For three weeks, more than 5000 students at the national University of Papua New Guinea have had a stand-off with the government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and their own management.

A petition calling on O’Neill to stand down and face an investigation into corruption allegations was finally delivered to the prime minister yesterday.

The students gave an ultimatum that he must stand aside or there would be a mass withdrawal of students from the tail-end of UPNG’s semester.

“Citizen Journalist” has been on the ground at UPNG as the saga unfolded, filing for Asia Pacific Report. Here are some of his pictures:

UPNG students protest

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By Carmella Gware in Port Moresby

Students at the University of Papua New Guinea have given the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill 24-hours to respond favourably to their petition or will stage a mass withdrawal.

National Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Parkop, a former UPNG lecturer, received the petition from Students Representative Council (SRC) president Kenneth Rapa this afternoon.

“We petition the Prime Minister to respect the Office of the Prime Minister and step down,” Rapa told more than 5600 UPNG students, more than 150 Port Moresby Technical College male students and hundreds of concerned citizens.

“We are not motivated by any political party, government, opposition or any individual. We are moved by our patriotic, nationalistic spirit to see a better nation tomorrow. That’s all.”

We have not been taking bribes and violence has not been happening on campus, the UPNG president said.

Classrooms are open but the students themselves are exercising their democratic rights by deciding to forego classes, he said.

Parkop commended the students for maintaining their peaceful sit-in protest despite widespread predictions of violence.

“I’m proud of you students,” he said. “You have the right to raise your voice when you see that something has gone wrong, and we as mandated leaders have the responsibility to listen.”

The NCD governor was accompanied by Sports Minister and Moresby South MP Justin Tkatchenko, sports Vice-Minister and Moresby North-East MP Labi Amaiu, NCD police metropolitan superintendent Ben Turi, Bomana police Commandant Perou N’Dranou and acting superintendent of operations Brian Kombe.

As soon as Parkop and his delegates stepped out from their vehicles, the crowd started chanting: “O’Neill step down, O’Neill step down!”

Apart from that, the crowd was well-behaved.

Also present at the main Waigani campus were students from De La Salle secondary, Gerehu secondary, Port Moresby National High School, Tokarara secondary, Sogeri National High School and Waigani primary.

Papua New Guinean police have assured residents of Port Moresby that it will be business as usual today, and that officers will be out in force to ensure public safety and security, reports The National.

By Dr Neelesh Gounder in Suva

When a ship docked in Mauritius on November 2, 1834, carrying 36 Indian indentured labourers, the British called it the “great experiment”.

Almost 45 years later, when the Leonidas docked in Fiji, 479 girmitiya were to become the first group of this experiment in Fiji.

Most of the girmitiya could not read or understand the agreement they signed. Surely then they would not have known that this agreement would be their new lifestyle. More importantly, they were oblivious that the decision to sign on the agreement would leave a permanent legacy for their descendants.

For the girmitiya the longest journey of their lives was symbolic of their unforgiving struggle that lay ahead; at least in their lifetime.

In 87 voyages that were made to Fiji between 1879 and 1916, some 60,600 indentured labourers arrived.

Last week – May 14, 2016 – spanned 137 years since the first arrival of indentured labourers.

This year is worth remembering the girmitiya for another reason. The indenture system was discontinued in November, 1916, 100 years ago. For Fiji, this happened four years before the system was abolished worldwide.

Paying tribute
How do we remember and pay tribute to the girmitiya — our forefathers? We can begin by celebrating the achievements and legacy of the girmitiya.

Beyond doubt, the indentured labourers during indenture but more importantly after indenture as ‘freed’ men and women transformed Fiji’s social and economic landscape.

The indentured labourers became a source of cheap labour for the European planters who were struggling after the failure of the cotton industry. Capital investment from Colonial Sugar Refining Company of Australia in milling was probable on the back of the availability of this human capital.

This combination transformed the Fijian economy from a traditional agrarian to a blend of agrarian and milling. Soon sugar industry established itself as the key sector of the economy, with the indentured labourers essential to its success.

Sugar production in 1916 was 122,000 tonnes with 99 per cent of that volume exported. This initial involvement in foreign trade shaped Fiji’s first step towards the process of integration into the world economy.

On the whole, the sugar industry was largely not only responsible for the success of the individual planters but in changing the landscape of the Fijian macro-economy.

Sugar held its stronghold among the export commodities by comprising 65 per cent of total merchandise exports until 1970. The industry was basically responsible for the rise and development of Western division.

Work ethics
Apart from the economy, the lives of the grimitiya continue to influence generations after them. The girmitiya are well recognised for their work ethics and determination to break away from the norm to improve their lot. The descendants seem to have followed on the heels of girmitiyas.

Majority of indentured labourers chose to stay in Fiji after the end of their indenture and after indenture itself was abolished. Despite fresh from the bonds of girmit and the benighted work on the plantation, the girmitiya were swift to move on to entrepreneurship such as shopkeepers, hawkers and transport providers.

A new existence and determination to be oneself unleashed the power of personal initiative and entrepreneurship that soon challenged the existing commercial enterprises at that time.

There were also free migrants from India during the indenture period. By 1925, the free migrants mostly owned businesses such as tailoring, jewelry businesses, laundry and bootmakers.

The girmitiya and their descendants, on the other hand, owned majority of construction companies, transport/taxi businesses and services such as auto servicing and photography.

This structure and arrangement turned the first stage of the economy into a more merchant oriented and expanding the scope of labour for wages. This entrepreneurial energy helped prepare the ground for economic success of Fiji. It also set the foundation for industrial development (for example, domestic manufacturing sector) which has a robust association to trade and investment.

Despite the common purpose towards improving their lives, descendants of the girmitiya were obliquely divided, mostly along religious lines but also along language and cultural grounds. Out of these fractures emerged socio-cultural and religious organisations promoting their distinct agendas.

Social cohesion
These organisations were, however, necessary to build social cohesion, identity, ethnic binding towards achieving common problems. Organisations such Then India Sanmarga Sangam (TISI), Sanatan Dharm Pratinidhi Sabha and Arya Samaj are important examples.

One of the outcomes of these organisations is the provision of education by building schools. This is also true of other organisations that do not have any particular links to the girmitiya. The spirit of community partnership has had a huge impact on the development of education policy and contribution to national development.

While it may sound regular to start a school these days, the girmitiya had to carve out schools amid tough policies of the colonial government. Resources were meagre but the community spirit overruled this and other challenges.

The economic returns to education would have been the key motivating factor as well. Educated and literate people earned more than farmers. These organisations ensured that spread of education did not remain limited to the elite as in other countries during British colonial rule.

