Parliament opens 28 May. The government announced to the UN in March this year that it intended to ratify CEDAW.

The main reasons for their opposition is that they believe that the convention, which seeks to eliminate discrimination against women, clashes with their Christian faith and does not concur with the fundamental values of Tonga's family life.

Lady ‘Ainise Sevele, the Assistant President of Tonga's Catholic Women's League with the Vicar-General Monsignor Lutoviko Finau and other church members led the march of about 300 people. Lady Sevele said the petition had more than 2000 signatories.

The government has faced mounting pressure since announcing it would ratify CEDAW.

Three separate christian groups have submitted petitions to parliament objecting to the ratification process with many worried it would open the door for same sex marriage and abortion.

MP Samiu Vaipulu is putting forward a parliamentary resolution asking the Tongan government to stop going ahead with the ratification.

Vaipulu says the people have done all they can and now the issue is between parliament and the government.

Source

• Matangitonga
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Matangitonga

If you want to find traditional American family values—a man and a woman officially married to one of their "own kind," no plans for divorce, an older dad who is the breadwinner, a stay-at-home mom—the best place to look is … in immigrant families.

That's one of several themes running through a new report, "Divergent Paths of American Families," compiled by Zhenchao Qian, a sociologist at The Ohio State University. Qian began work on the US2010 research project looking to see if a "quieting" of change in family dynamics, first noticed in 1990s, had continued into the new century and through the turmoil of the Great Recession.

Depending on where you looked, family life in the U.S. had stabilized. And depending on where you looked, change was accelerating. The typical family had become, well, atypical.

"The state of American families has become increasingly polarized," a release on the study quoted Qian. "Race and ethnicity, education, economics, and immigration status are increasingly linked to how well families fare."

One of the most salient divergences lay between immigrants and the native-born, and what quieting could be found could often be attributed to immigrants. By 2010, the end point of Qian's decade-long study period, immigrants made up 13 percent of the U.S. population. Those immigrants brought the customs of their various homelands with them, weird practices like getting married regardless of their income and staying married through thick and thin. (It's true in Britain, too.)

Here are some other ways in which immigrants differ:

• At every age, they married at a higher level than U.S. natives, regardless of ethnic similarity. Asian immigrants, for example, were twice as like to ever marry as U.S.-born Asians.

• Immigrant women marry at a much younger age than do immigrant men. Hence, among those in the mid to late 20s, 62 percent of women were married but only 43 percent of men.

• Immigrant man and wife were more likely to be ethnically or racially the same compared to the U.S. average. Continue reading

Sources

• Pacific Standard
• Image: Hispanic Ministries

"He's expressed his desire to stay pure, and honour women, and treat women with respect. So hopefully that stays valid."

The teen heartthrob, YouTube sensation and social media super-star Justin Bieber has just scooped the choice music male artist award at the Teen Choice Awards, and did not delay in giving Jesus a mention.

"I want to say that anything is possible ... You got to keep God first and always remember to keep family first. Jesus loves every one of you!"

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Bieber was asked how he reconciled religion and his faith with the temptations of Hollywood.

He labelled Hollywood a scary place with a mix of a lot of good and bad things going on, but it's a place where he says he can live his dream.

Then on religion and faith: "Basically, I don't even consider religion. Like, I'm a Christian, I believe in God, I believe that Jesus died on a cross for my sins. I believe that I have a relationship and I'm able to talk to him and really, he's the reason I'm here, so I definitely have to remember that. As soon as I start forgetting, I've got to click back and be like, you know, this is why I'm here."

Recently Bieber toured the Holy Land and along with his father, got a Jesus tattoo on his left rib cage and regularly credits God with helping him to stay grounded, something his mother has tried to instil in her son.

In an interview with Baptist Press, Mallette said she kept Justin grounded through prayer, by surrounding him with good people and reminding him that he's here for a reason. "To whom much is given, much is required," she said.

Sources

• MTV
• Huffington Post
• Christianity Today
• Baptist Press
• Image: Celebrity Mix

"The derogatory portrayal of women in movies and the media, miscommunication between family members, the lack of censorship and control over what our children are exposed to are just some of the factors contributing to the increase," said Mr Nawadra.

He said in recent times there had been a serious breakdown in traditional and family values. Mr Nawadra said the church was calling on figures of influence within the vanua as well as traditional leaders to take a more proactive role in curbing the trend as well as raising awareness.

"Elders need to set examples, parents need to spend more quality time with their families and there needs to be more dialogue between children and their parents on issues like sexuality, AIDS, and other things we consider taboo".

In Fijian and in Fiji English, vanua is an essential concept of indigenous Fijian culture and society. It is generally translated in English as "land", but vanua as a concept encompasses a number of inter-related meanings.

According to Fijian academic Asesela Ravuvu, a correct translation would be "land, people and custom".

Vanua means "the land area one is identified with", but also "the people, their traditions and customs, beliefs and values, and the various other institutions established for the sake of achieving harmony, solidarity and prosperity within a particular social context."

Source

• The Fiji Times
• Dictionary Babylon.com
• Image: TravelPod