Page 15 - IB September 2018 Edition

Politics

Climate change is the single greatest threat to security in the Pacific Forum leaders (pictured) resolved at their 49th Forum that Nauru hosted on the first week of September.
Photo: PIFS Media

are working as closely together as possible to identify and defeat endorsed the concept of establishing a Pacific Resilience Facility
these criminal challenges.” (PRF). With one exception, the Forum leaders fully endorsed the
The Forum Secretariat must now develop an action plan by Summary of Decisions of the 28th Smaller Island States Leaders
November to implement the regional security declaration. This Meeting, held earlier in the week (see story on page 16).
will likely be an interesting battle. Will major development part- The Forum called on countries, particularly large emitters, to
ners shift a greater proportion of their development aid, technical “fully implement their Nationally Determined Contribution miti-
assistance and security programmes to address climate change gation targets, including through the development and transfer
as the single greatest threat to Forum island countries? of renewable energy, in line with committed timeframes.”
In their communique, Forum members stressed the need The regional organisation will now seek further action from
for “immediate urgent action to combat climate change” and the United Nations, asking the UN Secretary General to appoint

Despite this, Regenvanu said that this issue was still a mat- engagement by Forum countries with Indonesia with respect
ter of dialogue rather than division with other MSG and Forum to elections and human rights in West Papua (Papua) and to
members: “We continue to talk with them all the time. We respect continue dialogue in an open and constructive manner.”
their positions. We are simply asking other Pacific states to sup- But the issue of self-determination will continue on the
port that resolution when it comes to the UNGA next year. We regional agenda. At the end of the 20-year transition under
are working on putting together that resolution to the UNGA in the Noumea Accord, New Caledonia will hold a referendum on
2019 and getting a vote of majority support.” self-determination on 4 November.
Given longstanding reservations from Australia, Papua New As reported in the August edition of Islands Business
Guinea and Fiji, the Vanuatu government is looking beyond magazine, a ‘No’ vote in November is just a step in an ongo-
the islands region for support. Regenvanu noted that support ing process under the Noumea Accord. Daniel Goa, the official
will come from Europe, the Non-Aligned Movement and other spokesperson for the Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et
international groupings. Socialiste (FLNKS) said
“The Pacific will represent some of the votes, but most of the “If people say Yes, there would be a declaration of indepen-
votes will come from outside the region, so we are working on dence, but between four or five years there would be a transi-
all fronts to try and get those votes secured,” he said. “There are tion. …If however people vote No, then we will continue our
signs of support from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) struggle which has continued for more than 164 years. You
group. We had a series of bilaterals at Lome earlier this year. It’s must understand that the Noumea Accord makes provision for
now on the agenda of the ACP political sub-committee to discuss three referendums, not one. If people vote No in November,
and hopefully come up with a resolution at the ACP in December we can still call a second referendum in 2020. If people vote
this year – at the Council of Ministers meeting.” No again in 2020, a third referendum can be held in 2022.”
Regenvanu noted: “We’re also on the agenda of the Caricom Parallel to this, Bougainville is also scheduled to hold a
Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting and the African Union Sum- referendum on its political status, proposed for 2019, despite
mit. We are now approaching Latin American States and the a lack of support for independence in the PNG Parliament.
European Union.” Next year’s Forum will be held in Tuvalu, which has provided
In their final communique from Nauru, Forum leaders re- diplomatic support for West Papua and the 2013 re-inscription
iterated their longstanding recognition of Indonesian sovereignty of French Polynesia. The 2020 Forum will be hosted by
over West Papua (Papua), and avoided any reference to the Vanuatu, so the issue of self-determination in Melanesia will
right to self-determination: “Leaders recognised the constructive continue to be debated.

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