development

This was the question posed during the recent meeting of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania (Australia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, New Zealand, CEPAC – the rest of the Pacific).

An urgent ethical challenge facing the worldwide human family today concerns economic development dependent upon fossil fuel based energy, especially coal.

The deals were signed in Wellington as part of the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to New Zealand.

New Zealand Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, said these arrangements would strengthen and expand the co-operation with China even further.

He said New Zealand and China were committed to protecting sustainable fish stocks in the Pacific, and both support efforts to combat illegal fishing.

This deal follows the French President's visit to French Polynesia last year and looks at co-operation between Paris and French Polynesia towards the territory's development.

Francois Hollande said it was above all a political accord which will place French Polynesia in the republic and something that can no longer be questioned, Edouard Fritch added that the text opens symbolically to the recognition of France's nuclear legacy and its consequences.

France tested nuclear atomic weapons from 1966 to 1996 in Mururoa and Fangataufa.

The UN's '16 days of Activism against Gender-based Violence' campaign is currently in full-swing, with events taking place throughout the Pacific.

The UN Women's Deputy Representative for Fiji, Nicolas Burniat says the issue affects the majority of women, with two out of three women in the region experiencing violence.

"This is the largest single violation of human rights in the world, it's also the crime that's the least prosecuted and punished. And it's a real threat to peace and development. But if you look at the Pacific the amounts are double."