Sector News
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News from sector
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Final Report, Prevention of Sexual Misconduct Review | Australian Aid in the Pacific
ACFID | 23 Nov, 2018
Headlining ACFID news this week is the ACFID Board response to the findings and recommendations of the independent review to improve practice and response of ACFID’s 119 members in the prevention of sexual misconduct. The independent review team at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) spent 5 months reviewing ACFID members’ practice and culture through interviews, surveys, focus groups and a field trip to consult with members’ partners and stakeholders. APEC 2018 is also hits the news, with Australia joining a global alliance to 'power up PNG'.
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Pacific Pivot | Indigenous Procurement Strategy | Foreign Donations Ban
ACFID | 16 Nov, 2018
ACFID and the RDI Network have published an Outcomes Statement with the key takeaways from their ‘Demonstrating Outcomes and Impact across Scales’ National Workshop, and the RDI network also launces it’s latest guide in their ‘partnerships’ series offering highly practical tips and advice on working with Church-based organisations. Across to the Pacific Pivot, Morrison is warned against adding to ‘the growing chorus of Pacific, African and Indian Ocean discontent with concrete pouring Belt-and Road projects’.
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Reactions to Scott Morrison’s Pacific ‘Step-Up’
ACFID | 09 Nov, 2018
This weeks’ news is headlined by the Prime Minister’s Pacific ‘Step-Up’ announcement, a ‘seismic shift’ in Pacific policy that will reverberate through the region for decades. ACFID’s CEO makes comment, welcoming the push to deepen Australia’s ties in the Pacific, but cautioning against loans which could create greater debt distress. Over to Yemen, where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in escalating fighting.
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Conference Special
ACFID | 05 Nov, 2018
This week we’ve prepared a wrap up from ACFID’s annual conference – Human Rights in the 21st Century. Highlights include members’ resolution to get #KidsOffNauru, the sector moving to put the spotlight on safeguarding, and journalist and Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani, who is detained on Manus Island, receiving the Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights Award. ACFID welcomes Labour’s Pacific focus, and Jose Ramos-Horta says Australia aid 'emasculation' is pushing the Pacific closer to China
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Trump and Xi go toe-to-toe on Development Financing | Welcome Sanctions on Abusive Generals | Front Line Human Rights Defenders
ACFID | 26 Oct, 2018
ACFID welcomes the decision by Minister Payne to impose targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against five Myanmar military officers responsible for human rights violations committed by units under their command. On the blog, CEO of CBM, and ACFID Board member, Jane Edge, explains the importance of giving the stage to those on the frontline of defending human rights ahead of ACFID’s national Conference.
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Myanmar Sanctions | Morrison Government Foreign Affairs Team
ACFID | 31 Aug, 2018
This week in the news sees the release of the UN’s Report from the International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar with findings that crimes against humanity with ‘genocidal intent’ including murder, imprisonment, rape and sexual slavery had been committed by the Tatmadaw in Rakhine state. Meanwhile, Scott Morrison appoints the new foreign affairs team, and the government faces criticism for jeopardising Australia's influence in the Pacific region at a time when China is wooing island nations with infrastructure and loans.
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Kids Off Nauru | Scott Morrison PM-Elect
ACFID | 24 Aug, 2018
The election of Scott Morrison as Australia’s Prime Minister dominates the headlines this week. On the ACFID blog, ACFID’s Learning and Innovation Advisor asks some big questions on the value of international development, and Save the Children's Emergency Health Unit Director, Dr Unni Krishnan, reminds us that what we do today depends a lot on what we do with others in his piece on compassion and collaboration. This week also sees ACFID joining a coalition of more than 30 of Australia’s leading humanitarian and human rights organisations to press the Federal Government to get all asylum seeker and refugee children off Nauru by Universal Children’s Day on 20 November.
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Soft Power Review| Pacific Nations Expand Security Definitions | Pacific Loans from China
ACFID | 17 Aug, 2018
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announces this week the first review of the nation's soft power diplomacy, saying she wanted Australia to remain a "persuasive voice" among neighbouring countries. Pacific foreign ministers toughen their language on security in the region and on climate change, whilst Tonga urges Pacific nations to press China to forgive debts saying his and other small nations in the region are suffering "serious" debt distress.
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Prevention Of Sexual Misconduct Report | ACFID Conference Registration | Aid To Indonesia
ACFID | 10 Aug, 2018
This week sees the releases of the publication of the interim report of the independent review to improve practice and response of ACFID’s members in the prevention of sexual misconduct. Registrations for ACFID’s national conference in Sydney on 30-31 October officially open, Pacific Beat outlines surprising statistics on aid to the Pacific, and Australian aid arrives in areas of Indonesia ravaged by recent earthquakes.
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Sustainability in practice | UK IDC Report | Endemic sexual abuse
ACFID | 03 Aug, 2018
In the news this week, ACFID member NTA East Indonesia Aid talks sustainability in practice as part of ACFID’s Spotlight on the Code series, and ACFID responds to the publication of the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee report into sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector. Australia joins a push by the US and Japan to significantly boost infrastructure investment in the Indo-Pacific region, and flooding in Myanmar forces more than 130,000 people from their homes.