Monthly Archives: May 2012

And now when we thought things would improve with the issue of writs, it seems the crisis is deepening, with the arrest of the Chief Justice and a declaration of a State of Emergency in parts of PNG. The State … Continue reading →

WITH the PNG political situation changing seemingly every day, it is hard to provide comments representative of Social Concerns.  The fact that the wider populace appears to have been relatively patient should not hide the general feeling that people want … Continue reading →

An important event during March was the  brief but important visit to Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Ms. Rashida Manjoo is a Professor in the Department of Public Law at … Continue reading →

One of the greatest areas of concern in the past month has been the terrible loss of life after the loss of the ship – Rabaul Queen between Kimbe and Lae.  Many have lost family members, and institutions such as … Continue reading →

These notes often report unfortunate happenings and negative trends, so it is good to be able to begin with some relatively good news. PNG Best Ranked in the Pacific Papua New Guinea is the best-ranked Pacific nation on press freedom, … Continue reading →

Surely the biggest news in December has been PNG Supreme Court decision about whether there had been a vacancy in the position of Prime Minister of PNG, and the political struggle that followed. The constitutional crisis that Papua New Guinea … Continue reading →

Reading newspapers, weblogs and other material on the internet, presents a challenge as to what reflects valuable opinion and how much it reflects the “truth” of an issue. Sometimes there are quite contradictory opinions.  For example, the two daily newspapers … Continue reading →

In a cycle of five years the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in Geneva conducts a Universal Periodic Review.  Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands each came under review in May this year.  Both countries presented their … Continue reading →

(Monthly mailout from Philip Gibbs SVD (Commission for Social Concerns CBC – PNG/SI) Antimalarials sold is of poor quality.  Post Courier 1/9/11 ANTIMALARIALS and amoxicillin currently being sold in the country have high non-compliance rates of 50 to 70 per … Continue reading →

Where does one find information on Social Concerns?  One way is to talk with people.  But it is not possible to cover a whole nation or even two that way, so one turns to the newspapers and the blog sites.  … Continue reading →