FOCUS

Focus
Asia-PacificNewsletter of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA)

December 2021 Vol. 106

Contents
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on
Marginalized YouthThis is a report on the findings of a researchundertaken between May and August 2020
on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on
marginalized youth in nine countries in Asiaand the Pacific.
- Asia South Pacific Association for Basicand Adult Education
Page 2
Reaching Out to Pacific People
This article discusses the problem ofproperly informing people from Pacificisland countries on measures and facilities
available to people in New Zealandregarding prevention and treatment of
COVID-19 infection.
- Julia Ioane, Teuila Percival, Winnie Laban,
Ian Lambie
Page 6
Color Vision Diversity – Towards Wider
Recognition of Color Vision Minority
This is a discussion of the problem faced bypeople with color vision condition, which isstill viewed as a restriction despite scientificresearch proving the contrary.
- Hiroaki Oie
Page 10
International Marriage in Japan: RussianSpeaking Women Married to Japanese Men
This article introduces the book The Politics
of International Marriage in Japan, which
discusses life trajectories of marriage
migrants from the former Soviet Union(FSU) countries, Philippines and Westerncountries. The article focuses on Russianspeaking women from FSU countries whomarried Japanese men.
- Viktoriya Kim
Page 13

Editorial
Ensuring Inclusivity
In situations of crisis, exclusion of some members of society
from services and facilities that are meant to protect them andserve their needs occurs. In the current COVID-19 pandemic,
youth are eased out of education, employment and otheropportunities due to closure of schools and work places, andlockdowns. Similarly, some members of society suffer frominadequately disseminated information as well as prevention
measures that fail to consider their linguistic, cultural and social
conditions. Unless proper support is provided, the plight of thesemembers of society might worsen.
In non-crisis situations, exclusion occurs because of government
and public perception regarding certain physical conditions as
disadvantage. Despite lack of scientific basis, color visioncondition remains to be seen as a disadvantage that leads torevival of color vision testing in school. Such testing canpotentially and unfairly ruin the educational prospects ofstudents with color vision condition.
Ensuring inclusivity for everyone regardless of physical, sociocultural-linguistic and other conditions and statuses is still
difficult to achieve. As a result, safety, economic security andaccess to needed services of some people suffer. Even thoughunintended in some cases, this is still discrimination.

1

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICDECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Marginalized
Youth*
Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult EducationCOVID-19 has created an
unprecedented crisis
globally, disrupting the lives of
millions of individuals as wellas their families, economies andcommunities. Spanning
geographies, the crisis, which
was initially considered to be
only a health setback, rapidly
progressed into an
unprecedented social ande c o n o m i c d i s a s t e r. N e w s
e d i t o r i a l s , v i ra l r e t w e e t s ,government announcements
and Whatsapp forwards soon
began to reveal that at thecenter of this burgeoning
situation were those living on
the margins, including migrantlaborers, racial, ethnic andsexual minorities, persons withdisabilities, the homeless, thee l d e r l y, a n d l o w - i n c o m ewomen. In the Philippines, forinstance, the number of young
individuals reporting mental
health setbacks began to surge.1
The massive loss of livelihoods
and incomes, the uncertainty
associated with the availabilityof a vaccine in the market, andthe strict lockdown measures
enforced as part of the“Enhanced Community
Quarantine,” increased thenumber of calls received on thenational mental health hotline
five times. The archipelagic
nation already has among thehighest rates of depression in
the Southeast Asia region. In
Nepal, between 1.6 and 2.0

million jobs had been projected
to likely be disrupted amid the
pandemic-induced lockdown,2either with complete job loss or
reduced working hours andwages. In rural parts of India,
with only 4 percent ofhouseholds having access to theinternet,3 dropout rates among
school-going children havebeen on the rise ever since.
Even before the onset of thecrisis, the social and economic
integration of young people wasan ongoing challenge.
According to the Youth and
COVID-19 - Impacts on Jobs,
Education, Rights and Mental
Well-being, Survey Report 2020
published by the International
Labour Organization, 4 for
instance, of the young people
who were either studying or
combining study and work
before the onset of the crisis,
three-quarters experienced
school closures, yet not all wereable to transition into online
and distance learning. Indeed,
COVID-19 left one in eight
young people without any
access to courses, teaching or
training; a situation particularly
acute among youth in lowerincome countries and one thatserves to underline the sharpd i g i t a l d iv i d e s t h a t e x i s t
between regions. The pandemic
is also inflicting a heavy toll on
young workers, destroying theiremployment and undermining
their career prospects. One in2

six young people who were
employed before the outbreak,stopped working altogether,most notably younger workers
aged 18-24, and those inclerical support, services, sales,
crafts and related trades.
Meanwhile, in its COVID 19: A
threat to progress against childmarriage report, UNICEF
foresaw that over the next
decade up to ten million moregirls would be at risk of
becoming child brides as aresult of the pandemic. The riskof child marriage increases
through various pathways,
including economic shocks,
school closures andinterruptions in services.5 The
health pandemic, further
compounded by the extreme
disruption of learning, working
and marriage, has been
particularly hard on young
women, younger youth andyo u t h i n l o w e r- i n c o m ecountries.
Research Project
Steered by this extreme
destruction and uncertainty on
the one hand, and compellingstories of struggle and survivalof the youth on the other, thisstudy reports the findings fromthe Youth-led Action Research( YA R ) o n t h e i m p a c t o f
C OV I D - 1 9 p a n d e m i c o nmarginalized youth. It was
conducted by the Asia SouthFOCUS ASIA-PACIFICDECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106

Pacific Association for Basic andAdult Education (ASPBAE) andits member-organizations innine countries including India,
Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,
Indonesia, the Philippines,
Mongolia, Timor-Leste andVanuatu between May andAugust 2020. This research wasundertaken at the time when the
C OV I D - 1 9 p a n d e m i c h a d
rapidly progressed into an
economic crisis. The main
objective of this participatory
action-research study was tocapture the immediate effects ofthe pandemic on the lives ofmarginalized youth with respect
to their employment, education,
mental and physical health, andtodocument
their
recommendations. By doing so,
ASPBAE aims to engage theyouth with the local community,
through member-organizations,in its advocacy efforts. This canfurther influence policy andpractice-change discourses.

different countries to stay
informed about the unfolding
pandemic and its short-term andlong-term implications. At atime when fieldwork had to beeither halted or postponed dueto the stringent lockdown
measures, it was thecommunity-based participatory
action research framework of
the study that enabled thegrassroot youth researchers tounearth an insider’s view of thecrisis. The study thus provides
crucial information on how the
pandemic affected the lives ofyoung people in marginalized
communities
andneighborhoods from groundz e r o . Th e r e s e a r ch a l s odocumented the volunteer workthat young people initiated tohelp their communities in thetime of the pandemic.

