Indigenous Kanaks in a political rally prior to New Caledonia's first referendum on Independence in 2018. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Catherine Wilson
NOUMEA, New Caledonia , Jul 25 2024 (IPS)

New Caledonia, a French overseas territory of about 290,000 people in the southwest Pacific, is facing a challenging recovery from weeks of civil unrest that erupted in mid-May, leaving an aftermath of destruction and political turmoil.

A vote by the French Parliament to change the territory’s electoral roll in favor of pro-France loyalists unleashed anger and clashes across the islands between police and pro-independence supporters, most of whom are indigenous Kanaks.

But, at the heart of the political grievances of Kanaks, who comprise about 40 percent of the population, are their experiences over more than a century and a half of entrenched inequality, compared to the non-Kanak population. This includes disparities in educational outcomes and high unemployment.

“Many people do not finish school and don’t have qualifications or diplomas. Many families do not have the money and cannot afford to send their children to school,” Stelios, a young Kanak father who lives in the capital, Noumea, told IPS. “Although within families, people help to support each other.”

New Caledonia, which has large nickel reserves, has a robust economy with a gross domestic product (GDP) of USD 9.62 billion in 2022, compared to USD 1.06 billion in neighboring Vanuatu and USD 4.9 billion in Fiji.  But there is a substantial gap in incomes and standards of living between the indigenous and long-term non-Kanak settlers. Poverty and unemployment are major issues for Kanaks who live in remote rural communities and informal urban settlements on the outskirts of the capital, Noumea.  While the overall poverty rate is 19.1 percent in New Caledonia, it rises to 45.8 percent in the Loyalty Islands Province, where most of the residents are Kanaks.

In Noumea’s city park, a young child stands between the statues of Pro-France politician, Jacques Lafleur, and pro-Independence Kanak leader, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, performing a handshake at the signing of the 1988 Matignon Accords in New Caledonia. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

Eddie Wayuone Wadrawane, an Associate Lecturer and educational sciences expert at the University of New Caledonia, reports that there is a direct connection between the educational gap for Kanaks and their challenges to finding secure employment. While the unemployment rate for people under the age of 30 in the territory is 28.3 percent, the rate rises to 41.3 percent for those without a qualifying degree.

Kanaks, the indigenous islanders, have lived under some form of French governance since the mid-nineteenth century, when the islands became a colony. After World War II, New Caledonia was granted the status of an ‘overseas territory’ with greater recognition of citizenship and indigenous rights.

But a long history of poverty, loss of land to colonial authorities, forced removal onto reservations and marginalization from political participation triggered numerous Kanak uprisings over decades, culminating in a major outbreak of conflict with French authorities in the 1980s. The negotiations that followed the hostilities led to two agreements between the French Government and local leaders. The Matignon Accord in 1988 and Noumea Accord, signed in 1998, pledged, among other provisions, to address the socioeconomic disparities for the Kanak population, such as lack of access to education, and lack of consultation in governance and political processes.

Public services and economic opportunities are concentrated in the South Province, which includes the capital, Noumea. But there have been gains during the last twenty years with government efforts to improve infrastructure and access to services, such as education, in the more undeveloped North and Loyalty Islands Provinces, where the majority of Kanaks live. The number of Kanak graduates from universities and similar tertiary institutions rose from 99 in 1989 to 3,200 in 2014.  But significant disparities remain and it is reported that only 8 percent of Kanaks possessed a university degree in 2019.

“A major part of the philosophy of the Matignon and Noumea Accords was the notion that New Caledonia was not ready for independence because there were no Kanak people in middle or high-level management or in the professions,” Dr David Small, Senior Lecturer at Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, told IPS.

But the French education system “is highly selective and there are so many ways that Kanak people can slip out of it. Kanak people are also attuned to and highly critical of the colonial nature of education in New Caledonia,” he continued.

During the Pro-Independence protests in May across New Caledonia against the French Government’s electoral reforms in the territory, a large proportion of people demonstrating on the streets were youths aged 15–25 years. They were venting anger not just at the electoral changes but at the hardships and inequalities that have marked their lives. Patience among the younger generation is running out and they are no longer willing to wait indefinitely for the promises of better lives and opportunities to become a reality.

‘Schooling can play a major role to give those youth [who are disenfranchised] new perspectives and bring about societal reforms in general,’ Wadrawane claims. Yet, Dr Small says that many Kanak youths are losing faith in the idea of New Caledonian society being a meritocracy and, hence, also the ability of education to enable success and achievement in employment and life.

But Stelios is one of those who persisted at school and completed secondary education, receiving the Baccalaureate certificate.

“And I have a job. I work at a school, assisting staff,” he said. He is also the father of three young children, all under the age of 7, and is adamant that they will be educated too.

Education experts, such as Wadrawane, advocate that further retaining indigenous students in the education system also requires incorporating Kanak culture and languages into the curricula.

“At present, the [school] curricula appeal more to students from metropolitan France and less so for those from the French overseas territories,” Wadrawane writes. He believes that “greater cultural awareness of youth in primary and secondary education is a philosophical, social and educational necessity” to reducing inequalities and enhancing their citizenship.

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Tuvalu’s farmers have watched their crops destroyed by extreme tropical weather. They are now using Funafala 'food cubes' to have greater control over their harvests.

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Australia , Oct 13 2021 (IPS)

Tuvalu, a small atoll island nation in the Central Pacific Ocean, is one of few countries in the world to have so far evaded the pandemic. But, while it has achieved a milestone with no recorded cases of COVID-19, its population of about 11,931 continues to battle food uncertainties and poor nutrition. These challenges, present long before the pandemic emerged, have been exacerbated by lockdown restrictions and economic hardships during the past year and a half.

In the low-lying island country, people have strived to grow food with “lack of access to land, lack of compost for growing food and, more so, with high tides and cyclones flooding the land with seawater,” Teuleala Manuella-Morris, Country Manager for the environmental and development organization, Live & Learn, in the capital, Funafuti, told IPS.

For years the islanders have watched their food gardens destroyed by extreme tropical weather and disasters, such as cyclones and tidal surges. These factors have contributed to their increasing consumption of imported foods.  But now, the future is looking more certain with the introduction of an innovative farming system on Funafala, an islet situated close to the main Funafuti Island.

The new farming method is based on a modular structure of specially designed boxes, known as ‘food cubes’, which give local food growers greater control over their harvests.

“Tuvalu, as an atoll nation, has a range of agricultural production challenges and also relies on imported food. The pandemic has also affected food supply chains. So, considering such challenges, there was a shift in policy in trying to strengthen food security programs. In the meantime, we were already piloting the food cube system in Tuvalu. It fits perfectly well with the shift in policy focus for food security for the country,” Gibson Susumu, Head of Sustainable Agriculture in the Land Resources Division of the regional development organization, Pacific Community, which is guiding the project’s implementation, told IPS.

Issues of declining agricultural production and persistent malnutrition have existed across the Pacific Islands for decades. Before the pandemic in 2019, 49.6 percent of Oceania’s population of an estimated 11.9 million endured moderate to severe food insecurity, reports the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).  Although stunting afflicts 10 percent of children under five years in Tuvalu, which is well below the regional average, the country carries a heavy burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Eighty percent of men and 83.8 percent of women were classified as overweight in Tuvalu in 2016, cites the Global Nutrition Report, while diabetes afflicts 23.1 percent of adults, according to the World Health Organization.

