Black people around the world have been subject to colonial rule, the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade, and the effects of white supremacy culture. Capitalism and the immense wealth of the global north was built on stolen labor, ongoing colonisation, and violent dispossession at the hand of white supremacy against people of African descent and Indigenous peoples. The condition of Black and Indigenous peoples throughout the world today must be placed in its proper historical context. The recent grassroots uprisings across the globe are powerful and demonstrate how fed up Black communities are with systemic oppression and racism. These protests demand not just an end to Black suffering and death but a commitment to help Black people live and thrive, to shift from a world centered on white supremacy and violence to one grounded in equity and justice. This moment demands that each of us—especially those of us who are not Black or indigenous—act with great urgency in defence of Black lives, to support the work of ending police brutality and white supremacy, and to bring forth a world in which Black people are truly free and liberated. While the Black experience and fight for justice around the world are as varied and diverse as Black people themselves, we stand in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives and call on elected leaders around the globe to end the war against Black people.

We are living through a time of tremendous change, when ensuring a healthy and peaceful world is paramount. No complicity with Israel's Genocide in Gaza: 38,000+ Palestinians are dead from an ongoing genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said Israel must immediately cease its activities. The International Criminal Court has asked for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICJ told Israel to halt its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Instead, Israel intensified the bombing of civilians setting people on fire in a grotesque massacre. The United Nations added Israel to its ‘blacklist’ of countries that commit grave violations against children during armed conflict. Aotearoa NZ must do everything to isolate Israel, and that means refusing to train with their military. Decolonisation of the Pacific: The foundation of that peaceful and just world is built upon real decolonisation of the Pacific. We believe the Pacific should be free and independent. RIMPAC directly stands in the way of decolonisation. It is held on occupied Indigenous land in and around Hawai'i, a place that was stolen and illegally annexed by the US to be used for sugar plantations and giant military base for Pacific operations. Many Kanaka Ma’oli, or Indigenous Hawai’ians, demand a return of their stolen lands and the rightful recognition of their legitimate authority over the islands. Dozens of navies, invited by the US military, descend on Hawai’i and the Pacific to bomb, to shoot, to explode and to pollute Indigenous territories. It is an invasion.  RIMPAC is just one of many military training exercises conducted by the US military in the region.  Nuclear-free and weapons-free Pacific: Now is a time when active demilitarisation of the Pacific should be occurring and held as the standard, to create a healthy and peaceful future, where relationships between all peoples of the region flourish.  As the People’s Charter for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific stated in 1983, the Pacific “environment continues to be despoiled by foreign powers developing nuclear weapons for a strategy of warfare that has no winners, no liberators and imperils the survival of all humankind.” The New Zealand armed forces will be playing “realistic” war games again alongside the armed forces of four nuclear weapons states involved in RIMPAC 2024 - Britain, France, India and the USA - despite the 1987 NZ Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act prohibiting New Zealanders from aiding and abetting those possessing or having control of nuclear weapons. The devastating legacy of nuclear testing in the Pacific has caused much harm to generations of Indigenous Pasefika peoples. The nuclear powered RIMPAC war machine is unwelcome.  Ecological restoration and regeneration: While communities across the Pacific work towards ecological restoration and protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, against the ravages of climate change and pollution, it is shocking and unacceptable that RIMPAC willfully adds to devastation. During RIMPAC, deadly weapons are used on land and sea causing massive environmental destruction to the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Ocean. The live fire training involves shelling islands; using bombs and missiles to sink ships, leaving ammunition, debris and wreckages in the sea; and detonating underwater explosives. The US Navy is exempt from the Marine Mammal Protection Act meaning it can test underwater sonar weapons that kill and injure whales, dolphins and other species. The US military is the