Given the ground-up, fieldaction-research model, a large
proportion of the voices
documented as part of the study
belonged to those youth situatedat the fringes, previously
unheard and undocumented
g iv e n t h e b r o a d e r s o c i o economic and digital divides.
Previous study has shown usthat a crisis like the COVID-19
pandemic can have protracted
and severe consequences foryounger populations, who are
already starting to be termed the“lockdown generation.”6

The shutdown of schools andcolleges has affected millions ofpoor students, and evidence
suggests that for countries withlow learning outcomes, a large
number of school dropouts, andinsufficient infrastructure, theimpact will be far morenegative. In Bangladesh, forinstance, students participatingin the YAR study stated that theclosure of educational
institutions coupled withinadequate access to
information had led to a rise instress and trauma. In South
Sulawesi in Indonesia, too,
students said that the closure ofschools had an impact on theirsocial activities. In addition, theyouth also gestured towards a
crucial problem that had been
underestimated while making
the switch: the digital divide.

This youth-led study focused onfour areas of impacts on young
people: namely, education,
livelihood, health and wellbeing. It also brings to focus thevarious sources of information
used by the youth in the nine

Research Findings
1. No Schools, No Screens

3

While the digital divide has
existed from before, the
COVID-19 pandemic and thesudden transition of schools toonline education has only
further exacerbated the
problem. Living in remote areas
has meant that despite the will
to study further, students havenot been able to access theirclassrooms owing to problems
of internet connectivity andelectricity. This problem ofdigital divide is fairly universal
across the nine countries
covered by this study. For theorphaned youth interviewed in
Mongolia, for instance, thetransition into televised schools
has meant a complete halt totheir academic pursuits, since
the orphanage did not have atelevision set. According to the
2017-2018 National Sample
Survey report on education,
only 24 percent of Indian
households have an internet
connection, and more than 36
percent of schools operate
without electricity. Thus, for
Pooja Pakhane, a student from
Boripada in India, the lack ofinternet network at home, hasmeant that she has had to either
climb a mountain in her village
or scurry around to find corners
with limited connectivity.
2. Loss of Labor and Livelihood
Another key impact of the lossof livelihood has been felt by
the youth from the larger
international migrant-sending
countries, including thePhilippines, Vanuatu, Timor
Leste and Sri Lanka. The sudden
closure of their work units andfactories in host countries on
the one hand, and the sealing of
the international border on theother, left these youth workers
stranded, unemployed andFOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
vulnerable on international soil.
Sri Lankan laborers stranded in
Gulf nations sent desperate
appeals to the government toensure their safe return. In India,
too, repatriation flights had
been launched to bring backI n d i a n c i t i z e n s e m p l oye dabroad. At the same time, theloss of livelihoods coupled withincreased economic stress hasreportedly led to a rise incriminal activities across thevarious countries. The youth
respondents from Vanuatu
pointed to the rise of thefts, drug
peddling and fights in theircountry during this period.
3. Soaring Mental and PhysicalStress
The restricted physical mobility
and the pressing need to stayindoors without any social
interactions and experiences,
has further intensified otheranxieties. Fifteen-year-old Earl
Joshua Santos, a Class 9 student
in the Philippines, said, “Thepandemic has affected me
greatly. In terms of physical[condition], I feel weakening of
my muscles because our
movement has been limited.
Mentally, it is stressful.” Santos
further added, “Though I find itvery hard to just stay at home, I
try not to get out of the house
because I am also worried that I
would be infected with the
COVID virus outside. The news
on the number of positive casesand deaths are very scary.”
4. Increase in gender andsexuality-based violence at
home
In addition to fear of the virus
and uncertain future, someyouth also spoke about how the“home” touted as the “safespace” in almost all

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
conversations centered on the
pandemic, was in fact, a placeof great distress and trauma. In
Nepal, a young female
respondent named Rama said
that the extent of domestic
violence in her house had
increased during the lockdown
period. Rama said, “I have seen
the family dispute for more than
two months because of poverty,
and my father always drinks
alcohol and quarrels with mymother... When my parents
quarrel, they often beat me. It
was very difficult for me to stayin such a situation.” Rama,therefore, decided to get
m a r r i e d . Th e C OV I D - 1 9
pandemic has thus led to theadvent of another sinister
pandemic: an alarming increase
in all forms of gender-based
violence during these
unprecedented times, alongwith an increase in the numberof early and child marriages. In
addition, Nepal has also
witnessed a perceptible spike inthe number of suicide cases
among the youth. Similar
responses of anxiety and despair
were cited by youth from sexual
minority groups, where family
members were at loggerheads
on sexual orientation issue. Thism a d e i t d i f fi c u l t f o r t h emembers of the sexual minority
groups to stay indoors with theirfamilies for so long.
5. Battling Fake NewsOne of the grave challenges ofa c c e s s i n g “ u n o f fi c i a l ”
information through social
media and other internet
websites, was the overwhelming
presence of fake news reports,
both on the health aspects ofthe virus and on other social
matters. The youth from Sri
Lanka are a case in point.

