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Asia Pacific Security: Dilemmas of Dominance, Challenges to Community (PDF)

East West Centre, by Anthony Smith (rapporteur), 2004. Participants in the East-West Center's fifth annual Senior Policy Seminar agreed that the overall strategic environment of the Asia Pacific region in 2003 is positive. Nevertheless, a number of continuing issues are cause for concern. The threat of terrorism and the potential for the Korean peninsula to lurch into deeper crisis remain the paramount concerns of the United States in the region. On the other hand, non-American participants expressed concern, and in some cases alarm, over the overwhelming power of the United States in international affairs. The multilateral world that many had expected to emerge after the end of the Cold War has not eventuated, and America's position as the sole superpower has strengthened. Much of the Seminar was devoted to discussions of what this means for the countries of Asia as they seek to deal with the United States.

http://www.eastwestcenter.org/res-rp-publicationdetails.asp?pub_ID=1476#

(Added: Wed Dec 15 2004   Modified: Wed Apr 19 2006   Hits: 352)

A CALL TO PACIFIC ISLAND FORUM GOVERNMENTS TO REVIEW THE RAROTONGA TREATY.

PACIFIC CONCERNS RESOURCE CENTRE (PCRC) Background Briefing - August 2001. Since the signing of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (SPNFZ) Treaty in Rarotonga in 1985, there have been dramatic changes in the global political environment, not least being: the end of the Cold War, reduced ideological tensions, heightened awareness of proliferation threats and the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In this context, it is proposed that Pacific Island Forum governments build on such opportunities to reappraise the relevance and utility of the Rarotonga Treaty in the new regional and global environment and to identify what future zonal modifications or regional arms control might be warranted.

http://www.pcrc.org.fj/_resources/main/files/briefingpaper_rarotonga.doc

(Added: Tue Jan 07 2003   Modified: Wed Nov 29 2006   Hits: 266)

Alleged Human Rights Abuses, Constitutional Violations & Breaches of the Rule of Law in relation to the Coup d' etat of 5th December 2006

This table documents dates (ranging from the 30 November to the 11 December); sources of information; human rights, constitutional provisions or rule of law violated; sources of law; and resulting actions, or comments. (Nic McLellan, December 2006)

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/Alleged%20Human%20Rights%20Abuses_Fiji%20Coup%202006.pdf

(Added: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 169)

Austral Peace and Security Net

Austral Peace and Security Network Bi-Weekly Report, from the Nautilus Institute at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia.

http://nautilus.rmit.edu.au/

(Added: Thu Mar 02 2006   Hits: 272)

Bulldozing Progress: Human Rights Abuse and Corruption in PNG's Large Scale Logging Industries

The logging industry in Papua New Guinea is dominated by a handful of Malaysian companies and is is synonymous with political corruption, police racketeering and the brutal repression of workers, women and those who question its ways. Its operations routinely destroy the food sources, water supplies and cultural property of those same communities. They provide a breeding ground for arms smuggling, corruption and violence across the country. In return, the industry generates no lasting economic benefit to forest communities, considerable long-term cost and a modest 5 per cent contribution to the national budget. A concerted international effort backed by credible enforcement agencies is now needed to reform the industry and restore the human and economic rights of PNG forest communities. (Australian Conservation Foundation, 2006)

http://www.acfonline.org.au/uploads/res_ACF-CELCOR_full.pdf#search=%22Bulldozing%20%22

(Added: Mon Sep 11 2006   Hits: 244)

Conflict, Violence and Development in the Southwest Pacific: Taking the Indigenous Context Seriously

This article addresses two main issues. The first of these issues is the ongoing conflation of conflict with violence, and the lack of recognition of conflict as a potentially positive force. The second of these issues is the continued push by donors in the region towards the reconstruction of the state in a stronger form, despite recognition that the structures of the state have played a critical role in the emergence of the recent and ongoing violence in the region. The article then looks at ways in which the state has acted to both catalyse and intensify destructive forms of conflict. Once these two issues have been addressed the article then moves on to explore the ways in which an awareness of these issues can be harnessed, by both donors and local communities working together in a form of constructive engagement, in the creation of more durable and effective forms of governance in the region. (Manuhuia Barcham, CIGAD, 2005)

http://cigad.massey.ac.nz/documents/wps_barcham_4_2005.pdf

(Added: Fri Feb 09 2007   Hits: 255)

Coups, Conflicts, and Crises: The New Pacific Way? (PDF)

East-West Center Working Papers, Pacific Islands Development Series No. 13, June 2000. By Gerard A. Finin and Terence A. Wesley-Smith.

http://dev-zone.net/downloads/5300EastWestCTRPIDPwp013.pdf

(Added: Mon May 26 2003   Modified: Tue Oct 26 2004   Hits: 285)

