Christmas is now nearly upon us, and as the world reels from conflicts and wars raging across the planet, from Gaza and Israel, Africa to Eastern Europe, we will have peace in Rarotonga and the Cook Islands, and never be subjected to the cataclysm that is war, conflict and genocide, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.

And tomorrow as we sit together as families, or come together as communities of faith, right now there are 11 countries where genocide is being enacted or committed according to genocide watch, and yet most of those countries will not make our newsfeeds or social media algorithms. We will not protest their innocence, or ask that we stand on the right side of history because, information has been weaponised and words to chorale us into binary camps of them and us.

In the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II define genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

So where else in the world is this happening that maybe we have not yet seen? In Myanmar since 2018, the country’s security forces continue to commit grave abuses against Rohingya Muslims, deepening the humanitarian and human rights catastrophe in Rakhine State.

More than 730,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since the military campaign of ethnic cleansing began in August 2017.

In Sudan and South Sudan - conflicts in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and the Blue Nile continue with the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) using excessive force to break up protests and arbitrarily detained dozens of activists and opposition party members.

The authorities censored the media, confiscated newspapers, detained outspoken critics, and barred key opposition figures from travelling outside the country.

The war between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary group has entered its seventh month, causing nearly 190 days and nights of terror, loss and trauma for much of the northeast African country’s population.

An estimated 9000 people have been killed and another 5.6 million forced to flee their homes during the conflict, according to the United Nations – and in our news feeds – silence.

In what The New York Times called the “Overlooked Crisis in Congo: ‘We Live in War’, six million have died, and more than six million are displaced after decades of fighting and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, drawing in neighbours, mercenaries and militias.

An upcoming election is inflaming tempers and genocide is being committed while the press, the news and social media mostly remains silent in the west.

Jesus spoke of nations rising against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, and famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Perhaps this is the cataclysm we have avoided, thanks to the decisions of our forefathers who embraced a path of peace through faith. They brought centuries of peace to our islands, including Atiu and Rarotonga, choosing love over war and seeking redemption through repentance. We continue on this journey of life, restored and made whole, a testament to their wisdom.

Not perfect, just a little more in the image of the one who created us and who fashioned and formed us.

It’s what we call it the good news, because as we think on life, family, peace, faith and our countries, we can be thankful that this Christmas, here in the Cook Islands we can celebrate it surrounded by peace, while war and genocide rages around the globe.

We pray for peace for all, no matter who, what God they serve, race, creed or gender.

Until we all have peace, none of us has it. And that day is fast approaching.