4

According to some of the
respondents, some posts onsocial media were directly
accusing certain ethnic groupsof deliberate spread of the virus.
These unverified claims andr u m o r- m o n g e r i n g l e d t ocommunal disharmony andexchange. The youth from themarginalized groups also wereat the receiving end ofcyberbullying and harassment
online. The fake news stories
exchanged on chat messaging
applications, in particular, also
contributed to the increased
stigma surrounding the
COVID-19 virus.
Thus, even as the COVID-19
virus initially began as a healthconcern, it has over timetransformed into a serious
social, cultural, economic andpolitical issue, affecting the livesof millions of youth, day in andday out. Its implications,although still unraveling, arepredicted to be far and wide.
During this research study, theYAR youth groups attempted tounderstand the different
dimensions of the youth inadversity, engage them more
effectively to influence policy
and practice, and challenge
existing discourse. They offered
recommendations which canhelp pave the way forward.
Apart from recommending freehigher education while ensuringsafety of students and educators,
youth
groupsalso
recommended the government
to build policies to bridge thedigital divide. In collaboration
with civil society and otherrelevant partners, thegovernment should focus moreon creating local job
opportunities and provide
incentives, loans or funds toFOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
youths who are willing toventure into small scalebusiness. With the increase inindoor violence based on
gender and sexuality, youthg r o u p s u r g e d g ove r n m e n tbodies to lay down strict laws
and policies and implement
them at the earliest. On issues
related to fake news and rumors
being spread through it, youth
groups recommended thegovernment to keep an eye onsuch platforms and take strict
action against them. In a bid toensure that their researchfindings also serve as a means togive back to the vulnerable
communities, the youth
members have been pursuingtheir action plans.
The Way Forward
Based
on
the
key
recommendations offered by
YAR youth groups in each of themember-organizations, thefollowing broader themes andideas have emerged to pave theway forward:
1. Make higher education free
and accessible to everyone
and safely restart schools,
colleges, community
learning centers at theearliest, with priority
attention to ensuring thehealth and safety of students
and educators, while
ensuring that quality second
chance education andprograms are instituted for
those unable to go back toschool for a variety ofchallenges and constraints;
2. G o v e r n m e n t s s h o u l dimplement and promote
policies that bridge thedigital divide and movecountries closer to achieving
their
Sustainable
Development Goals;

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
3. In collaboration with civilsociety and other relevant
partners, the government
should aim to create more
local job opportunities byengaging more youth inskills for work and life
programs, including suchareas as information andc o m m u n i c a t i o ntechnologies, sexual andreproductive health rights,
and volunteerism;
4. Government should provide
incentives, loans or funds toyouths who are willing toventure into small scalebusiness;
5. Government should pay
special attention toaddressing gender issues andparticularly combating
gender-based violence andearly marriage that has been
intensifying during the
pandemic and the
lockdown;
6. Government should design
and build inclusive
education infrastructure
including community
learning centers at themunicipal and local levels;
7. G o v e r n m e n t
incollaboration with relevant
stakeholders should create
safe social spaces for youth
to socialize and work
together in order toovercome loneliness andanxiety associated with the
pandemic;
8. Government should keep acheck on media channels
and portals disseminating
information related to thepandemic and related
policies and plans. Strict
action should be initiatedagainst those media
spreading fake news andrumors.

* This is an edited excerpt of thereport entitled “Youth-led Action
Research on The Impact ofC O V I D - 1 9 Pa n d e m i c o n
M a r g i n a l i s e d Yo u t h –Consolidated Research Study
Report 2020” available atwww.aspbae.org/userfiles/2021/
YAR_Impact_COVID-19_Margin
alisedYouth_1.pdf.
T h e A s i a S o u t h P a c i fi c
Association for Basic and AdultE d u c a t i o n ( A S P BA E ) i s aregional network of more than
two hundred civil society
organizations and individuals
operating in around thirty
countries of the Asia-Pacific.
ASPBAE works towards
promoting the right to quality
education and transformativeand liberating lifelong adulteducation and learning for all.
For further information, pleasecontact: Asia South Pacific
Association for Basic And Adult
Education, Unit 106, Sterten
Place Condominium, 116
Maginhawa Street, Teachers
Village East, Diliman, Quezon
City 1101, Philippines; ph/fax:(632) 441 4594; e-mail:aspbae@gmail.com;
www.aspbae.org.

Endnotes
1 S e e M a l i n d o g - U y, A . ,"COVID-19 Impact on Mental
Health of Filipino," The ASEAN
Post, 19 July 2020, available at:https://theaseanpost.com/article/
covid-19-impact-mental-healthfilipinos.
2 COVID-19 labour market impact
in Nepal, ILO, www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/--ro-bangkok/---ilo-kathmandu/(Continued on page 15)

5

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICDECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106

Reaching out to Pacific People
Julia Ioane, Teuila Percival, Winnie Laban, Ian Lambie

P

andemics affect everyone insociety; however, theirimpact differs across individuals
and groups and is heavily
i n fl u e n c e d by t h e s o c i a l ,economic, and political
determinants of health.
Populations alreadyexperiencing health disparities
will be the most vulnerable
during a pandemic. Pacificcommunities in Aotearoa New
Zealand (NZ) share a collective
worldview where they are eitherborn in and/or have ancestral
links to Polynesia1, Micronesia,
or Melanesia in the South
Pacific alongside spiritual andreligious affiliation. They arealso seen to be highly
vulnerable and a high needs
population with social andeconomic disparities prior to
the arrival of COVID-19. We
believe that the success of apandemic outcome should bemeasured by how well its mostdisadvantaged groups fare andthereby we focus on the need toinclude cultural processes andinterventions when working
with Pacific, indigenous andethnic minority communities.
As practitioners and researchers
we know that inequity anddisparity remain among thesevulnerable yet resilient
population groups. We focus on
how to address thevulnerabilities that endure.
Impact of COVID-19
As COVID-19 came to Aotearoa
NZ, Pacific leaders in thec o m m u n i t y, a g e n c i e s a n dgovernment such as Ministry ofPacific Peoples came together,creating a number of culturally
specific initiatives to support
Pacific people. Yet, in our
experience, these initiatives
sometimes struggled to reachthe heart of communities, as the“all-of-government” response
had difficulty reaching the “allof-community” Pacific frontline.
For example, much of the
public-health communication
was available online, a format
that inadvertently eliminatedmany Pacific communities.
Research shows Pacific people
are affected by digital
exclusion, with the lowest levelof internet access at home,when compared with other
non-Pacific ethnicities. Our
direct experience with Pacificcommunities confirms this
digital divide. We also foundthat many of our Pacific clientsand communities consequently
minimized concerns for theirown health, believing that
medical help was only for thosew i t h C OV I D - 1 9 , o r t h e yavoided vital treatment of theirhealth conditions, due toungrounded fear of COVID-19
infection risk at medical
facilities. In addition, Pacificcommunities were immediately
at risk because restrictions ofphysical contact were in directconflict with cultural practices
and protocols that identify andmaintain the survival of many
Pacific communities. Social andeconomic disparities were also

