Partners

Nazareth Centre for Rehabilitation (NCfR)
PNG Red Cross Society (PNGRCS) – Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB) Branch
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Nazareth Centre for Rehabilitation (NCfR)

The Nazareth Centre for Rehabilitation (NCfR) is one of the oldest and most respected institution in Bougainville that pioneered the concept of “trauma healing”. The NCfR maintains a network of over 200 community counsellors across Bougainville, who receive holistic skills in peacebuilding, conflict transformation and trauma healing and provide rehabilitation services to young and adult men and women through safehouses, counselling and referrals. In October 2023, the NCfR signed a partnership agreement with the OMPB and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the establishment and implementation of the pilot phase of the Accompaniment Programme for the families of the missing in Bougainville.

PNG Red Cross Society (PNGRCS) – Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB) Branch

The PNG Red Cross Society (PNGRCS) – Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARoB) Branch – is an independent organization that works as a voluntary aid society, auxiliary to the authorities in the humanitarian field. The PNGRCS ARoB Branch was requested by the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) to support the OMPB in the collection of information for the registration of the missing, given that the Red Cross volunteers are spread across the entire Bougainville and abide by a universal humanitarian mandate to support state authorities in the issue of missing persons. The Red Cross volunteers are not involved in the search or any subsequent steps for the tracing of missing persons.  All data collected are handed over to the OMPB based on the consent of the families. The OMPB is responsible for all subsequent stages.

PNG Red Cross

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance. The Bougainville Executive Council has, via the Missing Persons (Revised) Policy 2023, endorsed the ICRC to provide technical expertise to the Bougainville authorities.  In June 2023, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the ICRC and the ABG, where ICRC is requested:

  • to provide technical support in co-designing with the relevant authorities an approach to establish a humanitarian search mechanism,
  • to support local capacity-building in developing a secure data and information management system,
  • to offer technical expertise to the OMPB and its implementing partners on the provision of psychosocial support to affected individuals and families of the missing, and
  • to act as a neutral intermediary to sensitize and raise awareness for the establishment of a sustainable humanitarian mechanism on the missing.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)