Pacific news in brief for 19 May
Samoa's Ministry of Health Headquarters.
Photo:
RNZ Pacific / Dominic Godfrey
Samoa's Ministry of Health has declared its whooping cough outbreak over.
It said last Wednesday that this follows a consistent decline in reported case and no suspected cases in the previous four weeks.
The outbreak of the disease, also known as pertussis, was declared on 28 November last year.
It said that the total of suspected and confirmed cases since the declaration had reached 427.
The Ministry said that while the spread of the disease is under control, people are urged not to be complacent and to check their children's immunisations are up to date.
Police in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea have been investigating the deaths of two young children whose bodies were found in an abandoned car outside the city at the beginning of this month.
According to police the four and five year olds were last seen alive at the beginning of March.
Their remains were found in a vehicle at Gereka, just outside Port Moresby.
A postmortem was conducted at Port Moresby General Hospital on 6 May to determine the cause of death.
NBC
reported the Police Commissioner David Manning saying the Crimes Investigation Team is working around the clock to gather evidence and identify witnesses.
He also expressed grave concern over the increasing trend of child abuse in the country, condemning these as despicable acts and betrayals of trust.
He has urged parents and guardians to take their responsibilities seriously and he reminded the public of the 'Lukautim Pikinini Act', which carries severe penalties for negligence and abuse.
A jury trial is set for July in a federal child pornography case in the Northern Marianas.
The case is against Nicolas Franklin Salas Palacios, who faces charges of possession of and access with intent to view child pornography.
He has entered a plea of not guilty.
The indictment includes a forfeiture notice, signaling that if convicted, the accused may be required to forfeit specific items or face a money judgment as an alternative.
He remains detained at the Department of Corrections pending trial.
Starlink has been installed at Rotuma Government Station in Fiji, as part of a broader project to connect 10 rural and maritime government stations across the country.
Fiji's government said this technological advancement will allow civil servants to access real-time information and improve communication with headquarters, while also opening digital doors for nearby communities.
The initiative is also designed to improve coordination during emergency situations.
The Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Baron Waqa is visiting New Zealand this week.
He will meet New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Pacific Peoples Minister Shane Reti.
Ulu o Tokelau Esera Tuisano will also make his first official visit to New Zealand, ahead of New Zealand and Tokelau celebrating a centenary of their constitutional relationship next year.
Peters said regular face-to-face dialogue is crucial for underpinning New Zealand's relationships throughout the region.
New Zealand is hosting the council of the University of the South Pacific on Monday.
Twelve Pacific countries will be represented at the meeting.
Pacific Peoples and Universities Minister Shane Reti said New Zealand's role as hosts reflects the country's steadfast commitment to advancing tertiary education through Pacific regionalism.
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Bougainville legal dept looking towards sorcery violence policy
Sorcery-related violence is still a problem in Papua New Guinea Photo: 123RF The Department of Justice and Legal Services in Bougainville is aiming to craft a government policy to deal with violence related to sorcery accusations. The Post Courier reports a forum, which wrapped up on Wednesday, aimed to dissect the roots of sorcery/witchcraft beliefs and the severe violence stemming from accusations. An initial forum was held in Arawa last month. Central Bougainville's Director of Justice and Legal Services, Dennis Kuiai, said the forums' ultimate goal is crafting a government policy. Further consultations are planned for South Bougainville next week and a regional forum in Arawa later this year. "This policy will be deliberated and developed into law to address sorcery and [sorcery accusation-related violence] in Bougainville," he said. "We aim to provide an effective legal mechanism." He said the future law's structure was to target three key areas: the violence linked to accusations, sorcery practices themselves, and addressing the phenomenon of "glass man". A glassman or glassmeri has the power to accuse women and men of witchcraft and sorcery. Papua New Guinea outlawed the practice in 2022. The forum culminated in the compilation and signing of a resolution on its closing day, witnessed by officials. Sorcery has long been an issue in PNG. Those accused of sorcery are frequently beaten, tortured, and murdered, and anyone who manage to survive the attacks are banished from their communities. In April, a mother-of-four was was reportedly rejected by her own family after she was saved by a social justice advocacy group. In August last year, an advocate told people in Aotearoa - where she was raising awareness - that Papua New Guinea desperately needed stronger laws to protect innocents and deliver justice for victims of sorcery related violence. In October 2023, Papua New Guinea MPs were told that gender-based and sorcery violence was widespread and much higher than reported . In November 2020, two men in the Bana district were hacked to death by members of a rival clan, who claimed the men used sorcery against them.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
PNG student left with skull fracture after dorm attack
Papua New Guinea police Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades Arrests have been made in relation to an attack on students at a school in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The students were set upon by a group of men, armed with bush knives and guns, as they prepared to begin their evening study last week. The report from the hospital chief executive stated a total of nine students - eight female and one male - were brought to the Emergency Department at midnight of 5 June. Several wound injuries were reported and one female student had a depressed skull fracture. "All students were attended to and are in stable condition," the report, dated 6 June, said. Police investigations are ongoing. The school's principal told NBC local communities have expressed outrage over the attack. Classes have resumed following a temporary suspension, he said. The principal described the incident as a criminal act committed by outsiders. "We didn't go out and create problems for the community; they came and robbed our students of their learning."
RNZ News
3 days ago
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Study of early Pacific migrants could help with health history, says researcher
A 2009 excavation involving researchers from the University of Otago, at the SAC locality on Watom Island, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Photo: Dr Rebecca Kinaston International researchers have recovered the first ancient genomes from Papua New Guinea, which holds clues into the lives of early Pacific settlers. The research into Pacific migration has been 20 years in the making but current technology has led to new breakthroughs. Otago University's Dr Monica Tromp said they are able now to get really fragmented, ancient DNA from hot and humid environments like Papua New Guinea. She told Pacific Waves there was little interaction between the groups of people that first settled in PNG about 50,000 years ago. "There seems to be very distinct groups of people, as far back as we can see with these samples, that were not interacting with each other... at least not interacting with each other in a way we can see through genetics," she said. "So people weren't intermarrying with each other. They were sticking to their to their different groups." Photo: Supplied Tromp said there are a couple of places in the paper that are later in time, on PNG's south coast. She said these two groups lived very close together at the same time, but even then, 500-600 years ago, people kept separate from each other. "They have different burial traditions; they're eating differently; they looked different genetically, so they were still maintaining their distinct populations. "We can see it reflected today in languages, because there's hundreds of different languages spoken just in Papua New Guinea." She said the study of early Pacific migrants could help Pacific communities understand their health history. "Besides just being interesting, being able to look at DNA from this far back - although it hasn't been done yet - we can try to find out other things, like where different kind of health issues may have come from... to help target treatments for people that have this kind of ancestry," she said. "That's been done a lot in Europe and other places where they have these big data sets, but there's not a lot that has been done down in the Pacific. "Hopefully, if more things like this can happen, it can not only help people learn more about their ancestors, but also hopefully learn about how that information can help them today."