The legacy does not stop with the economy and education; there are other far reaching spillovers beyond these two important dimensions. Our present is inextricably intertwined with the past. Others are free to argue about the bittersweet legacy that still influences many facets of our life today.

Dr Neelesh Gounder is an economics lecturer at the University of the South Pacific. This article was first published by The Fiji Times and is republished here with the author’s permission.

Uniforce security guards at the University of Papua New Guinea campus say the administration has overlooked their role by bringing in the police force into the campus without informing them.

The guards criticised this move as “unprofessional” and said it demeaned the integrity of the Uniforce, which is charged with upholding security on campus.

The guards, who did not want to be named, said they were taken by surprise and felt things could have been worse if the guards had tried to block off the police when they took control of the campus before dawn on Tuesday.

“The UPNG administration risked the lives of the guards that were minding the gate as all those 40 police vehicles drove straight through the stop sign with the cone and the guards that were standing at the gate” he said.

The UPNG administration announced on Monday that the police had been called in to maintain security on the Waigani and Taurama campuses.

The university is into its third week of unrest with students demanding that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill step down and cooperate with a police investigation into corruption allegations.

UPNG security guards allege police used ‘heavy handed force’ on campus

By Melanie Cooper

A documentary exploring why New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) isn’t a language option in secondary schools, despite being one of New Zealand’s official languages, has seen AUT University first-year student Lisa Thompson win the “NZSL in the Media” Award.

The annual NZSL Awards were held in Wellington last weekend – during NZSL Week – and Thompson won the award category for an individual or media organisation that demonstrates a commitment to promoting NZSL and Deaf awareness.

Her short six-minute documentary The Future is in Your Hands was also entered in last year’s Outlook for Someday film challenge and was one of the 20 winning films selected out of 156 entries that came from all over New Zealand and involved 550 young people.

Languages lecturer Lynette Pivac says the message of the video is so important.

“I absolutely support this goal: from when a child starts school until they finish – sign language should be an option. It would make school life so easy for any Deaf child who came to the school if other students could sign, or likewise for a hearing child with Deaf parents or grandparents who might come to the school,” she says.

“They would feel more like part of the community. Sign language wouldn’t be a strange thing but just a normal part of everyday life in the community.”

“We’re so proud of Lisa winning the award, it’s fantastic. It’s amazing that she is taking the initiative to advocate like this and she is only a young person herself.”

Papua New Guinea’s Chief Secretary to government Isaac Lupari has warned people attempting to commit illegal acts as part of attempts to hijack student protests that they will face the full force of the law.

The Chief Secretary said some activists involved with the latest attempt to cause civil disturbance were not students but “agitators” who had no interest in student issues.

“These agitators devote their lives to stirring the public up for the highest bidder, and now they are trying to hijack student protests,” the Chief Secretary said.

Such people were subject to the laws of Papua New Guinea and if they were found to be inciting people to commit acts that were illegal, they would be arrested and prosecuted by law.

Students at the University of Papua New Guinea have been demanding that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill stand down and face a police investigation of corruption allegations.

They are in the third week of boycotts of classes and protests and have wide support from students at other universities in the country, especially Unitech in Lae.

Police seized control of the Waigani campus before dawn yesterday after being called in by the UPNG management to “secure safety”, but students continued with a sit-in protest and boycott of classes.

Social media posts
Lupari said: “I have seen the messages circulating around social media, and I ask everyone who might forward these messages that they should try to know who is behind the message.

“There is big money involved in manufacturing protest for people of dubious intent, and members of the public might be fooled into taking part not knowing it is part of broader political campaign.”

Chief Secretary Lupari said there were processes involved in staging any lawful protest.

“People behind any protest must know there are clear and proper processes and these must be followed because this is the law,” he said.

“The nonsense that is appearing in some of the [social media] posts is simply foolish, but some comments do cross into breaking the law.

“People who are sending these posts around must be aware of this.”

The Chief Secretary said the calls for anarchy by the agitators were entirely separate from student protests, and due to the serious nature of threats of violence, the National Security Advisory Committee would now convene to discuss the issue.

‘Sinister purposes’
“Make no mistake, the agitators behind proposed protest are not students, but have much more sinister purposes,” Lupari said.

“The NSCA is the principal adviser to the government on security matters and will consider certain powers that can be used against this behaviour.

“The extreme action they are trying to stimulate is uncalled for and will not be accepted.

“I appeal to our students not to be misled by the agitators and to make your own judgments.

“The action promoted by the activists is not the Melanesian way where we resolve issues as a community, but is an aggressive foreign-style of intimidation and grand-standing.

“The matters they are promoting are also before the court so cannot be properly discussed until they have run their course.”

• UPNG security guards allege police used ‘heavy handed force’ on campus

Report and video story by TJ Aumua

Name: Jenny Jiva

Age: 23

Occupation: Masters student, University of the South Pacific

Passion: Pacific diplomacy and climate change

Country: Fiji

Jenny Jiva, a master’s student from the University of the South Pacific in Suva, is giving Pacific climate change a voice on the world stage.

Her master’s research concerns the loss and damage impacts related to climate change, as an issue, which can include the loss of livelihood, territory and property.

Jiva’s research focuses on the Pacific’s role in getting loss and damage issues on the negotiating table, and successfully into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) outcomes and documents.

In 2015, the 23-year-old was selected as a country delegate to represent Fiji at the COP21 climate change conference in Paris, a global meeting where world leaders reached a legally binding agreement to address climate change.

“I went to the meetings and the negotiations about loss and damage,” she says.

“My main role was to take notes and do briefings for our main negotiator so that’s what really consolidated my research question.”

A goal for Jiva is to attend COP22 in November this year, which will be held in Marrakech, Morocco.

She told Asia Pacific Report that this year the conference would be reviewing the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, a policy that aims to address climate-related loss and damage in developing countries vulnerable to extreme effects of climate change.

In 2013, in Warsaw, the Pacific fought strongly for this mechanism, she says.

The young activist is also a member of Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), an organisation that brings together Pacific NGOs and civil society actors who advocate for climate change.

“Climate change is a very real thing, we now know that it is happening, it’s not debatable anymore,” she says.

Some members of the University of Papua New Guinea’s Uniforce Security unit have alleged that the police entered the campus early today using heavy-handed tactics, reports LoopPNG

“A police officer put a gun to my head when I hesitated to let them in,” said a guard, who did not want to be named.

Students, mostly dressed in their protest black representing mourning over alleged breaches of the constitution by the government, were in sit-in huddles around the campus.

They want Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to stand down and face a corruption investigation.

Students manning the main barricade leading to the campus claimed the convoy of 50 vehicles rammed the blockade about 4.45am.

However, some police officers said they were acting under orders.

They said they woke up as early as 3am to organise themselves.

They feel for the students but they have no choice, said LoopPNG.

