In this bulletin:
1. PACIFIC — Australia’s Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs says China missile test was ‘destabilising’ as Pacific leaders speak out
2. UN — UN readies US$100 million as stronger El Niño threatens millions
3. PACIFIC — Chinese embassy in Kiribati accuses critics of ‘double standards’ over missile test
4. COOKS — Cook Islands Party confident as election nominations close
5. PACIFIC — Climate crisis and debt, the Pacific region asks for help
6. PNG — Minister Bando’s criticism of overseas trips a ‘fair call’: PNG PM
7. BOUG — Bougainville President optimistic government will table 2019 Referendum results in Parliament
8. PACNEWS BIZ — Fiji Sugar export earnings plunge in 2025 to a nine year low
9. PACNEWS BIZ — PNG must reduce reliance on imported food: Dept
10. PACNEWS IN FOCUS — “Climate refugees” do not exist as a concept — but countries are testing new approaches to offer protection
11. PACNEWS DIGEST — Fiji’s HIV crisis is a syringe crisis and the fix is sitting on a pharmacy shelf
PAC – MISSILE TEST: PACNEWS PACNEWS 1: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Australia’s Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs says China missile test was ‘destabilising’ as Pacific leaders speak out
CANBERRA, 14 JULY 2026 (PACNEWS)—Australia says China’s recent ballistic missile test over the Pacific was “destabilising”, citing strong condemnation from Pacific leaders alongside Australia’s response.
Speaking in an interview on Sky News, Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs, Senator Nita Green, said the Australian Government responded immediately after the missile test.
“We obviously made some strong statements from the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, my minister, Pat Conroy, as soon as this missile test occurred, to make it very clear that the Australian government was disappointed with the decision to test this missile in this direction.
“And we also wanted to express how destabilising this is for the Pacific region,” she said “
Senator Green said Pacific leaders also made their views clear following the launch.
“But you also saw, in response, not just commentary from our government and our Prime Minister, but very strong statements from Pacific leaders, and our Prime Minister just happened to be in Fiji and with the Solomon Islands Prime Minister at the same time as the media was seeking response to this,” she said.
“And actually their statements, I think, were very strong and indicative of what Pacific countries thought about this decision by the Chinese,” she said.
Asked about United States engagement in the Pacific following recent agreements with Fiji and Papua New Guinea, Green said Australia would not discuss diplomatic conversations with other countries but said the United States remained engaged in the region.
“Firstly, we don’t necessarily go into diplomatic conversations we have with other countries, that’s not how we operate diplomatically, but what I can tell you is that the U.S are engaged in our region,” she said.
Green said she visited Honolulu earlier this year and met United States officials and Pacific leaders.
“I visited Honolulu and met with officials from the U.S government and Pacific leaders earlier in the year. And that was an opportunity to really highlight to the U.S the work that is being undertaken by our government in the region, but also how the U.S can assist.”
She said the United States has close relationships with countries in the North Pacific, while Australia engages in the Pacific based on its own national interests.
“They have close relationships with, particularly northern Pacific countries, and so they undertake those relationships, you know, to the best of their national interests.
“We engage in the Pacific in our national interests, but often I think that those interests are aligned and that’s how we work together in the region,” he said…. PACNEWS
UN – EL NINO: PACNEWS PACNEWS 1: Tue 14 Jul 2026
UN readies US$100 million as stronger El Niño threatens millions
NEW YORK, 13 JULY 2026 (PACNEWS)—-The United Nations is preparing to release up to US$100 million in emergency funding as forecasts indicate the next El Niño will be more severe than the 2023-24 event that left tens of millions of people in need of humanitarian assistance.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher warned that “El Niño is back.”
“Extreme heat, droughts and floods are once again set to devastate communities across Latin America, Eastern and Southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific,” “he said in a statement.
He said the previous El Niño left tens of millions of people requiring food, nutrition, water, sanitation, health, agricultural support and protection.
“The forecasts are clear: this one looks even worse. It comes on top of widespread conflict, rising numbers of people on the move, and as soaring fuel, fertilizer and food prices are squeezing the most vulnerable families – while the humanitarian system reels from deep cuts.”
Fletcher said the UN is prepared to release up to US$100 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support early action.
“We are ready to disburse up to US$100m from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to get ahead of this El Niño,” he said.
He said more than US$20 million has already been allocated for anticipatory action in six countries and that CERF’s Climate Action Account is investing in vulnerable communities to help them withstand future climate shocks.
“In support of that response, we are planning, implementing the lessons from the past, innovating, coordinating the humanitarian community and taking action. Our preparations are shaped by more sophisticated forecasts.
More than US$20 million has already been allocated for anticipatory action in six countries. Through CERF’s Climate Action Account, we are investing in vulnerable communities to better withstand the climate shocks ahead,” he said.
Fletcher called for increased early and flexible financing, greater efforts to resolve conflicts, support for displaced communities and stronger action on climate change.
“We need early, flexible financing – more effective and less costly in the long run – to match the scale of the risk. We ask for the world to prioritise conflict resolution and support to communities forced to flee. And we urge braver climate action in place of the short term and selfish decisions that are pushing us relentlessly towards the 1.5°C warming cliff edge.
