http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20071023/tuhome.htmChinese slave trade fear
SOME Asian men have been allegedly seen leading other Asian men out of a container and in chains.
Labour and Industrial Relations Secretary David Tibu said he had no formal report on this and other allegations of illegal activities but reports reaching his office say people saw chained men being led out of a container in a residential area.
Mr Tibu, who has been vocal on foreign companies breaking both international and local labour laws said he will make sure the labour laws, were respected.
The Secretary said there were allegations of some Chinese men being offloaded at the Basimuk wharf in Madang, allegedly to work at the Ramu nickel mine but he has no formal reports to verify it.
Mr Tibu said as far as he knew, the wharf was not a declared international wharf and there were no immigration and customer officers there.
“Therefore no foreign ship should berth there as the first port of call from overseas,” he said.
Mr Tibu said he heard that Madang police had gone to the area to investigate and if there was any truth in illegal people without proper passes, they should be arrested and locked up.
The Secretary also said some foreign companies were going straight to people in higher places to address their issues like the delay of work permits.
Mr Tibu said, “The Chinese should be dealing directly with my people. The Chinese have been told over and over again, they should comply with our laws.”
He said he was short on manpower to investigate these and other allegations and hoped that foreign companies respected the host country’s laws.
Chief executive officer of PNG Ports Corporation Joshua Taruna said he could not comment much on the Basimuk wharf as the laws under the then PNG Harbours Board were released and the laws governing the wharfs were varying.
Mr Taruna said some powers were with the Department of Transport, some with the PNG Maritime Authority and some with the PNG Ports.
However, the laws were not complementary and therefore there was a lot of confusion.
“Therefore, he could not comment on Basimuk. Mr Tibu, said Customs could show some interest if foreign ships were going directly from Basimuk and berthing there.
Attempts to find out from Madang police if they had visited the site and investigated the allegations have been unsuccessful.
Police Commissioner Gari Baki said he had received no reports of the container people.
Attempts to get comments from Customs were also unsuccessful and telephone calls rang out without being answered after they was transferred from the main switch.
Ramu Nico management who visited the Post-Courier office refused to comment on the matter.