“We will stay as long as our bosses want us to,” one officer said.

‘Unsafe on campus’
A couple of UPNG staff told Loop PNG that they now felt “unsafe on campus”, especially with the heavy police presence.

“We are afraid that something is going to happen so we’re going home,” a staff member said.

Police Commissioner Gari Baki said police had been on the ground since 3am. He would not disclose the exact number of law enforcers deployed, PNGLoop reported.

“Let them [police] come in and attend classes,” a student leader said.

Another student asked: “If they’re all here then who’s on the streets?”

UPNG media unit director Jim Robins said the police were on campus to maintain the safety of students and staff.

“Those students who want to attend classes can now do so without fear, as well as academic staff.

‘Open arms’
“The students welcomed them with open arms.”

A final-year journalism student said: “We are willing to sacrifice our education for a corrupt–free future.”

“We have decided not to go to class.They said they are here to protect us but no one is under threat here,” said another student.

“The way they came in the morning, fully-armed, some even climbing over the fence, with all these 10-seaters, are intimidating,” another student told Loop PNG.

“We want vice-chancellor Professor Albert Mellam to come to us and explain this heavy police presence on campus.

“We refer to him as our ‘father’. He even calls us his ‘children’, so why go to this extent? Are we state criminals?”

• UPNG management calls in police to ‘secure safety’ on campus

The University of Papua New Guinea has called in police to “secure the safety of staff and students” in the ongoing anti-government unrest at the nation’s universities.

According to a circular sent to everybody on campus yesterday, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Albert Mellam, has accused some protesting students of activities “bordering on criminality” in the past two weeks.

“Police [have been] called upon to perform its constitutional duty to protect lives and properties, and will discharge this accordingly at the University of Papua New Guinea as well,” he said.

Professor Mellam said the police presence on the campus – a highly unusual step by authorities – was directed by the academic senate standing committee and executive deans.

He said this would “ensure normalcy”.

The National reported that protesting students had been given a last chance to attend classes yesterday.

However, road blocks and student protest gatherings were very much in evidence, say campus sources.

“Teaching was still off and students were still in their regional groups,” said one source.

Road blocks
Campus road blocks that had been taken down on Sunday were put back yesterday.

Acting chancellor of UPNG, Dr Banare Bunn, was reported to have said the constitutional issues “students are aggrieved about” were before the courts and the university council could do nothing about this.

The students have been demanding that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill stand down and face an investigation of corruption allegations.

Dr Bunn said that if students continued to stay away from classes, the university senate would reassess the situation to see if the semester was “viable”.

“Is semester one viable or not? That is the big issue,” Dr Bunn said.

He said the senate had met last week and given the students a time-frame.

“The academic calendar that the university council has approved, they have followed. And if there is any lapse in the academic programme, then the senate will decide how it will address that,” he said.

Academic responsibility
“The council’s responsibility is the academic pursuit of the students while studying at UPNG.

“The council has monitored and provided an environment for the safety of the public and students themselves, university staff and property.”

Dr Bunn said the issues raised by the students were not related to the university but were national issues being addressed by the courts.

“The matters are before the court the council has taken a very serious stand on that,” Dr Bunn said.

“We are not qualified to discuss anything that’s before the courts. Students have been told that on many of the discussions we’ve had.”

He said UPNG could not issue a threat, that was not the best way to handle the situation.

• PM O’Neill’s plea to students: ‘Think before you act’

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has called on Papua New Guinea’s university students to “think before you act” and not to allow others to use or influence them.

This was his message as students from four other tertiary institutions across the country pledged support for the student leadership at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Registrar Jennifer Popat ordered students and staff back to classes today but while students were on campus in numbers, they were reportedly staying out of the classroom.

PNG Today reported O’Neill as saying: “They [others] will not be there for you when you are in trouble,” he said.

“Take it from me. I was a victim of outside influence when I was a student at the UPNG.

“I was involved in student protests and strike because people told us that we, students, were the protector of the rule of law and representative of the silent majority.

“When I was in trouble, no one came to rescue me. All the friends and people who influenced me were never there when I needed them.

‘They disappeared’
“They simply disappeared. I was left to fend for myself. From then onwards, I vowed not to engage in student’s strikes and protests,” O’Neill said.

He appealed to students to go back to class and resume normalcy in the campus.

“Your education is priority. Do not risk it.

“The matters which you raised are in in the courts. Respect me and the rights of others.”

Meanwhile, students at other universities around the country have pledged their support to the UPNG Students Representative Council (SRC) leaders and students on their stand.

The Divine Word University in Madang, Unitech in Lae, University of Goroka in Goroka, and the University of Natural Resources and Environment in Kokopo have joined UPNG students in demanding Prime Minister O’Neill to step aside and surrender to Police for questioning.

Staff ‘threatened’

Loop PNG reported that even though UPNG staff were on campus today – as instructed by the  registrar’s circular yesterday –  lecture rooms were still empty.

The director of UPNG’s media unit, James Robins, said that staff had been threatened by rebel students.

“Some students also want to attend classes but they have been intimidated,” he said.

Some had now resorted to emailing their assignments to their lecturers.

“All we need is normalcy to come back so everyone can be productive,” Robins said.

“Lecturers and tutors are being paid but they haven’t been productive for the past two weeks. They’ve been here but students haven’t been.

“This is non-productive money down the drain.”

Robins was explaining registrar Jennifer Popat’s statement on Sunday.

The registrar had said the disruptions had resulted in millions of kina losses to the university and its stakeholders, including loss of learning time to students.

• Opposition Leader Basil challenges UPNG

In her passport, Nesita Manceau lists her occupation as “housewife.” But she does oh-so-much more. On paper at least, she’s a corporate titan. And she’s been tangled in an arms-running scandal involving North Korea and Iran.

Manceau is what could be called a “zombie director” of shell companies. She’s been on the boards of scores of them. Lawyers in Florida, Oregon and Nevada have clients who call on her services.

The 55-year-old Filipina, who until recently was living in Vanuatu, exercises what is required of an offshore corporate director: She simply signs her name. Time and time again.

Practically the sole function of an offshore corporate director is to cloak the identity of the real owner of a company or trust.

The director serves as a legal shield, of sorts.

The documents known as the Panama Papers teem with these zombie directors who sign corporate papers at the bidding of unidentified owners.

Such directors can oversee, at least on paper, hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of corporations.

Crucial cog
They are a crucial cog in the machinery of foreign law firms and registration agents who churn out phantom corporations, stock them with proxy directors, slap a soothing name on them, and register them on atolls or far-away nations. It is a volume business.

True owners of the shell companies often want passive directors with no control over, or even knowledge of, actual operations. Secretaries, Burger King cooks and housewives will do.

