PMW assists Tongan journalist in local mentor programme on human rights

Pacific Media Watch

Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Josephine Latu has been signed on to become one of 18 mentors in a pilot programme launched this week by Tonga’s Women and Children Crisis Centre.

The inaugural I-YEL program will run over a period of 12 months and will aim to encourage, prepare and challenge young people to be advocates for human rights with a special focus on women and children’s rights, social justice, gender equality and the overall goal of promoting the elimination of violence against women and children.

As part of the I-YEL’s Ta’okete (big sister) Mentoring scheme, 18 young women from the ages of 18-35 will each be paired up with another “inspiring female leader”, who can provide one-on-one mentoring and coaching in the career path the girls wish to follow.

PMW’s Josephine Latu has been paired with deputy editor of the Taimi 'o Tonga, Telesia Adams.

‘Shocking’ domestic violence

Adams started work with the Taimi as a court reporter in 2006, where she was “shocked” at the number of domestic abuse cases against women and children in Tonga.

“I reported their stories making use of the power I have as a journalist to let their voices be heard… In the back of my head there's the question what more can I do?”she said.

She then signed up for the I-YEL programme to expand her background on human rights issues.

Adams said that Tongan media is “dominated” by women, and people are becoming used to seeing young women in the profession.

Director of the WCCC, ‘Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki said “through leadership development, career exploration and vision-setting, we hope that the I-YEL 2010-2011 in-take will be equipped with the appropriate skills to make wiser decisions – decisions that will help them live a life free from violence and abuse and to promote gender equality throughout Tonga.”

Other mentors include veteran broadcaster Katalina Tohi, NZ award-winning poet and writer Karlo Mila Schaaf who will be mentoring her partner online, Koe Kakai editor and political activist Mele Amanaki, human rights activist Betty Blake, and Tonga National Youth Congress director Vanessa Lolohea.


Women and Children Crisis Centre, Tonga

Development grant gives boost to Pacific Media Watch freedom project

By Lucy Mullinger: Pacific Media Centre

A Pacific media freedom monitoring project that began life campaigning for two journalists and a parliamentarian languishing in a Tongan jail almost 14 years ago has been given a boost by a $15,000 development grant.

Pacific Media Watch, founded by volunteer journalists concerned about a free media in the region, campaigned with a petition to have the “Tongan three” released from jail.

Now the project is run by AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre and it is being revitalised as a digital media freedom and development database.

The Pacific Development and Conservation Trust grant will be used to expand the regional database and community journalism resources which focus on media freedom, environmental issues, human rights and a sustainable press.

Current PMW contributing editor Josephine Latu of Tonga (pictured above interviewing) says the project gives media freedom in the region “publicity and a buzz” and professor Olaf Diegel of AUT’s Creative Industries Research Institute, which includes the Pacific Media Centre, says the grant is a “tremendous boost” for media research.

One of the founders of PMW, award-winning Sydney investigative journalist Peter Cronau, believes the grant will help the project keep up the challenge.

“In smaller communities there is a risk that political and commercial influences can have a more substantial effect on influencing the reporting of events,” he says.

Keeping democracy alive
“A group like PMW keeps an eye on such transgressions and ensures they are given the openness and oxygen that keep democracy alive.”

The PMW project was adopted by the Pacific Media Centre in 2007 and has been developed by Pacific Islands contributing editors based in AUT’s School of Communication Studies for the past three years.

PMW was originally established in 1996 at the University of Technology, Sydney, by Peter Cronau, then director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, and then Papua New Guinea-based NZ journalist David Robie.

Associate Professor Robie, who is now director of the Pacific Media Centre, says this is the first external funding for the PMW project.

“The voice of a ‘free press’ in the Pacific often used to be an issue owned by cozy elite media proprietors,” says Dr Robie.

Nowadays groups such as Pacific Media Watch, Pacific Freedom Forum and Pacific Islands News Association are contributing to issues of media freedom being constantly debated around the region.

Dr Robie believes this is partly due to a perceived greater danger for journalists and the media in the region - “especially in the face of a sustained onslaught from the censors and the military regime in Fiji”.

Global media agencies
Although there are other larger global free media agencies such as the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Sans Frontières in Paris, Cronau believes a smaller programme such as PMW can devote more time to local issues and continue to follow-up on them long after world attention has declined.

“There is a localised corporate memory that allows the connections to be made between current events and the relevant historical background,” he says.

The catalyst which established the programme was the jailing of Taimi ‘o Tonga journalists and editors Kalafi Moala and Filokalafi ‘Akau'ola, along with pro-democracy MP in Tonga, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, for alleged contempt of Parliament in September 1996.

With help from the PMW, which organised a petition of more than 100 media signatures from the Pacific region, and other groups such as the Commonwealth Press Union, they were freed by the Supreme Court in Tonga after it had ruled that their imprisonment was unconstitutional.

Moala has been a staunch supporter of the project ever since it started and has contributed many articles on the Pacific Islands region.

He believes the PMW is a great help information-wise to Pacific peoples.

According to Moala, media organisations across the Pacific benefit from the information that comes from the Pacific Media Centre.

“I do not know what others are doing in terms of Pacific research, but what we get out of AUT is definitely superb,” he says.

Contribute submissions
The PMW and PMC also contribute submissions on media matters, such as for an independent review of the Fiji Media Council just months before martial law was declared in April 2009.

“We are also constantly working behind the scenes with journalists who are in jeopardy,” says Robie.

Contributing editor Josephine Latu says: “We try to watch for new projects or developments in the area and promote them by giving them publicity and a buzz through news coverage on our partner Pacific Scoop, as well as dispatching emails and newsletters to our subscriber list.

“We also document these developments by storing news stories, research papers, or important media reports in our database.”

Dr Robie says: “This is an important development for us and will enable the PMC to significantly improve the resources made available through the university’s PMW database and integrate it with other digital developments planned by the centre for later this year.

“The grant will help in expanding and improving our services, for instance, giving our database and website a makeover and making them more interactive with users. The grant will hopefully allow us to bring more Pacific Island people, or Pacific-interested people on board,” he says.

The centre also wants to organise other events in the future which will showcase and promote more student media work - such as the Flavorz film festival held last November, where a range of short films by Māori, Pasifika and diversity television students were shown.

The grant will be used to help Pacific people express their identity and worldview through media and to contribute to New Zealand's knowledge base, says Latu.

“Pacific media does not only mean news coverage about the region - it also involves alternative perspectives and angles of these same issues from local people.

“We also need to bring this aspect of diversity to NZ media.” she says.

'Trememdous boost'
Professor Olaf Diegel, director of the Creative Industries Research Institute at AUT, says the $15,000 development grant represents a tremendous boost to Pacific research.