“The choice is clear: we can wait for disaster, or we can invest in resilience,” he said……PACNEWS
PAC – MISSILE TEST: RNZ PACIFIC PACNEWS 1: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Chinese embassy in Kiribati accuses critics of ‘double standards’ over missile test
TARAWA, 14 JULY 2026 (RNZ PACIFIC) —The Chinese Embassy in Kiribati has accused some countries of “double standards” in their criticism of China’s testing of a nuclear-capable missile in the South Pacific last week.
The test drew criticism from political leaders from across the region, who raised concerns about Beijing’s actions.
Palau’s leader warned that it fuelled “nuclear anxiety”, while the New Zealand prime minister described it as “incredibly unwelcome”.
However, in a social media post, a spokesperson for the embassy said the missile warhead was a dummy and the “routine” test did not pose any threat of harm, reiterating the same lines as Beijing’s Foreign Ministry.
They said testing strategic missiles is a common practice among nuclear-armed countries and “by no means targeted Kiribati”.
“It is in line with international law and international practice and is not directed against any country or target.”
The spokesperson said other countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and India, have conducted hundreds of nuclear tests and missile tests in the Pacific and other oceans.
“China has only conducted 3 strategic missile tests since 1949 in the Pacific,” the spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, China does not accept the “hypocrisy” of countries who accuse China of fuelling dangerous nuclear proliferation, and undermining peace and stability in the region while acquiring strategic nuclear submarines.
China-Kiribati relations are friendly and robust, and the two nations have supported each other for a long time, they said.
The spokesperson called on the Kiribati people to be “objective and rational” and “not be misled by countries and media that hold prejudices against China”.
Kiribati officially switched its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in September 2019….PACNEWS
COOKS – ELECTION/POLITICS: COOK ISLANDS NEWS PACNEWS 1: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Cook Islands Party confident as election nominations close
RAROTONGA, 14 JULY 2026 (COOK ISLANDS NEWS)—-With candidate nominations closing on Monday, 13 July (local time), political parties are stepping up their campaigns as the race to form the next government intensifies.
The Cook Islands Party (CIP), Cook Islands Democratic Party, Cook Islands United Party, Progressive Party and a growing number of independent candidates are all finalising their line-ups ahead of next month’s general election on 12 August.
Cook Islands Party leader Prime Minister Mark Brown and party candidates officially registered their nominations on Thursday local time at the Ministry of Justice.
Brown said the party was confident heading into the election, pointing to its record in government.
“We’re very excited with the elections coming up,” Brown said.
“We’ve got a really good track record of achievements as a government and what we’ve done. We’re confident going into this election that we’ll be showing people not just what we’ve achieved, but also building on that with the new initiatives we’ll be announcing next week in our party manifesto.”
Among the party’s new faces is Maru Willie, who will contest the Tupapa-Maraerenga constituency for the first time.
Born in 1972 and raised in Tupapa, Willie said he was encouraged to stand by current MP George “Maggie” Angene.
“Other than that, I’ve been working in the community for many years,” Willie said.
He has held leadership roles in rugby union, rugby league and cultural organisations, holds the traditional title Te Pō Rangatira under Makea Vakatini Ariki, and has served on the Tupapa-Maraerenga Sports Executive Committee for more than 30 years.
Willie said his priority, if elected, would be listening to and serving the people.
“The first thing for me is to listen to the people and be their voice, to serve and support the community.”
Willie resigned as chief executive officer for Minister George Angene to contest the election.
He is now self-employed and remains involved in his family’s catering business, as well as sports and cultural activities.
The Cook Islands Party is expected to announce its full list of candidates on Monday (Tuesday NZT)…..PACNEWS
PAC – CLIMATE CHANGE: ASIA NEWS PACNEWS 1: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Climate crisis and debt, the Pacific region asks for help
PORT MORESBY, 14 JULY 2026 (ASIA NEWS)—The Pacific region could experience unprecedented economic instability as a result of natural disasters induced by climate change combined with the debt crisis.
In view of the situation, Caritas Oceania and the Jubilee Australia Research Centre launched an appeal at a press conference during which they presented a report, their first, centred on the impact of the climate and financial crises on Pacific countries.
The region’s islands are exposed to rising sea levels, increasingly strong and frequent cyclones, and tides that have a devastating environmental impact. Extreme weather events are forcing the small Pacific island nations to borrow to repair the damage, increasing their debt load.
The report, presented on 4 October, the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, is titled Twin clouds on the horizon: averting a combined climate and debt crisis in the Pacific through locally-delivered climate finance. In it, the international community is urged to settle the climate debt.
According to the document, the money must reach those who need it most; debt restructuring is also needed, improving climate finance, as well as subsidising resilience practices against environmental damage.
“We are at a very critical time in our fight for climate resilience, especially in the Pacific which is facing existential threats from climate change,” said Card Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Caritas Oceania regional president.
“The world’s challenge,” he added, “is to listen and see with attentive ears and eyes the struggle of those on the frontlines of climate change, and to have the courage to take action in solidarity.”