Corporate registration agents like Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm whose 11.5 million leaked documents comprise the Panama Papers archive, earn extra fees when they stock the boards of offshore entities with nominees who usually have no clue as to the identity of the true owners.

“The fact is, if you waterboarded them, they wouldn’t come up with the name of the beneficial owner because they don’t know,” said Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who has spent decades investigating money laundering and the use of offshore corporations.

But when government investigators come around trying to figure out who owns an offshore corporation, Mossack Fonseca offers up their names as if they had an actual financial stake and knowledge of operations.

That happened in 2011, when the director of the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands, Errol George, wrote to Mossack Fonseca inquiring about Fincom Trade Ltd. A company officer quickly responded.

“The Beneficial Owner of the company is Ms. Nesita Manceau whose address is: 1st Floor, Pacific Building, Port Vila, Vanuatu,” wrote J. Elizabeth Maduro.

‘See-no-evil’ directors
See-no-evil nominee directors are the mirror opposite of directors in the real corporate world, who usually have firsthand business experience that they use to hire and fire chief executives, oversee corporate decisions and protect shareholder interests.

The massive leak from the Mossack Fonseca law firm, shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its partners, including McClatchy Newspapers, includes emails, copies of passports and financial records, which all cast light on the structures used in offshore companies, including the functionaries like Manceau.

Manceau was born in a remote Philippine hamlet called Cabay in Eastern Samar province. Her former husband said she once served as a housekeeper after moving to Vanuatu.

• Read the full story on the Vanuatu Daily Post website  

Thirteen Papua New Guinea Defence Force soldiers who were charged with mutiny have begun testifying.

On Tuesday, they submitted to the Bomana National Court that they did not have a case to answer to and that their conduct was not a mutiny but mere insubordination, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

Justice Panuel Mogish dismissed their submissions and ruled that there was “ample evidence” for all 13 soldiers to have a case to answer to.

The platoon headed by Major Edimani Benjamin was tasked to maintain the Exxon Mobile camp in Komo after Exxon Mobil gave it to PNG government to use as a PNGDF base.

Then PNGDF headquarters ordered the platoon to withdraw from Komo in August 2015 and return to the national capital of Port Moresby but they did not comply.

News reports at the time said the soldiers had refused to return to the capital at the time because of outstanding pay owed to the troops.

In December 2015 they lost two soldiers in a tribal fight.

The soldiers charged under Major Edimani Benjamin are Warrant Officers Miugle Ludwig, Melerot Robin, Kaule Scotty, Sergeants Agiru Alex, Kaupa Amos, Mairi Mairi, YupangaJoel, Guria Urban; Corporals Waimi Walter, Worihun Henry, Peter Perari and Private Philip Kiak.

• Soldiers happy to be home

Students have threatened a mass withdrawal from the University of Papua New Guinea if the administration does not agree to its demands as anti-government tension grows on tertiary campuses across the nation after a two-week-old standoff.

The students want Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to stand down and allow corruption allegations to be investigated.

In Lae, the University of Technology’s  Student Representative Council (SRC) president David Kelma called on political leaders to respect the Constitution.

The National reported that Kelma had said leaders who continued to break the laws had no respect for the Constitution.

“Our leaders must respect the system, they must respect our laws. When our leaders continually break our laws, there is no justice,” he said.

“If there is no justice, there is no democracy in society.”

Kelma said leaders implicated in any wrong-doing must respect the Constitution and the office they uphold and step down from office.

Dangerous precedent
Manipulating the government systems and laws to stay in power was a dangerous precedent that could have detrimental effects on the future of the country, Kelma added.

In Port Moresby, UPNG’s SRC leadership set two demands on Thursday for the administration to act on within 24 hours.

Student leaders asked the administration to prepare forms for a mass withdrawal of students, and that it refund all tuition fees for the students for the remaining semesters.

One student leader told NBC News the SRC had passed on their demands to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Albert Mellam, at the Waigani campus forum.

Angry students demanded the school administration explain why it had failed to bring in the PNG Electoral Commission to conduct the referendum to decide on continuing the classes boycott this week.

Professor Mellam addressed the students, telling them that was not possible to bring in the commission because the commissioner was not in the country.

Commission staff said they would not conduct a referendum at the SRC’s request alone and were awaiting a formal request from the administration.

The commission also nullified an earlier referendum at Unitech in Lae, which overwhelmingly backed continued boycott of classes.

Frustrated students
This has frustrated the UPNG students, prompting the threat of a mass withdrawal. The students and are also demanding that the administration facilitate a cash refund of their fees.

Meanwhile, the entire Solomon Islands student population attending UPNG have reportedly packed their bags and vacated the Waigani campus.

Up to 60 students sought refuge at the Solomon Islands Chancery at Waigani, fearful that the student unrest might “get out of hand”.

A source at the diplomatic office at Waigani told NBC News the students had fed the campus with their entire belongings.

The source said the country’s Education Attache was housing the students at a hotel in Port Moresby, but did not say if they would be flown out of the country.

Solomon Islands students are co-sponsored by the PNG government to study in the country.

‘Leave politics’
In an editorial earlier in the week, the The National condemned the students for their actions in an editorial headed “Leave politics to the politicians”.

The newspaper noted that the leader who had been at “the forefront of free education” in Papua New Guinea was the Enga Governor. Sir Peter Ipatas, the so-called  “action governor”, had initiated the concept 18 years earlier when he was first elected to Parliament.

“[He] has been responsible for the education of thousands of Engans, many of whom now hold high and influential positions in government and the private sector,” The National said.

“All university students, including those from Enga, who value their education, should take heed of the governor’s call.

“We agree with Ipatas that it is in their long-term interests that students concentrate on their studies and leave politics to the leaders who have been mandated by the people.”

• Electoral Commission nullifies Unitech student vote in new PNG twist
• Students reach out to public in ‘awareness’ day
• Unitech boycotts classes, Tabar slams
• UPNG students’ actions
• Take your petition to the PM, says Parkop
• UPNG warns student planned protest ballot ‘bordering on contempt’
• UPNG students shrug off threats

As candidates concede to presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines has joined the Filipino people in calling on the next chief executive to end rights violations and give justice to victims.

Duterte captured the support of the Filipino electorate clamouring for change – a clear repudiation of the Aquino government’s failure to bring about real development for the impoverished people.

“We have seen this overwhelming support take shape in the lively campaigns organised by different migrant groups in our respective countries, in spite of the criticisms against him for his alleged responsibility for the Davao ‘death squads’ and summary executions of alleged criminals,” said Reverend Canon Barry Naylor, chairperson of the global council of the coalition ICHRP.