“Until the creation of the Pacific Media Centre there has been relatively little true research into Pacific media. Even getting the public and government to understand both the value of Pacific media-related research, and what constitutes good media research has been a challenge,” he says.

“ It is only when tabloid worthy events - such as the coups in Fiji or Samoan tsunami occur - that we even realise that there is such a thing as Pacific media” he says.

He believes “this kind of synergy between research, industry and education” makes AUT the top institution in the field of Pacific research.

“I am convinced Pacific Media Watch will become a vital source of information on all things Pacific, and will be used extensively by the media, the government and the community.”

Is there a future for Pacific journalism? No doubt about it, says Cronau

“As long as there are those who act to inhibit free speech and the work of inquiring journalists in Pacific countries, there will be a need for Pacific Media Watch's unblinking eye.”

The Pacific Media Watch digital repository: www.pacmediawatch.aut.ac.nz
More information about PMW.
The original PMW website, hosted by a community NGO.

Creative Commons cites Pacific Scoop as case study

Pacific Media Centre

Pacific Scoop, the new niche website launched by the Pacific Media Centre and Scoop Media last August, has been featured on the Creative Commons case study wiki. Sections of the case study report are republished here - with some amendments where Pacific Scoop has been confused with the long-established parent website Scoop, which has been publishing for a decade.

Pacific Scoop was established in 2009, the result of a joint venture between AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre and the independent news portal Scoop. It is the leading news resource in New Zealand for people behind the news, rather than just readers/viewers. Pacific Scoop aims to address the lack of coverage of Pacific news stories in the mainstream media by reporting on Pacific news, current affairs and analysis. The aim is to provide an independent voice of the Pacific which will tell the hidden stories and highlight under-exposed issues.

Pacific Scoop - like the main Scoop website - prides itself on delivering news when it happens, unprocessed and independent, so readers can get the whole story and form their own opinions. Scoop’s mission is “to be an agent of positive change”. It seeks to provide an open forum for the expression of a variety of perspectives without "spin" or prejudice from either the reporters or a multinational media conglomerate.

The website is being updated with stories by postgraduate Pacific student journalists and other media students. Academics, regional journalists and civil society advocates and analysts are also contributing articles posted on the website. The website is updated daily with more than 100 Topic Indexes, including “education, culture, creativity, environment, health, human rights, media, social justice, resource development, regional security and technology”.

Specific issues being highlighted include those of censorship and democracy in Fiji and Tonga.

Scoop has already received a number of awards, including a 2005 Democratic Media Award and ranked third by Nielsen Net//Ratings in their News Category. It was also a finalist in the Qantas Media Awards Best News Site in 2007 as well as Netguide Magazine’s Web Awards in 2004.

Licence use
Pacific Scoop has chosen an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives New Zealand licence to release its content under. This means that readers can use the content on the website as long as they attribute the work, only use it for non-commercial purposes and not alter, transform or build upon the work.

Just as is the case for the Pacific Media Centre website, the licence is applied through the use of a licence button on every page of the site linking to a summary of the licence, which in turn links to the full licence.

The website averages more then 450,000 reported readers a month and is clearly a leading news resource in New Zealand so the use of a Creative Commons licence will allow readers to more easily use the material available.

Motivations
Pacific Scoop and Scoop believe “…in the power of compelling ideas to propel themselves into political consciousness if they are able to get exposure and be debated”. The use of a Creative Commons licence has enabled readers of Scoop to more easily use the information they find on the website. This means that the material on the site will receive greater exposure and helps them to achieve their aim of encouraging people to get their news from an independent, informative source.

Pacific Scoop’s mission embodies the ideas of “freedom, expression, ideas, information, empowerment, transformation”. Releasing their material under a CC licence will serve to help the free expression of ideas and information in an open forum and encourage people to take a more active role in digesting news.

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licenses under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Top graphic: LuMaxArt gold figures from Technuit.

Media
Retrieved from http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Case_Studies/Pacific_Scoop
Category: Casestudy
Pacific Scoop cited as innovative funding model

Bullets and mines give Violet's job an edge

By Brenda Cottingham

The first thing Burmese journalist Violet Cho noticed about New Zealand’s news media was its different news priorities – like a burglary story on page one of the NZ Herald.

The kind of journalism she does involves avoiding being shot or having her limbs blown off by land mines.

“I couldn’t believe that a burglary would be so important that it warranted being on page one,” she told Whitireia Journalism School students during a visit to Wellington this month.

She is surprised at the New Zealand media’s lack of international coverage and focus on local issues.

Violet has emerged from the unlikely roots of a Thai refugee camp, and is in New Zealand taking her journalism education a step further.

She fled Myanmar/Burma (she uses both names) with her family to Thailand when she was seven, and says growing up in a refugee camp was not easy.

A lot of young people were depressed in the camps, which indirectly spawned journalism and led to her career.

She was taught basic journalism by a South African woman, and with the help of the camp’s community leader, was able to covertly set up a radio transmitter within her camp, which raised spirits.

Telling the stories
Since taking up journalism, she has aimed to tell the stories of the people, but says getting even a simple story could prove dangerous and difficult because of the Burmese military presence.

In 2005, she risked her life reaching a remote Burmese village.

“The Burmese conflict policy is to shoot on sight,” says Violet.

The people of the village were teaching children to use whatever materials they had, which included a large stone-face used as a blackboard.

Violet, an indigenous Karen, holds a Burmese passport, and says Burma is a corrupt country where those in power do not share the wealth, and drugs and trafficking are just a few of the problems.

After she completes her journalism studies at Auckland University of Technology, she hopes to visit her family, who now live in America, before returning to work in Thailand.

Her dream is to see a free Myanmar and to work there.

Violet - who is hosted in New Zealand on the AUT University's Pacific Media Centre inaugural Asian Journalism Fellowship supported by the Asia: NZ Foundation - would like NZ journalists to visit Myanmar to write about the lives of the people and their hardships.

Picture: Violet Cho at Whitireia. Photo: Brenda Cottingham

Brenda Cottingham is a student journalist at Whitireia Journalism School in Wellington. This story was published originally on Newswire.

Karen journalist in critical voice for change
In exile - Bryan Crump on Radio NZ National's Nights (Nov 2)

PJR praised for 'diversity' edition

Pacific Media Watch

New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner, Joris de Bres, has awarded Pacific Journalism Review a citation in recognition of its latest edition dedicated to the theme of "diversity and identity".

The May edition of the journal, published by AUT University's Pacific Media Centre, highlights some of the complex diversity issues across the Asia-Pacific region, and De Bres says the issue "unpacks and focuses on the place and role of the media in facilitating diversity".

