NEWSPAGE 30 July
2010

(Photo: Samoa Government)

SAMOA: Parliamentary Updates
Source: Government Press Secretariat Press Release

Prime Minister to attend Shanghai Expo 2010 and Pacific Forum Meeting

Cabinet has approved the participation by Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi at the Samoa National Day, Shanghai Expo 2010 in China on 01 August 2010.

On Samoa National Day, the flag of Samoa will be raised and the National Anthem will be played. Promotions and cultural display will also be featured on this day.

Samoa’s delegation includes the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet Associate Minister, Vaeolenofoafia Tapasu Leung Wai and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Chief Executive Officer, Aiono Mose Pouvi Sua.

After the Expo visit, the Prime Minister will head on to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 3 - 6 August 2010.

The annual Forum Leaders’ meeting including Australia and New Zealand will discuss matters concerning the Pacific. Fiji is currently suspended from the meeting. The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) meeting will also be held in Port Vila.

The ACP meeting focuses on issues that involve Pacific countries and the European Union.


Savali newspaper Editor to cover Forum Meeting

Cabinet has approved the participation by the Savali newspaper Editor, Tupuola Terry Tavita for coverage of the Pacific Leaders Forum Meeting to be held in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 3 - 6 August 2010.

The meeting will be attended by leaders of all Pacific countries except for the ousted Fijian Government which failed to comply with democratic principles which guides Governments of the region.

There will be many important issues expected to be discussed at the meeting including aids for Pacific countries that needs to be reported on by the Savali.


Samoa-Australia Security Partnership

Cabinet has endorsed the Samoa-Australia Security Partnership agreement.

This agreement will be co-signed by Samoa’s Prime Minister, Susuga Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi and Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard in the Forum Leaders meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu next month.

The partnership starts with Samoa and Kiribati and will involve all Pacific countries.


Purchase of Two New Generators for the Electric Power Corporation

Cabinet has approved the purchasing of Two New Power Generators for the Electric Power Corporation (EPC) from the Cummins China Ltd.

The Electric Power Corporation submitted a proposal to the Tender Board because of the urgent need to order the generators.

The approval for the purchase of the generators from Cummins China Ltd was based on justification forwarded by the Tender Board.


Report on the Forum Ministerial Contact Group (MCG) Meeting on Fiji

Cabinet has approved the report on the Forum Ministerial Contact Group (MCG) Meeting on Fiji, which was held in Auckland on 31 May 2010.

The meeting saw presentations by the Forum Secretariat and the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Fiji.

Findings from the Secretariat revealed that Fiji’s governance status not only in discarding its Constitution and the dissolving of its elected Parliament, but also reforms that breach human rights and media freedom.

Also mentioned in the report is the decline in Fiji’s economy and that nearly 40 percent of the Fijian population is living below the poverty line.

Concerns on Fiji’s relations with other countries of the world which include Countries of the Commonwealth and the United Nations were also highlighted. Fiji’s Interim Prime Minister, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama’s effort to invite Pacific leaders as observers to the Melanesian Spearhead Group meeting was noted as a threat to the well-being of the Pacific Leaders Forum.

Fiji’s Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola’s presentation included his country’s preparation for nationwide consultations but didn’t say if the consultations will include opposition parties.

The Committee asked if Fiji could allow a visit by the Ministers of the Pacific to hold consultations with the Government and the opposition parties, but the Minister said such visit is only necessary if the committee supports Bainimarama’s leadership for the future of Fiji’s Government. Fiji’s Foreign Affairs Minister said the Committee can visit individuals but was not definite if the Committee can visit opposition parties.

Representing Samoa to the meeting was the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Afioga Tuisugaletaua Sofara Aveau and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Chief Executive Officer, Aiono Mose Pouvi Sua.
 

(Photo: Riamoana Pasifika)

AUSTRALIA: Latanya Lemuelu headed for doctorate
Source: Riamoana Pasifika Press Release

Good news last week for who could be Brisbane’s first ever Samoan graduate from the University of Queensland with a Masters in Law.

Lemuelu graduated firstly from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with a double degree. Bachelor in Law and Bachelor in Accountancy. She then went on to complete her Masters in Law, from the University of Queensland.

All this and Lemuelu is only 24 years of age. When asked what inspired her to hit the books and what has kept her going through all these years of study she shares her story.

“In grade 10 I was a bit of an ulavale (cheeky) kid. One day I had a fight with a girl and she called me aivalea (stupid). From this day forward I vowed to prove her wrong and I have never regretted it. I am friends with this girl now and hold no grudges but I have ended up proving to myself how far I can go.”

“I have been able to do this because of my own goals but also because of the amazing support that I have received from my parents, Toilolo and Sesilia Lemuelu. Especially my younger brother Eric who stays up with me every night until I have finished all my assignments.”

When asked if her studies have affected her brother, ‘Eric is in Grade 6 at the moment but he is committed to going to University to get his degree as a professional trainer."

LaTanya is a Legal Liaison Unit Officer for the Office of Queensland Police Services Solicitor in Brisbane.

