Parliamentary Committee on Child & Youth holds inaugural meeting

Port Moresby, 30 July 2025 – A critical assessment of the plight of Papua New Guinea’s children and young people took center stage when the Government’s newly established Parliamentary Committee on Child and Youth Welfare convened its inaugural meeting today.

Shining a spotlight on the urgent needs of children across the country, the Committee took a deep dive into the latest data and trends related to children’s welfare to understand the urgency for action, identify critical priorities and collectively develop a strategic pathway that would guide the Committee’s work and inform future legislative and policy interventions. 

“Children are the future of any nation, and we must spare no effort to ensure they are given all the support they need to begin their life journey on very strong foundation.  The work of the newly formed Committee is indispensable in that regard and as Chairman, I welcome the commencement of this important Committee of Parliament,” said Hon. Powes Parkop, Chair of the Committee.

A pivotal moment for child rights in Papua New Guinea, the inaugural meeting signals a renewed commitment to address serious challenges faced by the country’s youngest population requiring urgent and coordinated action.

UNICEF, a key development partner supporting the Committee’s work, presented data and information that highlighted immunization as a critical public health and national development priority.

Describing the meeting as a turning point, Veera Mendonca, UNICEF Representative, applauded the Government for moving from good intentions to informed, coordinated action that would translate child rights into real results and also reiterated consequences for inaction.

“While some improvement is noted in immunization for Penta 3, a consistently low coverage nationwide over decades undermines the population’s immunity thereby putting the country at risk of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks such as the detection of the polio virus we’re experiencing in the country right now,” Dr Mendonca stressed.

Established just two months ago, the Child and Youth Welfare Parliamentary Committee has an overarching objective to ensure that national efforts to protect and promote child and youth wellbeing are coordinated, evidence-driven, and prioritized within parliamentary processes.