A severe food shortage in Papua New Guinea has prompted parents in some isolated communities to sell their young daughters for food. Research by the Protestant United Church in the poverty-stricken Commonwealth nation found fathers in the remote highlands were giving away their daughters, who will be returned after the drought, for bags of rice. Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Papua New Guinea’
PNG Catholic health service facing big funding cut
Friday, April 1st, 2016
Health services run by the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea are under pressure after a major funding cut by the PNG Government. The facilities provided by the Church cover a third of PNG’s health services, through more than 200 sites around the country. Catholic Church Health Services of Papua New Guinea runs five rural Read more
PNG facing food crisis after drought, frosts, floods
Friday, March 4th, 2016
In Papua New Guinea a long drought is over, but some two million people are affected by a lack of food and clean water. Typhoid and skin diseases are rife, malnutrition is on the rise, while, in remote areas, schools and medical centres have been shut down because there is no clean water. Drought and Read more
Refugees trapped on Manus Island
Tuesday, September 8th, 2015
Mohsen is late, but effusively apologetic as he sits down. “I can’t sleep at night for the nightmares,” he says. “In the dark I am back in that prison in my country,” – a middle-eastern country Guardian Australia has chosen not to name for fear of consequences for his family – “so instead I sleep Read more
Catholic objection to plan for burning PNG cultural items
Tuesday, September 1st, 2015
Catholics in a Papua New Guinea diocese were urged by their bishop to have nothing to do with services involving the burning of cultural items. In a pastoral letter to the faithful of Vanimo diocese, Bishop Cesare Bonivento warned against “Solemn Assembly” services on August 26. This date is the “National Day of Repentance” in Read more
PNG: Muslim customs more compatible than Christian ones?
Tuesday, June 16th, 2015
Islam is growing rapidly in Papua New Guinea, converts finding Muslim customs have more in common with their traditions than Christianity. Catholic priest Franco Zocca, based at the Melanesian Institute research centre in Goroka, said Islamic leaders explained to him that “Islamic beliefs and practices are more compatible than Christianity with traditional Melanesian values”, especially Read more
Church tries to help PNG sorcery accused before bush verdict
Friday, April 24th, 2015
Church groups are among organisations saying they will mount a rescue after four people were accused of sorcery in a Papua New Guinea village. The four were accused of witchcraft and allegedly tortured in the village of Kaiwe, following recent deaths in the community. Human rights defenders, church groups and police were preparing to stage Read more
Bishops condemn corruption in Papua New Guinea
Friday, April 17th, 2015
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (CBC) condemns corruption by ministers, public servants, church leaders and all the leaders in power, says Fr Victor Roche, CBC’s general secretary. Roche gave the following reasons for the condemnation: Elected leaders are for the people. They have been mandated to represent the people. Read more
PNG and Solomons Church launches child protection policy
Friday, February 27th, 2015
The Catholic Church of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands launched its first child protection policy on February 24. The policy outlines clear steps for investigating abuse within the Church and encourages members of report abuse. Br Frank Hough, who helped formulate the new policy, said he hoped Church members would find reporting abuse less Read more
Relatives of Bougainville’s missing hoping for closure
Friday, October 31st, 2014
The Bougainville Government has adopted a missing persons policy to try and determine what happened to those who vanished during the Bougainville Civil War. The Red Cross helped formulate the policy and says it’s ready to help locate, identify and return human remains. Listen to Interview The new approach could see the possible exhumation of Read more