world’s single largest user of oil - greater than some entire European states. These emissions are not even counted as part of the Paris agreement with all militaries exempt from counting or revealing their carbon footprint. The warships, fighter planes, troop transport, tanks and other vehicles used during RIMPAC consume vast amounts of fossil fuels, further fueling climate change and conflict. We have a responsibility to not be part of planning for a war in the Pacific that would only see untold human and ecosystem suffering and death. We call for an end to war exercises in the Pacific and for a demilitarised Pacific. New Zealand has the chance now to exercise independent foreign policy and be a Pacific partner and hold peace, stability, and respect for Pacific nations sovereignty by withdrawing from RIMPAC 2024. In 1982 New Zealand withdrew from RIMPAC activities. We can do it again. Join us in demanding that that New Zealand government #CancelRIMPAC 2024 - Sign this petition. This petition is led by the Cancel RIMPAC Aotearoa Coalition. References and more information: For information about the use of fossil fuels by the world’s militaries, visit Brown University’s Cost of War project: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/ClimateChangeandCostofWar The Spinoff: “Dear New Zealand, please don’t bring your war games to my Hawaiian home” https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/10-06-2020/dear-new-zealand-please-dont-bring-your-war-games-to-my-hawaiian-home/ Te Ao News: “Activists want navy out of RIMPAC to avoid Covid-19 spread” https://www.teaomaori.news/activists-want-navy-out-rimpac-avoid-covid-19-spread Open Letter to Prime Minister Ardern in 2020: https://aucklandpeaceaction.wordpress.com/2020/04/08/cancelrimpac-open-letter-to-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-say-no-to-rimpac-military-exercises/ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/418720/rimpac-war-games-exercise-new-zealand-government-urged-to-withdraw https://wwea.podbean.com/e/interview-about-rimpac-with-dr-emalani-case/ See video made in 2020 (by coalition member Auckland Peace Action): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxfquSMA5zk&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Kwila/merbau is a rainforest species under threat in West Papua, south east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. Most of it is illegally or unsustainably logged and most certifications for its origins are unreliable. It is sold mainly for decking timber and outdoor furniture on Trade Me. The impact of illegal or unsustainable logging of this species on forests, biodiversity and local communities has been tragic. Kwila grows sparsely across forests and logging destroys the surrounding forest as well as this endangered tree. Communities who live within forests are losing their homes, food basket and resources which have been sustained for more than 60,000 years. Forests containing illegally logged kwila are being replaced palm oil/palm kernel plantations and rice fields. The removal of these forests is contributing to climate chaos. There are alternative decking timbers grown in Aotearoa such as eucalyptus, and composite products for outdoor use which are very hard wearing. In 2011 we had an agreement with your Chief Executive to stop the trading of kwila on your website unless it was FSC or PEFC certificated, which strictly limited the trading. We accepted this agreement a starting point and we were very proud that your organisation was ready to do the right thing. We believed it was a very positive example of how a company could demonstrate ethical trading policies and play a role in reducing illegal rain forest logging. This agreement was honoured until about 4 years ago. In the last two years we have written to TradeMe leadership asking for a meeting to discuss why Trade Me has breached the agreement we made and is now allowing kwila from many sources to be sold on your site. We received no response. We have protested outside TradeMe's Auckland office and have received no response. We believe it is in the interest of Trade Me as an ethical trading site to lead the way on protecting the environment, both for a good reputation and for the benefits that come from cleaning up illegal logging. Therefore this petition asks for immediate action to protect kwila. Please stop this unethical trade on your site. Led by West Papua Action National Network How NZ decking timber choices compound a human rights crisis in West Papua, Jul 9, 2018 - https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/22-02-2019/how-nz-decking-timber-choices-compound-a-human-rights-crisis-in-west-papua/