Topics include "culture clash" faced by Western journalists and foreign correspondents entering the Pacific region; diversity reporting in Aotearoa and the rise of "ethnic media"; and a review of the controversy over last year’s media report that Pacific peoples were a "drain on the New Zealand economy".

A feature article is written by a media "insider" in the People's Charter process in Fiji and examines censorship and its impact on freedom of expression in Fiji.

Managing editor and Pacific Media Centre director associate professor David Robie notes that “this edition provides some challenging and fresh insights into diversity reporting in New Zealand, from Fiji to Asian stereotypes … but it also celebrates some important achievements.”

Pacific Journalism Review

Dairy project aims to boost post-war cooperation in Sri Lanka

By Megan Anderson: Pacific Media Centre

In the wake of three decades of devastating civil war in Sri Lanka, aid workers are struggling to help rebuild the communities shattered by the conflict.

International organisations and governments - including United Nations agencies, Red Cross, Oxfam and NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully - called for a ceasefire before the final end to the war – in a bid to save civilians caught in the crossfire, with no access to humanitarian aid and a lack of clean water.

After 26 years of fighting - coupled with the tragedy of the 2004 tsunami - NGOs now hope peace will give Sri Lankans a chance to rebuild their country.

New Zealand Red Cross communications advisor Kelly Mitchell says: “Obviously there are still civilians who need assistance, and there is a role for ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and partner organisations to assist.”

TEAR Fund executive director Stephen Tollestrup is travelling to Sri Lanka to oversee a cooperative dairy initiative, begun two years ago.

He will monitor and evaluate the programme, which he says is already a success.
The dairy project aims to bring both Sinhala and Tamil ethnic groups together in an enterprise towards peace and sustainable economic growth.

The venture focuses upon providing proper chilling facilities and transportation for the milk produced, water ponds, as well as strengthening five farmer-managed societies through consolidation, microcredit schemes and a focus upon local ownership and solidarity among farmers.

The initiative was implemented in conjunction with World Concern, an NGO, in response to the disastrous effects of the tsunami and the conflict in the region.

The 2004 December tsunami left 443,000 Sri Lankans displaced, killing approximately 31,000 people and crippling the economy.

‘Wrecked lives’
“Lives were wrecked,” says Tollestrup.

In May last year the Sri Lankan Government issued a call for New Zealand aid to help with its dairy industry, which is struggling from the effects of the war and the tsunami.

Fonterra already is the third milk-collecting giant in the country, holding more than 53 percent of the total dairy market.

Tollestrup, however, says the problem is not so much a lack of food, but an inability for people to afford it.

A World Concern report from 2005 said the people who were displaced and resettled after the tsunami were now in need of proper food security, with many suffering from high food prices.

Tollestrup says inadequate refrigeration facilities for storage and transport, combined with a lack of water and solidarity among farmers, has meant milk farmers are relying on local middlemen to distribute their goods – which has meant also some hefty fees.

“There’s a need for good prices for milk,” he says.

“It’s quite a fraught situation up there.”

Tense situation
The tense situation in Sri Lanka has also made it dangerous for aid workers hoping to assist in restoring stability to the region.

Mitchell says, “We have to work closely with the government so our workers can get there.”

“A lot of negotiation does go on behind the scenes.”

The Red Cross also has security teams, which Mitchell says are “constantly monitoring the situation”.

However, aid workers have still suffered at the hands of the war.

In 2006, 17 French aid workers from Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) were shot dead in a massacre widely condemned in the eastern town of Muttur, with accusations coming from both sides - the then warring Sri Lankan government and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sixteen of the 17 victims were Tamils.

At the beginning of this month, a third staff member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was reported killed in the conflict zone.

Many other killings of aid workers have gone unreported, notes Tollestrup.

He says war also makes things difficult for aid workers, “simply because of the security which makes movement hard.

“People get isolated, which is very dangerous for everybody.”

Displaced families
At present, aid organisations are working to assist those displaced by the war; but this is proving difficult.

A press release from Oxfam called upon the Sri Lankan government to assist aid organisations in dealing with the people in these camps.

While Oxfam is implementing programmes to provide first aid, clean water and sanitation to those displaced from the conflict area, these efforts are struggling against the sheer numbers of people housed in the camps.

Oxfam media coordinator Jason Garman says: “The situation is still tense and Oxfam’s focus is on delivery of urgently needed supplies to people affected by the conflict.”

For those without need of immediate, emergency relief, Tollestrup says it is important for aid to be “empowerment-based”, helping lift communities into sustainability and capacity.

He says the worst thing aid can do is “create dependence”.

“You want people to respond to that challenge themselves.”

Tollestrup says the establishment of such a programme in itself is not so difficult. He notes: “The difficulty really is about local peoples’ energy and willingness to develop and build something.”

TEAR Fund focuses upon working with people in the community in order to establish what they want to achieve.

“When they share their envisioned future we talk to them about it to help them make it reality”.

TEAR Fund particularly works with young widows, many of whom have husbands killed in the war. Tollestrup says 20 percent of the households in their target community are led by women.

Women the key
“Women are a key factor in reconciliation,” he says.

In the farming communities, TEAR Fund works with 30 percent of the members who are women, with two out of five office holders.

Part of the focus of the dairy project is also on a microcredit scheme, where loans are able to be issued to those who want them on behalf of the farmer-managed society, which are then paid back into the society itself with very little interest.

These loans are then passed on to other farmers.

Tollestrup says such schemes “have had great success – we use it all around the world.”

For all the grief caused by the war, Tollestrup thinks things can only get better for Sri Lanka’s economy.

“I think it will get better because I think the Sinhalese feel they have been misrepresented by the media and NGOs. I think they’re going to want to show reconstruction and goodwill.”

Mitchell, from NZ Red Cross, says: “We can’t predict the future. We would like to think the situation will improve.”

“Whatever the situation is, our aid workers do make the effort.”

Megan Anderson is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University. Pictured: TEAR Fund's Stephen Tollestrup (Megan Anderson).

• Oxfam
• Red Cross
• TEAR Fund

Dissident journalist tells of media perils in Burma

By Vanita Prasad:
Pacific Media Centre

Risking your life is a given when reporting in and around Burma, says the Pacific Media Centre’s first Asian journalism fellow.

A moving seminar and film screening held by the centre at AUT University this week documented the perils of being a dissident Burmese journalist.

The seminar was delivered by Violet Cho, one of Burma’s “young heroes” – as she was described by an AUT academic in the audience - who spoke candidly about her life as an exiled reporter in the border territories of Thailand and Burma.