For Mavis Tito, director of Caritas Papua New Guinea, “Seven Pacific nations including PNG are already at risk of high debt distress. Look at what happened to Vanuatu, where public debt more than doubled after Cyclone Pam in 2015 due to the cost of repair and reconstruction.”
Overall, “We need sufficient climate finance to allow us to protect our communities from climate change without worsening our debt burden,” Tito explained.
Luke Fletcher agrees. As executive director at Jubilee Australia, he noted that “Climate finance is, at its heart, the repayment of a debt owed by countries that caused climate change to those that experience its worst effects. High-income countries have been shirking that debt for years.”
The report, whose recommendations will be included in the statement Pacific nations will present at the upcoming COP27, calls, among other things, for US$ 1 billion annual funding to cover the costs of climate adaptation.
At present, the region’s islands receive les than half that amount through the Pacific Resilience Facility…..PACNEWS
PNG – POLITICS: THE NATIONAL PACNEWS 1: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Minister Bando’s criticism of overseas trips a ‘fair call’: PNG PM
PORT MORESBY, 14 JULY 2026 (THE NATIONAL)—Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says comments by his Coffee Minister, William Bando, attacking large delegations overseas were a “fair call”.
In what many considered a direct attack on Marape himself, Bando last week said it had become a norm for leaders and public servants to prefix important government programmes overseas, particularly in Australia, to coincide with sporting events.
Last week, Marape attended the Australia-Papua New Guinea Annual Leaders’ Dialogue in Brisbane, coinciding with the State of Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium, which he attended with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other Pacific leaders.
Parliamentarians, including ministers and governors, attended the match.
Bando called lavish overseas trips by large delegations as “morally and ethically wrong”, and recommended punitive actions against those responsible.
Bando urged government departments, statutory authorities and state agencies to publicly account for overseas trips funded by taxpayers, warning that public money must be spent on service delivery rather than privileges.
Marape said it was a fair call especially for those “not going for work”.
Bando said: “Immigration officials should track down this leisuring immigrants at exit port at taxpayers’ peril and demand accountability provided their travel costs are paid by taxpayers.”
He expressed concern over what he described as a growing trend of government officials travelling to Australia for meetings and workshops that appear to coincide with major rugby league matches in Brisbane.
Bando said the trips raised serious questions about the use of public funds at a time when PNG was facing pressing challenges, including the continuing impacts of El Niño on food security, water supply and essential services.
He urged public servants to remain focused on delivering services in districts, provinces and communities, saying taxpayers expected government institutions to put people before privilege.
Bando requested every government department, statutory authority and state agency that had travelled overseas using public funds to release a full account of their trips.
He said the public should be informed of the names of officials who travelled, the purpose of the trip, dates and locations, total costs, allowances paid and the measurable outcomes achieved for the country.
Bando stressed that every Kina spent by the Government belongs to the people and should be managed responsibly.
He warned that if officials were using overseas travel as an opportunity for personal enjoyment or to attend sporting events under the guise of official business, it would represent a serious breach of public trust…..PACNEWS
BOUG – INDEPENDENCE STRUGGLE: THE NATIONAL PACNEWS 1: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Bougainville President optimistic government will table 2019 Referendum results in Parliament
BUKA, 14 JULY 2026 (THE NATIONAL) —Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama has welcomed the Government’s commitment to table the 2019 Bougainville Referendum results in Parliament, noting that continuous dialogue has allowed the matter to be resolved in a peaceful manner.
Toroama said the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) saw this as an important step in the implementation of the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA).
“The Bougainville Peace Agreement has guided us for more than two decades,” he said.
“Our responsibility now is to continue working together in good faith, respecting the agreed constitutional processes while preserving the peace that our people have sacrificed so much to achieve.”
Toroama said the peace process had always been founded on partnership, mutual respect and dialogue, and stressed that both governments had a shared responsibility to uphold the commitments made under the BPA.
He acknowledged the continued engagement between the Government and ABG through established bilateral mechanisms, adding that sustained dialogue has enabled both parties to address complex constitutional, political and
administrative issues over the years.
On 23 June, Toroama presented the Bougainville Final Position Paper to Richard Smith, the independent facilitator overseeing the joint technical consultations between the ABG and the Government, and Chief Secretary Ivan Pomaleu.
The proposal outlines that:
*Under the first phase, Bougainville will continue preparations for self-government until Sept 1, 2027, focusing on strengthening governance institutions, public administration, peace and security, and economic readiness;
*From then on, Bougainville would transition into a period of self-government, exercising the fullest practical and constitutional authority available under the existing legal framework, including additional powers under Section 289 of the Constitution; and,
*The final phase envisages Bougainville attaining full independence in 2030, becoming an independent nation-state recognised under international law and separate from the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
Toroama said: “This position is not founded on emotion or convenience.
“It is founded on the Bougainville Peace Agreement, Part 14 of the Constitution and the solemn commitments that have guided our journey and preserved peace.”