It is anticipated that the use of food cubes will assist with food security on the atoll island of Tuvalu.

On Funafala, a vast interlocking array of boxes, raised above the ground, creates a patchwork field of green abundance. The ‘field’ contains 80-100 cubes spread over an area of 1.2 acres in which fruit and vegetables are being grown for more than 16 local households. Each ‘food cube’, which is one-metre square and 30 centimetres deep, is manufactured from 80 percent recycled food-grade plastic and designed with features that expose the plants grown within to oxygen and controlled irrigation.

“The Funafala garden has showcased the growing of local foods, like pulaka (giant swamp taro), taro, local figs, cassava, dwarf bananas and dwarf pawpaw trees…It is not only providing more food for the community but has also proven that the food cubes are another way of growing food in areas being flooded with seawater while maintaining soil fertility for more planting. At the same time, it saves water,” Manuella-Morris told IPS.

The ‘food cube’ was designed and produced by Biofilta, an Australian company developing modular urban farming systems six years ago. In 2017, the business won a worldwide competition called LAUNCH Food, commissioned by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to reward new solutions to the global issue of poor nutrition.

“To put it into a food security context, I think those food cubes will be able to produce up to 150 kilograms of vegetables and greens for a year, and that is sufficient to meet the green vegetable requirements for the member households,” Susumu said.

Biofilta claims that the system is “raised, so there is no risk of saltwater inundation, and our wicking technology is extremely water-efficient, using only a fraction of the water needed in conventional agriculture.” These are important features, as Tuvalu possesses no renewable water resources and its point of highest elevation above sea level is only 5 metres. Further, the farm uses compost, specifically tailored to the country’s soil needs by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), which also draws on ingredients from the island’s green waste treatment facility.

Another key partner, Live & Learn, has expanded trials of the farming system on other islands in Tuvalu. The long-term goal is better health outcomes and longer productive lives for islanders. “Because of agricultural challenges, the diet diversity is very low…So, with the diversification of the production systems, it means that the households have more access to healthy diets, and if the surpluses can be marketed, it also supports the income side of the households,” Susumu explained.

The Pacific Community also plans to consult with the government, local communities, and farmers to determine appropriate prices for the commercial sale of surplus fresh produce from the farms so that healthy food remains affordable to everyone.

More widely, the initiative is responding to calls from organizations, such as the FAO, to rethink food systems around the world so that smarter production leads to increased supplies of quality food, reduced pressures on finite natural resources, such as land and water, and the lower impact of agricultural practices on global warming.

The success of the ‘food cubes’ in Tuvalu has sparked enthusiasm by other Pacific Island countries, such as the Cook Islands and Fiji, where it’s also being trialled.

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By Mairead Maguire
BELFAST, Jul 13 2015 (IPS)

The year 2015 marked the 62^nd anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War. The temporary ceasefire has never been replaced with a peace treaty and the demilitarised zone (DMZ) continues to divide the country.

The DMZ with its barbed wire, armed soldiers on both sides, and littered with thousands of explosive landmines, is the most militarised border in the world.

Mairead Maguire

Seventy years ago, as the Cold War was brewing,  the United States unilaterally drew the line across the 38^th parallel – with the former Soviet Union’s agreement – dividing an ancient country that had just suffered 35 years of Japanese colonial occupation.

Koreans had no desire to be divided, or decision-making power to stop their country from being divided; now, seven decades later, the conflict on the Korean peninsula threatens peace in the Asia-Pacific region and throughout our world.

One of the greatest tragedies arising out of man-made ‘Cold War’ politics and isolation is the tearing apart of Korean families and their physical separation from each other. In Korean culture, family relations are deeply important and many families have been painfully separated for 70 years.

Although there was a period of reconciliation during the Sunshine Policy years (1998-2007) between the two Korean governments, when some families had the joy of reunion, this has stopped due to a souring of relationships between North and South Korea.

Through sanctions and isolationist policies put in place by the International community, the North Korean people and their economy have also continued to suffer.

While North Korea has come a long way from the 1990s when up to one million died from famine, many people are poor, and feel isolated and marginalised from South Korea and the outside world.“I must admit that before this visit, my first to the North, I never realised how deeply passionate North Koreans are for reunification with the South and how much they want to open the borders so they can welcome their South Korea families to visit and normalise relationships”

As members of the one human family, and in order to show human solidarity and empathise  with our North Korean family, to bring global attention to the ‘forgotten’ Korean war, and to call for an engagement with North Korea and a peace treaty,  a group of international women came together to visit North/South Korea and walk across the DMZ.

On May 22, 2015, International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, thirty women peacemakers from 15 countries made a historic crossing of the two-mile-wide DMZ from North to South Korea.

The delegation included feminist author/activist Gloria Steinem, two Nobel peace laureates,  Leymah Gbowee and myself, coordinator Christine Ahn (whose dream it was  to cross the DMZ) and  long-time peace activists, human rights defenders, spiritual leaders and Korean experts.

During our four-day  visit to North Korea, before crossing the DMZ on May 24, we had the privilege and joy of meeting many North Korean women.

At a peace symposium in Pyongyang, we listened as North Korean women spoke of their horrific experiences of war and division, and listened as some of our delegation shared how they had mobilised to end conflict and build peace in their communities.

We also participated in huge peace walks in Pyongyang and Kaesong, with the participation of many thousands of North Korean women in beautiful traditional Korean costumes. The women carried banners calling for the reunification of families and of Korea, a peace treaty and no war.

The walks were deeply moving, especially in Kaesong where families came out onto their balconies to wave as we passed.

I must admit that before this visit, my first to the North, I never realised how deeply passionate North Koreans are for reunification with the South and how much they want to open the borders so they can welcome their South Korea families to visit and normalise relationships.

North Koreans told us that Korean people are one people. Though they have different political ideologies, they speak the same language, have the same culture, and share a painful history of war and division.

Policies of isolation have not solved any problems and our delegates believe that a new approach of engagement and a peace treaty is necessary.  

Our walk brought renewed attention to the importance of world solidarity in ending the Korean conflict, particularly since the 1953 armistice agreement was signed by North Korea, (South Korea did not sign) China and the United States on behalf of the U.N. Command that included sixteen countries.

It helped highlight the responsibility of the international community, whose governments were complicit in the division of Korea 70 years ago, to support Korea’s peaceful reconciliation and reunification.

The challenges of overcoming Korea’s division became apparent in the complex negotiations over our DMZ crossing between North and South Korea, as well as with the U.N. Command, which has formal jurisdiction over the DMZ.

Although we had hoped to cross at Panmunjom, the ‘Truce Village’ where the armistice was signed, we decided, after both South Korea and the U.N. Command had denied our crossing, that we would take the route agreed by all parties in the spirit of compromise lest our actions further strain already tense North-South relations.

In Seoul, we met with some opposition. Although we did not meet with any heads of state or endorse any political or economic system, maintaining a neutral stance throughout, it was apparent that divisions within South Korea itself were manifested in some of the ideologically divided forms of reception and reactions that we witnessed.

We recognise that our international women’s peace walk is only a beginning and we will continue our focus on increasing civilian exchanges and women’s leadership, highlighting the obligation of all parties involved to decrease militarisation and move towards a peace treaty.