Cho, 25, an indigenous Karen, was born in Burma and has spent most of her life exiled in Thailand.

She learnt English in a refugee camp and worked for Irrawaddy magazine and an underground radio station.

She spoke of the secretive nature of journalism in a land where the media is suppressed and information must be smuggled to the outside world for fear of being thrown into jail or death.

“It’s hard to be an ethnic minority journalist in a conflict area because it’s secret and illegal,” said Cho.

She spoke of a trip she made back with a small group into Burma to document a mountain village on the border, a trip that should only take a few hours but because the travelled by foot it took days.

Cho described the intense fear of being caught at a checkpoint and shot for carrying a camera and film equipment.

“It was very dangerous, we couldn’t use torchlight, we walked quickly and we couldn’t stop.

'Too dangerous'
“It was even too dangerous to go to the toilet, so we had to just keep walking,” said Cho.

The film that followed Cho’s seminar echoed this plight.

Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country, directed by Dan Østergaard, documented the struggles and achievements of the underground journalist network Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), whose reporters risked their lives to give a voice to the silenced people of Burma.

They ran a bare bones operation using only handicams hidden in backpacks and sending their data to Oslo, Norway, to be compiled.

Their footage of the 2007 peaceful demonstrations led by monks against the junta - and brutally crushed - was used by major news networks worldwide to inform people about the dire situation of the Burmese people.

The junta then targeted DVB to shut down the operation which had exposed their brutality.

This meant that like the uprising which brought so much hope to the people of Burma, the DVB had to disband for safety.

Three of the members of the DVB were captured and are currently serving life sentences.

After the screening a discussion was held about the current situation in Burma.

Senior lecturer Alice U, an expatriate Burmese academic inAUT's School of Languages, said education was fundamental to the progress and liberation of Burma.

'Rice bowl'
“Before the military seized control Burma was considered the ‘rice bowl’ of Asia.

“Education was high and Burmese English set the precedent for neighbouring Asian countries.”

Naing Ko Ko, a prominent Burmese spokesman and council director for the Union of Burma, said the military regime in Rangoon spends less than one per cent of its budget on health and education.

Ko Ko, who spent nine years in jail as a political prisoner learnt English from a dictionary that was smuggled into his cell.

He has since gone on to complete two Bachelor of Arts degrees with honours, and is currently working on a Masters in International Relations at the University of Auckland.

Alice U said: “People who are still in the country and people who get out of Burma and get educated and risk their lives to expose the atrocities of the junta - like Violet and Naing Ko Ko - are the heroes.”

Violet Cho arrived in Auckland two and a half months ago and is doing a Bachelor of Communication Studies (Honours) at the Pacific Media Centre.

As well as her studies, she files stories for the PMC website and for Irrawaddy.

Her fellowship is funded jointly by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and AUT’s School of Communication Studies.

Vanita Prasad is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student.

Karen journalist in critical force for change
Irrawaddy Magazine
Underground 'VJs' expose Burmese horror
Pacific Media Centre's Asian Journalism Fellowship

From Thai refugee camp to politics student in NZ

By Deirdre Robert: Pacific Media Centre

It has been eight years since Cicilia Dwe and her family left their United Nations refugee camp in Thailand and set foot on New Zealand soil.

The Burmese 18-year-old is now looking to the future with her eyes set on gaining a politics degree at the University of Auckland, beginning in July.

The road to a brighter future has led from a tumultuous past.

Her parents fled Burma in 1988 during the student-led protests for democratic change, in which 3000 people are believed to have killed.

Cicilia Dwe (pictured) says her parents feared the ruling military junta of Burma and felt it was not safe to stay.

“In Burma the government can take away anything you own. If they decide to develop an area they can just take away your land. You have no rights.”

Dwe has family in Burma she has never seen and may never get the chance to meet.

Even as New Zealand citizens, Dwe and her family are on the blacklist, meaning if they return to Burma they could be at risk.

Born in Thailand, Dwe’s move to life in a refugee camp was sudden.

One day her sister picked her up from school and they went straight to the UN refugee camp where they were joined by their mother, father, three sisters and one brother.

NZ home
The family spent two years at the camp before being offered a permanent home in New Zealand.
Dwe’s parents chose New Zealand because it provided better future prospects and opportunities for their children.

Culturally, life in New Zealand is very different says, Dwe.

If she were still in Thailand she would likely be married. In that country the focus is on “getting married, looking after your kids and being a housewife”.

She says in New Zealand there are a wider range of opportunities for education and career.

Being young proved an advantage to her integration into New Zealand society.

She was well received at primary school and had support from her fellow students from the start.

Family sponsors have also played a big role in the family’s settlement.

Local North Shore volunteer Catherine Geeves is one of the family’s main sponsors and was heavily involved in their integration.

She helped enrol the kids in school, found the family a local GP and negotiated with Housing New Zealand for a family home.

Rewarding role
Being a sponsor is “enormously rewarding”, she says.

She is extremely proud of the way Cicilia and her older sister Elizabeth have managed to get themselves to university.

“I think they are an inspiration and show what you can achieve if you work hard.”

She says the whole family is a huge asset to the community.

While being a sponsor is a very involved task, Geeves says it is a “two-way street”.

When her mother died later that year, the entire Dwe family prepared food for the funeral.

“There is a huge willingness to muck in and help,” says Geeves.

Dwe echoes these sentiments.

“The sponsors are part of our family and we are part of their family.”

Now firmly a part of New Zealand, Dwe is herself looking at becoming a refugee sponsor.

Beyond that, and with her life experience as motivation and inspiration, she envisions herself working for the UN or the Human Rights Commission as a social worker.

Deirdre Robert is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University.

End Burma's system of impunity

Chinese community leaders split on Dalai Lama's planned visit to NZ

A news media report about a Chinese community bid to have New Zealand block a visa for the Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama has stirred controversy. Critics condemn what the see as a derogatory attack.

By Christopher Adams: Pacific Media Centre

Chinese community leaders are split over the planned visit by the Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama to visit New Zealand at the end of the year and some want the trip called off.

Several leaders are also annoyed with some media coverage, including a New Zealand Herald story last month that revealed the United Chinese Association of Auckland was planning to send a protest letter to the Government asking for the Dalai Lama to be refused a visa.

Steven Wong, president of the UCA, was quoted in the Herald story as saying: “The Dalai Lama is just a stirrer and everywhere he goes, he spreads lies and destroys relationships.”

Wong, who migrated from the Canton region of China to New Zealand in 1975, is disappointed with the story, and claims the reporter who wrote it, Lincoln Tan, misquoted him.