In response, Prime Minister James Marape reiterated the Bougainville’s political future could only be determined under PNG’s constitutional processes….PACNEWS
PACNEWS BIZ
FIJI – SUGAR INDUSTRY: FIJI TIMES PACNEWS BIZ: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Fiji Sugar export earnings plunge in 2025 to a nine year low
SUVA, 14 JULY 2026 (FIJI TIMES)—Fiji’s sugar export earnings recorded a sharp decline in 2025, according to the Reserve Bank of Fiji’s The Fijian Economy: Chart Pack – June 2026, highlighting the continued challenges facing one of the country’s traditional export industries.
The latest chart pack shows sugar export earnings falling to below $50 million(US$25 million) in 2025, the lowest level in the nine-year period from 2017 to 2025.
The decline follows several years of stronger export performance. Sugar exports earned around $145 million(US$72.5 million) in 2023 before easing to about $120 million(US$60 million) in 2024. In contrast, export earnings in 2025 dropped by more than half compared with the previous year.
The report also indicates that sugar production continued its downward trend, falling to around 110,000 tonnes in 2025, compared with approximately 125,000 tonnes in 2024. Cane production improved slightly from 2024 levels but remained well below the highs recorded before 2020.
Another indicator of industry performance, the Tonnes of Cane to Tonnes of Sugar (TCTS) ratio, rose to its highest level in the period at around 13 in 2025. A higher TCTS ratio generally means more cane is required to produce the same amount of sugar, reflecting lower milling efficiency or reduced cane quality.
The figures underscore the ongoing pressures facing Fiji’s sugar industry, despite modest improvements in cane production, with weaker sugar output translating into significantly lower export earnings.
The data is contained in the Reserve Bank of Fiji’s The Fijian Economy: Chart Pack – June 2026, which draws on information from the Fiji Bureau of Statistics and the Fiji Sugar Corporation.
Meanwhile, as a country we should stop fooling ourselves about reviving the sugar industry.
Finance permanent secretary Shiri Gounder told the Dialogue Fiji National Budget Forum in Nadi this would not be possible, adding that it could cost the taxpayers billions of dollars.
He made the remark in response to Fiji Sugar Corporation chief executive officer Bhan Pratap Singh, who said the corporation was considering major operational restructuring, including the possibility of replacing Viti Levu’s two existing sugar mills with a single new mill.
“So, should we build a new mill? Where’s the money to build the new mill? FSC, if it’s an insolvent entity, does not have the money to build the mill,” Gounder said.
“Should the taxpayers put in more money to build the mill for an industry that’s dying a natural death? I don’t think so.”
Gounder said given that there are a lot of farmers involved and there is a history to the sugar industry, there are farmers who are dependent on it. “However, as a country we should stop fooling ourselves about reviving this industry.
“Because we can’t, it is going to cost us a billion dollars if we try.
“And if we realise after spending a billion dollars that we can’t revive the industry as mentioned by Dr Ahmed Shakeel, its taxpayers’ money down the drain.”
He said the sugar industry issue was a sensitive topic that needed discussions on its survival.
“As Government we are providing $100million dollars to support cane price and all the other subsidies to the sugar industry.
“When we are allocating funds, we have to decide how much we are providing for yaqona, how much should we provide for dalo, and there’s hundred thousand people doing vegetable farming and there’s thousands of people planting dalo.
“And we need to put money in cocoa farming and ultimately, I think in the better interest of the farmers,” he said….PACNEWS
PNG – IMPORT: THE NATIONAL PACNEWS BIZ: Tue 14 Jul 2026
PNG must reduce reliance on imported food: Dept
PORT MORESBY, 14 JULY 2026 (THE NATIONAL)—Papua New Guinea must reduce imported food and look at meeting its domestic food needs, says Agriculture and Livestock department secretary Dr Sergie Bang.
Bang said the country should not continue to rely on imported food because of the increases in prices.
According to a food safety report by the World Health Organisation, one in every 10 persons become ill after consuming contaminated food. And every day, about 16 million persons face health problems due to food being spoilt.
The report highlighted that 46 per cent of children under the age of five are experiencing stunting due to the lack of nutritious and safe food.
Bang said: “Food safety is everyone’s business and it is important to take note of events and awareness programmes on food safety, standards, the opportunities and downfalls and its recommendations for better choices to be made on food.
“PNG is also grateful to the donor countries for their partnership in increasing the food trade and promoting growth and helping to develop our economy to integrate into the global economy level through direct foreign investment.
“However, in these foreign investments, the smaller developing countries such as PNG can be uncertain in its food systems because of climate change, new disease vectors, counterfeit goods, population increase, food price hikes and uncertainty in global economy and environmental impacts due to development, industrialisation, ongoing wars and climate change.”
Bang said PNG was improving food safety standard and development issues through the Codex PNG secretariat.
The national Codex committee made up of stakeholders meets four times a year to discuss food safety and standard development agendas.
The National Codex Committee will develop national food standards for indigenous crops such as Kava galip bread fruit flour, earth cooking (mumu), Highlands honey, sago flour and Marita.
