Pacific News In Brief For 23 April

Samoa – murder

Police in Samoa have charged a man
with murder following the fatal stabbing of a disabled
teenager in Upolu over Easter.

The Samoa Observer
reported the mutilated body of a 14-year-old girl was
found behind a house in Saleimoa on Saturday
morning.

Police Commissioner Auapaau Logotino Filipo
told the newspaper that a 29-year-old man had been remanded
in custody to appear in court in two weeks.

Samoa –
dengue

Samoa’s Ministry of Health declared another
dengue outbreak on Thursday.

The Ministry of Health
reported 15 confirmed cases, with nine of those being in the
previous two weeks.

The ABC reported the
most-affected areas are north-west of Upolu.

Dengue
outbreaks are also in place in Tonga and parts of
Fiji.

Samoa’s Ministry of Health had deemed its last
outbreak over in August 2024.

Tonga

A
political storm is brewing in Tonga over the repayment of a
US$190 million loan from China, originally borrowed to build
back after the deadly 2006 pro-democracy riots.

The
money has also been spent on major projects like the
renovation of the royal palace, an upgrade of Nukualofa
wharf, and loans to local businesses to help them
rebuild.

With the loan repayments now due, debate is
intensifying over how previous governments handled the
funds.

ABC reported the Lowy Institute calling
it a millstone around Tonga’s neck, with the kingdom’s debt
levels ranked among the highest in the world.

Guam –
indictments

Five employees of the Guam Homeland
Security Office’s Civil Defence office, including its head,
have been indicted over payroll anomalies and summoned to
answer the charges in court.

The Pacific Islands
Times reported the five will appear in court on 1
May.

They were indicted on misdemeanor charges of
“certifying officer malfeasance,” official misconduct, and
crime against the community.

One person is facing an
additional charge of tampering with public records as a
third-degree felony for allegedly falsifying government
documents.

Pacific – health

A UN Committee has
called for further steps to decriminalize abortion in
Solomon Islands.

The UN Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women held a session in Fiji this
month.

The committee commended Solomon Islands on
legislative and policy reform to promote gender
equality.

But it also acknowledged the need for
meaningful reparations for the gender-based violence and
discrimination experienced by women during the ethnic
tensions of 1998-2003.

It also called for further
steps to decriminalize abortion, as part of a broader
commitment to ensuring women’s sexual and reproductive
health and rights.

For Tuvalu, the committee noted the
intersection of gender and climate justice, but also the
cultural and gender stereotypes that have led to a lack of
women’s participation in political decision-making
bodies.

The committee welcomed Fiji’s efforts to
increase social protection and combat violence against women
and girls, but also expressed concern about the deeply
entrenched gender stereotypes.

Pacific –
seabirds

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional
Environment Programme (SPREP) has organised the first-ever
Oceania Seabird Symposium, held at the University of
Auckland.

SPREP’s deputy Director General Easter Chu
Shing said not much is known about the great threats to
seabirds and the idea was to give it more focus and
attention.

She said a key focus of the symposium was
highlighting traditional knowledge and the cultural aspects
of seabirds.

Chu Shing said her organisation would be
looking at the outcomes of the discussion to see how it
would inform the work underway by SPREP, and also the work
of its
partners.

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