Stories by Johnny Blades

Armed conflict in West Papua continues to claim lives, displace tens of thousands of people and cause resentment at Indonesian rule.

A Polish man imprisoned by an Indonesian court in 2018 after visiting West Papua as a tourist remains languishing in a cell in Papua's remote interior.

The United Nations has glaring problems in Samoa where the government is calling for the UN's role in the country to be reviewed.

PNG's government is under pressure to clarify its message about Covid vaccination, and MPs who spread baseless claims about vaccines have been asked to shut up.

Despite a mixed response to COP26, Papua New Guinea's delegation is encouraged by new commitments made on protecting rainforests.

Social tensions are rising in Papua New Guinea over Covid-19 vaccination, as people working to help curb the spread of the virus face mob attacks. PNG's biggest urban centres and...

Samoa has been urged by the international community to counter domestic and gender-based violence. Audio

West Papuans have taken flight from armed conflict into one of the most remote parts of neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

The president of the Federated States of Micronesia offers some level-headed takes on the fraught issues confronting the Pacific Islands region.

The Covid-19 crisis in Papua New Guinea is deepening, as the country's main hospitals are increasingly swamped by cases.

Ni-Vanuatu workers coming to New Zealand for seasonal employment are enjoying the benefits of a one-way travel bubble, but their mission abroad comes with steep challenges.

Church leaders warn that having soldiers in classrooms in West Papua is proving traumatic for children.

The thorny issue of deep sea mining reared its head again at the UN General Assembly.

Australia's new security pact with the US and the UK has touched a nerve at the core of Pacific regionalism.

There are worrying signs of a deadly Covid-19 outbreak in a Papua New Guinea province that sits on the border with Indonesia.

Prison escapes are now common in PNG, with poor resourcing and chronic delays to prisoners' cases coming to trial driving factors.

The President of Vanuatu has pardoned the criminal convictions of three former prime ministers.

Despite a disconnect between the public health system and the Pacific community, vital ground work is underway to reach contacts in the Covid-19 outbreak who the system has missed.

Calls for the release of West Papuan political prisoner Victor Yeimo continue, as his treason trial has begun this week.

A ruling that overturns a decision to strip a Fiji opposition MP of his seat is a win for democracy, his party says.

The heat on Papua New Guinea's hospitals appears to have eased, but some worry the country could still be asleep to the full extent of its Covid-19 outbreak.

PNG's government has been taken to task about preparation for next year's elections.

As Covid-19 rampages in the country, Fiji's already limited democratic space is being choked, and the international response has been found lacking.

As with much of Indonesia, the country's eastern-most provinces of Papua and West Papua are struggling to contain the spread of Covid-19, with the Delta variant on the loose.

Indonesia's House of Representatives has passed a controversial bill that is likely to reshape the future administration of West Papua.