basis to tackle the “terrible crime”.

“On top of that we are doing other components like capacity-building for the government officials for the NGO sector and for anyone who could potentially be involved in this very complex process.”

The programme also includes raising awareness in the general public.

Other issues to be tackled include forced arranged marriages and domestic slavery .

“Trafficking has many elements to it,” Gigauri said.

“It is a very complex process. We obviously will try to battle all aspects of it.”

However, he says, due to the clandestine nature of the act, it is often difficult to ascertain where the crime is occurring.

“I would stop short of saying that this is something that happens everywhere because we don’t have the data to prove that yet,” Gigauri said.

“But we do have a very good reason to believe that there is a lot of exploitation going on at certain camps, mining sites and areas where there are significant gathering of people.”

Though far from comprehensive, he says data shows trafficking in the Papua New Guinea is largely confined to within the country.

“However, there is definitely external international trafficking happening as well,” Gigauri said.

“And that includes people from other countries being forced to work on PNG territory.”

Gigauri says people have responded favourably to the programme, especially in the very remote communities.

“The main challenge is to get a fairly complex message across,” he said.

“To explain to the local population what is trafficking, who is a victim of trafficking and that you may have victims of trafficking around you without even realising.

“Most of the people in Papua New Guinea have never heard of the phenomenon of trafficking and how it is defined.”

Gigauri says once the legislation comes into force in May, the next step would be to implement it.

“The project will be creating something called the National Referral Mechanism,” he said.

“What that basically means is bringing together all the main stakeholders, governmental and non-governmental, including the Ministry of Justice, customs, police, and outlining exactly who will be responsible for what.”

Once identified, the victim will be referred to the appropriate authorities for help.

Gigauri says the legislation is a big step forward for Papua New Guinea.

“PNG is not a signatory to the Palermo Protocol and that’s the protocol against organised crime which includes trafficking,” he said.

“We hopefully will assist PNG in signing that.”