Results for Pacific Islands

Improving gender equality and addressing violence against women and girls will be the focus of a new EUR18.2 million regional programme announced on International Women’s Day, 8 March.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today 6 March officially announced diplomat Ms Tiffany Babington as New Zealand’s new High Commissioner to Tonga.

Shipping containers leaving Fiji for Australia and New Zealand will undergo the Sea Container Hygiene System (SCHS) starting in April to ensure they arrive pest free. This means both countries won’t have to store containers to perform onshore inspections and cleaning, resulting in costs savings for the industry valued at around AUD$6-9 million per year.

The Government of India has announced that it will provide USD$1 million owards Tonga’s recovery from Cyclone Gita. India’s Prime Minister H.E Mr. Narendra Modi sent a message to Tonga’s PM ‘Akilisi Pohiva on 16 February, announcing India’s contribution and conveyed his "deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers for the victims of this natural calamity."

The Government of Tonga is dismissing accusations by a prominent Australian newspaper that China’s foreign aid is hurting Tonga’s economy. The news article claimed that many Tongans believe that they have been "sold out by the Tongan Government”.

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

Forty-five foreign governments, including Tonga's primary aid donors, delivered their reviews and recommendations to the Government of Tonga at the United Nation’s 29th Session of Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Switzerland this week. Most countries called on Tonga to ratify conventions and to “take steps to raise social awareness in understanding these instruments.", with some countries also urging Tonga to abolish the death penalty and to establish a Human Rights Institution.

Five Pacific Islands are included in the European Union’s first blacklist, which names 17 tax havens, including American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau and Samoa as "non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes".

Tonga was one of 21 countries absent from voting at the United Nations headquarters, New York, on December 21, when the UN passed a resolution opposing the United States' unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Samoa was also absent. While Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu attended but abstained from voting. Among the 128 countries that supported the resolution were New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.