The Bougainville Peace Agreement was signed on 30 August 2001 following about 10 years of a fragile peace negotiations process between the Bougainville leaders and the PNG National Government.

The Bougainville Peace Agreement’s three pillars are:

1. Autonomy: Bougainville to assume an Autonomous Bougainville Government to be operated under a home-grown Bougainville Constitution and a Parliament with a right to assume increasing control over a wide range of powers, functions, personnel and resources on the basis of guarantees contained in the National Constitution.

2. Weapons Disposal: whereby the agreed weapons disposal plan will proceed in stages, area by area, around Bougainville as soon as practicable.

3. Referendum: guaranteed by the National Constitution, among Bougainvilleans on their political future. The choices available include a separate independence option and to be held not prior to ten years, and not later than fifteen years, after the election of the first autonomous Bougainville Government.

The Bougainville peace Agreement is guided by the principle of Peace by Peaceful Means.

Key Points about the Bougainville Peace Agreement:

1. A divided Bougainville entered into the peace negotiations and shaped the spirit and intentions of the Peace Agreement through specific interpretations:

· Peace by peaceful means; weapons disposal; good governance

· Melanesian consensus and relations building

· Autonomy as a conduit for independence

2. In 2002, amendments were made to the PNG National Constitution that guaranteed Bougainville a constitutional means of restoring governance and peace by peaceful means. Section 276 of the PNG National Constitution explicitly states that Part XIV of the National Constitution is unique to Bougainville alone.

3. Autonomy was intended to be a transitional peace and restoration arrangement for ten to fifteen years until a referendum would determine Bougainville’s political future.

4. The Bougainville Peace Agreement is a joint creation therefore both parties have a joint responsibility to implement it jointly.

5. Key milestones under the Bougainville Peace Agreement have all been achieved: Weapons disposal, Autonomy with an independent parliament and a referendum conducted to international standards.

6. Papua New Guinea as a joint implementer of the Peace Agreement, is obligated to implementing the Peace Agreement by endorsing the 97.7% vote for Independence.