We therefore urge increased engagement at every level – civil, economic, cultural, academic and governmental – and especially citizen-to-citizen diplomacy in peacebuilding, as an alternative to full military conflict, which is not an option. (END/COLUMNIST SERVICE)

Edited by Phil Harris   

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, IPS – Inter Press Service. 

Excerpt:

ACP Secretary-General Patrick I. Gomes, who sees the group’s role as “a global player defending, protecting and promoting an inclusive struggle against poverty and for sustainable development in a world enmeshed in inequality”. Photo credit: ACP Press

By Patrick I. Gomes
BRUSSELS, Jun 28 2015 (IPS)

In his memoirs, Glimpses of a Global Life, Sir Shridath Ramphal, then-Foreign Minister of the Republic of Guyana, who played a leading role in the evolution of the Lomé negotiations that lead to the birth of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, pointed to the significant lessons of that engagement of developed and developing countries some 40 years ago and had this to say:

“As regards the Lomé negotiations, the process of unification – for such it was – added a new dimension to the Third World’s quest for economic justice through international action. Its significance, however, derives not merely from the terms of the negotiated relationship between the 46 ACP states and the EEC, but from the methodology of unified bargaining which the negotiations pioneered.

“Never before had so large a segment of the developing world negotiated with so powerful a grouping of developed countries so comprehensive and so innovative a regime of economic relations. It was a new, and salutary, experience for Europe; it was a new, and reassuring, experience for the ACP States.

“Forty years later, that lesson remains retains its validity. Unity of purpose and action remains the touchstone of ACP’s meaning and success.”

With a conscious appreciation of that founding unity of purpose and action, the ACP Group convened a high-level symposium at its headquarters in Brussels on Jun. 6. The event marked the milestone of four decades of trade and economic cooperation, vigorous and contentious political engagements and a range of development finance programmes – all aimed at the eradication of poverty from the lives of the millions of people in its 79 member states.“The ACP will craft its future path to continue the struggle against power, inequality and injustice, the core purpose for which it was established in 1975”

In 1975, it was 46 developing countries that met in the capital city of Guyana, to sign the Georgetown Agreement and give birth to the ACP Group. They had recently embarked on their post-colonial path of independence following successful negotiations of non-reciprocal trade arrangements with the then nine-member European Economic Community (EEC) in February.

Known as the Lomé Agreement, after the capital of Togo where it was signed, this legally-binding, international agreement had a life-span of 25 years to 2000. Essentially, it comprised three pillars of trade and economic cooperation, development assistance – mainly through grants from the European Development Fund (EDF) – and political dialogue on issues such as human rights and democratic governance.

During that period, the preferential trade and aid pact undoubtedly gave an impetus to various aspects of economic and social development in the ACP Group. Substantial revenue was received from preferential access to the European market for exports of clothing, banana, sugar, cocoa, beef, fruit and vegetables, for example, and with the accompanying aid programmes.

The benefits were seen in the economies of Mauritius, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Namibia, Guyana and Fiji, to name a few. Member states of the ACP Group, less-developed countries (LDCs), landlocked states and small island developing states (SIDS), had access to returns from trade for improved social services and in this sense, the first decades of Lomé were certainly gains for development in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific.

But these gains entrenched an aid-dependency of commodity export economies with minimal structural transformation through value-added manufacturing and related service sectors in ACP countries.

The fierce trade-liberalising world of the late 1990s, rising indebtedness due to enormous increase in the cost of energy and pressure from the challenge of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to the European Union’s discriminatory practice of preferential trade and aid to this exclusive set of developing countries meant that post-Lomé ACP-EU trade relations had to be WTO-compatible.

Finding compatibility for “substantially all trade” between the economies of the ACP’s 79 members – grouped in six regions of Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific – and Europe, and ensuring that development criteria take precedence over tariff reductions and WTO rules have proven contentious in this long-standing partnership.

With this overhang of tensions in its troubled access to its principal market, the ACP faces the conclusion of the 20-year Agreement signed in Cotonou, the Republic of Benin, in 2020.

A soul-searching and vigorous process to be repositioned as a global player defending, protecting and promoting an inclusive struggle against poverty and for sustainable development in a world enmeshed in inequality is the singular task on which the ACP now concentrates.

Such a task has entailed a series of actions that are informed by the report of the Ambassadorial Working Group on Future Perspectives for the ACP Group of States that was approved by the Council of Ministers in December 2014.

The main thrust of the transformation and repositioning of the ACP is captured in the strategic policy domains identified in the report.

These are in five thematic areas that address:

a) Rule of Law & Good Governance;

b) Global Justice & Human Security;

c) Building Sustainable, Resilient & Creative Economies; and

d) Intra-ACP Trade, Industrialisation and Regional Integration;

e) Financing for Development.

In each of these, and in ways that are mutually reinforcing, very specific programmed activities of an annual action plan are being prepared and will be executed.

For example, the annual plan will address the thematic area of “sustainable, resilient and creative economies” through the mechanism of an ACP Forum on SIDS with financial resources, mainly from the intra-ACP allocation of the EDF and the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO), one of the partner agencies of the UN system with which the ACP Group works very closely.

Conceptualised so as to address systemic and structural factors affecting sustainable development, the ACP emphasises South-South and triangular cooperation as a major modality for implementation of its role as catalyst and advocate.

The current stage of rethinking and refocusing provides an opportunity for 40 years of development through trade by which the ACP Group and the European Union could recast the world’s most unique and enduring North-South treaty of developed and developing countries to effectively participate in a global partnership where no one is left behind.

The ACP has social and organisational capital accumulated from a rich experience on trade negotiations with the world’s largest bloc of Europe and its 500 million inhabitants.

Undoubtedly marked by contentious issues on trade provisions to satisfy the WTO’s non-discriminatory behaviour among its member States, ACP-EU relations reveal the persistent battle of poor versus rich with a view to finding common ground on issues of mutual interest.

The 40^th anniversary celebration by the ACP Group at a High-Level Inter-regional Symposium on Jun. 4 and 5 witnessed reflections on achievements and failures, as well as limitations in the performance of the ACP Group, in itself as a group and among its member states, as well as in its partnership with the European Union and the wider global arena.

The theme of the symposium covered the initial Georgetown Agreement and the ambitious objectives that were set in 1975. The high point was the keynote address by H.E. Sam Kutesa, President of the UN General Assembly.

Interestingly, discussions revealed how relevant and timely they remain and of special note was the “promotion of a fairer and more equitable new world order”.

This retrospective conversation has been recognised as fundamental for how, and in what direction, the ACP will craft its future path to continue the struggle against power, inequality and injustice, the core purpose for which it was established in 1975.

Edited by Phil Harris    

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, IPS – Inter Press Service. 

Excerpt:

March by people of faith, civil society groups and communities impacted by climate change in Rome on Jun. 28 to express gratitude to Pope Francis for the release of his Laudato Si encyclical on the environment. Photo credit: Hoda Baraka/350.org

By Sean Buchanan
ROME, Jun 28 2015 (IPS)

People of faith, civil society groups, and communities affected by climate change marched together in Rome Sunday Jun. 28 to express gratitude to Pope Francis for the release of his Laudato Si encyclical on the environment, and call for bolder climate action by world leaders.

