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PPP - Pacific Peoples' Partnership welcomes youNEWSFLASH Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 Monday Mar 08, 2010 International Women’s Day 2010"Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women - A Better Future for the Pacific"International Women’s Day has particular implications for the Pacific Islands, where reported levels of violence reach as high as 85% in some Countries. Pacific Island women represent half of all reported HIV cases, with approximately 13,300 men and 15,000 women living with HIV (2008). Women are fifty times more likely to die in childbirth in Papua New Guinea than in New Zealand.The 2010 International Women’s Day theme in the Pacific is "Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women - A Better Future for the Pacific"; United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is holding a contest related to this. Contestants will submit an essay or series of photos to show a case study on how women’s lives in the area have or have not changed in the past thirty years. The day is not just intended to focus on the negative but also to encourage positive changes. For example, as part of the lead up to the day, Australia is promoting the Australia Indonesia Basic Education Program, encouraging equal education access to boys and girls in Indonesia. And the book Being the First: Storis Blong Oloketa Mere Lo Solomon Aelan, celebrating the achievements of women in the Solomon Islands in expected to be published on International Women’s Day 2010. IWD has been observed annually since 1975, this acknowledges the achievements made toward equal rights and equal opportunity for all women and girls, and highlights the remaining barriers that prevent equality and the full protection of women before the law and the full and active participation of women in all forms of social, economic and political life. Official International Women’s Day site Press release from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Pacific Regional Office Official announcements on International Women’s Day by the Australian Government. Solomon Island women’s book on their achievements: Violence against the girl child in Pacific Islands region essay. Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day![]() Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day, aka Bikini Day is observed every March 1 to commemorate the anniversary of the detonation of the nuclear bomb Bravo on Bikini Atoll in 1954. The detonation of the bomb, part of tests by the United States military, sent radioactive fallout as far away as Rongelap (100 miles away) and radioactive mist as far away as Utirik (300 miles away). Evacuation of these two islands by the US navy did not commence for another three days. On Bikini Island itself, residents left voluntarily in 1946 to allow the tests to occur, but radiation levels remain too high for them to return to the area. The detonation created a hole in the island one mile wide and 400 feet deep. Despite this, for a time people did return to the remains of the island but had to be evacuated again due to excessive radioactivity. The total fallout area for the region was 7,700 square miles. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal has been asked to pay $948 million in compensation as part of a 1986 agreement, but as of March 2009 had only paid out $3.8 million. The people of Bikini and Enewatak filed a lawsuit but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against them, claiming the case was beyond judicial review. Documents declassified in 1994 reveal that the contamination of the people and their environment was deliberate, not accidental; this was part of Project 4.1, designed to study the effects of humans being exposed to radiation. The United States continues to use the Pacific Islands as military bases and testing sites. Their treatment of the Bikini Atoll matter has been criticized not only for the resulting deaths and illnesses but also for the disregard for the islanders`dignity and human rights. Therefore, Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day is important not only to raise awareness to what has gone on before but also to raise awareness of what is still happening in the islands as well as what is not being done to try to compensate for what happened. Learn more at: Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day – Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day Monday, 1 March 2004 Nuclear Free & Independent Pacific Day, Bikini Day A Short History of the People of Bikini Atoll International Languages Day
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