The Marshall Islands has become the 14th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) member state to join the South Pacific’s nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament treaty.

The agreement, known as the Treaty of Rarotonga, was signed in Majuro during the observance of Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day on Monday.

The Pacific Islands Forum said the historic signing of the treaty on March 3 — seven decades after the most powerful nuclear weapons tests ever conducted — underscored the Marshall Islands’ enduring commitment to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

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“By becoming a signatory to the Treaty of Rarotonga, the Marshall Islands has indicated its intention to be bound with a view to future ratification,” the PIF said.

“This reinforces the region’s collective stand towards a nuclear-free Pacific as envisaged by the Rarotonga Treaty and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.”

PIF Secretary-General Baron Waqa, who is in Majuro, welcomed the move.

“This step demonstrates the nation’s unwavering commitment to nuclear disarmament,” he said.

‘Marshall Islands bears brunt of nuclear testing’
“Marshall Islands continues to bear the brunt of nuclear testing, and this signing is a testament to Forum nations’ ongoing advocacy for a safe, secure, and nuclear-weapon-free region.”

The Rarotonga Treaty was opened for signature on 6 August 1985 and entered into force on 11 December 1986.

It represents a key regional commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, contributing to global efforts to eliminate the threat of nuclear proliferation.

The decision by the Marshall Islands to sign the Rarotonga Treaty carries profound importance given its history and ongoing advocacy for nuclear justice, the PIF said.

Current member states of the treaty are Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

‘We are committed’, says Heine
“In our commitment to a world free of the dangers of nuclear weapons and for a safe and secure Pacific, today, we take a historic step by signing our accession to the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Rarotonga Treaty,” President Hilda Heine said.

“We recognise that the Marshall Islands has yet to sign onto several key nuclear-related treaties, including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), largely due to our unique historical and geopolitical circumstances.

“However, we are committed to reviewing our positions and where it is in the best interest of the RMI and its people, we will take the necessary steps toward accession.

“In the spirit of unity and collaboration, we look forward to the results of an independent study of nuclear contamination in the Pacific,” she added.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The new secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Baron Waqa, is “well equipped” for the role, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says.

Waqa, a former Nauru president is the first Nauruan national to assume the top job at the Forum.

He began his tenure last week and was welcomed during a special ceremony on Thursday night in Suva.

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Rabuka said Waqa would serve the region and the Pacific people well, given his wealth of experience.

“As one who has held multiple leadership roles at the national, regional and global levels, we are assured that you are well equipped to take on this role and that you will lead us well,” he said.

“We believe that you will serve our region and our Pacific people and with the vast experience that you bring, we are confident that our Blue Pacific is in safe hands.”

Rabuka said the region continued to be confronted with multidimensional challenges and stressed that climate change remained the region’s “greatest threat impacting our ability to meet our development aspirations”.

Increased urgency
He added there was an increased urgency to act collectively to progress shared priorities and goals as outlined in the 2050 Strategy.

“We have laid out our pathway through the 2050 Strategy with its implementation plan. It is now in your hands. We hold high expectations because we know that you are more than able.”

Since taking up office, Waqa has already made his first official regional trip to the Solomon Islands, meeting with Prime Minister Jeremaiah Manele and his foreign minister Peter Agovaka on June 10.

“One of my key priorities as Secretary-General is to continue to strengthen our solidarity as a Pacific family,” he said.

“We look forward to working with Prime Minister Manele to build our one Blue Pacific continent and improve the lives of all Pacific people.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The appointment of Baron Waqa, former President of Nauru, to head the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) next year was a jaw-droppingly poor decision and an insult to everything the regional body is meant to represent.

What were the Forum leaders thinking?

Here’s the thing, they were probably told he was the former President of Nauru, he’ll do, and we have to keep Micronesia happy. Tick.

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There is no doubt Micronesia has held the power at this forum after Kiribati dramatically ditched the group last year. It is crucial all Pacific countries, which include NZ and Australia, be united as the world goes through some crazy times.

Micronesia was offered a number of incentives to keep them at the table, including a new sub-regional office in Kiribati, a Pacific Oceans Commissioner based in Palau and Nauru’s Baron Waqa as Secretary-General.

Ongoing investigation
So what sort of man has been chosen to lead the Forum next year?

