Representatives from government, industry, civil society and the international community gathered in Port Moresby on 16 July 2026 to officially launch Papua New Guinea’s Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR) In-Country Working Group.<\/p>\n
The new working group has been established to strengthen collaboration among stakeholders and support the implementation of the Voluntary Principles, a globally recognised framework that promotes responsible security practices while respecting and protecting human rights.<\/p>\n
Frieda River Limited (FRL) played a leading role in establishing the group, reflecting its commitment to responsible development and stakeholder engagement within Papua New Guinea’s extractive sector.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the launch, Frieda River Project Director Phil McCormack highlighted the importance of creating a platform where government, industry and civil society can work together to address challenges and build trust.<\/p>\n
“The fundamental purpose of the In-Country Working Group is to create a platform where government, industry and civil society can work together to identify challenges, develop solutions and build a shared understanding of what success looks like,” Mr McCormack said.<\/p>\n
Mr McCormack noted that the Voluntary Principles are ultimately about supporting people and communities affected by resource development activities.<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day, the Voluntary Principles are about people and communities. They are about ensuring there are accessible processes to address issues early, provide support when something goes wrong, and create an environment where human rights are respected.”<\/p>\n
He said successful implementation relies on clear expectations, transparent processes and strong partnerships.<\/p>\n
“You cannot prevent every incident from occurring. However, what you can do is establish clear expectations, effective monitoring, transparent reporting and immediate responses when issues arise. That is what the Voluntary Principles seek to achieve.”<\/p>\n
British Deputy High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea Niall Cullen welcomed the establishment of the working group, describing it as an important milestone in strengthening responsible business practices in Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n
“Today marks not just the launch of a working group but the continuation of a shared journey,” Mr Cullen said. “The Voluntary Principles create space for honest discussion, shared learning and practical progress to prevent human rights abuses and security-related incidents.”<\/p>\n
The launch program included an introduction to the Voluntary Principles Initiative and a discussion on security and human rights challenges and opportunities within Papua New Guinea’s extractive industries.<\/p>\n
PanAust, through its subsidiaries, has been a member of the global Voluntary Principles Initiative since 2013, demonstrating a longstanding commitment to responsible security management and the protection of human rights.<\/p>\n
The PNG In-Country Working Group will provide an ongoing forum for dialogue, information sharing and collaboration between stakeholders, helping to strengthen transparency, grievance mechanisms and responsible security practices across the sector.<\/p>\n
As interest in responsible resource development continues to grow, the working group is expected to play an important role in fostering cooperation and supporting positive outcomes for industry, government and communities alike.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Representatives from government, industry, civil society and the international community gathered in Port Moresby on 16 July 2026 to officially launch Papua New Guinea’s Voluntary Principles on Security and Human…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":13980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-14014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frieda-river-project","tag-frieda-river"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14015,"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14014\/revisions\/14015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panaust.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}