Thousands of Vietnamese Catholics took part in vigils in the cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, and Vinh on Sunday to protest the continued imprisonment of Le Quoc Quan, a Catholic lawyer. AsiaNews reported that Le Quoc Quan, a member of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Vietnamese bishops’ conference, has been harassed Read more
The President of the Church of Latter Day Saints for the Pacific, Elder James Hamula, says the Church has not put a ban on the use of the Samoan language. He said that news of the ban came from a small group of Samoan church members who were unhappy about a 2007 decision to re-organise Read more
Next month The New Zealand Centre for Human Rights Law Policy and Practice is hosting a Symposium on Religion in Schools. This symposium will look into the arguments for and against religious instruction in schools, including a discussion as to how it fits under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. The decision to Read more
A delegation of Samoan Mormons from Brisbane have had a meeting with Samoan prime minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi to discuss what the Brisbane Samoans say is a ban on Samoan in worship services by their church leaders. Lawyer Leulua’iali’i Olinda Woodroffe who accompanied the delegation to the meeting said the prime minister has promised to Read more
National Party MP Alfred Ngaro allegedly punched an atheist teacher at his son’s school for not bowing his head during a prayer. Ngaro, a list MP and former chairman of the Tamaki College Board of Trustees, was last week dragged into the Employment Relations Authority dispute between Tamaki College and former art teacher Christopher Scott Read more
A Government report on the status of human rights in New Zealand says improvements have been made in areas of concern highlighted by the United Nations, such as discrimination, inequality and family violence. Justice Minister Judith Collins has released a draft report on changes made in areas singled out by the United Nations Human Rights Read more
The Constitutional Advisory Panel which is conducting the Constitutional Review is taking public submissions and reporting to the Government on what New Zealanders think about its constitution. The New Zealand Catholic Bishops have made a submission to the Advisory Panel. The full text of the Bishops’ Submission can be read kin the New Zealand Catholic In its Read more
Church leaders in Sri Lanka accused the country’s military of shooting unarmed protesters and desecrating a church during demonstrations against water contamination. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo, condemned “unhesitatingly” the military shooting that killed three people and wounded more than 50 others last week. “We wish to condemn unhesitatingly the attack that was carried Read more
An agreement has now been reached with Nauru, which is similar to the one already concluded with Papua New Guinea – to take more asylum seekers who arrive by boat in Australia and if they are found to be genuine refugees they’ll be settled permanently in Nauru. Father Frank Brennan who is professor of law at Read more
The United Nations estimates that as many as 200 million girls are missing today, the majority from India and China. What are the cultural patterns and individual stories behind this shocking statistic? Evan Grae Davis, an American who has extensive experience in the developing world, has produced a documentary film that answers this question through Read more