A new Amnesty International report notes 64 percent of women and girls in the Solomon Islands experience physical or sexual violence. The suffering for those living in Honiara slums is particularly acute. Photo: Amnesty International

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the PMC news desk

Regional leaders in New Zealand for the annual Pacific Islands Forum summit were today called on by Amnesty International to take urgent steps to end “endemic violence” against women.

Launching a damning new report about the plight of women in the Solomon Islands, chief executive Patrick Holmes of Amnesty International Aotearoa said the rates of violence against women were some of the highest in the world – affecting two out of three female Pacific Islanders.

“A majority of women experience abuse in the Pacific,” he said. “Yet, shockingly, there are few effective mechanisms to protect them.” Read more »

Press Release – Amnesty International

Pacific leaders meeting in Auckland this week must take urgent steps to eradicate endemic violence against women in the region, Amnesty International said today. Rates of violence against women are some of the highest in the world, affecting two out … Read more »

Press Release – Amnesty International

Pacific leaders meeting in Auckland this week must take urgent steps to eradicate endemic violence against women in the region, Amnesty International said today. Read more »

Press Release – Amnesty International

Papuan activist Melkianus Bleskadit has been imprisoned in West Papua province for his involvement in a peaceful protest and for raising an independence flag. His sentence highlights the continuing use of repressive legislation to criminalize peaceful political … Read more »

Press Release – Amnesty International

Amnesty International has called on the government of Fiji to repeal a decree that would drastically restrict workers’ rights and to immediately cease the harassment of union leaders. Read more »

Fiji Women's Crisis Centre's executive director Shamima Ali ... little done by Fiji regime to implement new law prohibiting violence against women. Photo: Gender Across Borders

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pui-Yi Cheng

As the world’s attention focuses on the human rights revolution sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa, Amnesty International’s latest report reveals Pacific people are facing the same struggle against oppression, tyranny and corruption.

On the eve of its 50th anniversary, the organisation has launched its annual assessment of human rights worldwide, Amnesty International Report 2011: State of the World’s Human Rights, which documents abuses in 157 countries during 2010.

“Away from the international headlines, thousands of people in the Pacific are being denied social and economic opportunity, and human rights defenders have been threatened, imprisoned and tortured,” said Patrick Holmes, chief executive officer of Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ. Read more »

Together with the Joint Committee for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, anti-death penalty activists protest outside of the Chinese representative office in Hong Kong. Photo: AI

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the Pacific Media Centre news desk

The Pacific is the only region with a clean slate and no executions or death sentences over the past decade, says Amnesty International in a new report today about the global state of death penalties.

Only two Pacific nations or territories have been singled out for mention in the report – Fiji where 2000 attempted coup leader George Speight was sentenced to death for treason and then his punishment was commuted to life imprisonment within hours.

Fiji still has the death penalty on its lawbooks for treason and mutiny in the military code although it has been abolished for other crimes. Read more »

Press Release – Amnesty International

Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about the ongoing crackdown on human rights in Fiji following reports that the military is clamping down on activists to prevent a peaceful protest planned for 4 March in Suva. Read more »

Press Release – Amnesty International

The severe beating, amounting to torture, of a government critic and the reported detention and beating of several trade unionists and politicians in the last week indicate that the human rights situation in Fiji is worsening, Amnesty International … Read more »

Press Release – Amnesty International

Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the situation on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), following the events of 3 December in which over 20 indigenous people were injured during an operation to evict them from buildings and land that they occupied … Read more »