When asked about her ambitions,” Getting my Masters in Law will allow me to become a Judge in small courts like the Magistrates Court, Local Courts or open up my own business. But I would like to be a Judge in the bigger courts like, Federal Court, District and Supreme Courts.” To be able to be a Judge in these courts I would need to complete my 'Doctorate in Law' so this is one of my future goals.

Lemuelu is involved in other activities outside her normal studies such as helping her Seven Day Adventist youth in multicultural type events. She was also asked by the Queensland Rugby League to become the official supporter and spokesperson which holds the titles of, Greater Brisbane Junior Rugby League Pacific Liaison Officer. "Basically if there is a League game on and parents or spectators start to get a bit over passionate about the game, it is my job to remind them that it is just a friendly game and I try to keep the peace."

The message that Latanya Lemuelu has for our youth today is this," many of our youth have to get rid of the idea that they can't do it, also they have too many excuses like, I got too many brothers or sisters or church and family responsibilities." Our youth need to stop all the excuses. All they need to do is 'listen' to your teachers and people who are giving good positive advise and then go out there and 'use it'."

Photo Caption: LaTanya Lemuelu (with white bandana) pictured here with Tripple M Radio's Greg Martin and other helpers for the FiaFia Footy Club fundraise last year for Tsunami victims in Samoa. The Fiafia Footy Club collected AUD$75,000.00 on the day.
 

(Photo: University of Waikato)

KIRIBATI: Pacific sojourn becomes life project for Fulbright Fellow
Source: University of Waikato Press Release

A former Peace Corps volunteer who turned his 20-month posting to the tiny Pacific Island nation of Kiribati into a ten-year project is spending a year as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Waikato.

Mike Roman is researching the lives of migrants from Kiribati as part of his PhD on what happens to the language and culture of I-Kiribati (as people from the islands are known) when they leave their homeland.

“People in Kiribati see migration as a way to deal with the economic and ecological realities of this low-lying island nation,” he says. New Zealand is a key destination, and accepts 75 migrants a year under the Pacific Access Category migration scheme as well as more temporary migrants through seasonal employment schemes.

Roman says the research is a capstone to ten years’ work. “I was a migrant to their world, through Peace Corps, and now they are migrants to my world. It’s given me two different perspectives on migration, and made me a better global citizen. And that’s something I try to share with the anthropology students I tutor at Waikato.”

Based at the University of Pittsburgh, Roman secured prestigious Fulbright funding for his fieldwork, and chose to come to the University of Waikato because of Hamilton’s relatively large I-Kiribati population.

“I’m doing a comparative study of I-Kiribati communities in the US, New Zealand and Fiji,” he says. “The continental US population is tiny, less than 200; here, there’s definitely more than 200 in the city of Hamilton!”

It helps too that there are family connections in Hamilton. Roman is married to an I-Kiribati woman, and while she’s remained in the US to complete her medical studies, Roman has been welcomed by her relatives into the I-Kiribati community, and works side by side with many of them in pack houses and glasshouses.

“They thought it was weird I didn’t have a job,” he says. “Sitting around asking questions didn’t seem like work to them, so I’ve started doing some tutoring at the university.”

Roman says going to Kiribati changed his life, but it didn’t start out too well. Although he’d stipulated on his Peace Corps application that he was prone to seasickness and allergic to fish, he was posted to the smallest island in the isolated chain of atolls to teach in the local primary school for nearly two years.

“I basically survived on flour and water,” he recalls. “I made tortillas - I come from a Mexican background - and I got very good at making these very quickly.”

He also had to learn the local language and culture, and the rest, he says, is history.

In addition to his research in Hamilton, he’s made it his business to encourage some of the youth “I-Kiwibas” in the community to make the transition from the pack house into tertiary education. “Most kids follow their parents into this kind of work,” he says. “It’s the tall poppy syndrome. But these kids have got so much potential.”

Earlier this year, he arranged a special day at the University for 15 I-Kiribati youth to introduce them to the campus and what’s on offer at Waikato. One of those students has now enrolled in a Certificate of University Preparation, and hopes to go on to university.

Roman is hoping she’ll start a chain reaction within the Kiribati community. He’s seen it happen before, he says. “Back in the US when my wife got her driver’s licence, suddenly everyone we knew started to get their driver’s licences.”

Photo Caption: Mike Roman (bottom centre) focuses on the lives of migrants from Kiribati as part of his PhD.
 

VANUATU: Vaturisu wants independent legal opinion on new law
Source: Vanuatu Daily Post

The Efate Vaturisu Council of Chiefs has appealed through a statement to the State Law not to gazette the Company and Trust Service Providers Act and leave it for the President of the Republic to examine with an independent legal opinion.

Vaturisu Vice President Chief Kalkot Mormor and Treasurer Chief Songomapula Robbie said their council does not accept for Vanuatu to test this legislation over one or two years on a trial and error basis.

The Vaturisu chiefs made the call saying there was no proper consultations on the law prior to it being passed by parliament.

