Reference :
V-P-PG-E-00199
Date :
24/10/2016
Caption :
Southern Higlands province. 11 years old Roberto Lepo's village was attacked by a rival clan. The place where he was hidden was destroyed by a grenade and when he escaped, a fighter cut his arm with a bush knife.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
ICRC website, photo gallery "Lives lost, futures destroyed: Stories from Papua New Guinea’s tribal wars", 29 May 2017
"Robert Lepo, 11, is from the Wambia tribe in Southern Highlands Province. Robert was brutally attacked by a neighbouring clan during a violent tribal dispute that saw his village decimated. At the height of the conflict, a grenade was reportedly thrown into a large house where he was sheltering with hundreds of community members. Robert managed to escape the inferno, but was attacked by machete-wielding enemy combatants while trying to flee the fight. “We were kids inside a big house in the village, and it was bombed. I was hiding and escaped through a hole in the house and tried to run away, but the enemy found me and chopped me with a bush knife. My life before the fight was ok, but now my life is in question.”
Home to some of the remotest communities in the world, the Papua New Guinea Highlands is a region of breathtaking, untouched beauty. However, these spectacular hills and valleys also harbor a disturbing reality: across the Highlands, tribal communities are at war. Vicious conflicts – over land, resources and other grievances – lead to thousands of displacements each year and rob families of their lives and livelihoods.
In Papua New Guinea's modern-day conflicts, no-one is spared from the fight – anyone or anything is a target – and tragically this includes women and children. Here, people caught up in these tribal disputes, share their stories, illustrating the serious, ongoing humanitarian impact of Papua New Guinea's chronic tribal wars."
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
3744x5616
Orientation :
portrait
Colour/B&W :
colour