With this, the ICHRP hopes Rodrigo Duterte will prove himself worthy of the votes he has garnered, as it joins the Filipino people in immediately calling to:

1. Stop all extrajudicial killings (EJKs), including the killing of Lumad people [in Duterte’s home island of Mindanao], attacks on communities and indigenous schools, among other human rights violations;
2. Stop vilification and harassment of human rights defenders;
3. Release all political prisoners; and
4. Resume formal peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines

“The first 100 days of the incoming president is enough time to give him fair warning on rights violations and for him to ensure justice to those victims of violations committed by the outgoing Aquino administration (as well as previous administrations),” Naylor said.

“He should sincerely address the roots of the armed conflict and disallow another National Internal Security Plan, such as the failed Oplan Bayanihan, in bringing about genuine change in the land,” Canon Naylor said in response to Duterte’s call for national reconciliation and healing.

“Without justice there can be no peace.”

The ICHRP will be co-convening an international human rights conference on July 23-24 in Davao City, Duterte’s political stronghold.

The conference will commemorate 40 years of the Algiers Declaration of 1976, the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples.

International solidarity missions will visit several areas in the Philippines from July 16 to 20 before the conference, and follow up on the findings of the 2015 International People’s Tribunal held in Washington, DC.

• Military kill Lumas, including 6-year-old boy
• Duterte pulls of huge win in Philippines, Marcos trailing for VP
• The many surprises of the 2016 Philippine elections
• Controversial Duterte clinches win

The Invisible Picture Show, an animation made by End Child Detention on Vimeo.

Basic rights for refugee children is an issue troubling some South-East Asian nations. In Indonesia, more than 800 asylum seekers have been identified as children, while in Malaysia, close to 300 children out of the country’s 12,000 asylum seekers are seeking refuge. Jihee Junn looks into the issue for Asia Pacific Report.

With hundreds of children currently in detention in the Asia-Pacific region, a panel of experts has said that ending child detention could be the starting point to help the refugee crisis.

In a discussion hosted by the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) in Auckland this week, the global campaign to help end child detention was introduced, as well as alternatives to current detention practices in the region.

The End Immigration Detention of Children campaign advocates for support in New Zealand, calling for all refugee, asylum seeker, and irregular migrant children to have basic rights such as the right to be looked after and to be with their parents.

The issue is most prevalent in South-East Asian nations. In Indonesia, more than 800 asylum seekers have been identified as children, while in Malaysia, close to 300 children out of the country’s 12,000 asylum seekers are seeking refuge.

“If you look at the numbers, they’re not massive so we do feel it’s something that is manageable and it could really be a first positive step in advancing refugee protection in South-East Asia,” says Julia Mayerhof, executive officer of the refugee rights network.

Speaking in the context of New Zealand’s potential role in the issue, the chair of APRRN’s Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Working Group, Paul Power, says that the country could use its unique regional position to help with funding or expertise.

“Child detention in the region is a really strategic way to start that conversation [about resettlement]. No one thinks children should be detained and it’s a great starting point for these complex issues.”

Appalling conditions
Speaking from Melbourne where he is now resettled, 26-year old Habib from Afghanistan recalls his experiences in an Indonesian detention centre where he shared the same facilities as many families and children also seeking asylum.

“I think detention of children in Indonesia is not the right thing. It was very overcrowded and it was not actually the right place for them to be.

“We had to bear all kinds of arguments and conflicts because people were sitting together having discussions … I was feeling very sorry for families. For me, I could tolerate some of the arguments, but for the families I think it was very difficult.”

Julia Mayerhof says that such circumstances for children are not unusual.  Children are often faced with poor sanitation, insufficient food, and health issues such as skin diseases and tuberculosis.

“People are sometimes allowed to go outside, while in some detention centres there’s no way to go outside at all so they would never see the daylight,” says Mayerhof.

“No sports, no access to education, so everything that a normal child should have to grow up in a normal way, it doesn’t happen in a detention centre. This is bad for adults but for children it’s even worse.”

Unaccompanied minors
Unaccompanied minors — those travelling without a parent or adult — would often face similar circumstances to what Habib witnessed, although there are exceptions.

“There are a lot of countries where they’d be detained in the same environment as adults,” says Dr Robyn Sampson, senior adviser and research coordinator at the International Detention Coalition (IDC).

“But there are some great examples of countries that do not detain unaccompanied minors because they would be so vulnerable, and the Philippines is a good example. They actually place these children in the mainstream child protection system that they have set up for their own children who don’t have parents or adults to look after them.

“In my opinion, one of the ideal outcomes for these young people is to go into the mainstream protection system that might involve foster care,” says Dr Sampson.

“Another example is when they go into shelters, and that can be good because they are with other young people who have had the same kinds of experiences and may even speak the same language.”

But despite these alternatives, lack of capacity has become a recurring issue, which Dr Sampson cites as one of the main problems with the case management programme in Malaysia.

“This programme is helping to keep these children from being placed in detention in the first place and it’s something that could be expanded in the future.”

“But at this stage, the resources are too low. So although they’re managing to keep children out of detention, they’re not managing to get children who are in detention to be released because they don’t have the capacity.”

Seeking alternatives
In addition to the global number of designated refugees passing the 20 million mark, there are also around 2 million asylum seekers and more than 40 million internally displaced people.

Paul Power says that because of the issue’s scale and complexity, there is simply no single set of solutions. Instead, national, regional, and subregional answers should be sought on particular issues.

“A big problem that the world faces is the tradition of durable solutions for refugees. Voluntary safe return after a conflict has ended and integration in a country of asylum and resettlement are in such short supply,” he says.

“Around 100,000 out of 20 million refugees were resettled. So if you’re waiting on resettlement as the answer to your displacement, you’re going to be waiting two centuries at the back of the mythical queue that many Australian politicians believe.”

Asia and the Middle East stand out as the two regions in the world where most countries have not signed the refugee convention, and with 76 percent of refugees living outside of camps in Asia, the international community must look beyond simply ending detention.

“The situation of refugees in camps is of critical importance and lack of support for people living in these camps is a major factor in the misery of people who’ve sought refuge” says Power.

“But that’s not where most refugees around the world are at. They’re trying to survive in urban settings and most of the international support does not actually take account of that.”

Jihee Junn is a postgraduate student journalist at Auckland University of Technology and is on the Pacific Media Centre’s 2016 Asia-Pacific Journalism Studies course.

In the wake of the worst ever cyclone to have hit Fiji, the tourist destination is gearing to overcome a new challenge – combating the spread of the zika virus. Anuja Nadkarni files for Asia Pacific Report.

The mosquito-borne disease zika has spread to Fiji, but the island nation is taking charge.

Seventeen confirmed cases of zika have so far been recorded in Fiji, according to Sunil Chandra, spokesman of the Fijian Ministry of Health.

