Results for Pacific Islands

Poor data collection in several Pacific Island countries is obstructing UNICEF’s first assessment to measure progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for children. Children are at risk of being left behind in terms of improving health, sanitation, education, protection from violence, abuse and exploitation says a UNICEF report.

Rt. Hon Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, who was in Nuku’alofa today, has committed $7 million dollars to assist schools to fix roofs that were damaged by Tropical Cyclone Gita last month.

The Prime Minister of Fiji, Rear Admiral (Ret.), Hon. Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama officially opened the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM) on 20 February at the Sheraton Resort, Nadi, Fiji, attended by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Rgt. Hon. Patricia Scotland and Helen Clarke.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are working with the Government of Kiribati to support children, families and communities affected by the recent Butiraoi ferry disaster. 88 Kiribati passengers, including 23 children were on the 17m catamaran ferry that broke apart and sank two weeks ago

Australia’s Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells – who visited Tonga in 2016 to sign the ‘Tonga-Australia Aid Partnership’ – is facing a formal complaint by China’s Foreign Ministry. The complaint responds to scathing remarks that Fierravanti-Wells made yesterday in a prominent Australian newspaper ‘The Australian’ where she berated China’s development aid projects in Pacific Island countries.

The Australian state of Victoria has established a new law to crack down on the neglect and exploitation of seasonal workers, most of whom are Pacific Islanders working under Australia’s Seasonal Worker Program. The law establishes the “Labour Hire Licensing Authority”, a body to monitor and punish hiring operators who neglect labourers. Tonga is the largest source of labourers under the Seasonal Worker Program.

The newly crowned Miss Pacific Islands, Matauaina Gwendolyn To’omalatai has been appointed as the 2018 Pacific Islands Tourism Ambassador.

A new Tropical Tunas Bridging Measure was adopted in the early hours of this morning, after a marathon session by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting in the Philippines this week. The Chair and the Executive Director today issued a joint statement on the outcomes of the 14th annual meeting of the Commission, which also include a Conservation and Management Measure on Pacific Bluefin, bycatch mitigation strategies and conservation measures on marine pollution.

Different approaches towards managing a heavily depleted fish stock have emerged between two Pacific nations. At the 14th annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) currently being held in Manila, Philippines, the Solomon Islands and the Cooks Islands – home to the two biggest southern albacore fisheries - have separately voiced preferences for competing management systems for the tuna.