6present particularly when
physical distancing is required
yet Pacific families live in large
and overcrowded homes.
Secondly, abandoning mass
gathering was not easy whenchurch remains a major
influence and support for
Pacific families. Thirdly, thenotion of staying home wasanother requirement thoughh o m e f o r m a n y P a c i fi ccommunities can refer to anumber of different households.
Central to Pacific people is their
responsibility to family
members in other physicalhouseholds with regular careand interaction with them. As
t h e C OV I D - 1 9 p a n d e m i cpersists, a one-size-fits-all
approach, that tends to be froma digitally connected, westernworldview is neither
appropriate nor equitable for
Pacific communities
The
following priorities aresuggested as a framework to
support Pacific communities
during a pandemic and beyond.
We believe that it can also beshared with indigenous andother collective communities
throughout the globe.
Priority One: Utilize Pacificknowledge, practice andprotocols
Pacific cultures have their own
worldviews and knowledge thathave led to their resilience
across generations and ensured
their survival in previous
epidemics. Working within an

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
overarching framework thatincorporates Pacific indigenous
knowledge and perspectives
will promote and enablecommunity survival. Despite theh e t e r o g e n e i t y o f Pa c i fi ccommunities, fundamental
principles are similar, includingo u r c o l l e c t ive wo r l dv i e w,
relational identity, and values
such as respect, love, humility
and reciprocity, that haveparticular meanings andprotocols in Pacific versus nonPacific cultures. For example,
one of the principles is toensure people are safe andsupported during crises. Most
support, however, is offered
online via the internet or
telephone, which, as noted,
inadvertently excludes Pacificcommunities. Issues for Pacificdissemination of information are
therefore two-fold: firstly, thel a ck o f a c c e s s t o d i g i t a linformation and, secondly, lossof the traditional and valued
method of engagement that is
face-to-face. However, we
believe that this traditional
method can still be carried out
by essential services who havean opportunity to engage faceto-face - yet safely - with
communities during apandemic. This is what ourvulnerable communities need.
With appropriate protective
equipment to minimize risk,
services can actively seek tosupport the welfare of Pacificfamilies and draw on theprinciples of respect andreciprocity: respect by
understanding who to engage
w i t h i n t h e f a m i l y, a n dreciprocity by bringing
something to assist in building
rapport. Appropriate culturaltraining is essential to ensurethat the interaction is perceived
as genuine; there can be an

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
understandable mistrust of “thesystem” that has often judged or
failed us, and experiences of
e n t r e n ch e d ra c i s m w i t h i nhealthcare. Pacific families are
more likely to engage withservices if there is a connectionthat is based on more than anarrow western definition ofrelationship; the messenger
delivering the health message iskey. Pacific providers who haveestablished relationships anda c c o u n t a b i l i t y t o Pa c i fi ccommunities are critical, andpartnering with church or faithgroups with messaging mayhelp to ensure Pacific families
are informed and continue tofeel connected.

more importantly, considerable
efforts made to provide
employment, housing, andfinancial support to empowerfamilies toward future
independent and sustainableoutcomes. This must be within aculturally appropriate
framework of engagement witha vision for sustainable future
outcomes and community selfdetermination across the entire
community. Pacific communities
can and should be partners inthis sustained response.

Priority Two: Prioritize theprovision of food, shelter,
warmth, care, and planning fornatural disasters

M e s s a g e s t o P a c i fi ccommunities during COVID-19
and post-recovery should draw
on indigenous knowledge andlanguages. At present, most
COVID-19 messages are online,
via the Ministry of Healthwebsite and social media
platforms, or via radio/TV (witha TV broadcast in Pacificlanguages during lockdown
only twice-weekly versus daily
English-language briefings). As
noted, Pacific communities havethe lowest level of internet
access at home in Aotearoa NZ.
The Ministry of Health worked
with church communities todisseminate information of
COVID-19. Church leaders
united online to talanoa2 andseek ways to support one
another in the community. A
social media campaign was also
launched “We got your back
Aotearoa” led by key Pacificmembers and leaders
encouraging and educating our
Pacific communities.

The prioritization of basic needs
throughout a pandemic andpost-recovery is critical in
reducing the mobility among
vulnerable communities that
increases the spread of
COVID-19. Socioeconomicallydisadvantaged Pacific families
need food, financial help, andemploym en t o r e d u c a t i o n
assistance. The ubiquity of
online resources in the learningneeds of children and to keep
families informed about
COVID-19 and external support
mean digital exclusion must be
addressed. We know Pacificparents who have lost jobs ortheir hours have been reduced,
resulting in their children
leaving secondary school or
tertiary education for full-time
employment to help meet thefamily’s basic needs. It is crucial
that a planned and targeteda p p r o a ch t o p r ov i s i o n o fpractical help remains and,7

Priority Three: Educate toprevent and eliminate virus
spread immediately, using all
forms of communication

Many resources were distributedby an “all of government”

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
approach to provide targeted
support and services to Pacificcommunities. Health messages
were translated appropriately
into Pacific languages withvideos and daily radio
broadcasts on Pacific radio
stations drawing on theexpertise of Pacific language
experts and clinicians. In
addition to this, we also suggest
the use of spirituality and/or
religious beliefs to contextualize
the messages, e.g., “Stay safewith Jesus in our bubbles.” This
style of message portrays staying
safe in one’s own household
bubble, at the same time
acknowledging the “bubbles”
that the whole community live
within, and drawing on areligious context to reinforce themessage. Disseminating
messages via print should also
be considered, to reach all ourcommunities given the digital
disparity that exists.
Priority Four: Vaccination andtesting for COVID-19
It may seem that vaccinationand testing for COVID-19
should be the first priority, but
without being grounded in a
Pacific worldview (Priority 1),
basic needs being addressed(Priority 2), and appropriate
information understood about
the communal need for
vaccination and testing (Priority3), it is harder to achieve. The
history of disease and pandemic
among Pacific communities andWestern countries is marredwith mistrust and betrayal, deathand destruction for decades from the influenza epidemic(1918-1919), that infected
Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Nauru,
to the lethal measles outbreak in
Samoa in 2019, that was
attributed to someone travelling