Aotearoa New Zealand is internationally perceived as a safe and independent country. However with all our advantages we could be working much more effectively towards peace and conflict resolution in the world. For a start we spend billions of dollars on military hardware, a lot more than on international peace keeping.[1] In this moment of economic insecurity reeling from the effects of covid-19 $1 billion was given to NZ Air Force hardware.[2] Military funding is unethical and supports corporate profits invested in the deaths of civilians. [3,4] The time is now ripe to reset and change New Zealand’s traditional military position. We ask you to consider making New Zealand Aotearoa a neutral, non-aligned country in order to become a world leader in conflict management and peace development internationally. A change to a neutral, non-military stance would immediately increase our security. We ask that all military funding is redirected to the ends of playing a peace-maker role in the world. This is urgent at a time of growing polarisation and fragile economic and social systems around the world. The funding can resource conversations about New Zealand's past and future role, training for people to gain the skills of conflict management, peace work and international aid. There is also a lot of work we could be resourcing internally, to be able to build towards working internationally to end conflicts with integrity. New Zealand as a nation was founded on colonial principles and based on military force and we have a lot of work to do to as a nation to learn, and share our learnings with other nations with similar colonial pasts. Just as Cuba is renowned for its skilled doctors helping in emergencies, New Zealand could become famous for its peace work. Sign the petition for an end to military funding and investments in peace. 1. NZ military $20b shopping list: Planes, boats, soldiers, satellites and drones https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/113363745/nz-military-20b-shopping-list-planes-boats-soldiers-satellites-and-drones 2. Budget 2020: Defence spending locks in $1bn Air Force upgrade https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12331970 3. US supplied bomb that killed 40 children on Yemen school bus https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/19/us-supplied-bomb-that-killed-40-children-school-bus-yemen 4. As defense industry prepares for downturn, Lockheed Martin reports strong first quarter https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/as-defense-industry-prepares-for-downturn-lockheed-martin-reports-strong-first-quarter

We all want a sustainable planet. We all want our planet to survive. We all need bees to thrive to be able to achieve that. We all need to learn to think like worker bees and discover how to unite together in the common good for mother nature. Bee workers of the world unite! Bees can be both a bridge and a gateway. As a bridge they can be a way of connecting human and non-human nature and as a gateway they can guide humans to a deeper understanding and connection with urban nature. 🐝 Bees pollinate our flowers, our plants, our flora and fauna and help our natural planet to grow. Bees also work in communities in harmony with each other. However certain species are in danger because of human activities. Imagine a world without bees? No flowers and plants for us to enjoy and consume = no planet. The purpose of this petition is not to Save bees but to draw attention to them through a community approach and that promotes the values of localism as opposed to internationalism. There is huge value in creating a jar of local honey. A local jar with healing properties, rather than transporting goods across the oceans. Aotearoa New Zealand is blessed to have wonderful bees and wonderful honey. Honey is a good export business for NZ companies, though we also need to seek to find a balance and be thinking more locally. We need to think Global and Act Local. We need to consider how best to utilise our large urban corporate buildings, our institutional organisations, with large rooftops that are often neglected. We need to think more like permaculture and how a tree drops its leaves close to its trunk to feed its own roots with its own nutrients so it then requires less energy to grow more leaves. Aotearoa New Zealand is blessed to have a parliament building called the BEEHIVE. Basil Spence is a well known architect around the world. The Beehive government building is also the central hub of decision making for New Zealand's past, present and future. It is therefore perfectly placed to make some global media buzz and noise around this important ecological issue. We ask NZ Parliament to please consult with a NZ Beekeeping authority and local beekeepers association, to carry out a comprehensive assessment of this proposal, with a simple feasibility study. To then invite a suitably qualified beekeeper, selected from a bid put to tender, to place one of their hives on top of the Beehive. If this location is not possible due to the well-being of the bees, or due to any other logistical or security restrictions, then to place the hive within the grounds of the Beehive building. The intention is to be able to produce a jar of local honey called 'NZ Parliament Beehive Honey.' To enable Jacinda, our wonderful current Prime Minister or any future prime minster of NZ to don a beekeepers outfit for