Independent Analysis and Reportage
Asia Pacific Report A new human rights report has rated civic space in Indonesia under President Prabowo Subianto rated as “obstructed”. Human rights groups have documented the criminalisation, harassment and attacks on activists and others for their activism, reports Civicus Monitor. Journalists have been targeted for their reporting and there has been a brutal crackdown
RNZ Pacific reporters The Pacific Elders’ Voice has called for the Pacific Islands Forum to review and reverse its partnership agreement with Israel. The group of former Pacific prime ministers, presidents and senior diplomats says the Forum’s decision to make Israel a sectoral partner conflicts with the region’s commitments to human rights, self-determination and international
Keith Rankin writes: Foreign policy should be at the fore of the New Zealand election debates, and not just because foreign events raise the price of diesel fuel. New Zealand should make itself visible to the world, not as a lifeboat or latter-day Noah's Ark, but as a committed non-judgemental advocate for world peace and diplomacy.
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea’s West New Britain province Governor Sasindran Muthuvel says the public is deeply frustrated with repeated armed robberies and other violent crime. Sasindran Muthuvel’s comment comes after police confirmed the death of 12 men who they say staged an armed robbery at a tradestore in West New
UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese has released a blistering report on media complicity in war crimes as Israelis headed to the polls. Michael West Media reports. REVIEW: By Aleta Moriarty Israeli forces have killed between 209 and nearly 300 journalists and media workers in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories since October 2023, depending on
COMMENTARY: By Mohamad Kadan For the majority of Israelis, the general election today is a choice between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the forces that oppose him, led by former general Gadi Eisenkot. But for the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 20 percent of the population, the polls present a different dilemma. As
Asia Pacific Report New Zealand’s oldest and largest Palestine solidarity movement today called on political parties to press for “immediate expulsion” of Israeli Ambassdor Alon Roth-Snir and to suspend ties with Israel. The call by the Palestine Solidarity Network follows two damning new United Nations reports released yesterday and also the impact of the pariah
By Christina Persico of RNZ Pacific Early voting has opened for the general election in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand uses MMP, mixed member proportional representation. Enrolled voters can have their say on the party vote — the party they want to win the election and run the next government — and their local electorate
COMMENTARY: By Senia Burr Mr Gavoka, with respect, you do not speak for the “entire Pacific Islands” when you say the Pacific identifies with Israel because the relationship is “biblical, ageless and real”. That statement is historically careless, theologically shallow and politically dangerous. Christianity came to Fiji through the Wesleyan Methodist tradition in the 19th
COMMENTARY: By Saige England I cast my vote. Did it today. And I resisted the temptation to dance around the voting floor yelling the rebel yell. I restrained myself. Just. Do we need change? Hell yeah. I came home and played and danced. My election play list goes like this: First up Donovan’s “It Must
By Kelvin Anthony of RNZ Pacific Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji’s first and only prime minister of Indian descent, has warned that the island nation is “worse off today than we were at independence” and that its political leadership must focus on solving social and economic issues rather than “making multiple constitutions”. Chaudhry made the comments over
RNZ Pacific reporters Samoa’s Prime Minister La’aulialemalietoa (La’auli) Leuatea Schmidt paused talks on a refreshed treaty with New Zealand until after the New Zealand general election, despite Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s request to “proceed with it”. La’auli made the revelation at a cocktail function supporting the “visa on arrival” campaign led by prominent Aotearoa community