Stop Exploiting Us!

Papua New Guinea is endowed with vast natural resources, but its inhabitants have not enjoyed sustained increases in their incomes. Industries that dominate the formal economic sector are the capital-intensive mining and oil industries that employ large numbers of foreign nationals and relatively few locals. They tend to be controlled by overseas interests and thus considerable portions of the profits are taken offshore. While many multinational corporations are enjoying huge profits, Papuans lives are signalled by widespread poverty — an estimated 40% of people live on under US$1 per day.