Over 40,000 verified reports of online child sexual exploitation were made to The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) in 2022–23. That’s over 100 reports every day. And these numbers are trending upwards. Cases of sextortion have soared by 400 percent in some states in the last 18 months. Targets and perpetrators Young people Read more
A Kenyan bishop said testing potential coronavirus vaccines on his countrymen could disrespect human dignity, and amount to a breach of the country’s constitution, especially if Kenyans are not fully informed of the risks involved in testing new drugs. “Whereas the Covid-19 pandemic is a grave matter at hand, it should not in any way Read more
Millions of tonnes of illegally logged timber, felled from forests across Papua New Guinea (PNG), are being exported to China and from there to the world as finished wood products, a new report from Global Witness has revealed. In 2016, PNG provided 29% of China’s tropical log imports, making it the country’s single largest supplier. Read more
Exploiting nuns by using them for cheap or free labour must stop. The male hierarchy should stop treating them like lowly servants, a Vatican magazine says. Lucetta Scaraffia, who is the editor of the Vatican magazine “Women, Church, World”, says “Until now, no one has had the courage to denounce these things.” She says nuns Read more
Catholic Bishops representing Oceania say they are “heartened to learn of the systematic and coordinated opposition to seabed mining, which turns the ocean floor into a stage of exploitative destruction of ocean habitats.” The Executive Committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (CEPAC), which covers Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands Read more
The Papua New Guinea Immigration Department is reviewing its decision to deport Catholic lay worker Douglas Tennent. Acting chief immigration officer, Solomon Kantha said Tennent’s visa was cancelled by Immigration and Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato because of his alleged involvement on landowner issues. He said the decision was based on a complaint from landowners Read more
A New Zealand Catholic church worker, providing legal advice to landowners, has deported from Papua New Guinea. Despite a court order staying his deportation, Douglas Tennent was forced to leave PNG on Monday after being told on Friday by immigration officials he was abusing the conditions of his religious worker visa. Now back in New Read more
I heartily dislike Sensing Murder, and believe it is a cynical example of the pursuit of ratings over responsibility, that TVNZ should be ashamed of themselves for commissioning it, that the psychics themselves prey on the grief of desperate families and that it is worth remembering that the show has never once solved a murder, Read more
About 700 workers from impoverished parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands are working in Hawaiian fishing boats without proper works permits or basic rights and protection. A federal loophole allows American boats to employ workers in the dangerous industry for years at a time – provided they never step foot on shore. An Read more
The country is not ready for mining, says Anglican Church of Melanesia’s Bishop and Isabel Paramount Chief James Mason. He made the observation during last week’s National Conference on Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. “I felt that there’s no justification for the poor land owning tribes who were always the losers in their own lands. “The Read more