The department has placed emphasis on the national agriculture strategic plan 2024 to 2033 on agriculture and commercialisation, codex food standards, climate change, land use and increase in food production over the next 50 years…..PACNEWS
PACNEWS In Focus
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
“Climate refugees” do not exist as a concept — but countries are testing new approaches to offer protection
By Julian Hattem
SYDNEY, 14 JULY 2026 (MIGRATTION POLICY INSTITUTE)—Legally speaking, there is no such thing as a “climate refugee.” While the phrase has often been used colloquially, international law does not offer refugee status to people displaced across borders by the impacts of climate change, and domestic laws have traditionally not considered climate or environmental factors as reasons to grant protection.
The vast majority of people moving in response to climate change do so within their own countries. But some will need to cross a border, either because doing so leads to the closest safe location or, in extreme cases such as small island countries contending with sea-level rise, because there is nowhere else to go.
Migration is a complex phenomenon and often is prompted by a range of factors. Due to the difficulty disentangling what the primary motivator is, as well as the lack of a legal category for climate-induced movement, it is unclear how many people migrate internationally because of climate change. It is likely, however, that a significant number move at least in part due to environmental factors, both slow-onset such as rising seas and desertification, which can contribute to economic hardship or conflict, as well as rapid-onset disasters such as cyclones, floods, and wildfires. Academic research has consistently found a link between climate pressures and international migration, and while individual migrants only rarely cite climate change as the sole or primary reason for their movement, which might instead centre on economic opportunity or physical safety from conflict, it is often mentioned as one of many factors in their larger calculations.
However, people often have no means to move across borders legally solely because of their climate vulnerability. Some may receive protection for other reasons, while others may be able to utilize legal migration pathways such as work or family reunification channels, and others yet move without authorization. As the impacts of climate change intensify, resulting migration is sure to increase as well.
Policymakers and advocates have long grappled with this tension and have begun to experiment with solutions. Some pre-existing humanitarian policies have been stretched to accommodate disaster displacement, while policies particularly in the Pacific have more explicitly sought to carve out a pathway for people fleeing sea-level rise. Most notably, in 2025 Australia began issuing what have been described as the world’s first climate-specific visas to fewer than 300 people from the small island nation of Tuvalu. At the same time, international jurisprudence has begun to consider environmental threats as reasons why authorities might be unable to deport people back to their native country.
Combined, these developments point to a gradual evolution of some national migration systems and international protection norms to find accommodations for people whose homelands have become dangerous or uninhabitable because of climate change. The changes remain limited in scope and notably are unlikely to expand the longstanding legal definition for refugees. But they have created a legal lexicon for offering protection, either via national policy experiments or international legal philosophy.
This article, partly based on research conducted for the author’s book, Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration, provides an overview of international law concerning climate-affected migration.
Eligibility for Refugee Status Is Narrowly Defined
The current international protection system, which was forged in the wake of World War II, is silent on climate or environmental factors as reasons for countries to grant protection. The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as a person fleeing persecution “for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” Some subsequent regional conventions have expanded the definition slightly; for instance, the Organisation of African Unity’s 1969 refugee convention also includes people fleeing “events seriously disturbing public order,” and the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, which has been signed by multiple Latin American countries, includes similar language. Yet none specifically mention climate change.
For one, climate change was not an issue on the minds of convention framers decades ago. Moreover, it is often difficult to isolate climate and environmental factors among the range of reasons why someone leaves their home. Climatic shifts affect people in nuanced, often indirect ways, which can operate differently in cases of fast-onset disasters and slower-onset changes. The dangers of a sudden-onset disaster such as a wildfire or mudslide can be more obvious and acute but may also allow for individuals to return home after a relatively brief evacuation, whereas a slower-onset change may affect livelihoods or lifestyles in a gradual but more profound way. Economic, security-related, and social impacts of climate change tend to be more immediate drivers of migration than climate effects alone.
Some humanitarian advocates and scholars have pushed to revisit the longstanding refugee definition, arguing that explicitly including people displaced by climate change would be the best and most efficient way to provide them legal protection. For instance, in 2023 the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and climate change, Ian Fry, called for a new protocol to the 1951 Convention that would focus on people displaced internationally due to climate change.
Others, however, have long worried that such an approach would further buckle a humanitarian protection system that is already under intense operational pressure and is facing a serious erosion of political support in a number of countries. As the number of forcibly displaced people globally has grown to record highs in recent years, asylum systems in many receiving countries have faced significant capacity challenges and multiple governments have limited access to protection. As a legal matter, it would likely be exceedingly difficult for authorities to define who would qualify as a “climate refugee,” given the indirect way in which climate change usually affects migration. If a new refugee category were to be created, trying to adjudicate all the claims that emerge would further strain government systems, adding to backlogs and also potentially exacerbating public distrust of the humanitarian protection regime generally.
Countries Are Experimenting with New Legal Pathways
There has been little movement on the international stage to revise the refugee framework. Some governments, though, have attempted their own policy experiments—thus far to mixed success.