“I never said he [the Dalai Lama] spreads lies,” he says. “How can I say he is a liar? If I said that he could sue me.”

Tan maintains that Steven Wong made the statement, and believes he is now denying the comments because, in retrospect, he regrets them.

“He definitely said it,” says Tan.

But Wong, although he denies making the statement quoted by Tan, does believe the Dalai Lama’s visit will be detrimental to the bonds between the New Zealand and Chinese Governments.

According to a statement given by a National Party spokesman to the New Zealand Herald, a meeting between Prime Minister John Key and the Dalai Lama may take place during the religious leader’s visit to New Zealand in December.

Such a meeting would resume New Zealand’s official relations with the exiled Tibetan, after Helen Clark refused to meet him on previous visits.

Affect relationship
“If the Dalai Lama comes and meets John Key it will affect the relationship between New Zealand and China,” says Wong.

Wong warns that the same could happen in New Zealand as in France last December, when a meeting between French President Nicholas Sarkozy and the spiritual leader incensed the Chinese government.

The meeting resulted in Beijing scrapping an EU-China summit that France was set to host.

The business relationship that exists between New Zealand and China, especially the Free Trade Agreement signed in April 2008, is beneficial for both countries, says Wong.

But he adds that he is not concerned about the Dalai Lama’s visit because of his own business interests, as the potato chip factory he owns in East Tamaki is not currently exporting its products to China.

“Most Chinese migrants don’t want the Dalai Lama to come,” says Wong.

Thuten Kesang, chairman of the New Zealand Friends of Tibet organisation, is also unhappy with the Herald story, which Lincoln Tan also interviewed him for.

“My personal belief [about the story] is that Lincoln Tan should have reported more deeply,” says Kesang. “Lincoln should have backed up Steven Wong’s comments about his holiness [the Dalai Lama].

He says asking the government to not to issue a visa is fine, but being derogatory about the spiritual leader is not.

Kesang, who was born in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, says Steven Wong should have known better than to make the comments.

“He is living in a democracy – it’s not China,” he says.

Negative stance
Kesang believes it is the business interests of people involved with the United Chinese Association that has lead them to take a negative stance against the Dalai Lama.

“The United Chinese Association would be Chinese migrants from mainland China who are heavily involved in the import/export business. Therefore, they feel they need to be the mouthpiece of the Chinese government in order to get favours and good business relations with China.”

The Chinese Communist Party is currently placing a lot of emphasis on the Dalai Lama’s travel plans, says Kesang.

Kesang adds that the Chinese government had its first success recently when the South African government refused the Dalai Lama a visa to visit the country and speak.

“I think countries shouldn’t get away with this,” says Kesang. “Trade is fine, but China doesn’t have the right to dictate what other countries do. No country should trade human rights for economics.”

However, Kesang is certain the New Zealand government will never refuse the Dalai Lama a visa to visit the country.

“I am 100 percent sure the New Zealand government won’t refuse a Nobel Laureate a visa,” he says. “New Zealanders love their freedom too much to be dictated to.”

Kesang is pleased with the prospect of the Dalai Lama having a meeting with John Key during his visit.

Both of Kesang’s parents died as a result of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, he says.

“My father died in Chinese prison and my mother of starvation.”

Contrasting view
Jim He, secretary-general of the United Chinese Association, has a different stance to Wong over the Dalai Lama’s visit.

“In my opinion, the Dalai Lama can come, but his trip is just to emphasise his own views on the Tibet issue.”

But he adds that, as a group, the UCA doesn’t support the Tibetan religious leader.

“We think of China as one country and Tibet has been a part of China since hundreds of years ago.” he says. “The Dalai Lama just spreads propaganda.”

He, who is originally from Beijing and came to New Zealand in 1988, believes the Chinese occupation has been positive for Tibet.

“Look at the current economy,” says He. “The central government has injected billions of dollars into Tibet.”

Simon Harrison, secretary of the Dalai Lama Visit Trust, was disturbed by Wong’s comments reported in the Herald story.

“The comments that were made were outrageous, particularly about the Dalai Lama,” says Harrison.

“We have no problem recognising trade relations, but it [the Dalai Lama’s visit] is just the result of an invitation by the New Zealand people.”

Harrison adds that Chinese nationals are often keen to uphold the line their government takes on issues such as Tibet, especially when they find themselves living outside China.

Propaganda line
Referring to the commonly held Chinese belief that Tibet has always been a part of their country, he says: “The propaganda in that line is often false, historically. I would be happy to engage in discussions with these groups in order to clear up some of the historical confusions.”

Harrison hopes that a meeting will take place between the Dalai Lama and the Prime Minister during his New Zealand visit.

“It is very important that some kind of symbolic gesture is made,” he says.

The Dalia Lama is scheduled to speak at Auckland’s Vector Arena on December 6.

Christopher Adams is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University. Credit: The photo of the Dalai Lama is from the Australian National University.

Chinese seek to ban Dalai Lama from NZ

Amnesty to engage Pacific media in campaign against poverty

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

Amnesty International is gearing up to launch a “demand dignity” campaign with a focus on human rights and poverty in the Pacific region.

The dignity campaign is a global project to promote social and economic human rights, focusing on poverty issues.

The role of the media in this campaign has been highlighted at a special seminar hosted by the School of Communications at AUT University, labelled “Putting human rights at the heart of Pacific journalism”.

Amnesty's deputy director in New Zealand, Rebecca Emery, said: “We find that the understanding of human rights among the media and the New Zealand general public is probably not as well understood as it should be."

The organisation is seeking to develop a “new media network” to bring more awareness about human rights issues in the region.

Emery added that Amnesty was expanding its focus from civil and political rights, to social and economic rights, and that development in the Pacific was seen “a rights issue”.

“We will be looking at the slums in the Pacific – first up, Fiji, then the Solomons and Vanuatu,” she said.

TVNZ’s Pacific affairs correspondent Barbara Dreaver also pointed to poverty as the “biggest issue in the Pacific”.

She gave the example of Kiribati, where “prostitution [of young women] to foreign fisherman, sometimes encouraged by their families”, was a reality of the struggle for survival.

Dreaver also spoke about human rights in the Fiji and her own experiences.

‘Fearless reporting’
She added that “fearless” reporting was needed to bring attention to human rights abuses that communities may prefer to keep hidden.

However, she said journalists needed to report on solutions as well as the problem.

Pacific Cooperation Foundation programme coordinator David Vaeafe said that in a survey conducted at the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) conference in the Solomons in 2007, Pacific journalists identified three main human rights themes as priorities:

• governance, leadership and freedom of expression;

• environmental rights;

• and children’s rights.

