The Archbishop of Suva, Peter Loy Chong, says churches and religions in Fiji need to examine their sexist and discriminatory attitude towards women. He says women must be included in decision-making and he has encouraged parishes to include more women in leadership roles, “especially in parish pastoral councils and finance committees”. Writing in the Fiji Times on Read more
Last Sunday Churches across Fiji observed Break the Silence Sunday in a united attempt to break the culture of silence and shame around violence against women. This is in response to research conducted by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre which suggests that 64 percent of Fijian women aged between 15 and 49 have experienced physical or Read more
Catholic schools are among the many organisations in Samoa that have been enriched by the work done by the United States Peace Corps. The Government of Samoa first invited Peace Corps to Samoa in 1967 In the 50 years since that time, over 2000 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Samoa They have helped build Read more
The Fiji Council of Churches (FCC) is supporting the 16 Days of Activism campaign to raise awareness on violence against women and children. A total of 10823 cases of domestic violence have been reported to the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centres across the country from January to October this year. On Sunday churches marked “On Break Read more
The Tonga Privy Council says the Government’s plan to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is unconstitutional. King Tupou VI, with his Privy Council, was responding to petitions from groups in Tonga who have sought his help to stop the ratification process. The Government has committed to ratify CEDAW but Read more
Tonga’s Cardinal Mafi has written a letter giving the reasons the Catholic church does not support the Government’s decision to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of any form of Discrimination Against Women [CEDAW]. Mafi says all forms of discrimination against women are already clear enough in Tonga’s laws and are forbidden in Christian churches. He Read more
An Australian acadamic is calling for more research into the impact of abortion in Pacific countries. Joanna Spratt is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy. She says governments need to start looking at reforming highly-restrictive legislation. Ms Spratt hopes the Pacific will make progress towards decriminalization and providing Read more