A notable early move was a 2017 experiment in New Zealand, launched at least partly to accommodate political pressures. The Labour Party had entered power for the first time in a decade and was pressed to both increase the country’s refugee intake and reduce net migration. In a landmark move, the government announced a new “experimental humanitarian visa” program granting legal entry to 100 Pacific Islanders displaced by rising seas. Even as the approach was small bore, it was hailed by figures including Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president turned climate campaigner.
The announcement came at an auspicious time. Just days earlier, New Zealand’s government had ruled that two families from Tuvalu were not eligible for refugee status because they did not meet a persecution condition spelled out in the Refugee Convention. The Immigration and Protection Tribunal reviewing the case conceded that climate change would pose challenges for the families, but “there is no basis for finding that any harm they do face as a result of the adverse impacts of climate change has any nexus whatsoever to any one of the five convention grounds.”
Despite the announcement, none of the experimental humanitarian visas were ever issued. The government backpedaled just a few months after announcing the new visa, in the face of opposition from Pacific Islanders who generally wanted help staying in their homes rather than an easy way to migrate. Many also did not want to be seen as refugees, which they considered a stigmatized category. “I have never encouraged the status of our people being refugees,” Kiribati’s president, Anote Tong, said a few years before New Zealand unveiled its proposal. “We have to acknowledge the reality that with the rising sea, the land area available for our populations will be considerably reduced and we cannot accommodate all of them, so some of them have to go somewhere, but not as refugees.”
A somewhat similar story played out in Argentina, which in 2022 launched a special humanitarian visa that would grant up to three years of legal residence to Caribbean, Central American, or Mexican individuals at high risk of being displaced by disasters. Unlike many pre-existing temporary protection programs that shield people already in a country from being returned to their disaster-affected homeland, Argentina’s program aimed to be proactive and preventive. Yet it does not seem as if anyone had received the visa at this writing.
The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union
Australia represents a more recent experiment, and one that has led to tangible results. In 2023, the country signed a deal with Tuvalu allowing up to 280 Tuvaluans to migrate to Australia each year under a new visa allowing them to work, study, and live in the country, but not as refugees. Known formally as the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union (falepili is Tuvaluan for “good neighborliness”), the agreement could theoretically pave the way for the entire country of Tuvalu, which has fewer than 12,000 residents, to have emigrated in about 40 years.
Notably, the visa is part of a broader agreement granting Australia de facto veto power over Tuvalu’s future international security agreements—which has been widely interpreted as Australian diplomatic maneuvering regarding China. As a result, some Tuvaluan critics felt the agreement could undermine Tuvalu’s sovereignty.
Still, the agreement has persisted, and more than half of Tuvaluans applied for the visa in 2025. Applicants are selected by random ballot, and the first recipients began arriving in Australia in December.
More Aspirational Approaches Remain Illusory
Officials in other countries have proposed experiments that are even more aspirational, but which generally remain in draft form. Still, they have become a subject of interest in some political corners, especially on the left and centre-left.
For instance, in the United States, the Biden administration appeared to briefly consider a climate migration pathway that would supplement the existing refugee resettlement and asylum systems. Although it ultimately did not commit to anything, a 2021 White House report claimed the United States “does have a national interest” in creating a legal pathway for people fleeing “serious, credible threats to their life or physical integrity, including as a result of the direct or indirect impacts of climate change.” Democrats in the U.S. Congress for years have introduced bills to allow the annual arrival of tens of thousands of “climate-displaced persons,” in a channel that would exist alongside and in addition to the U.S. refugee resettlement system. Among the cosponsors of a 2019 version of the bill was then Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), who later became vice president and the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee. However, efforts such as these appear unlikely to gain traction under the Trump administration, which has deprioritised climate change as an area of focus and sharply limited humanitarian immigration.
In the United Kingdom, a group of Labour Party activists has called for offering refugee status to people forced to move because of climate change, as part of an expansive set of reforms dubbed the Green New Deal. The UK Green Party has also said that the country “has a duty to support people forced to move due to the changes in their home environment, whether internally or from abroad,” and has pledged to work with other countries “to develop an international treaty to protect the rights of those forced to flee their homes as a result of the climate emergency.”
Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights has also suggested the government consider introducing new refugee pathways, including for people affected by climate change.
These sorts of proposals have a slim chance of being enacted at present. But they demonstrate that there is some political appetite for considering expansive new climate protection pathways.
New Tricks for an Old Legal System
At the same time, pioneering decisions by international and national-level legal bodies have suggested that decades-old frameworks could be applied to people fleeing environmental hazards in certain situations, without changing those frameworks. In particular, judges have pointed to the legal notion of nonrefoulement, which prohibits returning someone to a place where they would face various threats, and said that potential harms brought about by climate change could qualify.
In 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee, which is tasked with monitoring countries’ compliance with the 1976 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), determined that someone whose homeland was being devastated by climate change could be eligible for protection against refoulement. The first-of-its-kind decision concerned a native of the small Pacific Island country of Kiribati, named Ioane Teitiota, who had overstayed a work visa in New Zealand, was denied refugee status, and then deported, despite his claims that sea-level rise in his homeland was threatening his family’s existence. The coast was eroding and the ocean regularly spilled over and poked through the seawall, washing out roads and killing crops. “I’m the same as people who are fleeing war,” he told the BBC. “Those are who are afraid of dying, it’s the same as me. The sea level is coming up and I will die, like them.