the media. To extract the honey and donate a gift of local NZ Beehive honey to all Prime Ministers and other important dignitaries who come to NZ from around the world. Equally to encourage selling local NZ Beehive Parliament Honey online to the local Wellingtonians and visiting international tourists when they are allowed back into our beautiful country after the Covoid-19 border lockdown. Especially if the old NZ Parliament shop has to remain closed for security reasons. We believe this petition and campaign will help to promote the importance of local NZ made produce in NZ and help to publicise the urban beehive industry in a positive way and for it to be a visual community voice for the NZ bee industry. This will in turn help New Zealanders to all protect our beautiful planet and our bees. Kia Kaha, Buzz Buzz, Bee Good. Protecting bees and other pollinators https://www.epa.govt.nz/everyday-environment/animals-and-insects/bees/ NZ Bee species https://teara.govt.nz/en/diagram/15740/new-zealands-bee-species https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/resources/identification/animals/bug-id/what-is-this-bug/bugs-with-legs/6-legs/bees-and-wasps Bees And Wind https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/18/bees-may-struggle-in-winds-caused-by-global-warming-study-finds https://www.independent.co.uk/news/radar-reveals-secrets-of-bumble-bees-flight-1104964.html NZ Bees Under Threat https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/99580630/native-bees--small-solitary-and-under-threat Learn About NZ Bees https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12118917 https://apinz.org.nz/learn-about-bees/ https://www.beesuptop.co.nz https://www.sweetreehoney.co.nz NZ Beekeepers Forums https://www.nzbees.net/forums/ https://www.beehive.org.nz The power of Communities ~ Bee philosophy https://www.commonunityproject.org.nz

We are global citizens. Aotearoa NZ must show a good example of manaakitanga. Our migrant community contribute hugely to our society, our diversity, the economy and workforce. Everyone needs a secure place to live and access to life's essentials at this time. Migrant communities are at risk of facing severe economic hardship due to loss of employment and the inability to return to their home countries due to travel restrictions around the world and the danger of COVID-19. If the government does not provide this emergency benefit, people may feel they have to fend for themselves and possibly break lock-down. That's a concern. We are all in this together and we must all support one another to get through this. Granting benefits to migrants is the compassionate and healthy thing to do.

India is a land of diversity and pluralism. Of different cultures and religious practices embedded over centuries of existence. India has always welcomed and embraced new people, offering them a home and a space to be free. Multiple invasions and a long imperial rule did not dent her spirit or her soul. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar reflected this deep feeling when he wrote the Constitution of India that came into force in 1950. It clearly outlines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular republic that will secure for all citizens justice, liberty and equality. Earlier last month, the government in power officially approved the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) now the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) The new law could give Indian citizenship to immigrants from three neighbouring countries – unless they are Muslim. The CAA cannot be seen in isolation from the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which the ruling party seeks to implement nationwide. Once excluded from CAA, should any Muslims become excluded from the NRC due to lack of proper documentation, they are condemned to extreme uncertainties and insecurities, thereby making their already de facto secondary-citizen status into a status of de jure non-citizenship or statelessness. In response there have been anti-CAA protests across nine states, including in major cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and the capital New Delhi, mostly around university campuses. These have turned deadly, with police using brute force, tear gas and lathi charge against peaceful protestors resulting in multiple injuries and deaths. All New Zealanders, Indians of the diaspora and those of Indian origin who believe in India as a secular, democratic republic should stand against this Act, against police brutality and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in India. Sign this petition and join the resistance against a fascist India. We urgently call on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her government to publicly condemn this human rights violation. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/india-citizenship-bill-muslim-violent-protests-assam-vow-of-court-challenge-today-2019-12-12/