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
from Aotearoa NZ. Resistance to
COVID-19 vaccination andtests, based on historical fears
and biases, can only be
mediated through appropriate
Pacific protocols of engagement
and ease of accessibility toservices.
Successful solutions for the
Pa c i fi c c o m m u n i t i e s f o rvaccinations and testing
included a Pacific-led and run
COVID-19 CBAC (Community
Based Assessment Centre)
establishment. This CBAC wasalso unique in responding toPacific needs by providing foodparcels from its own dedicatedfood hubs.
Stories from thefrontline include tremendous
community-led efforts withlocal Pacific social service
providers working with thecommunity to increasevaccination and testing rates.
Widespread vaccination andtesting is strongly recommended
with mobile testing clinics able
to visit families in their homes
to provide vaccinations, testingand information.
Priority Five: Partner with thecommunity to provide robustinterventions and gather data todeal with unintended outcomesof family violence, poor mental
health and harm, and substanceabuse
Given the collective worldview
of Pacific communities, it is to
be expected that the impact of
COVID-19 will undoubtedly
affect our overall health, that
includes physical, mental andspiritual wellbeing, alongsidefamily foundation and culturals t a b i l i t y. W h i l e Pa c i fi ccommunities are known forresilience and connectedness,the risk of family violence and8harm, poor mental health andsubstance abuse are heightenedby the economic and social
impacts of COVID-19. The bestand safest way to respond tothese risks is with thedevelopment of robust
prevention and education plans.
A large portion of at-risk Pacificfamilies will have had theirsupport services revert to online
services during lockdowns,
making independent monitoring
and face-to-face support nol o n g e r av a i l a b l e . Th i s i sparticularly alarming where
there are family violence andm e n t a l h e a l t h i s s u e s . We
believe that face-to-facecontact, with safety measures, iseven more important as
COVID-19 consequences build.
For example, police, as an
essential service, can engage ina community partnership withPacific service providers andchurches, to conduct homev i s i t s w i t h i n a c u l t u ra l l yappropriate framework, andprovide prevention and earlyintervention. Furthermore, risk
may appear for families who
have never needed social andwelfare support. This needs tobe managed with Pacific-led
sensitivity and respect, as well
as safety.
Following the development ofinterventions with thec o m m u n i t y, i t i s e q u a l l yimportant to formally andindependently evaluate suchprograms to inform social policy
and enhance current practice.
Th e e va l u a t i o n o f Pa c i fi c
programs and their outcomesare crucial for the sustainability
a n d w e l l b e i n g o f Pa c i fi ccommunities.
However, we
also believe that data gathering
techniques must also beprioritized in an evaluation. The

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
way in which data are gathered
and the ethnic identification of
Pa c i fi c c o m m u n i t i e s h ave
remained problematic, andprevent clearly tracking healthstatus and the development ofsubsequent interventions. A
robust data-gathering strategy,
for example, that uses
appropriate cultural protocols(respect, relationship) andarticulates the authentic
nuances of diverse communities(island-born/NZ-born; Samoan/
Tongan etc.; church-focused/lessso, etc.) is needed forthoughtfully targeteda p p r o a ch e s . F u r t h e r m o r e ,enhanced technology (andaccess to it) that includes
q u a l i t y, w e l l - t r a n s l a t e deducation for Pacific people islikely to improve quality of careand increase opportunities for
empowerment and selfdetermination.
Priority Six: Implement
solutions that are culturally
appropriate and long-lasting toensure Pacific communities are
empowered to thrive andflourish in Aotearoa NZ
While there is an “all-ofg ove r n m e n t a p p r o a ch ” t omanaging COVID-19, Pacificpeople need an “all-ofcommunity approach” to work
alongside families for short-term
solutions (e.g., food andaccommodation security) andequally important long-term
solutions (e.g., employment,
physical and psychologicalhealth security and spiritual
wellbeing). Planning with
community leaders, with ourm o s t v u l n e r a b l e Pa c i fi ccommunities in mind, isneeded. This includes working
within the mindset of families
with limited or no access to

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
digital resources and capability,
low or no employment income,diverse Pacific family make-up(e.g., elders and young in one
household and/or new
migrants), disconnection from
cultural and spiritual support orlimited community support.
Working with these significant
risk factors and inequities willallow for more realistic plans ofsupport. This will require
representatives withingovernment sectors to workwith community and faith-basedorganizations to visit andcontact families directly todetermine needs and expected
outcomes for current and future
wellbeing.
Conclusion
A response to COVID-19 for
P a c i fi c a n d v u l n e r a b l ecommunities requires theprovision of health-promotion
messages that incorporate
health inequities and social
justice principles by undertaking
a holistic approach that is notconfined to a western definitionof health needs and includes(though not limited to) faithbased and spiritual context. An“all-of-community” approach
responds
totherecommendation that a bestpractice plan for COVID-19 andbeyond requires transparency inthe decision-making process.
Community involvement ismore likely to provide thistransparency and build andsustain Pacific confidence andtrust in government. Consonantwith the Pacific collective
wo r l dv i e w, i f s u p p o r t f o r
families can transition to selfsufficiency, this will result in
more sustainable outcomes forcommunities. The successful
management and elimination of

9

a pandemic should be assessedby h o w w e l l Pa c i fi c a n dvulnerable communities survive
during such crises and beyond.
Fo r t h e f u l l a r t i c l e a n dreferences please refer to Ioane,
J., Percival, T., Laban, W., &Lambie, I. (2021), “All-ofcommunity by all-ofgovernment: reaching Pacificpeople in Aotearoa New
Zealand during the COVID-19
pandemic.” The New Zealand
Medical Journal (Online),
134(1533), 96-7.
Retrieve
from: All-of-community by allof-government: reaching Pacificpeople in Aotearoa New
Zealand during the COVID-19
pandemic - ProQuest.
Julia Ioane (Samoan) is a senior
C l i n i c a l P s y ch o l o g i s t a n d
Associate Professor at Massey
University; Teuila Percival(Samoan) is a Consultant
Paediatrician and Senior lecturer
at University of Auckland;
Luamanuvao Dame Winnie
Laban (Samoan) is Assistant Vice
Chancellor (Pasifika) at Te
Herenga Waka, Victoria
University of Wellington and a
New Zealand Member ofParliament from 1999 to 2010;
Ian Lambie (Scottish) is
Professor in Clinical Psychology
at the University of Auckland
and Chief Science Advisor for
the Justice Sector, New Zealand
Government.
For more information, pleasecontact: Julia Ioane, School of
Psychology, Massey University,
Auckland, New Zealand; e-mail:j.ioane@massey.ac.nz.