The chiefs said they are raising this concern because their council is not similar to other council of chiefs in Vanuatu based on the fact that land and other resources within Efate have been exhausted and overused by the government, foreigners, people from other islands, and genuine and non genuine land dealers.

“Following the awareness seminar on Friday that the Vanuatu Financial Services Centre organized with chiefs concerning this law that has already been passed by parliament, we wish to outline some of Efate Vaturisu Council of Chiefs concerns.

“We are questioning the original consultations about this law, how was it carried out?

“A chief inside a village has a traditional mechanism that already existed since immemorial time and inside that mechanism people under a chief have the right to know and take part in decision-making in anything that will affect their livelihood, especially if it is to do with land.

“We already gained independence since 1980 and we have a written Constitution that has in it provisions that protect customary rights of indigenous people of Vanuatu.

“This law is not consistent with our Constitution, particularly Chapter 12, Article 74 that says that the rule of custom will form the basis of ownership and use of land.

“When we compare the duties and functions of trustees that this law gives them power, then these issues arise; does a trust have a family tree, does a trust have a land tenure system, is a trust an indigenous custom owner, does a trust have its own land boundaries, is a trust a custom chief and does a trust have a bloodline?

“We gained independence because of our land and when we pass laws that deal with land we must be very careful,” Chief Mormor and Chief Robbie said.

Meanwhile, during the seminar on Friday on the Company and Trust Service Providers Act, Chairman of the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission Board, Bill Bani, who is also a qualified lawyer said the process on working on the Act began in 2004.

He said the government through the VFSC saw the need to overhaul the existing legislation to comply with domestic and international standards.

This was when a committee was set up to look at provisions of the new Act by examining different jurisdictions that have a similar status as Vanuatu’s finance centers.

Apart from Seychelles Islands and Singapore it was found that a small island between Great Britain and Ireland had a similar system to Vanuatu’s finance centre.

This island is the Isle of Man.

Bani said over 40 meetings and over 100 hours of discussions were put into the formulation of the Act.
 

(Photo: UNICEF / Giacomo Pirozzi)

WORLDWIDE: Imported food blamed for ballooning obesity problem in South Pacific
Source: GenevaLunch

Three Pacific Island regions, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia are home to 10 islands whose populations are suffering from growing health problems, with obesity at the root of the problem. Imported foods are the main culprit, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.

WHO surveys show that in at least 10 Pacific island countries, more than 50 percent of the population is overweight. Obesity prevalence ranges from more than 30% in Fiji to a “staggering 80 percent among women in American Samoa”, a territory of the USA, says the organization.

Overweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) equal to or more than 25, and obesity as a BMI equal to or more than 30.

“Promotion of traditional foods has fallen by the wayside. They are unable to compete with the glamour and flashiness of imported foods,” says Dr Temo K Waqanivalu, the WHO’s technical officer for nutrition and physical activity for the South Pacific. Fewer imports and more fresh, local food, including fish and vegetables, are needed in people’s diets, he says.

Imported food in the past came mainly from Australia and New Zealand, but much of it now comes from China, Malaysia and the Philippines. These foods are often energy-dense and nutritionally poor, such as highly refined cereals and fatty meat, according to the Pacific Food Summit. Lack of food safety regulations is a problem, with old, damaged and contaminated products arriving in the market as well as products with low mineral content that are high in sugar and fat.

Nutrition labels are not only inconsistent but often not in English, the common language spoken in most Pacific island countries, says the WHO, and clearer, more easily understood labelling would help in the drive to improve diets. But increasing the consumption of locally-grown foods comes with another set of problems, the impact of climate change on agricultural, pointing to the need for a joint solution involving many sectors in several countries.

Health problems reaching daunting levels in South Pacific

Excess weight has already led to a host of health problems, including diabetes: 47 percent of the population in American Samoa is diabetic, compared to 14 percent in mainland USA, and in the rest of the region it varies from 14-44 percent.

In Fiji only 16 percent of the population is under age 55 due to the high number of premature deaths from non-communicable diseases, many of which are triggered by excess weight.

Micronutrient deficiencies are common, reports the WHO. “In 15 of 16 countries surveyed, more than one fifth of children and pregnant women were anaemic. In Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, iodine deficiency and related goitre are endemic although, in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, great progress was made recently through salt iodization. In many other Pacific countries and territories the situation is yet to be assessed. Vitamin A deficiency is also a significant public health risk in Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Papua New Guinea.”

Economic cost high

Obesity is taking an economic toll as well. A 2000 World Bank study found that health care costs consumed 35-58 percent of the budget for three countries in the region. A study of garment workers in Fiji showed an 11 percent reduction in efficiency, compared to other workers who took iron supplements to treat the anemia.

A Pacific Food Summit in Vanuatu focused on the dietary problem, and participating countries and territories unanimously endorsed a framework for action on food security.

Photo Caption: Adolescents learn good eating habits at a youth centre in Port Vila, Vanuatu.