Notably, the Human Rights Committee did not rule that Teitiota himself had been wrongfully deported; New Zealand had properly assessed his individual case, weighed the threats against him, and was within its right to conclude that he could safely be removed to Kiribati, the committee said. Nor did it determine that countries must resettle people facing climate change-related threats; its ruling was limited to whether authorities could deport someone already physically present in the destination country back to their origin. But it nonetheless said that “without robust national and international efforts, the effects of climate change in receiving states may expose individuals to a violation of their rights” under the ICCPR’s protections, “thereby triggering the nonrefoulement obligations of sending states.”
The obligation is certainly much more indirect than efforts to create new climate migration pathways, but it could have wide applicability. Human Rights Committee expert Yuval Shany said that the ruling “sets forth new standards that could facilitate the success of future climate change-related asylum claims.”
The International Court of Justice subsequently affirmed the connection, in a defining mid-2025 advisory opinion that more generally detailed how countries’ obligations impact human rights. “In the view of the court,” it said, “states have obligations under the principle of nonrefoulement where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm to the right to life” if someone is returned to their country of origin. Also that year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared that countries have a responsibility to protect people displaced internationally by the impacts of climate change, including by offering them visas, temporary residence permits, or other legal status to protect against refoulement.
An Emerging Practice
To be sure, the legal approach is only in its infancy and would only prevent governments from deporting people back to the most climate-devastated areas, rather than proactively extend migration rights and legal status to people currently living there. And it sets a high bar; as Teitiota’s own case shows, authorities could continue to deny protection to individuals if the hazards they face were deemed insufficiently extreme.
Still, the logic has been used to grant protection to at least some individuals. In late 2020, a court in France overturned a deportation order for a Bangladeshi man with a respiratory disease, ruling that he would have faced serious repercussions and possibly even death due to pollution in his native country. In 2024, an Italian court granted protection to another Bangladeshi man who had been living on flood-prone sand islands and had been displaced multiple times; returning him there would amount to inhumane and degrading treatment, the court determined.
Is a New Framework Even Necessary?
Would climate-affected migrants be better served by a new, climate-specific legal migration system? Not everyone is so sure.
Rather than create a process, some advocates argue that the best approach is to more proactively use existing legal work and other visa pathways. For instance, a former labor-mobility scheme allowed people in Colombia facing recurring natural disasters to temporarily migrate to and work in Spain, offering individuals both a chance to move and an opportunity to earn money that could be invested in protecting their homes. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also advised governments that climate change can intersect with other forms of persecution in ways that might make an individual eligible for refugee status. So while a hypothetical individual farmer who had struggled through a drought would not be able to migrate as a refugee, they conceivably might qualify if they were a member of a marginalized ethnic group that had been forced onto barren lands and denied access to government support as result of their ethnicity. Additionally, the expansion of free-movement regimes in places such as the East and Horn of Africa, which faces regular drought and other hazards, has been heralded for helping allow people to legally escape dangerous circumstances.
Yet it seems likely that not everyone in need will be served by these pathways. As powerful governments simultaneously fall short of their carbon-reduction commitments and retract international humanitarian aid funding, a growing number of people will seek to move to escape the impacts of climate change. Only some of them will want or need to move internationally, but the globe has so far offered little ability for them to do so legally. Without change, they may either be forced to migrate without authorization or remain trapped as the environment around them deteriorates…..PACNEWS
PACNEWS DIGEST
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
Fiji’s HIV crisis is a syringe crisis and the fix is sitting on a pharmacy shelf
By Uate Tamanikaiyaroi
SUVA, 14 JULY 2026 (DEVPOLICY.ORG)—In January 2025, Fiji’s Minister for Health Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu declared a national HIV outbreak. New case notifications rose twelvefold in seven years, from 131 in 2018 to 1,583 in 2024. Modelled estimates put the real number of people living with HIV at about 6,100, meaning more than 40 percent of those infected do not know it. Of patients who started antiretroviral therapy in 2024 and for whom exposure data was recorded, 48 percent named injecting drug use as their primary route of infection. Fiji’s HIV epidemic is not primarily sexual; it is a syringe epidemic.
A rapid assessment commissioned by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme and conducted by the Kirby Institute at the University of NSW Sydney, published in December 2025, gives the clearest account yet of how HIV is spreading among people who inject drugs in Suva. Every person interviewed had shared a needle or syringe at least once. About half injected crystal methamphetamine the first time they used it, often with a syringe already used by someone else. Most injected daily. Pharmacies, the only realistic source of sterile equipment, frequently refuse to sell syringes without a prescription. The practice has no basis in Fijian law but persists.
The rapid assessment documents a practice called koda: blood is drawn from a vein into the barrel of a syringe, mixed with the drug crystals and reinjected. It is commonly used because it is said to produce a more intense effect. It is also an efficient mechanism for HIV transmission. The drug is mixed in potentially infected blood, in a syringe that will often be passed on.