(Continued on page 15)

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICDECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106

Color Vision Diversity – Towards Wider Recognition ofColor Vision Minority
Hiroaki Oie

T

he current medical term
“achromatopsia” or theformer term “color-blindness” isunderstood by many people as“inferior color vision” or an“inability to distinguish colors.”
To explain the condition, I use
the term, “minority color
vision” or the person with thecondition, “color vision
minority.” It is a condition or
people with a condition thatm ay m a k e i t d i f fi c u l t t odistinguish between particularcolors, but enables discovery ofthings that many people may be
missing.
Research in color vision or
sensation has made tremendous
progress in the 21st century
revealing that color vision ofhuman species was an aspect ofits diversity. Discoveries weremade in color visions of species
other than humans as well.
Color vision diversity is also
found in New World monkeys
living in Central and SouthAmerica. Professor Shoji
Kawamura of Tokyo University
confirmed that monkeys withminority color vision were notinconvenienced by theirconditions in fruit foraging. On
the contrary, they were adept at
finding camouflaged insects andsmall animals for food, andthese special skills in locating
food further increased in thedark. This suggested that it wasadvantageous to have minority
color vision in the group.

School Tests and Education
Later, through development ofcivilization, human beings wereable to create colors, classify
them, put names on them anduse them as a means ofc o m m u n i c a t i o n . Pe o p l e
subsequently realized that there
were some who found it
difficult to distinguish somecolors which many other people
did with ease. Since around theend of the 19th century when
the colors red and green wereadopted for railway signals, thecondition was considered
problematic, as “it was
dangerous when someone
cannot distinguish the signal
colors,” and color-blind tests
were introduced. In those days,
a color-blind person meant “aperson with color vision thatshould be excluded fromrailway operations.” Strict tests
were conducted and people
with the condition were
excluded from railways andshipping.
At the beginning of the Meiji
era, Japan introduced the colorblind test along with the railway
and testing was started
following the western practice.
During this period, under theslogan of creating a "richcountry, strong army" and withthe rise of the eugenics ideology
people were placed in ahierarchical order and groups ofpeople were created and10excluded, such as people with
Hansen's disease. Color vision
minorities, who until then were
unnoticed, were labeled“people with inferior color
vision,” and were deemedunqualified for any job thatinvolved colors. Everyone in the
country was required to betested for color-blindness before
choosing their occupation, andthe system of testing all children
in the former primary school
started in 1921. The test not
only led to the exclusion ofcolor vision minorities, but also
to the reproduction and spreadof misperceptions regardingcolor vision.
The testing system continued
after World War II, and the
misconceptions were taught indetail in school. In the 1950s, aJapanese junior secondary
school textbook on health andphysical education used a
genetic diagram to explain“how a color-blind boy is bornfrom non-color-blind parents.”
The female genetic carrier
would be explained as being“healthy in appearance,” andthe textbook admonishes
readers to do a backgroundcheck before marriage on theintended bride. Because people
with these conditions may“reduce the efficiency of theoccupation and harm social
development” when they takeup an inappropriate
employment, the textbook gives

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
a list of “unsuitable
occupations.”
Since the Meiji era, theseteachings were taught among
teachers, doctors as well as athome, and even today quite anumber of people still believethat people with anomalouscolor vision are those “whoperceive red and green as
identical colors,” “who are
ineligible for a driver’s license,”or “who have a rarea b n o r m a l i t y.” S i n c e t h e n ,people with achromatopsia
increasingly faced policies suchas exclusion from employment
in the public service,ineligibility for various
q u a l i fi c a t i o n s , r e f u s a l o f
employment in companies andof enrolment in schools. By theend of the 20th century, Japan
became an extremely intolerant
country for color vision
minorities that was unparalleledin the world.
In Europe and North America,
minority color vision isc o ns id er e d “an ext remel ylimited difference” and there are
no prejudices or perceptions ofbeing “inferior.” A famous
British expert on color vision
explained to a mother who

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
brought her child out of concern
for color vision that the test
showed that child had
hereditary color vision. The
mother said, “So, it is something
I inherited from my father. That
is why the child has difficultywith some colors. I understand,”and she left reassured with nonegative perceptions about thedifference in color vision. It isvery different from Japan.
Abolition and Reintroduction of
Uniform TestingI n 2 0 0 1 , t h e g ove r n m e n t
declared that the majority of
those who have been diagnosed
with anomalous color vision
was not disadvantaged in theirwork by their condition, andthat there were many cases ofenterprises unnecessarily
restricting their employment.
The color vision test was
dropped from the required
testing items in the healthexamination
beforeemployment, finally putting acurb on the spread of themisperceptions. The uniform
testing in schools was abolishedin 2003.
However, calls for testing inschools reemerged around2014. The Ophthalmologists
Association argues that tests inschools are “a good opportunity
to inform the children aboutoccupations that are currently
restricting hiring of color-blindp e o p l e ,” a n d t h a t e a r l y
guidance should be provided forchildren with the “abnormality.”
The Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology changed course inthat direction, and issued a
confusing notice saying that
although color vision tests wereabolished, the Ministry
recommended getting tested.
The notice was understood as
an order, and since 2016,
recommendations for tests
spread rapidly nationwide.
Children and their parents were
tested without any
understanding about color
vision diversity.
The method used for testing is
the well-known Ishihara Testp l a t e s . I t wa s a g l o b a l l yacclaimed testing method that
could identify anomalous color
vision with high accuracy at thetime when it was believed that“even people suspected withcolor-blindness should be
excluded.” But the method also
identifies people with color
vision that is not very different
from the majority population.
The reasons for abolishing thetests are being forgotten, andmany people are given career
guidance based on the test
results alone. As expected, I
received reports of many tearfulparents and children having
been diagnosed as “abnormal”
and given guidance.
Fa i r h i r i n g s t a n d a r d s a r efounded on providing widea c c e s s t o e m p l oy m e n t t oapplicants. Occupational