Under the banner of ‘One Earth One Family’, the march brought together Catholics and other Christians, followers of non-Christian faiths, environmentalists and people of goodwill. The march ended in St. Peter’s Square in time for the Pope’s weekly Angelus and blessing.“The truth of the matter is that all of humanity needs to stand united in addressing the crisis of our times. Climate change is an issue for everyone with a moral conscience” – Arianne Kassman, climate activist from Papua New Guinea

The celebratory march was animated by a musical band, a climate choir and colourful public artwork designed by artists from Italy and other countries, whose work played a major role in the People’s Climate March in New York City in September last year.

“As we stand at this critical juncture in addressing the climate crisis, we are particularly grateful to the Pope for releasing this encyclical as an awakening for the world to understand how climate change impacts people across all regions,” said Arianne Kassman, a climate activist from Papua New Guinea who took part in march to speak about the reality of climate change in the Pacific.

“The truth of the matter is that all of humanity needs to stand united in addressing the crisis of our times. Climate change is an issue for everyone with a moral conscience,” she added.

Among the messages relayed to the Pope during the march was a request to make fossil fuel divestment part of his moral message in the urgent need to address the climate crisis.

“The fossil fuel divestment campaign is hinged on the same moral premise communicated by Pope Francis in his encyclical,” said Father Edwin Gariguez, Executive Secretary of Caritas Philippines.

“The campaign serves to highlight the immorality of investing in the source of the climate injustice we currently experience. This is why we hope that moving forward and building on this powerful message, Pope Francis can make fossil fuel divestment a part of his moral argument for urgent climate action.”

A petition urging Pope Francis to rid the Vatican of investments in fossil fuels has already gathered tens of thousands of signatures.

Over recent months, dozens of religious institutions have divested from coal, oil and gas companies or endorsed the effort, including the World Council of Churches, representing half a billion Christians in 150 countries.

In May 2015, the Church of England announced it had sold 12 million pounds in thermal coal and tar sands and just this week the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) announced that it will exclude fossil fuel companies from its investments and call on its member churches with 72 million members to do likewise.

More than 220 institutions have commitments to divest from fossil fuels, with faith institutions making up the biggest segment.

As world leaders prepare to meet in Paris later this year for U.N. climate talks, the growing divestment movement will continue to fuel the ethical and economic revolution needed to prevent catastrophic climate change and growing inequality, a key message from Pope Francis’ encyclical.

“The clear path required to address the climate crisis is one that breaks humanity free from the current stranglehold of fossil fuels on our lives and the planet,” said Hoda Baraka, Global Communications Manager for 350.org, one of the organisers of the march.

“This encyclical reinforces the tectonic shift that is happening – we simply cannot continue to treat the Earth as a tool for exploitation.”

Edited by Phil Harris    

The inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) initiative of the U.N. Industrial Development Organisation to promote industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalisation and environmental sustainability is gaining momentum in the countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. 

A concrete sign of this trend came on the occasion of last week’s ACP Council of Ministers meeting in the Belgian capital where UNIDO Director-General Li Yong met with ACP representatives to explore how to further promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation in their countries and possible ways of scaling up investment in developing countries.

UNIDO Director-General Li Yong at the !00th ACP Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels, where he explored how to further promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation in ACP countries. Credit: Courtesy of ACP

During the opening session of the ministers’ meeting, outgoing ACP Secretary-General Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni had already highlighted the key role of the ISID programme in promoting investment and stimulating competitive industries in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

In December last year in Lima, Peru, the 172 countries belonging to UNIDO – including ACP countries – unanimously approved the Lima Declaration calling for “inclusive and sustainable industrial development”.

The Lima Declaration clearly acknowledged that industrialisation is an important landmark on the global agenda and, for the first time, the spectacular industrial successes of several countries in the last 40 years, particularly in Asia, was globally recognised.

According to UNIDO statistics, industrialised countries add 70% of value to their products and recent research by the organisation shows how industrial development is intrinsically correlated with improvements in sectors such as poverty reduction, health, education and food security.“We need to move away from traditional models of industrialisation, which have had serious effects on the environment and the health of people” – UNIDO Director-General Li Yong

One major issue that the concept of ISID addresses is the environmental sustainability of industrial development. “We need to move away from traditional models of industrialisation, which have had serious effects on the environment and the health of people,” said Li.

Economic growth objectives should be pursued while protecting the environment and health, and by making business more environmentally sustainable, they become more profitable and societies more resilient.

ISID in the Post-2015 Agenda

“For ISID to be achieved,” said Li, “appropriate policies are essential as well as partnerships among all stakeholders involved.” This highlights the importance of including ISID in major development frameworks, particularly in the post-2015 development agenda that will guide international development in the coming decades.

With strong and solid support from the ACP countries, ISID has already been recognised as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the U.N. Open Working Group on SDGs – to take the place of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) whose deadline is December 2015 – and confirmed last week by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in ‘The Road to Dignity By 2030’, his synthesis report on the post-2015 agenda.

In fact, goal 9 is specifically devoted to “building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation.”

In this context, Mumuni told the Brussels meeting of ACP ministers that “in building the competitiveness of our industries and facilitating the access of ACP brands to regional and international markets, UNIDO is regarded by ACP Secretariat as a strategic ally.”

ACP-UNIDO – A Strategic Partnership

A Memorandum of Understanding approved in March 2011 and a Relationship Agreement signed in November 2011 represent the solid strategic framework underlying the strategic partnership between ACP and UNIDO, and highlight how the two partners can work together to support the implementation of ISID in ACP countries.

Key is the establishment and reinforcement of the capacity of the public and private sectors in ACP countries and regions for the development of inclusive, competitive, transparent and environmentally-friendly industries in line with national and regional development strategies.

On the basis of these agreements, ACP and UNIDO have intensified their policy dialogue and concrete cooperation. One example reported during the ministers’ meeting was the development of a pilot programme entitled “Investment Monitoring Platform” (IMP), funded under the intra-ACP envelope of the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) with the support of other donors.

This programme is aimed at managing the impact of foreign direct investments (FDI) on development, combining investment promotion with private sector development, designing and reforming policies that attract quality investment, and enhancing coordination between the public and private sector, among others.

This programme has already reinforced the capacity of investment promotion agencies and statistical offices in more than 20 African countries, which have been trained on methodologies to assess the private sector at country level.

Implementing ISID in ACP Countries

In Africa, the strategy for the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa (AIDA) prepared with UNIDO expertise, is a key priority of Agenda 2063  – a “global strategy to optimise use of Africa’s resources for the benefit of all Africans” – and of the Joint Africa-European Union Strategy.

In the Caribbean, high priority is being given to private sector development, climate change, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and value addition in agri-business value chains, trade and tourism.

The CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum in London in 2013 clearly articulated the need for more innovation, reliable markets and private sector information, access to markets through quality and the improvement of agro-processing and creative industries.

In the Pacific, the 2nd Pacific-EU Business Forum held in Vanuatu in June this year called for stronger engagement in supporting the private sector and ensuring that innovation would produce tangible socio-economic benefits.

Finally, in all three ACP regions, interventions related to quality and value chain development are being backed in view of supporting the private sector and commodity strategies.

(Edited by Phil Harris)

Police action in response to indigenous protests is increasingly under scrutiny in South Africa. Credit: Thapelo Lekgowa/IPS.

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Apr 30 2014 (IPS)

The global spectre of state violence against political dissent, with paramilitary law enforcement units advancing against citizens they are employed to protect in cities such as Cairo, Bangkok and Kiev is daily news. But in some developing countries, the police are being used to put down indigenous opposition to the alliance of state and corporate power over resource extraction.

