Soldiers “rough up” a journalist under martial law after the coup in Thailand in May 2014. Image: DW

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Deutsche Welle

World leaders must act urgently to confront the changing nature of conflict and protect civilians from horrific violence by states and armed groups, urged Amnesty International as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world.

The paper provides an overview of human rights in 160 nations during 2014, including 29 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, where there has been a harsh crackdown on freedom of expression.

In a Deutsche Welle interview, Richard Bennett, AI’s Asia-Pacific director speaks about why his organisation believes the trend in human rights across Asia was regressive in 2014 and why the clampdown on freedom of expression will likely increase. Read more »

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Kristian Lasslet

Mr Pip, a recent film set during the 1990s Bougainville war, deals with the disorienting impact of sudden trauma and the struggle survivors endure to break the subsequent bondage of grief.

This searching narrative is channelled through the character of Mr Watts, a British expatriate played by Hugh Laurie, who has assumed the improvised role of village schoolteacher in rural Bougainville.

Here Mr Watts develops a friendship with a young Bougainvillean student, Matilda, played by the extraordinary Xzannjah Matsi. Read more »

FMA’s Ricardo Morris … media controversy a catalyst for change? Image: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch

The furore over a contested Media Industry Development Authority “ruling” against the Fiji Sun over two newspaper articles may lead to changes, according to the national journalists’ advocacy body.

Ricardo Morris, chair of the Fiji Media Association (FMA), has told Radio New Zealand International that the controversy highlighted several issues with Fiji media regulation and the 2010 Media Decree, suggesting this could be a “catalyst for change”.

Speaking on Dateline Pacific, he said: “In this case the Fiji Sun does have a point in that decisions being made by one person limits free speech on the basis of what one person rules.” Read more »

Transparency International youth campaigning against corruption in Jakarta. Image: TI Indonesia

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Carol Giacomo in Jakarta

Over the past decade, Indonesia was so determined to erase the tainted legacy of Suharto, the strongman forced to resign in 1998, that it established one of the world’s more effective anticorruption agencies. Now the future of that agency, the Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK, is under serious threat in a standoff with the police and President Joko Widodo.

Over the years, the commission, with its professional team of investigators and prosecutors, has had an impressive record of attacking corruption. Since 2003, hundreds of government officials, politicians and businessmen have been put in jail.

Not surprisingly, the commission has made many enemies and has often had to withstand attempts by entrenched interests to weaken or dismantle it. But nothing has seemed as perilous as the most recent turn of events. Read more »

A coastal freighter is tossed ashore on Tarawa, breaching a protective seawall. Image: Kiribati Independent

Pacific Scoop:
Comment – By Taberannang Korauaba

Images published today by Pacific Scoop featuring the impact of a king tide in Betio and Tarawa are a sad reflection of our times in Kiribati.

The government has no plan about this short term problem, spending time blaming developed countries about climate change and receiving funds to “adapt”.

The problem is the roads and sea wall are damaged. Read more »

Fifty Shades of Grey … “It’s not romantic; it’s creepy and controlling.” Images: Entertainment

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Torika Chandra in Suva

More open discussions should be held so society can move away from maintaining a rape culture and glamourising emotional domestic violence, says a Fiji gender issues activist.

This is the view of Roshika Deo as the controversial erotic movie Fifty Shades of Grey goes into its second week of screening at cinemas in Fiji.

Deo said the movie highlighted crimes within a relationship that were often suppressed within communities and the media. Read more »

Fifty Shades of Grey … PNG the latest country to ban the controversial film. Image: Cinemablend

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Leonnie Wayang in Port Moresby

The controversial erotic film Fifty Shades of Grey has been refused classification by the Papua New Guinea Censorship Office, preventing it from being shown in cinemas.

The movie was planned to be screened at the Paradise Cinemas in Vision City and Central Waigani in Port Moresby last Friday, on the eve of Valentine’s Day.

However, as it was not yet rated or approved by the Censorship Office for public consumption, screening was postponed pending a decision from the office. Read more »

Workers in a “Save KPK” protest in Jakarta against Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s decisions over the antigraft commission. Image:Enny Nuraheni/Joyo Press/TheDiplomat

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Sara Schonhardt in Jakarta

The ongoing battle between Indonesia’s anticorruption agency and its police has raised fears among much of the public that the antigraft commission could crumble just over a decade after its formation.

But Tony Kwok, a former commissioner at Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, says the dustup could be an opportunity to transform the corruption-busting agency and the way Indonesia goes after graft.

When Hong Kong’s ICAC started out in the 1970s – largely to combat a corrupt police force – it too went head to head with the police. That led to confrontations not entirely dissimilar to what the KPK is facing now, says Kwok, who joined the ICAC in 1975 and now advises anticorruption commissions around the world – including Indonesia’s KPK. The Hong Kong police took to the streets at that time to protest against arrests by the anticorruption body and threatened to go on strike. Read more »

World press freedom … drastic decline in 2014, says RSF in its latest Index report. Image: AFP/RSF

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch in Paris

Tonga, which has held its first democratic elections in 2010 and again last November, has made the strongest gains of any Pacific Islands nation in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders (RSF/RWB) World Press Freedom Index. But globally, world press freedom has been in decline.

Thanks to an independent press, which has established its role as a counterweight to the government, the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga has risen an “enviable” 19 places to 44th overall.

Fiji, which held its first general election since the 2006 military coup in September, has also made strong gains. It rose 14 places to 93rd. Read more »

Professor Wadan Narsey … “bottom line is for ordinary people to raise their voices through media channels.” Image: NOF

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Professor Wadan Narsey in Suva

Every military coup in Fiji has removed the Parliament through which people’s elected representatives could publicly raise legitimate concerns.

The worst period was the seven years between December 2006 and September 2014, when no Auditor-General reports were released to the public because they allegedly had to be “tabled in Parliament first”.

The situation was made worse by media censorship. Read more »