A Bougainville women's agency says there has been a surge in illicit alcohol use as Christmas approaches and more gender violence as a result.
Arawa, Bougainville Photo: RNZI
Helen Hakena, who runs the Leitana Nehan Women's group in the autonomous Papua New Guinea province, says the illegal manufacture of homebrew seems worse than previous years.
She says she is particularly worried by the numbers of young people consuming the drink and the threat it poses to the peace process.
"Living in the village and I see so many women, families are brewing homebrew alcohol and that is easily accessible by young people, and beginning around two weeks ago there was a lot of drinking, fighting and that is causing a lot of concern for us mothers. And gender based violence has increased as well."
Ms Hakena says attempts by police to try and curb the practice by stopping people from accessing yeast or by removing their gas bottles are easily got around.