Indigenous peoples around the world confront dispossession for the extractive industry. When formal avenues to resolve grievances with authorities fail, activism is often met with disproportionate force, unlawful detention and the criminalisation of protest leaders. And perpetrators of state violence invariably enjoy impunity.Protest is frequently the last resort of those with the least socio-political influence.

Mandeep Tiwana of the CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation based in Johannesburg, tells IPS that the ultimate casualty is peoples’ faith in representative government.

“Failure by the state to hold security forces and other powerful state and non-state entities to account for infringement of democratic freedoms and the right to express legitimate dissent undermines democracy severely,” he says.

The police shooting of 34 striking miners at the Britain-headquartered Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana in South Africa in 2012 is seen by many as a watershed moment in contemporary state and corporate brutality.

The same year government forces in Panama deployed rubber bullets and tear gas against Ngabe-Bugle people demonstrating against copper mining on their land, resulting in three deaths.

The police confronted communities rallying in May 2012 against environmental damage and lack of benefits from the Tintaya copper mine in Espinar Province, Peru, owned by Swiss company Xstrata, with two fatalities. Workers Day on May 1 is a reminder of the oppression indigenous people and workers still face around the world.

In the Pacific region, mineral and gas extraction dominated by multinationals has long been protected by mobile police squads. Such action has come often in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where 28 percent of people live below the poverty line.

In recent years, police have been responsible for violent community evictions near the Porgera gold mine in Enga Province, majority owned by Canadian company Barrick Gold, and the fatal killing of a worker who expressed opposition to the PNG LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) project in the highlands.

Protest is frequently the last resort of those with the least socio-political influence.

South Africa, says David van Wyk of the Bench Marks Foundation, “has seen increasing strikes and service delivery protests, many in mine impacted communities.” When authorities fail to address grievances, the issues are left to the police, “which has led to increased police brutality,” he tells IPS.

State violence reflects the critical role of natural resources in national, geopolitical and military power. Many nations including PNG, Guatemala and Nigeria claim state right to subsoil minerals, which can undermine customary land and indigenous peoples’ rights.

But in suppressing local opposition, developing nations also act in the neo-liberal interests of multinationals and foreign stakeholders. At Marikana, state violence in the name of security allowed Lonmin to remain removed from direct responsibility for human rights abuses.

In Nigeria 50 years of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta by companies, including Shell and Chevron Texaco, in alliance with the state has enriched foreign and local elites. Government oil revenues are in excess of 350 billion dollars – while 69 percent of the local Ogoni and Ijaw people live in poverty.

Massive resource rents to the Nigerian state have ensured resourcing of the Joint Military Task Force committed to guarding oil installations and quashing communities angered at marginalisation.

In PNG, mobile police squads have received funding for decades from the Australian government, which has stakes in extractive projects such as the Exxon Mobil joint venture, PNG LNG.

Dr Kristian Lasslett of the International State Crime Initiative, based at King’s College London, says unified local opposition poses a threat to the state-corporate alliance in PNG.

“It would dry up the opportunity structure exploited by a swathe of foreign investors who ignore national laws and local custom, and come as a shock to national businessmen who have proven effective in illegal land grabs and corrupt resource transactions.”

Barrick Gold and Esso Highlands have agreements to provide support to police units in the form of vehicles, accommodation, food and fuel. Clauses indicating that support is conditional on state agencies complying with international standards of conduct are rarely enforced.

Companies “adopt a ‘hear no evil and see no evil’ policy when it comes to state violence,” says Lasslett.

The post-9/11 era has also seen increased use of anti-terrorism measures to deal with grievances. The Guatemalan government used the threat of terrorism to declare a ‘state of siege’ in May last year following demonstrations against the Escobal silver mine in the nation’s southeast. This paved the way for suspending civil liberties and introducing martial law.

Justice for the marginalised is a massive challenge in an era of rising illegitimate power, as described in this year’s State of Power report from the Transnational Institute (TNI). It claims that pervasive corporate influence over governments is a factor in the demise of accountability to the governed, even in democratic nations.

“Corporations, through trade and investment agreements, lobbying and corporate capture of political institutions have also weaved a web of impunity that protects their profits and accountability for human rights and environmental abuses,” TNI researcher Lyda Fernanda tells IPS.

Many states, where oppression occurs, fail to observe international codes of police conduct or their duty to protect citizens’ human rights. Tiwana says international law needs to be supported by national legislation, aided by autonomous human rights and police accountability commissions.

“The law favours those with large reserves of money and those who have the capacity and connections to buttress their claims with forms of evidence that courts accept,” says Lasslett. “This is not to say communities can’t win in the courts, but it is not a terrain on which they hold the advantage.”

He believes that when impunity is supported by corruption and inadequate police complaints procedures, powerful social movements may be the most effective way to defend rights.

“The greatest weapon they [indigenous peoples] have is their own history, culture and customary bonds.”

For many Pacific Islanders, customary land is the source of life, identity and social security. However, most island states are developing countries, and governments claim land reform is needed to improve infrastructure and economic development. Registration of customary land, the predominant tenure system, with more options for leasing to the state and developers is being promoted as the way forward.

“Customary ownership is often considered a barrier to land development,” Inoke Ratukalou, director of the Land Resources Division at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Suva, Fiji, told IPS. “Uncertainties about ownership and difficulties reaching consensual agreement can discourage investment and the development of land-based resources.”“Land in most Pacific countries is for public access for survival and not fenced off by the legal system.”

Customary tenure applies to 80-90 percent of land in Pacific Island states. Unwritten customary law determines land and inheritance rights for members of clans or extended families. Traditional tenure plays a vital role in Southwest Pacific nations where the formal sector provides as little as 15 percent of employment, and most people are reliant on subsistence and smallholder agriculture for livelihoods and income.

Joel Simo of the Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA) in Vanuatu claims that customary tenure is a “system of sharing” that “caters for everyone’s needs.”

“In many instances development can take place on customary land without any land registration,” he said. “Land in most Pacific countries is for public access for survival and not fenced off by the legal system.”

However, in the 21st century land is subject to increasing global economic pressures, islanders’ greater dependence on the cash economy, rapid population growth and urbanisation. Poor state infrastructure, such as road networks, is also hindering growth of local livelihoods and access to education and health services. Only five to 30 percent of roads in Tonga, Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Solomon Islands are sealed.

According to the SPC, the challenge is for countries to improve links between land governance and tenure with formal protection of customary land ownership through recording or registration and facilitation of dealings in customary land. Those occupying unregistered land, for example, are often unable to secure financing to establish enterprises.

Land registration exists in Fiji and Palau, but very little land is recorded in PNG, the Solomon Islands and Marshall Islands.

Recent state land management schemes, such as the “Lease-Lease Back” in PNG, whereby customary owners lease their land to the state for a title which can be used for leasing to a third party, and Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABLs), have failed rural communities.

Maria Linibi, president of the PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation, agrees that better land administration is required, but rejects easier options for foreign investors or the state to acquire customary land.

Factors in landowner distrust of state land reform include state corruption and failure of large export oriented projects to raise human development or living standards for the majority of Pacific Islanders.

“People can register their land and still remain poor,” Simo said.