The situation for the Uyghur people in China is horrific and urgent. Mass ‘re-education camps’ are now holding at least one million Uyghur people in China, which many are now acknowledging as concentration camps. Thousands of people have vanished. Children are being removed from their parents and being placed in re-education schools. Women are the subject of forced sterilisation. Muslim Uyghur people are unable to practice their religion, associate with each other or travel freely. More and more reports of torture and sexual abuse are emerging from the camps. Uyghurs who have fled their homeland are still not free to speak up on what is happening, as China is enforcing a policy of punishing the families of those who do. Words such as ‘concentration camps’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ should not be used lightly, but it is now widely acknowledged that this is the reality of the strategy being employed by the Chinese Government on the Uyghur people. Even here in New Zealand, we are aware of harassment and intimidation of the small Uyghur community by the Chinese government. Recently released documents obtained from the Chinese Government show what a pivotal role technologies involving data and artificial intelligence are playing in this mass scale repression and ethnic and religious forced assimilation. That iFlytek is involved in supplying technology to the police of the Xinjiang region, where the Uyghur people live, is not speculation but rather well evidenced and documented. Mass surveillance technology has assisted the Government to identify tens of thousands of people recommended for interrogation or detention in just one week. Massey signed a funding agreement with iFlytek in 2017, a chinese artificial intelligence company worth around $15 billion. The arrangement involves the company funding the salary of an academic who splits their time working at Massey and at iFlytek. The New Zealand Government has joined more than 20 countries in an official letter condemning the Chinese Government's treatment of the Uyghur people. Human Rights Watch has published an extensive reports exposing the complicity of iFlytek in the violence against the Uyghurs. The US has blacklisted the company. MBIE alerted Massey to the blacklisting “so it could consider any implications for itself”, but Massey has not responded. Publicly funded institutions like Massey University have no place working in close collaboration, and sharing new technologies and research, with a company involved in these atrocities. Massey ending this funding agreement would send a signal that the world is watching what is happening to the Uyghur people and will not stand by with complicity. More information: Masseys ties with iFlytek: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/11/26/913921/massey-working-with-chinese-firm-blacklisted-over-human-rights# A quick guide on the situation: https://aucklandpeaceaction.wordpress.com/2019/11/28/hard-to-imagine-mass-repression-of-uyghur-people-by-chinese-government/ More info on the camps and mass surveillance: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/secret-papers-reveal-workings-chinas-xinjiang-detention-camps-191125004212642.html Human Rights Watch report on iFlytek: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/22/china-voice-biometric-collection-threatens-privacy

A creative culture needs critics and forums for discussion about art. NZ Review of Books reviews books published in New Zealand, it is solely dedicated to NZ books and is the only long form print review channel left in NZ. They have been running for nearly 30 years, and their editors estimate they've reviewed 15,000 NZ books in that time. Without funding this journal cannot survive. Without NZ Review of Books, writers, publishers, readers, librarians, booksellers, academics and students lose a vital part of the conversation about NZ literature. We wish to communicate our dismay at the decision Creative New Zealand have made to stop funding the journal New Zealand Review of Books Pukapuka Aotearoa. We ask that Creative New Zealand reconsider this decision. We believe that by deciding not to fund the journal Creative New Zealand is doing harm to the literary arts ecosystem in Aotearoa by removing one of the load-bearing pillars of critical discussion of books and ideas across multiple disciplines. As writers, readers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, academics, students and promoters of New Zealand writing, we rely on journals such as this to inform how we buy, lend, read and talk about our own literature. Our understanding is that Creative New Zealand’s work is to encourage, promote and support the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders. We believe the decision to stop funding NZ Review of Books undermines this work. It also sends a message that open discussion, debate and critical exploration of the literary arts and the world of ideas are not valued. We sign this statement as a protest against the withdrawn funding and to ask that Creative New Zealand will reinstate it so that NZ Review of Books can continue to publish.

