1995: Execution of nine Nigerian environmentalists and human rights activists
2022-11-10 00:00 - 23:59 (Australia/Sydney)
On this day in 1995, writer and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed in Nigeria despite worldwide pleas for clemency. The country’s military rulers ordered the execution of Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight other dissidents.

BBC On This Day

1991: Dili Massacre, Timor-Leste: more than 271 people killed
2022-11-12 00:00 - 23:59
On November 12, 1991, Indonesian troops fired upon a peaceful memorial procession to a cemetery in Dili, East Timor that had turned into a pro-independence demonstration. More than 271 East Timorese were killed that day at the Santa Cruz cemetery or in hospitals soon after. An equal number were disappeared and are believed dead.

East Timor Action Network (ETAN)

1989: Murder of six Jesuit priests and two co-workers in El Salvador
2022-11-16 00:00 - 23:59
In the early hours on 16 November 1989, six Jesuit priests, a cook and her 16-year-old daughter were shot and killed at the Pastoral Centre of José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador. The victims were Fathers Ignacio Ellacuría, Rector of the University; Ignacio Martín-Baró, Vice-Rector; Segundo Montes, Director of the Human Rights Institute; Amando López, Joaquín López y López and Juan Ramón Moreno, all teachers at UCA; and Julia Elba Ramos and her daughter, Celina Mariceth Ramos. The priests publicly opposed U.S. support of the Salvadoran armed forces, and pleaded for peaceful dialogue between the right and the left. They polled poor citizens and kept detailed records of refugees fleeing the country.

Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador pages 45-47

1961: First raising of the Morning Star flag, West Papua
2022-12-01 00:00 - 23:59
On this day in 1961 the West Papuan national flag, the Morning Star was first raised. Although the Netherlands’ plans for West Papuan independence at that time did not come to fruition, the flag prepared for an independent West Papua continues to be a symbol of the desire for self determination and independence for the West Papuan people.

Find out more at West Papua Flag Day

2004: Devastating tsunami in South Asia, killing 200,000 to 300,000 people
2022-12-26 00:00 - 23:59
The Indian Ocean tsunami traveled as much as 3,000 miles (nearly 5,000 km) to Africa, arriving with sufficient force to kill people and destroy property. The epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake was under the Indian Ocean near the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to the USGS, which monitors earthquakes worldwide.

The Indian Ocean tsunami caused waves as high as 50 feet (15 meters) in some places, according to news reports. But in many other places witnesses described a rapid surging of the ocean, more like an extremely powerful river or a flood than the advance and retreat of giant waves.

Source: National Geographic: The Deadliest Tsunami in History?

Waitangi Day
2023-02-06 00:00 - 23:59
Waitangi Day marks the signing in 1840 of a treaty between representatives of the British Crown and over five hundred Māori chiefs. Claudia Orange explains that:

Most chiefs signed a Māori-language version of the treaty. The English- and Māori-language versions held different meanings, and Māori and Europeans therefore had different expectations of the treaty’s terms. Ever since, resolution of these differences has presented New Zealand with challenges. Claudia Orange, ‘Treat of Waitangi’, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

In a 2008 statement on the International Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Catholic Bishops of New Zealand said:

The Church may have initially been slow to recognise the injustices caused to indigenous peoples as part of colonisation, but Catholic social teaching on the rights of indigenous people is now clear and unequivocal. Ecclesia in Oceania, specifically written for our region, asked for forgiveness for times the Church had been a party to injustices done to indigenous peoples in Oceania, and expressed the support of the regional Bishops for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In statements on the Treaty of Waitangi (1990 and 1995) and Indigenous Peoples (1993), we have affirmed the Church’s commitment to work to resolve historic injustices and to reconcile peoples. A Statement from the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference on 10 December 2008.

2014: Murder of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati in offshore immigration detention on Manus Island
2023-02-17 00:00 - 23:59
Today we remember twenty three year old asylum seeker Reza Barati who was killed in riots at the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) on Manus Island. A Senate Committee inquiry later found that the Australian Government had failed in its duty to protect him, and other asylum seekers, from harm. Here is an extract from the conclusions of the Committee.

8.5 In summary, the committee has found that the events of 16 to 18 February 2014 at the Manus Island RPC were eminently foreseeable, and may have been prevented if transferees had been given a clear pathway for the assessment of their asylum claims. Many of the problems at the centre had their origins in the events of July to October 2013, when the centre was transformed from a mixed facility into a single adult males facility and experienced a massive influx of new transferees, reaching more than double the initial intended capacity of the centre in the space of approximately 12 weeks. The inability of the centre’s infrastructure to cope with this influx, combined with the complete absence of any clear refugee status determination and resettlement framework to deal with these asylum seekers, created an environment where unrest and transferee protests were the inevitable result. 8.6 It is clear from evidence presented to the committee that the Australian Government failed in its duty to protect asylum seekers including Mr Barati from harm. Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs report

The Manus Island RPC was found to be unconstitutional by the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court in 2016 and was shut in 2017. A number of detainees were transferred to the Bomana Immigration Detention Centre.

In November 2019 a delegation of representatives from the Australian Catholic community traveled to Papua New Guinea to gain a deeper understanding of conditions for asylum seekers there. Read their statement here.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has made a complaint about the conditions of detention in Bomana to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

As SBS News report, Director of the jurisdiction, complementary and cooperation division of the ICC office of the prosecutor, Phakiso Mochochoko has found that the conditions of detention “appear to have constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” Read more here.

Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day
2023-03-01 00:00 - 23:59
Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day is sometimes known as ‘Bikini’ Day because it marks the anniversary of the US ‘Bravo’ nuclear bomb detonation at Bikini Atoll in 1954.

The explosion gouged out a crater more than 200 feet deep and a mile across, melting huge quantities of coral which were sucked up into the atmosphere together with vast volumes of seawater. The resulting fallout caused widespread contamination in the Pacific. Te Wharepora Hou

International Day of Unplugging
2023-03-03 00:00 - 23:59
In the USA, the Reboot Network initiated the National Day of Unplugging to encourage people to unplug, unwind, relax and do things other than using digital technology, electronics and social media for twenty four hours beginning at sundown on the first Friday in March. It builds on the Sabbath Manifesto which draws on and adapts the Jewish tradition of the Sabbath.

As Christians in Australia, we can also reflect on the meaning for today’s world of the commandment to keep the Lord’s day holy. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

God’s action is the model for human action. If God ‘rested and was refreshed’ on the seventh day, we too ought to ‘rest’ and should let others, especially the poor, ‘be refreshed’. The sabbath brings everyday work to a halt ad provides a respite. It is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n 2172.

Do we need rest and respite from digital technologies? Might we at times fall into servitude or even worship of social media?

Find out more about the Sabbath Manifesto and the National Day of Unplugging here.

2011: Fukushima Earthquake and Tsunami
2023-03-11 00:00 - 23:59
On this day an earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan killed 18,500 people. Damage to a nuclear power plant in this event caused widespread contamination and the displacement of thousands of people. Reflecting on these events, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan called for the abolition on nuclear power:

We, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan, appeal to all people who share our common home called Earth that we join hands, rise together and act in solidarity to end nuclear power generation. For that purpose, we turn first to the Catholic Church throughout the world, seeking cooperation and solidarity. Then, building on that, we hope to develop a global solidarity that transcends religions, races and nations. Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan

2002: Timor-Leste Constitution enters into force
2023-05-20 00:00 - 23:59