MILDA’s commitment to protect Melanesian values, which promote long-term sustainable land use, includes opposition to customary land registration or leasing, perceived as serving the interests of foreign and local elite.

“The prevalence of fraud and corruption within the land administration system [of PNG] means that titles can be easily issued, tampered with or destroyed,” Aidwatch reported in 2010.

Last year the California-based Oakland Institute revealed the escalation of land grabs in PNG over the past decade, amounting to 5.5 million hectares, or 12 percent of the country, due to fraudulent manipulation of SABLs. Rather than generating agricultural development projects of benefit to rural communities, SABLs have been exploited by international logging companies, aided by corrupt state officials, resulting in rising deforestation, and many customary owners losing control of their traditional lands.

Official catch-phrases of “freeing up land for development” have masked “daylight robbery, the betrayal of people’s constitutional protections and the loss of heritage and land for millions of Papua New Guineans,” says the institute’s report, “On Our Land”.

Aidwatch adds that formal land titles are “a recipe for failure” in nations where local landowners are not empowered with education and legal knowledge. Thus, in PNG, where rural illiteracy is as high as 85 percent, “top-down” land leasing programmes have the potential to exacerbate inequality.

Last year the Vanuatu government introduced new laws that place decision-making powers over land leasing in the hands of an independently chaired Land Management and Planning Committee and customary authorities, removing approval discretion from the state lands minister. The strategy is aimed at reducing corruption and making land tenure serve indigenous people and the domestic agriculture-based economy.

Evidence suggests that, in PNG, smallholder fresh food producers can earn more substantial incomes than people in formal employment. A 2008 study of women roadside sellers in Madang province concluded that 50 percent earned more than three times the minimum wage.

“Customary land ownership to our livelihoods, income and food security is very important because without it we would not survive,” Linibi declared.

But although land registration is not a barrier to increased local economic activity, many Pacific Island states are grappling with identifying effective land dispute resolution mechanisms. Reconciling tenure security under informal customary law and modern judicial legal systems presents ongoing challenges. Proliferating disputes between customary groups, and with external parties, over rightful land ownership, development benefits and environmental damage remain a factor in continued rural impoverishment.

There is also an urgent need for better urban planning in rapidly growing cities in the region. Informal settlements are home to 35 percent of residents in Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands, and 45 percent of dwellers in Suva, Fiji. As settlements expand, as they do in Port Moresby, PNG, at 7.8 percent per year, encroaching on surrounding customary land, council authorities will need formal agreements to progress public services, such as roads, water and sanitation.

A young boy helps unfurl the West Papuan nationalist flag, known as the Morning Star. Credit: Francesco Vincenzi/IPS.

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Dec 29 2013 (IPS)

The indigenous struggle for liberation in West Papua on the western half of the island of New Guinea in the south-west Pacific, with the loss of thousands of lives, is far from ending. But, despite political uncertainties, a united coalition of pro-independence leaders has reignited hope of freedom by galvanising the support of a Pacific Islands inter-governmental organisation.

Indigenous Melanesian resistance to Indonesian governance of West Papua dates back to a United Nations supervised Act of Free Choice on independence in 1969 that was criticised as fraudulent after less than one percent of the population was selected to vote. That resulted in a vote for Indonesian integration.

In April this year the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL), representing 29 pro-independence organisations, applied for membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). The inter-governmental group comprises the Melanesian states of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) of New Caledonia with headquarters in Port Vila, Vanuatu.“So far Jakarta has not provided any invitation letter for the team to visit the respective territories.”

“Support within the Melanesian region is vital to building a strong foundation for gaining international support and recognition,” Dr John Ondawame, WPNCL’s Vice-Chairman in Vanuatu told IPS. “The struggle of the people of West Papua is no longer an internal Indonesian issue.”

The West Papuan coalition was, for the first time, invited as official guest to the Melanesian leaders’ summit held in Noumea, New Caledonia, in June. Indonesia, which has MSG observer status, was also present.

During an address to the summit, Ondawame called on the Melanesian group to support the re-inscription of West Papua onto the United Nations decolonisation list and send a fact-finding mission to the Indonesian provinces to investigate human rights abuses.

The meeting ended with Melanesian leaders endorsing the “inalienable rights of the people of West Papua towards self-determination” and efforts to raise concerns about atrocities with the Indonesian government.

It was announced that a foreign ministers’ visit to the Indonesian provinces would take place within six months ahead of a decision on West Papua’s membership of the MSG. But, although Indonesia invited Melanesian leaders to Jakarta to be briefed about developments in West Papua, an MSG-led visit to the disputed territories has not taken place.

An MSG Secretariat spokesperson in Vanuatu advised IPS that “dates for the mission to Indonesia are still being discussed,” and members are keen for it to occur in early 2014.

Ondawame added that “so far Jakarta has not provided any invitation letter for the team to visit the respective territories.”

Indonesia has long claimed that West Papua is an internal matter, but the suffering of its indigenous population is stirring growing solidarity amongst Melanesians in the Pacific Islands.

In 2001, the Indonesian government responded to grievances by granting special autonomy to the provinces of Papua and West Papua, and increasing funding to the region, which amounted to more than 190 million dollars last year. It recently appointed a government unit to address infrastructure, public service and social issues.

However, West Papuans still suffer severe socio-economic hardship and have few freedoms. Twenty-seven percent of people in Papua and 31 percent in West Papua live in poverty, compared to 13 percent in East Java and 3.7 percent in Jakarta.

The Indonesian military controls civilian life and is regularly accused of killings, brutality, corruption and involvement in drug smuggling and illegal logging activities. Last year Amnesty International reported that 90 political activists were imprisoned for peaceful political activities and “security forces faced persistent allegations of human rights violations, including torture.”

“West Papua’s struggle for independence is not just West Papua’s struggle, but Melanesia’s struggle, and the people of Melanesia must take ownership,” said Fred Mambrasar of the civil society group, Melanesian United Front in Papua New Guinea.

Up to 500,000 West Papuan lives were lost in the past 50 years due to Indonesian military and government policies in the territory, according to a University of Sydney report.

During the past six months public demonstrations in support of West Papua have increased across the region. A concerned group of indigenous people from Australia and West Papua sailed to West Papua in September in a Freedom Flotilla that was a symbolic voyage to the shores of the Indonesian province to highlight issues of freedom and justice.

In Papua New Guinea, the Melanesian United Front launched a campaign and petition to boost public pressure, and urban demonstrations were supported by Port Moresby’s Governor, Powes Parkop. A letter of international solidarity signed by 98 international and Pacific non-governmental organisations was sent to the MSG in October.

Politically West Papuans see hope in the MSG’s promotion of decolonisation elsewhere in the region, such as in East Timor, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, and the resolute support of Vanuatu’s leadership in recent years.

In September, Moana Carcasses, Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, called on the United Nations General Assembly to “rectify some historical errors” and appoint a special representative to investigate human rights abuses and political issues in the beleaguered territory.

But the Melanesian United Front’s Patrick Kaiku is concerned that “observer states, such as Indonesia, which wield significant diplomatic resources and experience, will dictate the terms of West Papuan membership in the MSG if they are allowed to exert their influence.”

“The independence of the MSG must be maintained,” he asserted.