1. There has been an ongoing Australian Federal Police investigation into Gold Coast phosphate company Getax for the alleged payment of bribes to Nauruan politicians. That includes Baron Waqa, who allegedly received $60,000.
2. In 2014, President Baron Waqa and his government sacked the independent judiciary. He defended doing so, saying, “we have a right to dismiss any person not fulfilling their duties in the best interests of Nauru”. This prompted an international outcry, and the New Zealand government withdrew aid for the judicial system there in protest.
3. In 2015, his government blocked access to Facebook, which many, including a former Chief Justice, believed was an attempt to stifle dissent.
4. Media freedom is an issue — it costs $8750 to apply for media to apply for a visa, and if it is not approved (most of the time), you lose that amount.
   A disclosure: I was taken into custody in 2018 during the Pacific Islands Forum while interviewing a refugee in a public area. The government, led by Nauru President Baron Waqa, later said I wasn’t detained but accompanied them “voluntarily”. An outright lie — two police cars showed up, my equipment and phone were confiscated, and I was ordered into one of the cars. I was then placed in a dark room with a male police officer — a failed attempt at intimidation — for at least an hour before NZ MFAT officials arrived.
5. In 2015, an Australian PR firm, Mercer PR, which was working for the Nauru government, released details of a police report on an assault of a female Somali refugee.

Woman’s name, details released
The local police had found insufficient evidence, and in an extraordinary move, the government released the name of the complainant and graphic details about the allegations, including comments about her vagina and whether there was any evidence of semen and sexual activity.

The founder of the PR company, Lyall Mercer, defended the document release, saying it had done so on behalf of the Nauru government. A government led by Baron Waqa . . . and there was never any back down or apology over this.

How galling to see the sycophantic tweet from Lyall Mercer this week congratulating Waqa for his new PIF role, saying, “he is a person of great integrity & character, has travelled the world extensively & has a love & passion for the region & the Pacific way”.

So how do the women of the region feel about being represented by a man who had no problems with this extraordinary breach of privacy, the absolute contempt for the woman involved, which was clearly intended as a warning for any other female refugee coming forward?

Last year, as part of the PIF communique, the leaders commended the first PIF women leaders’ meeting a “milestone for the region and is demonstrative of its collective commitment to ensure that regional priorities are considerate of gender-balanced views and perspectives”. What a joke.

Pacific politics male-dominated
Politics in the Pacific is male-dominated, that’s a fact, and the Pacific Islands Forum could do a lot more to change that — this appointment is several steps back.

There were some highlights of the PIF special meeting. It was a relief to see Kiribati return to the Pacific Islands Forum. Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has done more to bring the Pacific countries together than any other individual — as Forum chair, he showed immense integrity during the forum — and finally, from New Zealand’s perspective, I’m told Carmel Sepuloni did an exceptional job at the leader’s table.

But the selection of Baron Waqa shows how desperate Pacific Forum leaders, without doing due diligence, were to keep Micronesia happy.

This a shoddy outcome for what needs to be a strong regional group with good governance, reflective of the people who live in the region, not the people at the top.

Barbara Dreaver is Television New Zealand’s 1News Pacific correspondent. This article is republished with the author’s permission.

How Rabuka is reshaping Fiji’s politics. Video: TVNZ Q&A

Both he and his Justice and Finance Minister David Adeang were reelected while Nauru’s voters rejected three of the MPs who had been suspended in the outgoing Parliament, reports Pacnews.

Voting resumed today for Aiwo with five candidates contesting two seat.

Radio Australia reports that voting in the general election was completed on Saturday, but a legal technicality delayed voting in Aiwo constituency with the residents now casting their votes today.

“One of the candidates disputed the fact that he had been disqualified, so he took it to the court and the court put out an injunction,” the chief of the international election observers, former Kiribati President Anote Tong, told Pacific Beat.

“As the polling was starting, the court order came and so it was stopped. Then there was a counter legal action. Eventually it was decided to not start, stop and go on the same day because it confused the voters. So the decision was to have it today [Monday].”

A newly-established Nauru Electoral Commission is conducting the general election for the first time, Radio Australia reported.

67 candidates
There were 67 candidates vying for support from just under 8000 registered voters.

The government’s official Twitter account said that apart from the glitch affecting Aiwo, voting ran smoothly across the island nation.

Opposition MP and former president Sprent Dabwido failed in his re-election bid.

He told Pacific Beat he had campaigned to uphold the constitution, but found it difficult to counter the government.

The government is not expected to make an announcement about the election until tomorrow.

• No Nauru election visa for SBS journalist

SBS World News has not been granted a journalist visa to cover Nauru’s general election this weekend, despite a direct approach to President Baron Waqa in April.

A brief discussion and handshake with President Baron Waqa in April saw a senior Nauruan foreign affairs official delegated as my contact for a journalist visa.

Waqa was in Brisbane for negotiations on the proposed Pacific free trade agreement and I took the chance to ask for a rare journalist visa to report on Nauru’s election.

Now the absence of any international media from Nauru for the poll is being examined by the official Commonwealth election observer mission, led by Kiribati’s former President Anote Tong.

