“The Spirit of Do Kamo”: church youth delegates meet in New Caledonia
As the bus traverses the Col des rousettes – a pass through New Caledonia’s central mountain chain – the guitars come out. Heading towards the east coast town of Waa wi Lûû (Houaïlou), the bus resonates to
Strengthening the Pacific’s nukes-free zone
A challenge for leaders in Rarotonga In August 1985, the Pacific Islands Forum held its annual summit in Cook Islands and adopted the Treaty of Rarotonga for a South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (SPNFZ). Created at the
Briefs
American Samoa American Samoa's new entry system for Samoan citizens went into effect on October 19. In September, the American Samoa Department of Legal Affairs proposed a change allowing Samoan citizens to travel to
Forum wants action on climate finance and Loss and Damage
RAROTONGA/PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM 2023: As the region faces an El Nino summer and Vanuatu reels from the devastation of Cyclone Lola – the third Category 5 cyclone to hit the nation in seven months – it’s no
Resolution filed to express Guam’s solidarity with Israel
Senator Jesse Lujan has introduced a resolution expressing solidarity with Jewish communities around the world and showing support for Israel, following an unprecedented airstrike by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group
Black mist across the desert
Yami Lester was ten years old when a British atomic weapon, codenamed Totem 1, was detonated at Emu Field on 15 October 1953. The isolated test site in the desert of South Australia was downwind from his home at
COP28: Boiling Point
It’s taken 70 years but some of the life is slowly coming back around Bikini atoll, ravaged by the United States’ nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands immediately after World War Two. For a team from the
U.S. groping for contingency plan amid expiration of COFA’s economic provisions
The U.S. economic provisions for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Marshall Islands under the Compacts of Free Association expired on 30 September without being renewed as the U.S. Congress continued to
Opinion: Government shutdown threatens key U.S. effort to counter China in Pacific
A looming government shutdown threatens to upend a major multibillion-dollar diplomatic initiative between the United States and three Pacific Island nations that the Biden administration views as a cornerstone of its
Opinion: U.S. under pressure to conclude compact agreements in the North Pacific
Little information has emerged about how negotiations for the renewal of the Compact of Free Association (COFA) between the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the United States are progressing. The United States
Opinion: U.S. claims to Central Pacific flout International law
In defiance of international norms and rules, U.S. officials are laying claim to the large oceanic area in the central Pacific Ocean that is home to the compact states. Now that they are renewing the economic provisions
