Tag Archives: Samoa

Child rights in the Pacific: UN committee to meet in Samoa 2 – 6 March

GENEVA (5 February 2020) – The UN Child Rights Committee is due to hold an extraordinary session in Samoa from 2 to 6 March to focus on the situation of children’s rights in the Pacific region.

It will be the first time any of the UN human rights treaty bodies, as the Committees are officially known, will hold a session outside Geneva and New York.

During the meetings, the Committee will review three countries – Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Tuvalu. It will also hold a preparatory session for a future review of Kiribati.

The countries are among the 196 States parties to the Child Rights Convention. States are required to undergo regular reviews by the Committee of 18 independent international experts on how they are implementing the Convention, its Optional Protocols, as well as the Committee’s previous recommendations.

For more information and for contacts in the Pacific and for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva please view the media release

For initial media inquiries please contact:

Elizabeth Throssell: ethrossell@ohchr.org

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva.

2020-02-05 CRC Pacific session

Dire Need For Medical System and Social Infrastructure to Support Immunisation and Preventative HealthCare

USD 10.7 million response and recovery appeal launched.

Last week the Government of Samoa mandated the United Nations to assist the development of a national appeal in response to the rapidly spreading epidemic

Prior and since the start of the outbreak, the UN has been supporting the Government through its Ministry of Health in providing technical health support in vaccination and medical supplies.

The UN is also supporting the community response campaign led by the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health to better inform the communities about vaccination, hygiene, caring for measles patients and preventing measles infection. Equally important are messages on reproductive health – as well as options for women of reproductive age receiving vaccinations and psychosocial first aid initiatives to help families that are dealing with the loss of a loved one due to measles. More

More News:
UN team aids Samoa response to deadly measles epidemic : audio interview with Simona Marinescu, the UN Resident Coordinator in Samoa who discusses the developments and plans for long-term recovery with Julia Dean from the UN Information Centre in Canberra, Samoa, 6 December.

UNICEF On Standby To Support Governments of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji as Cyclone Gita intensifies

SUVA, 13 February 2018 – As Tropical Cyclone Gita intensifies, the strongest storm to ever hit Tonga, and heads towards Fiji, UNICEF offers its support to the affected Pacific island countries of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.

“UNICEF is ready to support the Governments of Tonga and Samoa respond to the emergencies caused by Tropical Cyclone Gita. We are also on standby to provide support to the Government of Fiji as they brace for Cyclone Gita,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Pacific Representative.

In Tonga, about 80,000 people, including 32,000 children, are at risk from the Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Gita that hit on Monday night, with widespread damage to infrastructure and floods reported.

“UNICEF is prepared to support the governments’ response, to ensure urgent life-saving support is provided, including access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene for those families affected,” he added.

UNICEF is working closely with the Tongan National Emergency Office and the UN Coordination office in Tonga to coordinate activities and respond as required. Emergency supplies including portable water field test kits, to check for safety of drinking water; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Kits, which include purification tablets; water containers and hygiene products such as soap and menstrual hygiene products; inter-agency emergency health kits that include medicines, micronutrient powders, Vitamin A capsules; and tents, are being prepositioned for shipment to Tonga.

In Samoa, basic emergency supplies are already available and have been offered to the Samoan government if required to support the needs of affected children and families affected.

Supplies are also prepositioned in Fiji for use to affected areas and the National Disaster Management Office in Fiji have been offered the use of RapidPro – an open-source platform of applications that can help the government deliver information quickly and connect communities to lifesaving services through the short message service (SMS) for mobile phones.#####

For more information, please contact:
Cate Heinrich, UNICEF Pacific,
Tel: +679 9925 606, cheinrich@unicef.org

Donna Hoerder
Communication Specialist – External Relations,
UNICEF Pacific
Phone: (679) 323-6100 Email: dhoerder@unicef.org

 

Media Advisory – Discrimination against women: First mission ever to Samoa by a UN human rights expert group

APIA / GENEVA (3 August 2017) – A United Nations human rights expert group will carry out a fact-finding visit to Samoa from 8 to 18 August to assess the progress made towards eliminating discrimination against women and the protection and promotion of women’s rights in the country.

“We are particularly interested in legislative and policy reforms undertaken in recent years and the impact on the enjoyment of human rights of women in Samoa,” said human rights expert Kamala Chandrakirana, who currently heads UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice.

Continue reading →

Samoa and Micronesia Ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

SUVA (9 December) – The United Nations Human Rights Office for the Pacific welcomes Samoa’s
and Micronesia’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

On 2 December, Samoa ratified the Convention which was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 December 2006 and on 7 December, Micronesia became the 171th State party to the Convention.

“By ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the governments of Samoa and Micronesia have committed to improving the lives of persons with disabilities which is a very encouraging step forward.” said Ms Chitralekha Massey, Regional Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Pacific Regional Office.

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Addressing NCDs Through Law, Trade And Sustainable Development

4 August, 2016

Lautoka, Fiji – Twenty legal, trade and health department representatives from across the Pacific are in Fiji this week to examine the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) burden in the region and the role of the law in preventing and controlling NCDs, particularly in the context of developing coherence between health, trade and investment laws, policies and sectors.

The Law, NCD, Trade and Sustainable Development workshop, a first for the region, is jointly organized by the McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Pacific Community (SPC) with support from the Government of Australia.

Heart disease, cancers, lung disease and diabetes are the leading causes of death in the Pacific region with most Pacific Islands countries losing their productive citizens to NCDs.

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Manu Samoa Says NO To Violence

13522741_994765187297994_1314293108049499533_oOn Saturday 25 June 2016 Manu Samoa and World Rugby partnered with UN Women Pacific to dedicate their international match against Tonga to raise awareness for ending violence against women. SayNO – UNiTE to End Violence Against Women. See their photo album here.

Launched in 2008, the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign aims to raise public awareness and increase political will and resources for preventing and ending all forms of violence against women and girls in all parts of the world. For more information on the campaign.

 

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Committee on the Rights of the Child reviews the report of Samoa

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today concluded its consideration of the combined second to fourth periodic report of Samoa on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Introducing the report, Faimalotoa Kika Stowers, Minister for Women, Community and Social Development of Samoa, said that Samoa was the first Pacific island country to have submitted the instruments of ratification for the three Optional Protocols to the Convention, which was a demonstration of Samoa’s strong commitment, political will and leadership in the promotion and protection of children’s rights.  Continue reading →

Samoa takes Pacific lead in committing to justice for children

The Government of Samoa this week ratified two key human rights instruments; the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on a communications procedure. Continue reading →