11

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
aptitude assessments should be
conducted on the abilities
necessary for the work. Aptitude
tests for pilots using computer
analysis for assessment havebeen developed overseas. It issaid that the results may becompletely different from thoseusing test plates.
Also, career guidance issomething that should be
provided systematically in thecourse of education in a manner
appropriate for the various
developmental stages, and it isproblematic when it is given
focusing on one particularphysical characteristic. In
particular, primary school
children for whom it is too early
to choose an occupation should
not be diagnosed as being“abnormal” and be given career
guidance based on the
diagnosis. It will mean denying
the possibility of review or
improvement of the current
employment restrictions andmaking them accept theserestrictions unconditionally. This
goes against the ideals of the
Act for Eliminating
Discrimination against Persons
with Disabilities enacted in2016, when the tests were being
reintroduced, and would lead toa violation of the freedom tochoose an occupation protectedby the Constitution.
Shikikaku Gakushu (Color
Vision Learning) Color Mates
Because of the above situation,
there are many angry voices
calling for an end to the tests
themselves and the test plates.
But it is inconceivable that them i s p e rc e p t i o n a n d s o c i a ldivision regarding color vision
minorities in this country will
disappear just by abolishing the

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
tests. Indeed, it took little
more than ten years after
they were abolished thatthe color-blind tests were
swiftly reintroduced. Thereis a deep-rooted
perception that these tests
are necessary. “Normal
color vision” is stillrequired by law for train
driving license in Japanand diagnosis is still being
done using only the test
plates.
The deeply rooted
misconception will not
vanish when left alone.
Te a c h e r s a n d f o r m e rteachers have cometogether to create teachingmaterials for children andparents to learn about
differences in color vision andtests before they receive notices
for tests from the school anddecide whether to take them ornot. This group is the Color
Mates. Believing that it is thechildren and their parents thatare in most need of accurate
knowledge, we published two
kinds of comic books at ourown expense (はじめて色覚にであう本/Hajimete Shikikaku ni
Deau Hon [First Encounter with
Color Vision] and 検査のまえによむ色覚の本/Kensa no Mae ni
Yo m u S h i k i k a k u n o H o n[Booklet on Color Vision to be
Read before Testing]).
In July 2021, we translated achildren’s book published in the
United States, ERIK the REDsees GREEN – A Story about
Color Blindness1 and published
it asエリックの赤・緑/Erikku
no Aka / Midori.2 The book is
about the protagonist withminority color vision finding
solutions to his life together
with his classmates. It also has

12

explanatory comments forparents. We hope you will pick
it up and read it.
Hiroaki Oie has color visioncondition. He is a former
secondary school teacher andthe representative of Shikikaku
Gakushu Color Mate.
For further information, please
visit: Shikikaku Gakushu Color
Mate, https://color-mate.net/(in Japanese language only).

Endnotes
1 Authored by Julie Anderson andDavid Lopez, Albert Whitman &Company, 2013.
2 Watch video about the book at
https://color-mate.net/book.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICDECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106

International Marriage in Japan: Russian-Speaking
Women Married to Japanese Men
Viktoriya Kim

In this article I introduce myco-authored book, The Politics
of International Marriage inJapan, which focuses on
unraveling the web of historical,
governmental, and cultural
influences on international
couples. The book discusses life
trajectories of marriage migrants
in Japan from different regions(former Soviet Union, Asia/
Philippines and the West), andhere I focus on Russianspeaking women from former
Soviet Union (FSU) countries
who married Japanese men.

International marriages in Japangrew rapidly in the past two
decades (Figure 1). One of thelarge groups of marriage
migrants are women from FSU—mainly, Russia, Ukraine,
Belarus, Kazakhstan,

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
There are no exact estimates of
Russian-speaking females
married to Japanese men.
However, there were 16,310
nationals (9,318 or 57 percent
females)fromtheabovementioned countries,
among these 1,450 were“spouse of Japanese national”
and 5,459 “permanent resident”
status holders (E-Stat: Portal Siteof Official Statistics of Japan
2020b). Since many foreign
spouses acquire permanent
residence after at least three
years of marriage and residence
in Japan, and women constituteabout sixty percent among
these, I estimate that there wereapproximately 3,500-4,000(50-60 percent) FSU female
marriage migrants in 2019.
Pa t h s t o M a r r i a g e s w i t hJapanese Men
From the 1990s, unions between
FSU women and Japanese men
grew, driven by the collapse of
the USSR, which resulted in thefreedom of movement to andfrom post-Soviet countries. One
of several paths where FSU
women and Japanese men met
was a consequence of theentertainment industry in Japanthat attracted large numbers of
Slavic FSU women. Alongside
this was the spread of marriage
introduction agencies and theirdevelopment into internet datingsites. According to estimates,

Figure 1. Trends in International Marriages in Japan, created by Kim basedon E-Stat: Portal Site of Official Statistics of Japan (2020a)

13

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
there were at least three hundred
marriage agencies in Russia that
operated or had online presence(Ryazantsev and Sivoplyasova2019). An alternative pathoriginated from the increased
presence of Japanese businesses
and tourists in FSU countries andincreasing interest in Japanese
language and culture among
Russian-speaking people.
Ryazantsev and Sivoplyasova(2019) point that “Russian wives”
became a special sociocultural
phenomenon, usually describing
Slavic women from post-Soviet
countries. “Russian wives” arecharacterized by theirorientation toward husband andchildren; readiness to give up
career for family; ability to
manage household, which are
attractive traits for foreign
grooms. On the other hand,
Russian women are attracted toforeign men for their image as
being able to support the family
financially, leading a healthy
lifestyle and not being addicted
to alcohol (Ryazantsev andSivoplyasova 2020).
Spousal Choices
One of the findings is that theplace where the relationshipwas initiated—Japan or overseas—significantly shaped couples’
decisions on where to live andhow to organize theirhouseholds. As such, the major
reasons for couples that met
overseas to settle in Japan were
economic and familial
responsibilities. Many spouses
considered that the husband’s
earning power and the qualityof life would be better in Japan.
Most of the FSU wives were
either homemakers or worked
part-time, while their husbands
were the main breadwinners.