He announced that the Pacific Cooperation Foundation was currently working with the New Zealand Human Rights Commission on a learning website for environmental rights reporting, due to launch in at the PINA conference in Vanuatu in mid-July.

The site will include online tutorials, training modules, documents about freedom of information laws, and Pacific country profiles.

“It will be a live working site that will be updated constantly,” he said.

“It’s accessible to everyone and people can go through the training modules at their own pace.”

The modules were written by four journalists from the Pacific and New Zealand, and covered print, radio, television and online reporting.

Picture: Fiji soldiers keeping the press at bay (Radio Fiji).

Josephine Latu is a masters student in the School of Communication Studies and also contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre's Pacific Media Watch database.

Amnesty International NZ Pacific Media Watch on Pacific media and human rights

Labour MP vows to seek parliamentary support for Aung San Suu Kyi

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

Outspoken Labour MP Maryann Street has vowed to initiate a motion in New Zealand’s Parliament calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all Burmese political prisoners, saying it was a responsibility of parliamentarians to “add our voices” to the international clamour.

She spoke during a vigil last night organised in support of Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on “trial” by the military regime after being accused of breaking state law.

About 40 people – including local politicians, activists and students – braved the rain and cold to attend the vigil.

Street, who is also chairperson of the NZ Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Burma, said: “It is our responsibility to add our voices to the clamour of international voices heard for Burma to move towards democracy”.

Dr Suu Kyi has been charged for breaching the terms of her 13 years of house arrest after an American Mormon John W. Yettaw swam across a lake and entered her house this month.

The trial started on Monday and is continuing. She is being held in Burma’s notorious Insein Prison in Yangon while the charges and evidence are being heard.

Many commentators believe this trial reveals that Burma’s military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), plans to justify the extension of her detention, which would have expired by the end of this month.

She could face five years’ imprisonment if she is found guilty.

“We are gathering to show our support for Aung San Suu Kyi and demand international action,” said Naing Koko, director of the National Council of the Union of Burma’s New Zealand office.

“Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 13 years and she must be freed.”

“The trial is all about keeping any voices of dissent silent in the run up to rigged elections next year.

'Exposing the lies'
“It exposes the lies the generals have been telling that elections next year will bring change. In fact, the election and constitution are all about keeping the generals in power.”

Joe Carolan, a representative of Socialist Aotearoa, gave a speech calling for New Zealand companies to stop all trade with Burma.

He also rejected the idea that international governments should play a key role in bringing change to Burma:

“Change is going to come to the region from the ordinary people, from the poor and from the student movement there, not from the likes of the British, the United States or the United Nations”.

On Wednesday, Dr Suu Kyi’s trial was briefly opened up for reporters and diplomats but generally it has been closed for the public.

Su Kyi has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years.

There was a schedule for her to be freed by the end of this month after serving six years’ house arrest that started in May 2003.

To justify her security, the military placed her under house arrest after her travel to northern Burma was ambushed by pro-government mobs.

Demonstrations have been taking place this week in more than 20 cities across the globe.

Pictures: Top: The Auckland vigil (Violet Cho); middle: Aung San Suu Kyi at a Yangon rally when out of house arrest; and above: local Burmese leader Naing Koko.

Violet Cho is the 2009 Asian Journalism Fellow with AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

Burma junta bars media and diplomats from Aung San Kyi trial again

Burma's armed conflict cripples food supplies

Villagers who have fled their homes in eastern Burma keep moving. Many areas are dangerous because of landmines, military checkpoints and patrols.

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

Burmese civilians and internally displaced people in eastern parts of Burma are suffering severe food shortages due to the ongoing armed conflict and an increase of state militarisation.

“The food shortage is a serious problem among internally displaced civilians and they now heavily rely on eating bamboo shoots and other food sources that they can collect in the jungle for their survival,” says Saw Steve, an executive member of Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP).

The Burmese civil society group, based on the Thai-Burma border, is working to assist communities effected by the crisis.

Burmese rights organisations are expressing deep concern for the civilians who are suffering direct consequences from the conflict between state military and ethnic resistance groups.

They also condemned the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the ruling military regime in Burma, which has intensified their military operations in ethnic minority areas.

Local rights groups claim the food crisis is a direct result of systematic militarisation and exploitation by the regime.

Saw Albert, a leading member of the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), has been working on a recently released report on the crisis.

“The food crisis has been gradually worsening since the beginning of the SPDC's Northern Offensive in late 2005” he says.

“With increased attacks on village communities and an intensified forced relocation campaign over the last three and a half years, food insecurity is at an all-time high.

“In military-controlled areas, villagers struggle to both meet the constant demands of the SPDC and their allied military groups and provide food for their families.”

No hiding places
Because of the ongoing conflict and repression in the area, it is very difficult and dangerous to meet affected villagers and provide relief.

Villagers who have fled their homes never have a permanent place to hide – they are constantly moving so local NGOs cannot know where to find them. Many areas are dangerous because of landmines, Burmese military checkpoints and patrols and active combat with insurgent armies.

Despite these risks, CIDKP field staff secretly distribute much needed supplied to small communities hiding in the forests.

If caught with supplies like food and medicine, field staff can be killed by Burmese troops, who use a strategy of cutting supplies to insurgent groups.

It is even more risky to carry equipment like cameras and recorders, as they are only used by activists documenting abuses. KHRG staff secretly collect testimonies from villagers in hiding and photograph abuses, which they use for their reports and advocacy.

One villager explained the extent of the food crisis to an anonymous KHRG field worker: “Only two villagers out of 10 have enough rice. They are borrowing from each other just to stay alive.”

Another villager from Nyaunglebin District, in northeastern Burma, explained that villagers do not have a proper time to do their own work for their survival.

“The SPDC army camp is located beside our village, so we always have to do loh ah pay [forced labour] for them. We do not have much time to do our own work. Now we are doing their work, such as cutting bamboo poles and delivering them to their [SPDC] camp.”

Villagers in displaced areas are sharing limited food supplies with each other just to stay alive. Because they are on the run, they cannot plant crops like rice, which is their staple food.
Instead they rely on collecting food from the forest.

Paddy plants
A villager who is displaced by the on-going military offensive said that “every time when the Burmese [SPDC] soldiers have arrived at our villager, we have had to flee. So, we haven’t had time to take care of our paddy plants in the fields. They [the fields] are covered with weed. If the SPDC did not disturb us, we would have enough food every year.”

Burmese populations in eastern parts of Burma can be categorised into two groups: those living in the SPDC controlled areas and those who hide in the jungle, refusing to live in forced relocation sites under military watch.

Due to the combination of military demands in the form of forced labour, arbitrary taxation, looting and ad hoc demands for food, money or other supplies, have placed a dangerous burden on villagers' livelihoods.