The Chilean government of Sebastian Piñera have deployed the military on the streets of Chile, they have imposed curfew, shot and killed innocent citizens in acts of repression, and falsified citizen committed crimes in order to justify such acts. We must stand for Chile, in order to stand against worldwide acts of repression and human rights crimes that are being enabled through western systems. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2019/oct/20/protests-in-chile-against-cost-of-living-in-pictures References and Alternative Media: Please note that the media we are receiving in the western world and the mainstream media in Chile is extremely biased and has been censored. Please be critical about everything you read. https://www.telesurtv.net/news/represion-carabineros-manifestacion-santiago-chile-toque-queda-20191021-0016.html https://resumen.cl/articulos/once-acciones-legales-ha-presentado-indh-por-violencia-policial 11 legal actions taken against the state regarding human rights abuses https://resumen.cl/articulos/veinte-videos-muestran-desmedida-represion-de-militares-y-policia-contra-legitimas-manifestaciones 20 videos that show the police repression against democratic manifestations https://twitter.com/prensaopal?fbclid=IwAR1rf9lENKTJ8xwhTGhK0rzu4zIs8tU4RRbDYcOSmBhANwnEYBKDQCb2G88 https://resumen.cl/articulos/impresionantes-imagenes-aereas-muestran-masividad-legitimas-protestas-populares-ciudad-de-concepcion https://scontent.fpmr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/73120120_2766637883369215_3859160911549825024_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_oc=AQlq82ktaqqoWfOWL_FV90sr9e_K-ttzc-ilgdnZfeaJLXtWXzRXUsnYkOGfi6s_STw&_nc_ht=scontent.fpmr1-1.fna&oh=01430048bc0ce3a7c41d24eccad382c4&oe=5E29B463 13 deaths confirmed - note these have been in 'fires' however the cause of deaths have not been confirmed. https://www.instagram.com/tv/B344eAuBk0A/?igshid=vajyk8cwjq06&fbclid=IwAR0dnHvO97Qa83DwIpJgaLRrfoxV8-D4CPGuZqXnPlhhRG1fi4KTRPpBb8A Information that has not been shared in the wider media https://www.facebook.com/eduardokrtbgihgyt/videos/2790340617701460/ Military advising the people on how to ransack the stores Noticias > América Latina Cifra de muertos por protestas en Chile asciende a 11 La Fiscalía anunció que había un total de 1.554 personas privadas de su libertad, que se encuentran en “audiencia de control de detención”. La Fiscalía anunció que había un total de 1.554 personas privadas de su libertad, que se encuentran en “audiencia de control de detención”. | Foto: Reuters Publicado 21 octubre 2019 (Hace 7 horas 51 minutos) "La cifra de fallecidos oficial que tenemos que lamentar en estos últimos dos días es de 11, tres fallecidos el sábado, y ocho el domingo", informó la intendenta de la Región Metropolitana, Karla Rubilar El número de muertos por las protestas durante el fin de semana en Chile ascendió a 11 personas, informaron este lunes autoridades locales, en el marco del recrudecimiento de la violencia en Santiago, la capital del país suramericano. LEA TAMBIÉN: Chilenos desafían el toque de queda decretado por el Gobierno "La cifra de fallecidos oficial que tenemos que lamentar en estos últimos dos días es de 11, tres fallecidos el sábado, y ocho el domingo", informó la intendenta de la Región Metropolitana, Karla Rubilar en conferencia de prensa. Asimismo, la Fiscalía anunció el domingo que había un total de 1.554 personas privadas de su libertad, que se encuentran en “audiencia de control de detención”. Por su parte, el Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos (INDH) presentó acciones legales por “violencia policial”. Se trata de ocho querellas contra carabineros y militares junto a tres recursos de amparo para resguardar la “seguridad de las persona”. Según el director del organismo, Sergio Micco, 283 personas han sido detenidas --151 hombres, 61 mujeres y 71 menores de edad--, 44 han resultado heridas --9 de gravedad--, nueve personas han sido desnudadas en procedimientos policiales. Mientras tanto, el presidente Piñera decidió aplicar toque de queda para toda la Región de Valparaíso a partir de las 20H00 horas locales. El presidente anunció el sábado pasado, la suspensión del alza del precio del metro, después de que el viernes declarara el estado de emergencia en Santiago, una medida que posteriormente se extendió a Concepción y Valparaíso. Pese a dicho anuncio, que fue refrendado el domingo por la Cámara de Diputados, las protestas continuaron durante la jornada, que se saldaron con 76 carabineros heridos. La Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos, Michelle Bachelet, pidió este lunes iniciar una investigación independiente sobre las muertes ocurridas durante violentas protestas en Chile el fin de semana, y mencionó "perturbadoras" acusaciones de uso excesivo de fuerza militar. En un comunicado desde la sede de su despacho en Ginebra, la expresidenta chilena instó al diálogo inmediato entre las partes para detener "la retórica inflamatoria"