Chandra says the ministry, along with other government agencies and not-for-profit organisations, will be a holding a national clean-up campaign to “destroy the mosquito breeding places to prevent the spread of the virus”.

“This will be a month long campaign and it is anticipated that the people and the municipality will work closely to address the issue.”

A senior lecturer of physiology at the University of Fiji, Dr Abhijit Gogoi, says since tourism is vital to Fiji’s economy it has been a concern for the island nation since natural disasters and fears of infectious diseases can potentially affect numbers of inbound tourists. But he adds that the country is resilient.

“Tourism is a concern whenever there is a panic. First HIV, then SARS, then chickungunya and now zika … Every time there is a disaster or an epidemic, the country that depends so much on tourism for the economy does get affected by the sudden decrease in tourist inflow.

“But until now the tourism industry has not been affected here because of zika virus.”

Likewise, a report released from the Fiji Bureau of Statistics shows no effect on tourism as of March 2016 despite news reports of zika in Fiji. The number of visitors for March increased by nearly 10 percent compared to a year earlier. The report also showed that some 74 percent of all visitors were tourists.

Widespread mosquito carrier
A study of the zika virus in the South Pacific by Jose Derraik and David Slaney published last year suggests that the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito is the primary carrier of the virus and is widespread in the South Pacific.

The virus was first isolated from a monkey in the Zika Forest in Uganda in 1947, the study says.

Auckland University infectious disease specialist Siouxsie Wiles says that because the mosquito is widespread in the region, which has humid environmental conditions where these mosquitos can thrive, it was a matter of time before Fiji would be affected.

“It’s just the perfect storm of getting it to the right place at the right time with an abundance of mosquitoes and an abundance of people.”

Similarly, Auckland University’s Liggins Institute senior research fellow Dr José Derraik says although it is possible that the global spread of the zika virus has been caused by a mutation since its discovery in 1947, it is more likely that the more people travelling to places that have been struck by the zika virus has caused the epidemic to grow faster.

“The rapid movement of people across the world also means that zika virus has been introduced by infected travellers into new areas, where local populations had never been exposed to it. Consequently, as they had no associated immunity, zika virus was able to spread quickly,” Dr Derraik says.

He says, the fact that most people are asymptomatic is also a reason why the virus has been able to spread, as “infected travellers without any symptoms can freely travel from one country to another”, he says.

Dr Wiles explains that the mosquitoes that carry the virus are pregnant females that lay more than one batch of eggs.

Unaware of infection
Dr Derraik says some estimates suggest that 80 percent of the people infected with zika virus are unaware that they have been infected.

The study by Derraik and Slaney shows that the clinical presentation of the disease includes illnesses similar to influenza but in some extreme cases it can also cause cardiac complications and death.

Dr Wiles says evidence is building to show that the zika virus can also cause the Guillan-Barre syndrome, which is well known to happen following infection from a range of viruses.

“It’s a syndrome that can give people muscle weakness, affect people’s breathing and kill them but all of the people that have had the syndrome actually recover quite well.”

She says researchers are also studying whether the disease can be passed on from mother to child as there have been numerous cases in Brazil of children born with microcephaly, a congenital condition associated with stunted brain development, since the outbreak last year.

Dr Gogoi says there is also the probability that this virus could be transmitted sexually.

“As of now there are 8 cases of zika virus reported to be transmitted sexually in Brazil and Haiti.”

Dr Wiles says treatment for the virus has not been found yet because of a lack of resources for research until very recently.

“It’s not something people have been researching to find a cure because it wasn’t thought to be that devastating.”

Methods of control
Dr Wiles says, “the only way to get rid of it [zika] is to get rid of the mosquito.” And she says the most effective way of doing this would be to release genetically modified sterile male mosquitos.

“When they are released and breed with the females the young can’t survive. These genetically modified mosquitoes are released in large numbers so they outcompete the normal males so that when the females breed with the wrong males they don’t get any viable offspring.”

Dr Derraik suggests if measures to prevent getting bitten are taken then travellers need not avoid countries affected by the virus. However, he says the situation is different for pregnant women in light of the association with microcephaly in the foetus.

Dr Gogoi says employing measures of hygiene, using mosquito repellents and nets and ensuring no storage of water in any open rubbish containers or coconut shells, can help contain the spread of the virus.

Anuja Nadkarni is a journalism graduate from AUT University and is currently completing her Honours degree in Communication Studies. She is on the Asia-Pacific Journalism Studies course at the Pacific Media Centre.

A video report on Pasifika TV by former Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Alistar Kata. Video: PMC On Demand

Papua New Guineans will continue to enjoy the many interesting television programmes from New Zealand on the new channel Pasifika TV made possible through the Pacific Broadcasting Initiative.

New Zealand High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea Tony Fautua said at the launch in Port Moresby this week the initiative had brought Pacific content to the people in the region with the aim to inform and educate and entertain, apart from sports, news and current affairs.

The initiative was announced by NZ Prime Minister John Key late last year and since then it has continued to improve programme content for viewers.

“The New Zealand government is proud to support this initiative and we are grateful to the New Zealand and international content providers for their generosity in providing the content at no cost to the Pacific,” Fautua said.

Also as part of this initiative, there will be a training programme for local technicians such as camera operators, vision switchers and studio technicians to help them build skills across the region.

Pasifika TV content is available on Papua New Guinea’s local free-to-air TV stations, NBC, EM TV, TVWAN and Click TV.

The project is on collaboration with the Auckland-based Pacific Cooperation Foundation.

• Pasifika TV on YouTube
• Pasifika TV promo on YouTube
• PMC On Demand

OPINION: By Peter Laska in Port Moresby

What I want to write about is what many University of Papua New Guinea students seem to be thinking at the moment about “Justice for PNG”.

Those of us who completed their university studies years ago are much wiser today than when we were doing our studies.  We were very idealistic and optimistic.  You might also say that at that age our lack of experience also made us very naïve.

I remembered that today when a friend told me that UPNG students seriously believe that if they push again and again, the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill will finally give in and accept their petition in person.

These conscientious, caring young people also think that the PM will think about the petition and, as the boycott continues, will decide to honour the student demand and step down.

What naïve thoughts!  The students optimism is wonderful to see but once they see for themselves that their optimism is in error, they might well go the opposite direction, feeling like giving up and being depressed when they see that the government doesn’t plan to budget.

The rest of us as citizens of this great country, must not allow the students to lose their energy.

Right now, the students are wasting time with false hopes.  They quickly need to bring in some wisdom to help them understand that the PM is not going to accept their petition or honour their demand.

PM holds the power
The PM will back down only when he sees that student power far exceeds his power as PM, armed with police support.  At the moment, the PM easily holds most of the power.

