Ministers at the first Pacific disability policy conference at ministerial level in Rarotonga last year. Photo: MFAT

Higher profile attention from the top to the needs of Pacific people with disabilities is welcome but the situation on the ground remains perilous.

Pacific Scoop
Report – By Adrian Hatwell

Disabled people make up an estimated 10 percent of the Pacific population. They are the region’s poorest and most at-risk people but a mix of political, cultural and geographical factors means their needs have long gone unmet.

This has begun to change as Pacific leaders commit to agreements like the Pacific Regional Strategy on Disability (PRSD) and the United Nations’ Biwako Millennium Framework, which aim to build a barrier-free, inclusive Pacific. Read more »

Aisake Casimira, programmes coordinator for the Pacific Conference of Churches: “This is a social problem.” Photo: Joe Yaya/PCC

Church leaders at this month’s Pacific Conference of Churches meeting were called on to help deal with the issue of HIV and AIDS in the Pacific, with a focus on family and discouraging “outdated” cultural norms.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Alex Perrottet

Church leaders must face the facts about HIV/AIDS in the Pacific and drop long-held prejudices about those living with the virus, says a regional advocate.

Steven Vete of UNAIDS said prejudice and discrimination prevent access to treatment for those most in need. Read more »

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon declared all remaining non-self-governing nations (including five Pacific nations) must have complete freedom in deciding their future. (Photo courtesy of the United Nations.)

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Centre newsdesk.

Five Pacific nations and the larger powers that govern and administer them are being urged by the United Nations to advance toward self governance.

At a forum held this week on decolonisation in Noumea, New Caledonia, the United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon declared all remaining non-self-governing nations must have complete freedom in deciding their future – among those 16 states whose official status remains as non-self-governing nations are: Tokelau, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Guam, and Pitcairn. Read more »

A tsunami travel time map generated by the US National Geophysical Data Centre. Image: NGDC

Pacific Scoop:
Pacific Media Centre newsdesk

While New Zealand’s tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory overnight in the wake of the massive weekend Chilean quake, Fiji and all other Pacific countries cancelled their warnings. Read more »

The epicentre of the Chilean earthquake unleashing a Pacific-wide tsunami. Image: NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

Pacific Scoop:
By Alastair Thompson

New Zealand is among the nations of the Pacific which is on a tsunami watch following a massive earthquake measured at 8.8 on the richter scale in Chile near the city of Concepcion at 6.34pm NZT. Read more »

Press Release – Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS…EXCEPT ALASKA…BRITISH COLUMBIA… WASHINGTON…OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. Read more »

Pacific Press Release – Pacific Media Watch

BORDERLESS RADIO IS HERE! CREATING GLOBAL COMMUNITIES FROM PACIFIC RADIO BRANDS

(Radio Heritage Foundation/Pacific Media Watch): What do ABC Radio, Radio NZ, RFO Radio, Communications Fiji, KCCN-FM and KUAM have in common? Read more »

Press Release – Forum Secretariat

RAROTONGA, 27th October 2009 – The World Bank and the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to strengthen cooperation in the Pacific. The agreement will see the organisations work closely to support their joint …
Read more »

Pacific.Scoop
By Nanette Woonton in Majuro

Twenty years ago, the Marshall Islands was home to one of the first Pacific islands regional climate change conferences held.

Now, two decades later, the Marshall Islands is host yet again to another Pacific climate change conference.
Read more »

Press Release – 350 Aotearoa

Actions are being planned in almost every Pacific Island nation for the 350 International Day of Climate Action on October 24th! Pacific communities, many of whom are already affected by climate change, are uniting to create actions that will both empower …
Read more »