Papua New Guinea, an influential Melanesian state with observer status at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has substantial trade ties with Indonesia, and also security concerns about its shared land border. In June its leaders accepted an invitation to business talks in Jakarta instead of attending the MSG Leaders summit. Solomon Islands leaders were briefed separately by the Indonesian government on developments in West Papua during a bilateral visit in August.

However, Ondawame is confident his coalition has “won the diplomatic battle in the region” and that an unstoppable political momentum has begun. He remains adamant that the MSG holds the key to progressing political dialogue and addressing a human rights crisis that many believe has been met with silence from the international community for too long.

As the U.S. struggles with a weeks-long government shutdown which has threatened the country’s economic recovery and forced President Barack Obama to cancel a series of high-stakes visits to Asia, China has instead taken the centre-stage, boosting ties with Asian neighbours and promising multi-billion trade and investment deals.

Amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Western Pacific, Obama’s scheduled trip to Asia was meant to reassure allies and reiterate Washington’s commitment to regional stability. Moreover, Obama was also expected to make a strong pitch for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP-FTA), which aims to cover 12 Pacific Rim nations that collectively constitute about 40 percent of the global economy and a third of its total trade.

But facing a domestic political crisis, with the U.S. Congress blocking implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act, the White House announced Obama’s decision to not only skip state visits to Malaysia and the Philippines, but also trips to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) as well as the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) summits in Indonesia and Brunei."Obviously we prefer a U.S. government that is working than one that is not, and we prefer a U.S. President who is able to travel and fulfill his international duties to one that is preoccupied with domestic preoccupations.”

In Obama’s absence, Chinese President Xi Jinping took the limelight, becoming the first foreign leader to deliver a speech at the Indonesian Parliament and serving as the keynote speaker at the APEC summit (Oct. 7-8).

To up the ante, Xi offered to set up a 50 billion dollar Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which is set to rival the U.S.-Japan-led Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the continent’s primary source of development aid.

“China will firmly uphold regional peace and stability and help cement a foundation for a win-win situation in the Asia-Pacific,” declared Xi at the APEC summit. He emphasised China’s role as Southeast Asia’s top economic partner and its emergence as a regional powerhouse. “China cannot develop in isolation of the Asia-Pacific, and the Asia-Pacific cannot prosper without China.”

Throughout the summit, Xi astutely glossed over China’s deepening territorial disputes with neighbouring countries, namely Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, while emphasising the resilience of the Chinese economy and the depth of its interdependence with Southeast Asian neighbours.

Intent on undermining the TPP, a centerpiece of Washington’s pivot to Asia that ostensibly excludes China, Xi also pushed for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement (FTA), which aims to consolidate already existing regional FTAs into an overarching trade arrangement, with China very much at its centre.

The ongoing TPP negotiations, which have been criticised for their lack of transparency, have met strong domestic opposition across member countries, especially in Asian countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The TPP is widely characterised as a corporate-driven FTA, which aims to stringently uphold intellectual property rights, allow foreign companies to override domestic laws and sue member states, curtail consumer access to basic goods and services, and place restrictions on or/and dismantle state-owned enterprises.

“The TPP is designed as a second-best alternative to promote corporate interests via free trade given the stalemate at the World Trade Organisation,” Dr. Walden Bello, a renowned expert on trade-related issues, told IPS. “The benefits of trade accruing to corporations whatever their nationality with what will soon become the world’s biggest economy will undermine the U.S.’s geo-economic objective.”

Equipped with almost 200 billion dollars in foreign aid budget, China has become the prime economic force in Asia. While cautiously welcoming Beijing’s increased economic footprint, with Xi declaring a one trillion dollarChina-ASEAN trade target by 2020, Southeast leaders are, however, less impressed with Washington.

“Obviously we prefer a U.S. government that is working than one that is not, and we prefer a U.S. President who is able to travel and fulfill his international duties to one that is preoccupied with domestic concerns,” lamented Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, prodding Washington leaders to get their act together.

“And America has to continue to be engaged in this region because it plays a very important role which no other country can replace, not China, not Japan, not any other power.”

Immediately after the APEC summit, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, in turn, took the mantle of leadership at the ASEAN summit (Oct. 9-10) in Brunei. After months of hectic negotiations over establishing a new regional Code of Conduct (CoC) to peacefully resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea, many were hoping for concrete indications of a diplomatic breakthrough.

With China earlier this year agreeing in principle to re-open negotiations over a CoC, there were expectations of new announcements on the contours of the proposed code, the composition of the technical group in charge of drafting its guidelines, and a detailed timetable for its conclusion.

Among Southeast Asian states such as the Philippines, which are locked in a bitter territorial dispute with China over a variety of features in the South China Sea, there was a great sense of urgency for a major diplomatic development.

Despite incessant efforts by major regional leaders from Japan, Australia and the U.S. (represented by Secretary of State John Kerry), however, there was hardly any sign of China softening its territorial stance, with Premier Li emphasising how China is “unshakable in its resolve to uphold national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Alarmed by China’s assertive stance, and with little indications of the ASEAN collectively standing up to China on the territorial issue, Philippine President Benigno Aquino and his Vietnamese counterpart Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung held a meeting on the sidelines of the summit aiming to coordinate their efforts in preventing a conflict in the South China Sea and peacefully resolving disputes.

As an indication of the depth of bilateral tensions, Aquino’s effort to reach out to his Chinese counterpart was rebuffed, while Filipino and Chinese diplomats reportedly quarrelled over the wording of a paragraph regarding the territorial disputes in the ASEAN-China joint statement.

The Philippines, currently negotiating an expanded U.S. rotational military presence on it soil, was hoping for Obama to back its territorial claims and dissuade China from further territorial assertiveness.

But amid Washington’s shutdown and Obama’s absence, China was busy courting Southeast Asian states and elevating its regional profile by offering massive trade and investment incentives.

Women face greater odds in achieving equal political representation in the Pacific Islands than in any other region of the world, holding just 3 percent of seats in national parliaments, compared to 20 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa and 18.5 percent in South East Asia.

Following the first Pacific Women’s Parliamentary Partnerships Forum hosted by the Australian government in Sydney this month, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, the longest serving female parliamentarian in the Pacific region, spoke to IPS about the challenges of gaining political office and some of the measures being pursued to redress the stark imbalance.

Fiame was first elected in 1985 to the parliament of Samoa, a Polynesian nation located north-east of Fiji and first in the region to achieve Independence in 1962. She is a ‘matai’ or high chief, as was her father, Fiame Mata’afa Faumuina Mulinu’u II, the first prime minister of Samoa. In addition to representing the Lotofaga electorate in Atua district on the most populous island Upolu, she has served as minister of education, minister for women, community and social development and presently holds the portfolio for justice and courts administration.

She was one of 40 female MPs from the Pacific Islands and Australia, including Cook Islands opposition MP Selina Napa, and Delilah Gore and Julie Soso Akeke from Papua New Guinea, who attended the first regional consultation of the Pacific Women’s Parliamentary Partnerships Programme. Part of the Australian ‘Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development’ initiative supported by AusAID, its objective is to increase the professional skills and capacity of women politicians in the region.

“It is a good start in terms of saying, yes, people are serious about this,” Fiame told IPS.  “We got some clarity around the kind of approaches that could be taken. There is a website that could assist with developing the women’s network to become an information exchange, enabling direct contact between members and research assistance on parliamentary issues and political approaches.

“You can never get away from candidate training,” she added. “You always have to look, especially if you want to increase the numbers, at beginning to identify women leaders and the training opportunities that could be made available to them.”

