30 May 2009

Aid changes not liked by Amnesty agency

6:01 am on 30 May 2009

Amnesty International claims the way New Zealand is now giving aid to Pacific nations will worsen their human rights records.

In a report on human rights, it says the Government has changed the way it provides aid, shifting the focus from poverty eradication to economic development.

The agency also says human rights have taken a back seat to the economic crisis in the past year.

NZ chief executive Patrick Holmes says this will worsen their human rights situations.

The report highlights unlawful killings, widespread violence against women and media repression.

It points to increasing sexual and physical violence against women in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and crackdowns on press freedom in Fiji and Tonga.