The practice of land confiscation, restriction of movement (villagers are not freely allowed to go to their farm or plantation areas) and forced relocation exacerbate poverty and dramatically increase food insecurity.

Meanwhile, in areas not under the military control, the SPDC troops are forcing villagers into relocation sites through their common practice of attacking villagers and destroying food stores, burning rice fields and livestock.

Villagers who managed to escape the military attacks are facing further threats of food insecurity their unstable living condition in hiding side in the forest, according to the KHRG report.

The report also documented the regime government’s shoot-on-sight policy, planting landmines and restrictions on villagers to trade with each other also created an extreme difficult for villagers to leave their hiding site in order to collect hidden food stores, to work in their former fields or purchase food supplies.

A villager interviewed by KHRG staff, complained that they felt like they were not treated as human beings. “The SPDC doesn’t see us as villagers. They identify us as their enemy. So when they see us, they shoot to kill us all.”

By documenting the food crisis, KHRG is providing recommendations for the international community on actions that can be taken to ease the current crisis and prevent future abuse and malnutrition in rural Burma.

The recommendations include increased support for cross-border aid and local civil society organisations, which can access affected populations and support the local food security protection measures that villagers in rural Burma have already developed.

Humanitarian aid
KHRG spokeswoman September Paw called for increased humanitarian aid to villagers in rural Burma: "Villagers in Karen State are faced with a serious food crisis as the direct result of military abuse.

She explained how Burmese villagers have been trying their best seeking various ways to address this food crisis, to maintain their livelihoods and to resist military abuse. “Despite these strategies, there is a great need for humanitarian aid to be scaled up to reach these people.”

However, She confirmed that, “the locally-driven protection measures developed by villagers themselves should first be taken into account in order to effectively address this crisis.”

Like civilians in eastern part of Burma are now suffering form food crisis, Burmese people in western part of Burma, Chin State has been plagued by a severe food shortages due to the reduction of local harvest and food production.

The crisis was started in 2006 when a new cycle of bamboo flowering that occurs about every 50 years in the region.

This bamboo flowers are eaten by rats and triggering the explosion of rats population, which destroyed the crop.

This has caused serious food shortages for Burmese villagers, as they are primarily dependent on subsistence farming through shifting cultivation.

Violet Cho is from Burma and is the Asian Journalism Fellow with the Pacific Media Centre. She is is studying on the Bachelor of Communication Studies (Honours) programme. The picture of displaced Burmese villagers is from the Karen Human Rights Group report.

Food crisis: The accumulative impact of abuse in rural Burma

Fiji regime tightens grip, plans own media

By Pippa Brown: Pacific Media Centre

Fiji continues to head into a political and economic hole as Fiji’s military regime tightens its grip and communications in the country are heavily censored.

The regime now plans to begin broadcasting its own television programme in a deal with Fiji TV, and to publish a newspaper insert in the Fiji Sun, the second-largest daily.

The unanimous decision to suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum earlier this month further compounded Fiji’s woes.

The PIF responded to Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama’s failure to return Fiji to democratic governance by May 1 and name a date for elections this year.

“A regime which displays such a total disregard for basic human rights, democracy and freedom has no place in the Pacific Islands forum,” said the Forum chairman, Niue Premier Toke Talagi.

The forum will ensure that Fiji does not benefit directly from any regional cooperation initiatives, new financial or technical assistance until it returns to democratic rule.

Amnesty International is extremely concerned about the volatility of the situation. It says the human rights situation is getting worse by the day and the civilian population is living in fear as a result of draconian measures implemented by the military regime.

“What is developing is a nature of extreme fear and intimidation.

“As well as the media clampdown, the regime is now believed to be monitoring email traffic, blogs and telephone conversations,” says Pacific researcher Apolosi Bose after a trip to Fiji last month.

‘Chilling effect’
The censorship has affected the way people work and has had a “major chilling effect” on the operations of a non-government organisation whose work is critical for standing up to human rights abuses, says Bose.

Oxfam New Zealand executive director Barry Coates thinks communications have not entirely shut down.

“Technology and communications are still available through the internet. Ten percent of citizens have internet access; mainly in urban areas as a lot of rural areas still have traditional lifestyles,” says Coates.

China has an influence on Fiji and other Pacific nations.

“The influence of New Zealand and Australia is disappearing and there is a real problem with foreign policy,” he says.

China is not condemning Fijian policies and now gaining influence in the region.

The Chinese government has been accused of propping up the military regime by supplying hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, according to a Lowry Institute analyst, Fergus Hanson.

The Australian reported that although China maintains a strong relationship with Fiji and other Pacific nations, it does not want to be seen as the new international protector filling Fiji’s international relations vacuum, or writing cheques to underpin the country’s collapsing revenues.

Foreign exchange
Foreign exchange remittances sent home by Fijian peacekeepers are said to be worth millions of dollars a year to the Fijian economy.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the UN will continue to use Fiji police and soldiers in its current peacekeeping missions but will not increase the numbers in future deployments.

There are more Fijian police working under its peacekeeping mandate than soldiers, said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ly Pascoe, during a conference in New York recently.

Bruce McConchie has extensive global experience within the development area through both government aid projects and NGOs over a period of 35 years.

He says that NGOs hold a distinct advantage in aid projects.

“They are better at reaching the poorest as they operate at grassroots level and are more effective at managing micro-finance initiatives. They commit to the lengthy time frame required to make a difference,” he says.

“They are used to times of strife and operating in an environment of poor communication,” he says.

Providing the resources are still available, the lack of communication isn’t a problem. NGOs operate best on mobilising and encouraging other people.

They are not solely dependent on outside resources and work effectively with what is available in their immediate environment. Change is often not obvious for another 10 to 15 years, he says.

Squatter settlements
Oxfam’s Barry Coates says there has been an increase in squatter settlements around Suva.

Relations between New Zealand and Australia toward Fiji have cooled further after both countries snubbed an attempt by Commodore Bainimarama for a summit with Prime Ministers New Zealand John Key and Australian Kevin Rudd.

Bainimarama expressed frustration with both prime ministers and their attitude at his attempts to rid Fiji of racism and undertake electoral reform before elections in 2014.

An election this year would restore the “racist” government of former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, whom he disposed at gunpoint in 2006, according to The Australian.

Can Fiji sustain itself operating alone in this environment?

“The problems are enormously complex,” says Coates. It is partly due to the coup and partly due to a decline in Fiji’s economy. The textile industry is breaking down as more manufacturing is going to China.

There have been major disruptions in the sugar and tourism industries. The impact on tourism is due to the coup.

