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Biketawa Declaration

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The Biketawa Declaration (2000) is a declaration agreed to by all the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum constituting a framework for coordinating response to regional crises.[1] The declaration takes its name from the Kiribati islet of Biketawa, where the Forum Leaders met in a retreat to discuss, agree and adopt measures for collective security.[2]

The declaration was agreed to at the 31st Summit of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, held at Kiribati in October 2000 in the regional context of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état and ethnic tensions in the Solomon Islands.[3] It commits Forum members to eight core values, including good governance, liberty of the individual, democratic processes and indigenous rights and cultural values, traditions and customs, and recognising the importance and urgency of equitable economic, social and cultural development to satisfy the basic needs and aspirations of the peoples of the Forum.[1][4] Where these values are breached, the Forum Secretary-General and members will develop a response, which may include mediation, institutional support, or targeted measures (sanctions).[4] Since its adoption it has been invoked a number of times, leading to regional peacekeeping and stabilization operations in:[5]

The Declaration also provided the basis for the Forum's 2009 decision to suspend Fiji after it had failed to hold elections in the wake of the 2006 Fijian coup d'état.[10][11] The suspension was lifted in 2014, after the military regime held elections.[12]

Forum members and NGOs have unsuccessfully sought to invoke the declaration over torture in Fiji,[13] the 2011 Fiji-Tonga territorial dispute,[14] the Nauru government's 2014 crackdown on opposition,[15] and the 2016 Nauruan parliamentary election.[16]

The Declaration was most recently invoked to respond collectively to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17] In July 2021 Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna reminded Samoa's caretaker government of the Declaration in a statement on the 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis.[18][19]

Biketawa Plus

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In 2017 the Forum began to consider expanding the Biketawa Declaration to cover other security threats such as natural disasters.[20] Talks on the proposed "Biketawa plus" continued through 2018,[21] resulting in the Boe Declaration of 2018.[22] This expanded the Bitekawa Declaration to include issues of human security, environmental security, transnational crime, and cybersecurity.[23]

Boe Declaration (2018)

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The Boe Declaration of Regional Security is a declaration agreed to by all the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum on 5 September 2018 at a meeting on Nauru,[24] which declaration is a framework for coordinating response to regional crises, and sets out an expanded concept of security.[25] The Boe Declaration extended the Biketawa Declaration (2000) to include issues of human security, environmental security, transnational crime, and cybersecurity.[23]

The first 4 of the 10 sections of the Boe Declaration state:

  • We reaffirm that climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific and our commitment to progress the implementation of the Paris Agreement;
  • We recognise an increasingly complex regional security environment driven by multifaceted security challenges, and a dynamic geopolitical environment leading to an increasingly crowded and complex region;
  • We affirm our stewardship of the Blue Pacific and aspire to strengthen and enhance our capacity to pursue our collective security interests given our responsibility to sustain our Pacific peoples and our resources;
  • We respect and assert the sovereign right of every Member to conduct its national affairs free of external interference and coercion;

The Boe Declaration is an update on the mechanism used to establish the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) from 2003 to 2017, which was a request for international aid by the government of the Solomon Islands to manage civil unrest in that country.[25]

The Biketawa Declaration on collective security committed Pacific Islands Forum members to eight values, including good governance, liberty of the individual, democratic processes, indigenous rights and cultural values, traditions and customs, and recognising the importance and urgency of equitable economic, social and cultural development to satisfy the basic needs and aspirations of the peoples of the Forum.[1]

The expanded concept of security set out in the Boe Declaration has been applied in Falepili Union between Tuvalu and Australia (2023).[26][27][28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Biketawa Declaration" (PDF). Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands. July 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  2. ^ McDonald, Hamish (2008-08-15). "Careful diplomat brokered regional co-operation". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  3. ^ "PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM TAKES NO ACTION AGAINST FIJI, SETS UP FUTURE CRISIS PROCEDURES". Pacific Islands Report. 30 October 2000. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b "BIKETAWA DECLARATION". Pacific Islands Report. 30 October 2000. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  5. ^ "10th Anniversary Of The Biketawa Declaration". Scoop. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Pacific Island Forum countries are being asked today to support an intervention force in Solomons". RNZ. 30 June 2003. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Forum despatches planner to help Nauru out of debt crisis". RNZ. 24 August 2005. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  8. ^ Steven Ratuva (2019). "Thy kingdom burn: Hegemony, resistance and securitisation in Tonga". Contested Terrain: Reconceptualising Security in the Pacific. ANU Press. Retrieved 11 July 2021. the [Tongan] government sought help from Australia and New Zealand, under the provisions of the Biketawa Declaration. The two countries obliged by providing 110 soldiers and 44 police officers to act as peace-keepers.
  9. ^ "Several groups to observe Nauru election". RNZ. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Fiji formally ousted from Pacific Islands Forum". Stuff. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Pacific Islands Forum suspends Fiji". Sydney Morning Herald. 2 May 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Fiji's suspension from Pacific Islands Forum is lifted". RNZ. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Pacific Forum declines comment on Fiji torture reports". RNZ. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Tonga says no need to activate the Biketawa declaration over Fiji spat". RNZ. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Forum urged to step in over Nauru". RNZ. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Pacific Forum says no Nauru monitors without govt invite". RNZ. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  17. ^ "Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers Agree to Establish a Pacific Humanitarian Pathway on COVID -19". Pacific Islands Forum. 8 April 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  18. ^ "Statement on the political situation in Samoa- Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Puna". Pacific Islands Forum. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  19. ^ Adel Fruean (11 July 2021). "Convene Parliament: Forum Secretary-General". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  20. ^ "Fiji in favour of revised Biketawa Declaration". RNZ. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  21. ^ "Pacific countries discuss new crisis response mechanism". RNZ. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  22. ^ "Pacific Leaders endorse new security deal". RNZ. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  23. ^ a b Tess Newton Cain (2020). "Let's Hear It for the Boe". Security Challenges, Special Issue: How Does the 'Pacific' Fit into the 'Indo-Pacific'?. 16 (1): 32–36. JSTOR 26908765.
  24. ^ "Boe Declaration on Regional Security". Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  25. ^ a b Anna Naupa, Murray Ackman & Patrick Tuimalealiifano (3 October 2018). "Boe Declaration: navigating an uncertain Pacific". Lowy Institute. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  26. ^ "Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty". Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  27. ^ "Joint Statement on the Falepili Union between Tuvalu and Australia". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  28. ^ Daniel Hurst and Josh Butler (10 November 2023). "Australia to offer residency to Tuvalu citizens displaced by climate change". The Guardian. The Guardian Australia. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
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