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
Even though there were cases
where Japanese men could
speak foreign languages andhad experience working
overseas, in the majority ofcases, Japan was chosen as thecountry of settlement due to thehusband’s career and theperceived lack of opportunities
i n wo m e n ’s c o u n t r i e s . I ncontrast, couples that met in
Japan were often a result of FSU
women’s involvement in theJapanese entertainment industry,
with many women and theirhusbands reporting no priorintentions to marry foreign
nationals. Women in suchmarriages were more or lessfamiliar with life in Japan andwere willing to settle here.
Love
The book also addresses thequestion of love and its various
representations. The focus here
was not on the existence of
genuine love, but theromanticized view of love andconcerns of authenticity, often
imposed by the immigration
regime and popular media. Even
though there were individual
wives in constrained family
situations, most still claimed tohave romantic feelings toward
their spouses. As such, FSU
wives voiced the security thatJapanese men represented andthe trust in their family support,
contrasting with men back intheir home countries. Others
claimed that the abundance ofbeautiful women in the FSU
made it hard to compete for thesmaller number of men thatwould provide them with thefamily life they imagined. Being
chosen from among other
women by the future (Japanese)
husband was a perfect scenario
for them to fall in love. As for

14

Japanese husbands and theirreasons for choosing an FSU
wife, one participant pointed
out that he was attracted to theidea that his wife was not too
traditional, but also not too
emancipated, she was “fifty/
fifty.” Also, some men pointed
that they were attracted to
Russian culture and literature,
while others were attracted to
Slavic women’s appearance.
Family Affairs
Another point of interest isnegotiations over householdorganization, bilingual/bicultural education of mixedheritage children andinternational divorce. The bookintroduces examples andsituations in which international
couples negotiate family
customs, child rearing, and eachother’s role in the family. The
biggest finding is that though it
tended to be a husband’s careerneeds that informed familyroles, the family lifestyle tended
to be organized based on wives’
preferences. As for parents’
educational strategies, FSU
wives chose the Japanese school
system. While it allowed bothchildren and their mothers togain fluency in the Japanese
language, Russian language
skills needed constant support
by communicating in it inside
the home, regular visits to FSU
and other strategies. Needless tosay, the difficulty of supporting
fluency in both languages inmany cases led tomonolingualism or passive
bilingualism. And finally, thebook introduces cases of FSU
women’s international divorce
and complications they faced
when their marriage collapsed.
Hitherto there has been little
information on what happens

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
during and after divorce;
therefore, I aimed to fill this gap
in the research. Despite(perhaps fortuitously) having a
relatively small number ofparticipants whose life courses I
c o u l d f o l l ow, I h o p e t h e
information on theirexperiences will contribute to
the knowledge of international
marriage in Japan.
Future Research
During the time of writing thisbook, there have been changes
in the combination patterns ofinternational spouses: there arefewer female entertainers, butmore young people who cometo study and work in Japan;
there is a visible increase in the
non-Asian population,
specifically Western men, whocome to Japan as English
language teachers; there areexponentially more tourists
traveling to Japan; there are
more ways for women and men
to meet across borders throughdating apps. All these changes

The Impact of COVID-19
Pandemic on Marginalized
Youth

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME 106
will modify international
marriages in the near future.
However, this new diversity
within such marriages cannot be
addressed without considering
the individual, structural, andglobal politics of international
marriage migration.
Viktoriya Kim is a Specially
Appointed Associate Professor
at the School of Human
Sciences, Osaka University. She
specializes in international
marriage migration, multicultural
policies, and integration issuesof foreign residents in Japan.
Her current projects involve
comparative research on
Russian-speaking female
marriage migrants in SouthKo r e a a n d Ja p a n , f o r e i g n
residents and multiculturalcommunity building in Japan
during COVID-19, andintegration of third-generation
Koreans in Central Asia.
For further information, pleasecontact: Viktoriya Kim,
mviktorishka5@gmail.com,

www.linkedin.com/in/viktoriyakim-80959520b.
References
E-Stat: Portal Site of Official
Statistics of Japan. 2020a. “Vital
Statistics / Vital Statistics ofJapan Final Data Marriages.”
2020, www.e-stat.go.jp/en/statsearch/files?page=1&query=人口婚姻
国籍&layout=dataset&stat_infid=000
031981584&metadata=1&data=1.
———. 2020b. “Zairyu Gaikokujin
Tokei [Statistics on Foreign
Residents in Japan].” 2020.
Ryazantsev, Sergey, and Svetlana
Sivoplyasova. 2020. “‘Russian
Wives’: At the International
MarriageMarket,”Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniya
2 (2): 84–95. https://doi.org/
1 0 . 3 1 8 5 7 /S013216250008496-8.
Ryazantsev, Sergey V., and Svetlana
Yu . S i v o p l y a s o v a . 2 0 1 9 .
“Marriage Emigration of Russian
Wo m e n : C a u s e s , Tr e n d s ,Effects,” The Journal of Social
Sciences Research, no. 56(June): 1060–66. https://doi.org/
10.32861/jssr.56.1060.1066.

September 2020, available atw w w. b b c . c o m / n e w s / wo r l d south-asia-54009306.
4 Report available at International
Labour Organization,www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/
public/---ed_emp/documents/
publication/wcms_753026.pdf.
5 COVID-19: A threat to progressagainst child marriage, UNICEF,
March 2021, copy of full report
can be downloaded here https://data.unicef.org/resources/

covid-19-a-threat-to-progressagainst-child-marriage/.
6 Vinícius Pinheiro, The lockdown
generation: Disarming the time
bomb, ILO, 12 August 2021,w w w. i l o . o r g / c a r i b b e a n /newsroom/WCMS_816641/
lang--en/index.htm.

Reaching out to Pacific People

Endnotes(Continued from page 9)1 While Māori (indigenous to Aotearoa NZ) are part of Polynesia,

they are seen independently
from the Pacific people whenreferred to within Aotearoa NZ.
2 This means “to discuss.”(Continued from page 5)
d o c u m e n t s / b r i e fi n g n o t e /wcms_745439.pdf.
3 See Menon, S., ‘Coronavirus:
How the lockdown has changed
schooling in South Asia’, BBC
Reality Check, Delhi, 21

15

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