How ABG Works

PURPOSE:

The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) was developed from the peace negotiations (Bougainville Peace Agreement) that concluded the Bougainville Crisis era. The purpose of ABG is to function as the official governing entity within the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and also to represent and advocate for the interests of Bougainvilleans in the national context of Papua New Guinea and in international affairs.

AUTHORITY AND STRUCTURE:

ABG derives its authority from:

• The Constitution of Papua New Guinea
• The Constitution of Bougainville
• ​The Organic Law on Peace Building in Bougainvile, Autonomous Bougainville Government and Bougainville Referendum 

ABG's governance is separated into three divisions of power - the Legislative, the Executive, the Judiciary.

• Legislative - The Legislative operates in the form of Bougainville's House of Representatives (Parliament). This House is seated in the parliamentary buildings in Kubu, Buka.
• Executive - The Executive exists in the form of an elected President of the ABG and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Ministers (selected from Members of Parliament) and the Bougainville Executive Council.
• Judiciary - The Judiciary operates in the form of the Courts of Justice that operate within Bougainville. The region also retains the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court as the highest level of its Judiciary system.

View a diagram of ABG's authority and structure here.

LIMITATIONS:

ABG governs an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea and is the only region with this political status. This an important distinction as being "autonomous within" rather than "independent from" Papua New Guinea. Bougainville is not an independent sovereign state and therefore ABG cannot conduct certain activities (for example, ABG cannot make laws that contradict the national system of law or establish diplomatic posts in foreign countries).