Fiji's peace in a suitcase

This article look at Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, a Fijian grassroots activist flown in to bring firsthand expertise to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office's historic conference on UN Resolution 1325 for women's participation in conflict resolution and decision-making. Their "suitcase radio" project, a mobile radio station, takes radio to women in Fijian communities. Currently secretary of Fiji's National Council of Women, Sharon has worked with many organisations over the years, to include women in Fiji's political life and tap their contribution to peace. She founded the women's media NGO femLINKpacific to ensure women's voices are heard. (Rosemary Bechler, Open Democracy, 6 June 2006)

http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-resolution_1325/fiji_3615.jsp

(Added: Thu Jun 08 2006   Modified: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 339)

Gun-Running in Papua New Guinea: From Arrows to Assault Weapons in the Southern Highlands

Small Arms Survey, Philip Alpers, 2005. In the volatile Southern Highlands Province (SHP) of Papua New Guinea (PNG), approximately 2,450 factory-made firearms are held by private owners. These include between 500 and 1,040 high-powered weapons, most of which are assault rifles. Very few of the guns in SHP were smuggled from foreign countries. Instead, police and soldiers within PNG supplied the most destructive firearms used in crime and conflict. Gun-running from other parts of PNG to the Southern Highlands is financed and facilitated by politicians and civil servants up to the highest levels of the educated elite. This report considers the human costs of armed violence and measures attempting to curb it.

http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/spe_reports_pdf/2005-sr5-papuanewguinea.pdf

(Added: Mon Jul 18 2005   Modified: Thu Nov 30 2006   Hits: 248)

Kwajalein atoll landowners' perspective on US use of Kwajalein for Ballistic missile testing

This website portrays the Kwajalein atoll landowners's views of the US military's historical use and current intergovernmental treaty negotiations and terms of the use of lands in Kwajalein atoll for military use for intercontinental ballistic missile testing and its role in the development or lack of development in Kwajalein atoll, Marshall Islands.

http://www.kwajalein.org

(Added: Fri Apr 30 2004   Modified: Thu Nov 30 2006   Hits: 204)

Legal Critique of the Shameen Report

Following the December 2006 coup in Fiji, the Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, Dr Shaista Shameem, prepared a report purported to carry the authority of the Commission. However Commissioner Shamima Ali of the Fiji Human Rights Commission has dissassociated herself from that report and comissioned this legal critique of the Shameen report, calling "little more than an apology for the Commander [J V Bainimarama]". (Fiji Human Rights Commission, January 2006)

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/shameem%20legal%20critique.pdf

(Added: Thu Jan 25 2007   Hits: 146)

Marshall Islands "Unimaginable Sacrifice" and Friendship Recognized by US Congress

A news report on the US House of Representatives recognising the "Unimaginable Sacrifice" of the people of the Marshall Islands during and after the nuclear testing carried out by the U.S. government.

http://www.yokwe.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=739

(Added: Mon Mar 29 2004   Modified: Fri Oct 22 2004   Hits: 285)

Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal

During the period from June 30, 1946, to August 18, 1958, the United States conducted 67 atmospheric nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, 43 at Enewetak Atoll, 23 at Bikini Atoll, and one approximately 85 miles from Enewetak. The most powerful of those tests was the "Bravo" shot, a 15 megaton device detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini atoll. That test alone was equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima bombs. While the Bravo test is well known, it should be acknowledged that 17 other tests in the Marshall Islands were in the megaton range and the total yield of the 67 tests was 108 megatons, the equivalent of more than 7,000 Hiroshima bombs. The Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal was established in 1988. This is their website.

http://www.nuclearclaimstribunal.com/

(Added: Mon Mar 29 2004   Modified: Fri Oct 22 2004   Hits: 289)

Militarisation of Bougainville

The Bougainville struggle in its entirety; that is, a people fully justified in their call for recognition based on their ancient indigenous history and culture; and now in direct conflict with the 18th and 19th century Western colonialism and 20th century neo-colonialism (in the Pacific region), had no other alternative but to fight and internationalise their cause and struggle for self-determination and independence. By JOSSIE SIRIVI KAUONA, Organisation: Bougainville Women for Peace and Freedom.

http://www.pasifika.net/pacific-action/hap/jsmil.html

(Added: Thu Dec 13 2001   Modified: Thu Nov 30 2006   Hits: 228)

New Zealand to build nuclear test monitoring station in Fiji

New Zealand's National Radiation Laboratory (NRL) will build the $1 million station at Nadi, Fiji. Once operational the station will form part of a worldwide network of 321 monitoring stations being built to help enforcement of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.

http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/0/1feea7ada0d90058cc256dab00788ff2?OpenDocument

(Added: Wed Feb 11 2004   Modified: Thu Nov 30 2006   Hits: 169)

Non-militarisation in the Pacific and beyond

APRED works mainly on countries without armies, to further promote peace, advocating demilitarisation and promoting comprenhensive peace policies. APRED as well conduct's research and does training on various themes related to peace, including Peace zones, the human right to peace, conflict transformation and treaty anylisis or establishing. APRED uses a wholesome approach to peace including all members and actors of societies.