The Millennium Development Goal 3 (MDG 3) on promoting the rights of women, and the Pacific Platform for Action on Advancement of Women and Gender Equality both promote the goal of governments attaining a proportion of 30 percent women in decision-making roles.

Samoa, which has two women in parliament, rates at 4.1 percent, the Marshall Islands 3 percent, Papua New Guinea 2.7 percent and Vanuatu nil. There have, however, been some recent incremental gains. In national elections held last year, three women entered parliament in Palau, one was elected in the Solomon Islands and three in Papua New Guinea.

Many reasons have been suggested for the persistent disparity, such as traditional patriarchal cultures, historical influence of male dominated colonial administrations, corruption and lack of political party reform, and lack of financial resources and campaigning skills.

The reality of the unequal playing field has long been recognised by the region’s leaders, so why the lack of substantial progress?

Fiame Naomi Mata’afa

“I think it comes down to the choices women make. Politics is perceived not always in a positive way,” Fiame responded. “I think a lot of women feel it is not their place; that they don’t necessarily like the way things are done, which begs the question: why don’t you get in and change it?”

In the 2011 Samoan election nine of 158 candidates were women.

“Economic development gives you more choices, so in developing countries the traditional roles of gender are much more entrenched,” she added. “In many Pacific states, the government is not in a position to take care of and provide a safety net for all of its citizens. So people often see that their safety lies with traditional cultural and social networks.”

At Independence, the Samoan people chose via a referendum to retain ‘Fa’a matai’, the indigenous system of governance based on elected chiefs, or ‘matais’, who bear responsibility for the affairs and customary lands of extended families.

“We don’t have automatic succession,” Fiame pointed out. “When a titleholder passes away, the extended family come together to decide who will succeed.  It is very democratic, but it is also a very political process.” Nevertheless, the Lands and Titles Court will arbitrate a decision in the absence of consensus.

The Legislative Assembly has 49 seats, of which 47 are reserved for male and female ‘matais’ and two for representatives of Samoa’s diverse communities.

“In the Samoan context, women are allowed to hold titles, we do hold titles,” she emphasised. “We do, though, have an issue in that some villages don’t allow women to hold titles, but that is a constitutional issue.”

Although 48 percent of the population is female, the 2011 census revealed 89 percent of ‘matais’ were male and 11 percent female.

In contrast, there is now gender equality at all levels of education in Samoa with females consistently outperforming male students.

Education to change cultural and social attitudes and produce greater voter support for women MPs are long term goals across the region. But temporary special measures, such as quotas and reserved seats, could potentially make a difference, even though women themselves have mixed opinions.

“If you talk to many women who have gotten into parliament, most of them will say they don’t support temporary measures,” Fiame said. “But I can take a step back sufficiently to say that we do require temporary special measures, because if something doesn’t happen, you have to have the will to make it happen.”

Last year, a constitutional amendment bill was tabled in the Samoan parliament to grant a 10 percent quota of women members, equating to five reserved seats.

“It (the Bill) is in its second reading and hopefully it will come through at our next sitting,” she clarified, admitting that one of the “crunch” issues could be the political interests of her male colleagues in view of possible competition from women in their electorates.

But she firmly believes that the beginning of a serious dialogue about women in governance throughout the nation is imperative to challenging mindsets.

In the meantime, people will be looking to national elections due to take place this year in Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia, and progress in Fiji toward planned democratic polls in 2014 – all nations where women have no elected presence in the halls of power. (End)

By Stephen Leahy
Sep 4 2012 (IPS)

The 43rd Pacific Islands Forum was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, from 28 to 30 August 2012 involved leaders from the 16 member Pacific nations including Australia and New Zealand. This year’s theme: “Large Ocean Island States – the Pacific Challenge” with major topics including climate change, trade and fishing.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton along with more than 500 officials from nearly 60 countries including China, and European Union attended as observers and participated in other meetings in the Cook Islands, some 3000 km northeast of New Zealand.

Leaders of 15 Pacific Island nations have pledged to remove barriers to women’s economic empowerment, end violence against women and pave the way for their increased political representation, at the conclusion of the 43^rd Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, last week. The meeting was also attended by the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet.

Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Tuiloma Neroni Slade, stated at the opening ceremony that “this year is an occasion to acknowledge the strength, insight, determination and wisdom of Pacific women, past and present. We need to continue with greater clarity to support and encourage concerted efforts under way to effectively address the entrenched disadvantages that many women face….”

The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organisation of 16 independent and self-governing Pacific states, in a region with a population of approximately 10 million, which aims to advance peace, security and economic prosperity in the region.

Forum members include Australia, Papua New Guinea and Palau in the west through to Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. New Caledonia and French Polynesia are associate members, while American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Tokelau and Wallis and Fortuna have observer status.

The theme of this year’s annual meeting of leaders was ‘Large Ocean Island States: the Pacific Challenge’, highlighting the central importance of the Pacific Ocean to the cultural identities and sustainable livelihoods of islanders. Issues discussed included the status of women, climate change, the outcomes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), management of Pacific fisheries, infrastructure development, regional trade, education and health.

During a speech to the Forum on Aug. 30, Bachelet, said: “Women and girls are key to meeting the many challenges of sustainable development here in the Pacific, as in the rest of the world. Sustainable development requires women’s rights, equal opportunities and women’s full participation.

“This is something that Pacific leaders have recognised,” she said. “The Pacific Plan, endorsed by leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in 2005, explicitly cites gender equality as a key element in achieving sustainable development.”

The new Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration, endorsed at this year’s Forum, outlines commitments to implement national policies to improve the status of women. Pledges include temporary special measures to accelerate women’s equal participation in government and promoting their senior appointments in the private sector, reforming legislation that impedes equal employment opportunities and pay conditions, and supporting female entrepreneurs with financial services and training.

Women’s political representation is 4.3 percent in Kiribati, 3.8 percent in Vanuatu and 3 percent in the Marshall Islands. Papua New Guinea has three female members of parliament, while the Solomon Islands have one and Tuvalu currently has none.

Joanna Hayter, Executive Director of the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) based in Australia, said that the commitment of Pacific leaders “can make a real difference in addressing both power and empowerment in relation to women’s rights and gender equality.”

Forum leaders further vowed to implement legislation to protect women from violence with significant punishment for perpetrators and to develop health, counselling and legal services for those who have experienced abuse. According to UN Women, 68 percent of women aged 15-49 years in Kiribati and 64 percent in the Solomon Islands have experienced physical or sexual violence.

Leaders have agreed to report on progress toward the declaration’s goals at future annual Forum gatherings.

Other significant outcomes of this year’s Pacific leaders’ convention were the launch of the Regional Legislative and Regulatory Framework for Deep Sea Minerals Exploration, which sets guidelines for Pacific Island nations to manage the sustainable use of ocean resources, and the opening of the world’s largest 1.1 million square kilometre Cook Islands Marine Park.

Eight new maritime boundary agreements were signed by the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Tokelau, paving the way for better governance of overlapping national maritime territories. There are 48 shared national boundaries in the Pacific Islands and previously only 21 were subject to treaty.

Leaders also acknowledged the urgency of boosting progress on the Millennium Development Goals before 2015 with special focus needed on equitable economic growth, educational outcomes, child and maternal health, as well as gender parity.