This can change but only if the students stop wasting time worrying about petitions that will be ignored anyway.

The only thing will change the balance of power in the student’s favour is people power.

Adding large numbers of supportive citizens to the numbers of boycotting students is the only ammunition guaranteed to defeat the PM.

This is roughly how much people power you need to force prime ministers to step down elsewhere in the world:

Precious planning time
The students should be using this precious time to plan how to carry out awareness in ways that the government cannot detect.

They need to know enough about the issues facing our country to explain it to the public.  I was very pleased to see the resource book that PNG Blogs made available for us to download.

I urge all students in PNG to immediately get a copy of this resource book and read about the issues.  Then go out and spread the word.  Spread your energy to people on the streets.

Don’t waste any more time thinking about petitions or the power of boycotts.  The greatest value  of the boycott is to give you  the time to do awareness and build up a people power movement.

I pray that the students will acquire the wisdom to see that they have a lot yet to do before they can defeat the PM.

The only way to win is to create a people power movement.

Peter Laska is a PNG Blogs contributor.

By Rev Dr Benny Giay in Jayapura

A number of recent developments in Papua, Indonesia, and in the Pacific, have led me to a profound realisation that over the past five decades, we, Papuan people, have not moved from our position in relations with Indonesia.

Our journey to get out of domination and oppressive violence towards our own future with dignity remains confronted with challenges and constraints, as seen in the events that we are recently witnessing.

First, as a reactionary response to the demands of the people of Papua as well as the decision (and possibly pressure) from the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to send a fact-finding-mission through the Pacific Islands Forum, the Indonesian government has held two focus group discussions (FGD) at a luxury hotel in Jayapura for the so-called “settlement of human rights issues”.

The FGDs were sponsored by Indonesia’s coordinating Minister of Economy, Politics, Law and Human Rights Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who once made a humiliating remark to the Papuans by saying: “Just go to Melanesia. No need to stay in Indonesia anymore.”

The statement by a former Kopassus (Indonesian special forces) general was aimed at the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), an organisation that represents our struggle and aspiration.

His tone reminds us of the statement of General Ali Murtopo in 1969: “If the Papuans want independence, ask Americans to find an island in the moon for them to live there.”

A second development that coincided with the FGD is a series of peaceful demonstrations held by the Papuans in West Papua and Indonesia to support ULMWP’s bid for a full membership at the MSG.

2000 detained
Around 2000 activists were detained in a peacefull rally facilitated by the National Committee of West Papua (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB) on 2 May 2016. This wsas the largest arrest in our history and proves that the Indonesian authorities continue using old tactics of repression: arrests, beatings, and terror against the demonstrators.

Thirdly, the Indonesian government is aggressively lobbying countries and political leaders in the Pacific following the increasing concern and solidarity from the Pacific region and support from the MSG for a resolution of West Papua’s problem.

General Pandjaitan has repeatedly claimed that he has secured Fiji and Papua New Guinea’s support for Indonesia. On the other hand, Pandjaitan contended that foreigners should not interfere in the affairs of human rights in West Papua.

Fourth, without listening to criticism of hazardous development in West Papua, Jakarta, intensifies a development model that puts Papuans simply as objects, without allowing us to become subjects of our own future.

What does all of this mean for Papuan people?

We, the nation of West Papua might be unlucky. The sun has so far stopped shining in the land of our fathers. Since the early 1960s, our land has been made a site of systemic oppression.

But we do not stay silent. We make ourselves subjects of our own history, maintain our dignity and keep fighting. We use a variety of tactics: through a guerrilla struggle (OPM, the Free Papuan Movement), a messianic movement, human rights discourses and NGOs, media, Arnold Ap and his cultural movement, mass urban-based movements such as of KNPB, churches with their critical voices, and so forth.

Many have fled
Apart from the struggles in our own land, some of us have to flee. In the 1960s, a wave of refugees fled to the Netherlands.

Melanesian countries in the Pacific have also became destinations of West Papuan refugees from the 1960s until the 1990s.

Political activists seek political protection in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Australia, Europe, and so forth. In 1969 alone, about 3000 Papuans fled to PNG. Osborne (2001) and Smith (1988) estimate that between 1500-3000 Papuans crossed into PNG and other countries in 1977-1978.

Our history can be written as a history of a fleeing nation. A nation that is oppressed and expelled from our own country, a nation that is walking toward a promised land.

Our journey is stained by stories of those who died and drowned on the way to reach Vanimo, stories of those who walked day and night to reach the land of freedom.

We would like to thank our Melanesian brothers and sisters in the Pacific who are never tired of showing us their unwavering support and solidarity. We thank church leaders, including the Catholic Bishop of Vanimo, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands and civil societies in these countries.

The Catholic Bishop of Vanimo granted his land to accommodate members of our congregation because in our own land churches have failed to defend the scattering God’s flocks.

Thanks to Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
We express our thanks to the Vanuatu government that has been trying to unite our leadership from different factions within the struggle. We thank the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands who offered to mediate an authentic dialogue between ULMWP and the Indonesian government.

We are grateful to the leadership of MSG who has been accepting us in the Melanesian brotherhood.

But we also apologise. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the presence of our people in the Pacific. We apologise for our helplessness that forced our brothers and sisters in the Pacific to carry our burden and stand in solidarity with us.

We apologise that the burden of our struggle has become a burden of our Melanesian brothers and sisters. We apologise that our struggle changes the political dynamics of Melanesian nations, forcing Melanesian nations to confront each other.

I believe that all of this is not an accident of history. Indeed, West Papua is a product of history that is blind to our suffering and God who remains silent on the fate of Papuans.

We tip our hats and thank chiefs, church leaders, media, political and government leaders, civil society, and intellectuals, each of ordinary people in the Pacific, and the international solidarity of West Papua in Africa, Australia, Europe, the United States and Indonesia who have been showing true solidarity in the course of the journey of our nation.

Rev Dr Benny Giay is the head of Synod of Kingmi Church in West Papua.

• The crackdown aftermath – finding a dignified solution

Students of the University of Papua New Guinea gathered early yesterday morning at the forum square on the Waigani campus to vote for a referendum said to be conducted by the Electoral Commission.

However, the vote never happened.

The protesting students have a petition calling on Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to step down and face an alleged corruption investigation. But they refused to hand over the petition to government officials last week when they visited campus without the prime minister.

The Electoral Commission told PNGFM News when contacted that the commission did not recognise the UPNG Students’ Representative Council (SRC) body and they would not conduct any ballot that day.

According to the Electoral Commission’s legal team, the SRC body has no powers to request for referendum to be conducted.

The commission would only respond to a request from the UPNG administration.

The director of UPNG’s public relations, Jim Robins, clarified the administration’s stand that it would not have any say in the referendum or how it would be conducted.