Bluetoothing, the practice of drawing blood from one person’s injection site and injecting it into another, has dominated public commentary but was reported by only two of 56 participants. The driver of transmission is shared syringes, forced by the near-total absence of sterile equipment.
None of this is surprising to public health researchers. What is surprising is that the solution has been available for decades and is not in use in Fiji. A needle and syringe programme (NSP) provides free sterile equipment to people who inject drugs, without prescription, registration or any requirement to return used kit. NSPs cut HIV transmission, do not increase drug use and are highly cost-effective. Australia has run them since 1987. New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada and dozens of other countries have built them into standard public health infrastructure. The countries that moved early avoided or contained epidemics that, elsewhere, became catastrophic. In Indonesia and the Philippines, where authorities did not implement such schemes, HIV epidemics among people who inject drugs grew quickly and proved very hard to reverse.
Fiji’s legal framework, comprising mainly the HIV/AIDS Decree 2011, the National HIV Surge Strategy 2024-2027 and the National Counter Narcotics Strategy 2023-2028, provides the policy foundation for action. In addition, Fiji is a signatory to the 2021 UN Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. In December 2025, in response to the publication of the assessment, the Health Ministry confirmed that a NSP would be implemented.
The latest update from Lalabalavu during the June 2026 budget indicated that preparations for the NSP’s implementation were “nearing completion”. Meanwhile, in the extended period of time between announcement and delivery, people are contracting HIV and hepatitis C, developing infective endocarditis and dying in emergency departments. One healthcare worker quoted in the assessment described a steady flow of young people arriving in septic shock, many of whom do not survive.
The barriers are not legal or technical. They are cultural and political. Some health officials, police and religious leaders told Talanoa discussions (community consultations) that providing sterile equipment amounts to endorsing drug use. The assessment’s reply, paraphrased: Fijian society is defined by dignity, compassion, care and reciprocity, and those are the values a NSP enacts. The Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Sydney, Australia, is run by the Uniting Church. In Tonga, religious leaders have worked alongside health agencies on HIV prevention. The moral question is whether to withhold help and watch the epidemic grow.
The recommended model is practical, low-cost and immediately implementable. Free sterile needles and syringes should be available through sexual and reproductive health (SRH) hubs already serving key populations in Suva, through community pharmacies without prescription, through peer distribution networks and through community-based organisations. Services should be low threshold: no registration, no requirement to return used equipment and no HIV test as a condition of access.
The research found that the main barriers to access are fear of exposure and stigma, not lack of interest. Participants described entering pharmacies and inventing stories about diabetic grandmothers to explain why they needed syringes. They described leaving empty-handed when the pharmacist looked suspicious or deciding to share rather than face the counter.
Implementation should proceed in stages. First, pharmacies should be encouraged, through engagement between the Ministry of Health and the pharmacy sector to sell single-use syringes over the counter without prescription. This requires no new infrastructure and no budget. It removes the most commonly reported barrier overnight.
Second, within months: SRH hubs in the Central and Western Divisions should be resourced to distribute sterile needles and syringes alongside HIV testing, condoms and referral. Medical Services Pacific’s (MSP) Moonlight Programme, which already reaches sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender individuals and people who inject drugs through night-time outreach in Suva, is a natural delivery platform. Third, within a year: a peer distribution model, drawing on people with lived experience, should be established and funded. The rapid assessment notes that there is no drug user organisation in Fiji and that building one is critical.
Australia and New Zealand’s aid investment in Fiji’s HIV response, channelled partly through the International Planned Parenthood Federation and civil society organisations, has so far focused on testing, counselling and condom distribution among key populations. The moonlight testing programme has achieved reactive case rates of nearly 9 percent, strong evidence that it is reaching the right people. An 8.9 percent positive rate also means one in every 11 people tested in the Suva night-time economy is newly diagnosed. Testing identifies cases but does not prevent transmission. The next phase of aid investment should include direct support for NSP establishment: commodity procurement, peer workforce development and integration of harm reduction into existing SRH service delivery.
Modelling estimates in the Kirby Institute report project total HIV cases in Fiji reaching 25,000 by 2029 without intervention. The trajectory is already visible in the data. Cases among 15–19-year-olds jumped from six in 2022 to 165 in 2024. Deaths recorded among people newly diagnosed in 2024 include eight children under 15 years. No version of this epidemic gets better on its own, and no harm reduction program is sophisticated enough to reverse a concentrated epidemic once it becomes generalised. Hence, the window for prevention is now.
The people interviewed described wanting to access services and described positive experiences at MSP’s clinic: welcoming, discreet and non-judgemental. They said they would go to an NSP if one existed. One participant put it plainly: “Either protect them or lose them.” Fiji has the values, the legal framework, the civil society infrastructure and the international support to act. What is missing is the willingness to make the first move — to supply free needles, without prescription or registration…..PACNEWS
Uate Tamanikaiyaroi is Architect of Cooperation — Pacific SRHR and Humanitarian Hub at International Planned Parenthood Federation’s Sub-Regional Office for the Pacific, based in Suva, Fiji.