Tourists nervous
“It made people nervous about going there with the military running the country,” he says.
The sugar industry and international trade issues are due to European Union policies.

“They are protecting their own distributors.” The EU suspended its $170 million aid package to Fiji’s sugar industry, the second- largest after tourism, following the coup and says future help depends on democracy being restored.

Coates says it is difficult to see how this situation is going to play out in the long term.

“Without the restoration of democracy, the rights of minorities like the Indo-Fijians will suffer,” he says. He believes tension is building and the Fijians are suffering economically.

Pippa Brown is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student who is on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course. Photo: Pacific Media Centre.

Solomon Islands launches 'commission of hope'

A legacy of bitterness still troubles the Weathercoast (south coast of Guadalcanal) and parts of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. It has been five years since the conflict and now hopes are pinned on a new commission to consolidate peace.

By Krista Ferguson: Pacific Media Centre

High hopes for a long lasting peace are resting on the South Pacific’s first Truth and Reconciliation Commission, launched by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the Solomon Islands late last month.

The commission has been mandated to promote national unity and reconciliation by investigating human rights violations and abuses which occurred between 1998 and 2003.

General secretary of the Anglican Church of Melanesia, George Kiriau, is personally hopeful that the reconciliation process will be successful.

“There is a lot of expectation given the high note of the presence of the archbishop.

“With this launch we should see better understanding of how the conflict came about.

“I’m personally very hopeful and optimistic.”

However, Kiriau acknowledges that there are people who might not share this optimism.

“There are those who are hurt and traumatised, who had relatives who were killed. They may have different views of the process.”

But healing is important says Kiriau.

“We need to forgive.”

Little consultation
Dolores Devesi, Pacific programme manager for Oxfam, says her organisation supports the request by the national government for reconciliation.

But Devesi, who was born in the Solomon Islands and came to New Zealand in October last year, says her personal view is that this is the same as every other time.

The problem, according to Devesi, is that young people in the community are not consulted and engaged in the process.

“It’s usually the chiefs and elders, but it is actually the young people who need to be involved.

Devesi says there are some sceptics who say this is a high-level publicity exercise that will cost a lot of money.

There have been attempts to establish peace in the past, such as the Townsville Peace Agreement in 2000.

Devesi attended a reconciliation event last year and was not impressed.

“It was superficial. There was one woman and no young people. The elders attended and presented gifts to each other.”

Devesi says that there is always hope at the beginning of each process. But there is also a feeling of “here we go again”.

“We’ve had too many that haven’t worked. There’s always hope at first, but as the days and months drag on, hope disappears.

“It will take a long time to heal. There is a lot of hatred.”

Sorting out
For Kiriau, the people involved in the process are also the key.

“You can have the good reforms, but if the people inside are not sorted out then you can’t make much progress. People will find a way around the system.”

Kiriau says the commission has people of integrity and this will help people be more forthcoming.

The team includes three national commissioners: Rev Sam Ata, George Kejoa and Caroline Laore and two others - Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi from Fiji and Sofia Macher from Peru.

There is a lot of bad feeling still, says Kiriau.

“It is still a fragile law and order situation. The leaders will need to be careful.”

The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Island (RAMSI) will help to underpin law and order during this process, says Kiriau.

Simplistic label
The conflict in the Solomon Islands is often labelled as ethnic-based, but Kiriau says this is too simple.

“It is to do with development and economic opportunities.”

The government is struggling to provide basic services. There is a high population growth and many people are dropping out or leaving education and not finding jobs, says Kiriau.

Devesi also says that the underlying issues need to be addressed.

The biggest problem is the land issue, she says.

“The government needs to be proactive to prevent another blowout especially in the temporary land settlements outside Honiara.”

Urban migration and economic pressures are also a problem, she says.

“How do we retain people in the villages?

“The cost of food is extremely high. You can’t save any money.”

Devesi says she monitored her budget in 2007 and 99 percent of it went on basic food items even though she was on an above average salary.

Sweeping term
Dr Jon Fraenkel, a Melanesian programme senior research fellow at the Australian National University (ANU), says ethnicity is a very sweeping term, but at certain times in history, island-wide groups have emerged that were deeply antagonistic.

He named the Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM) formed by Guales and the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF), formed by Malaitans (two different provinces), as examples.

“The conflicts started in 1998 with a speech by Ezekiel Alebua in Western Guadalcanal. He demanded compensation for the killing of 25 Guales and for establishing the capital in Guadalcanal.

“The IFM chased Malaitan settlers out of rural parts of Guadalcanal. They pushed them back into the capital Honiara.”

The Malaitans didn’t think their rights to the land were secure, he says, so they moved without strong dissent at first.

However, there was increasing discontent until 1999 when Malaitans confronted the then Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa’alu and demanded compensation for lost property.

Ulufa’alu said no and soon after the MEF was formed.

“It was steadily downhill after then,” says Dr Fraenkel.

Court evidence
Amnesty International has urged the Solomon Islands government to integrate the work of the truth commission with other justice work.

According to a statement on April 29, the Truth and Reconciliation Act may prevent information presented before the commission being used in court proceedings.

Kiriau says the government has been clear that the statements made before the commission cannot be used as court evidence.

However, he says that this is about sharing experiences and helping the government to prevent this unrest in future.

Dr Fraenkel says the community is still deeply divided by the conflict.

“There are terribly bitter wounds on the Weathercoast (south coast of Guadalcanal), but also parts of Malaita.”

Dr Fraenkel says that it has been five years since the conflict and most - but not all - of the militants have been arrested.

“The major issue is not finding more militants to prosecute. It’s allowing the country to move onwards.”

However, he does say there are some of the MEF leadership with questions to answer.

“It’s important to get the politics right to enable the emergence of a domestic leadership to deal with issues and get some economic development going.”

Devesi says nobody should be above the laws.

“Everyone would like to see prosecutions.”

Compensation culture
Dr Fraenkel says that the conflicts were fuelled by the compensation culture through which rival militia groups bankrupted the state.

He describes this in his 2004 book The Manipulation of Custom; From Uprising to Intervention in the Solomon Islands.

Traditionally compensation payments were made with pigs, cans of tuna, rice or shell money, says Dr Fraenkel. However, during the 1998–2003 conflicts many aggrieved groups demanded compensation from the state.

Devesi agrees with Fraenkel that money has been part of the problem.

“In our tradition you give pigs or shell money," she says.

“Reconciliation in the past has been sponsored by donor agencies [involving
money]. Reconciliation will only happen if the community gives from their
heart.”

Krista Ferguson is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course. Photo of Dolores Devesi: Oxfam.

Amnesty International statement