“The university administration cannot request the Electoral Commission to conduct the referendum as we would be in contempt of court if we do that,” he said.

Robins also stressed the statement by the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Malakai Tabar, saying students should return to class before tomorrow to avoid exclusion from their courses.

‘Threat to democracy’
Earlier this week, the general secretary of the Trade Union Congress, John Paska, claimed current student boycott of classes threatened the country’s democracy.

He urged students to return to class until all legal processes had been exhausted.

Paska has called on workers throughout the country not to join the protest, saying any demonstration is legally baseless.

• Unitech boycotts classes, Tabar slams UPNG students’ actions
• Take your petition to the PM, says Parkop
• UPNG warns student planned protest ballot ‘bordering on contempt’
• UPNG students shrug off threats

Last month’s AJ+ video about ExxonMobile’s tactics in casting doubt on climate change science.

Do changes to climate change reporting need to happen? Does the media itself need structural change to face the new challenge? Kendall Hutt seeks some answers to the debate in this article for Asia Pacific Report.

A worldwide call has gone out by academics and journalists for news media to change its approach on reporting climate change.

Current coverage of climate change leaves the public ill-informed on the issue and largely cynical, say some academics.

Also of concern is a tendency for media to frame climate change as an international rather than local issue, which leads it to be defined as a problem for others and not one of national sovereignty.

The need for improvement was highlighted at a public talk delivered at Auckland University of Technology last month, in which Professor Robert Hackett of Simon Fraser University discussed whether certain “touchstones” of journalism, such as objectivity and the public sphere, apply in covering what he dubbed a “climate crisis”.

The topic of a forthcoming book with several colleagues titled Journalisms for Climate Crisis, Hackett proposes several alternative reporting models that could potentially allow greater, more in-depth coverage of the climate change issue.

However, Dr Hackett concluded his talk by stating structured media reform was needed for climate crisis journalism to flourish. He stressed that the industry needs space to discuss such reform in order to foster change in defiance of a lack of political will.

Speaking with Asia Pacific Report, Dr Hackett has expanded on this conclusion, saying such structural media reform would “encourage and expand better journalism practices and coverage to the scale that is needed in a situation of global crisis”.

He added media reform would also reduce commercial pressures on journalists to generate clickbait and reduce concentrated corporate ownership.

But this is not a view shared by others.

Oxfam New Zealand’s senior campaigns and communications specialist Jason Garman rejects the idea of media reform.

“I think passing the buck that media should be solving this problem by doing better is not the way to go,” he says.

I think everyone needs to come to the reality that climate change is affecting all of us and we all should be playing a constructive part in making sure we have a world that’s liveable for everyone.”

Garman believes improvements to the way climate change is reported needs to come from – and return to – journalism’s fundamental role in educating and informing the public.

This is a view shared by science communication specialist and former journalist, Dr Jan Sinclair.

Dr Sinclair says it is mainly the media’s responsibility to inform the public of the extent and reality of the risks of climate change.

“It’s the journalist’s responsibility to tell people whether their lives or property are at risk.”

Like Garman, Dr Sinclair rejects Dr Hackett’s idea of media reform being the way for media to improve its climate change coverage moving forward.

Dr Sinclair is wary of reform due to the vested interests of fossil fuel industries and “sceptical lobby” which have plagued, and continue to plague, coverage of climate change.

She says such well-funded and powerful lobbying has promoted a culture of climate change being framed as “uncertain”, both within the media and social world.

Evidence of such lobbying can be seen by looking at ExxonMobil, one of the leading opponents of climate change science, which also once happened to be one of its leading proponents.

A video by AJ+ recently revealed that ExxonMobil spent US$61 million between 1998 and 2005 challenging scientific consensus surrounding climate change.

ExxonMobil has also been largely responsible for creating the uncertainty Dr Sinclair describes, with the oil company spending US$30 million on a network of think tanks and researchers who have challenged climate change science.

Dr Sinclair says any improvements to current reportage are a question of ethics and should be seen as a matter of integrity for journalists.

Question of ethics

“If journalists could perhaps have a discussion on which ethics are important, and then link speaking truth to power to the problem of interpreting scientific results… I think that might be beneficial.”

The journalistic adage of “speak truth to power” does not do climate change reporting any favours, she adds, as this “political” focus is detrimental.

This is something Dr Sinclair has also noted in her research into comparisons of what information the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported and what The New York Times reported across a 17-year period from 1990 to 2007.

Dr Sinclair noted: “Journalists are encouraged to privilege political discourses over scientific advice”, in direct correlation with the adage.

In contrast, Taberannang Korauaba, a doctoral candidate with the Pacific Media Centre and editor of the Kiribati Independent, believes stories on climate change need to focus more on the positive and calls attention to the Pacific.

Positivity needed
“The same message is repeated, sea is rising, people will be displaced, sea encroaching land, temperature is getting hotter these days on the islands.”

Yes, Pacific people are victims of climate change, he says, but stories should focus on adaptation and media attention shift to investigate the distribution of adaptation funding.

“What is happening now on the ground, I think the focus should be there. How much money given to these islands to help build their resilience, how it is spent, who is getting what?”

Korauaba says the media needs to adopt strategies to better report climate change and one of those is deliberative journalism, journalism that is acknowledged as empowering local people and leading to greater, popular decision-making.

In his research, he regards deliberative journalism – what he terms in the i-Kiribati-language as Te Karoronga – as allowing the community to be part of climate change adaptation and raising understanding and awareness of actions, so the people themselves can take action to help save their islands.

Despite such varied calls for the media to reframe its coverage of climate change, such as by Pacific Journalism Review in a special edition in 2014 on “failed states” and the environment, not all coverage is, or has been, inherently bad, Garman and Hackett stress.

Not inherently bad
Professor Hackett says some media organisations have been doing “remarkably good work” and “exercising a sense of agency”.

One such organisation is the Desert Sun, he adds, Palm Spring’s daily in southern California due to the host of feature articles it has produced.

Garman, however, highlights the media’s growth and acknowledgement in framing climate change as a human rights issue.

“If you’d asked me that question [growth] ten years ago I would have said, ‘No, absolutely, people see climate change as an environmental issue only, something that’s happening to polar bears and may affect humans at a long-off point in the future’.

“Whereas now I do think people understand that climate change is happening now, it’s affecting people now, it’s a human rights issue.”

Although no consensus exists as to what form reframing should take, Korauaba has noted it will take time for any changes to come into effect.

“The world can’t change overnight, at least we do something, and keep doing it regularly in our coverage.”

Kendall Hutt is a graduate journalist from AUT University, currently completing her Honours year in Communication Studies. She is on the Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Journalism course.