Families of New Zealand citizens and residents have been separated and kept apart due to unnecessary visa processing delays by INZ. Children are losing out on the much needed nurture provided by both parents. In the last few years, approximately 70,000 international students have been coming to New Zealand every year to gain world class education, making education our 4th largest export at approximately 4 to 5 billion dollars per year. The students are given work rights so that they can gain much sought after work experience and ultimately become part of New Zealand workforce after graduating. This also puts them on a pathway to residence as promoted by NZ government websites and dodgy education agents. However, the reality is different - the students are forced to re-enrol for the same courses repeatedly due to College closures conducted by NZQA. To add to an already stressful situation, the students are left to extend their visas urgently to avoid becoming unlawful in New Zealand. Many have been deported due to the fault of unregulated education agents. Research studies conducted by Dr Christina Stringer (University of Auckland) and Dr Francis Collins (University of Waikato) clearly conclude that migrant exploitation is rampant when temporary work visas are attached to employers, preventing the employee seeking help or whistleblowing to end their own exploitation. The number of new residents settling in New Zealand has reached the lowest level since the turn of the century. At the same time a record number of temporary work visa holders have been approved, topping more than 240,000 in the last year. What does that mean? Uncertainty and displacement surrounds migrants on temporary visas. Many in this category have been in New Zealand for 5 to 10 years in the hope of a more permanent future here. Every time they are close to realising that hope, the immigration instructions are changed to bring them right back to where they started. The National Government closed the parent visa category in 2016 claiming that it was a temporary measure to bring the migrant numbers under control. The Labour coalition government has announced that the Parent Visa Category will reopen in February 2020. However, the income requirements for the sponsors are outrageously high (2 to 4 times annual median salary of $53,040) and out of reach for most, if not all, working class migrants. Under this visa category, only the rich have the luxury of being near their loved ones. Some high skilled migrants earn just enough to sponsor either Mum or Dad - how does one even contemplate such a choice!!

We students and adults from all across NZ express strong concern about the situation in the Amazon rainforest. The world is in crisis. The Amazon rainforest has been burning for over three weeks; it is so large we can see it from space. This is destroying the homes and livelihoods of many people, including Indigenous communities in the region. The Amazon rainforest has thousands of native species that are dying and being displaced as this fire rages. The Amazon produces 20% of the air we breathe, and has 40% of the world's rainforests. The Amazon rainforest holds 20% of the world's freshwater. All of this is going up in smoke and if we don't act now, the whole forest could burn and it will impact our entire world. Protecting these forests are critical because of their crucial role as absorbers of carbon for the whole world. Given the urgency of the situation, we feel that the fires aren’t getting enough attention as it should be by the authorities within the country and require pressure and assistance by those outside of the country. The following link provides more information about the issue https://mailchi.mp/f17f15f32a53/bulletin-world-weekly-a-weather-report-for-the-world-2456737 We urge the general public to stand with us and urge our leaders to act now to save the Amazon rainforest, as this is an issue that will have severe ramifications for the whole world if not addressed immediately. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Jlwad under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license