http://www.demilitarisation.org

(Added: Mon Jan 19 2004   Modified: Thu Nov 30 2006   Hits: 287)

Pacific 2020: Challenges and opportunities for growth

Pacific 2020 highlights major challenges facing the Pacific, Papua New Guinea and East Timor in the next 15 years. It emphasises the importance of economic growth to surmount these problems and provides practical policy options in nine key sectors to maximise growth. The report was produced as part of the Pacific 2020 project in collaboration with numerous individuals and organisations from throughout the Pacific islands region and further a field. (AusAid, May 2006)

http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pubout.cfm?Id=219_173_9143_7522_6433

(Added: Tue May 23 2006   Hits: 295)

Pacific democracy: dilemmas of intervention

A crisis of governance has hit the Pacific island states of Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands. This article assesses its dynamics and local variables, and questions whether foreign intervention is the best solution. (Jon Fraenkel, Open Democracy, 28 November 2006)

http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-institutions_government/pacific_democracy_4135.jsp

(Added: Fri Dec 01 2006   Hits: 287)

Pacific leaders must speak out against US tests

MEDIA RELEASE 18 MARCH, 2002. Pacific Concerns Resource Centre PCRC. PCRC said the US and other world powers had consistently abused the Pacific Ocean for military experiments which have never helped the Pacific Islands but put them at more risk of being caught in a military conflict, or be at the centre of a catastrophic accident.

http://www.dev-zone.org/kcdocs/2776PCRC180302.html

(Added: Tue Mar 19 2002   Modified: Fri Oct 22 2004   Hits: 330)

Politics: Marine's Relocation Angers the Indigenous Peoples of Guam

In a desperate attempt to save their race, identity and culture, the indigenous people of Guam - the Chamorus - are strongly opposing the relocation of US Marines from Okinawa, Japan, to their country. (Elenoa Baselala, Islands Business, March 2007)

http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=17311/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl

(Added: Thu Mar 15 2007   Hits: 154)

Protest and Punishment: Political Prisoners in Papua

Papua, at the far eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, is one of the most remote places in the country. This isolation, compounded by government imposed restrictions on access to the two provinces which make up Papua ("Papua" and "West Irian Jaya"), has contributed to a dearth of information on the human rights situation there. One consequence of Papua's remoteness has been that a series of criminal convictions in recent years of peaceful political activists has not attracted the attention it deserves. (Human Rights Watch, February 2007)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/papua0207/

(Added: Tue Feb 27 2007   Hits: 108)

Silencing Guns: Local Perspectives on Small Arms and Armed Violence in Rural Pacific Islands Communities (807 KB)

Small Arms Survey 2005. Edited by Emile LeBrun and Robert Muggah. This pilot study documents the perspectives of rural communities regarding the effects of small arms. It generates some important insights which could also be relevant to policy-making into how insecurity is seen and experienced in three Pacific regions: the Southern Highlands of mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG), Bougainville PNG, and the Solomon Islands. Insecurity is examined here in the context of existing inter-tribal conflicts (in the Southern Highlands) and in relation to the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction and development efforts (in Bougainville and the Solomon Islands). Although each context is unique, small arms availability remains a cause for concern in these Pacific regions.

http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/o_papers_pdf/2005-op15-pacific_islands.pdf

(Added: Wed Aug 17 2005   Modified: Thu Nov 30 2006   Hits: 250)

Small Arms in the Pacific (pdf)

The Small Arms Survey, occasional paper No. March 2003. Authors Philip Alpers and Conor Twyford. This study examines a wide range of small arms-related issues in 20 nations of the southern Pacific. It investigates the status of existing firearm legislation, the extent of legal stockpiles and illicit trade, and the socio-economic impacts of armed conflict on Pacific communities. Case histories examine more closely the disarmament process in Bougainville and the Solomon Islands, along with the widespread disruption wrought with small arms in Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Current initiatives to combat small arms trafficking in the region are also examined.

http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/year_b_pdf/2004/2004SASCh9_summary_en.pdf

(Added: Thu Jun 26 2003   Modified: Thu Nov 30 2006   Hits: 452)

Statement of Bikini Atoll Senator Tomaki Juda on the 50th Anniversary of the Bravo Shot

Hon. Senator Tomaki Juda, youngest son of King Juda, who was the traditional Bikini leader, was elected for the first time in 1972 as Mayor and served until 2000 when he was elected Senator after the death of Henchi Balos. He was reelected in November of 2003. This is his statement on the 50th Anniversary of the largest U.S. nuclear test in history.

http://www.yokwe.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=715

(Added: Mon Mar 29 2004   Modified: Fri Oct 22 2004   Hits: 262)

STOP Treating Indigenous Pacific Peoples With Contempt!

March 1st each year is observed by the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) Movement as NFIP Day, to remind Pacific peoples and the world, of the arrogant colonial legacy which inflicted enormous harm and destruction on indigenous peoples of the Pacific. Media release from the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre on Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day (or Bikini Day).

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00045.htm

(Added: Thu Mar 09 2006   Hits: 154)

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