“Let us progress forward on this very issue that you did kindly started [sic] back in Brisbane with your daring approached to our President,” said an email in May from the Nauruan official delegated by Waqa.

“Fortunately for SBS, it did worked as accordingly [sic] but unfortunately for me, the President then turn to me with instructions that I will personally assist you to whatever endeavours you are kindly aiming for.”

“Whilst we were in Brisbane, I am of the opinion that we have both already agreed in the preparation of SBS doing a news coverage [sic] of the coming national election in Nauru and I strongly believed that we did cemented [sic] that decision making by the shaking of our hands.”

Visa application
As requested, a visa application and letter of assignment from SBS to report on the Nauruan election was submitted. All was going well, I was told, but all journalist visas must be approved by Nauru’s cabinet.

In January 2014, the Nauruan government had increased the journalist visa application fee from $200 to a non-refundable $8000, even if rejected. In correspondence with Nauruan officials, I was not asked to pay the fee.

Only two Australian media organisations have been granted visas in the past two years, but neither Channel 9 nor The Australian have revealed if they paid.

In May, I also broke the news Nauru had cancelled all visitor visas for Australian and New Zealand citizens.

Nauru’s government responded to my report on Twitter: “Visas to Nauru have not revoked. Procedures have been changed. Gov will issue statement soon.”

In a second tweet, that was later deleted, it said: “Changes in visa policy implemented after ABC dishonestly entered country as tourist & failed to declare they were media”.

The allegation was denied by the ABC.

Biggest aid donor
The government then tweeted: “Gov stands by info in tweets deleted about journalists entering illegally, but wanted to provide clear facts on current visa requirements.”

Australia is Nauru’s former administrative power and still biggest foreign aid donor. The former dependency hosts the controversial regional processing centre for refugees and asylum seekers, a central piece of both Labor and the Coalition’s border protection policies.

Unlike New Zealand, which has cut aid to Nauru, Australia has only offered muted criticism of the Waqa government, especially over commitments to democracy and rule-of-law.

In 2013, Nauru’s Resident Magistrate Peter Law was dismissed and Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames barred from returning to the country from Australia.

Five opposition MPs were suspended indefinitely from Parliament in 2014, including three who criticised the government during foreign media interviews.

Attorney-General David Adeang said at the time: “These MPs have done what no other country would deem acceptable – use the foreign media to trash our international reputation.”

After a visit last month by Channel 9’s A Current Affair to report on the Australian-run detention centre, Nauru’s government issued a statement on media access.

‘No media ban’
“The Government of Nauru has never enacted a media ban or blackout as has been reported by some media outlets. We have a media visa application process and as a sovereign nation we alone choose who enters our country. The lack of respect of our sovereignty by some Australian media outlets indicates extreme arrogance and hypocrisy,” it said.

“It is for reasons of safety and security that we are not able to allow all media onto Nauru, and we will never allow media who we believe will intentionally incite violence and unrest to further their story.

“We should note that other than these few activist journalists, we have received very little interest from mainstream media outlets. In fact some time ago one Australian network was approved to visit Nauru and then decided not to come.”

SBS does have a reputation for reporting on asylum seeker detention in Nauru.

In 2003, Dateline’s Bronwyn Addock gained access to the original, Howard government era detention centre on Nauru by slipping under its perimeter fence.

Her report “Inside Nauru; Pacific Despair” won or was a finalist in numerous journalism awards, including the UNAAs, Walkleys and Logies.

Throughout May and early June correspondence continued with Nauraun officials.

“I did finalised [sic] everything with my boss, the Secretary for DFAT to who was [sic] with the President in Brisbane when you did put in your request for doing a media reporting [sic] on the Nauru’s coming general election,” one official said.

‘Passed on’
“The matter has been pass onto the Nauru Media Department to who are [sic] the office responsible for coordinating foreign media visit into Nauru.”

After the election date for Nauru’s 8000 voters was set for July 9, there was silence from Nauru on my visa application.

Finally after more emails to officials, Director of Immigration Rajeev Keerthiyil responded on Monday.

“We are sorry to inform that we will not be able to process your request for media visas currently,” he said.

Nauru’s Government Information Office (GIO) and other officials from the Pacific nation did not confirm to SBS if any other international media have been granted access to cover the election.

Head of the Commonwealth election observer mission in Nauru, former Kiribati President Anote Tong, told SBS they were not aware of any foreign journalists.

“That is something that we will have to consider further because the question is, ‘Why is there none?’, and we’re not in a position to make that analysis at this point,” Tong said.

“We have to understand the context of how it is. It’s a very small country. The fact is there really is no media except the state-owned media.

“In terms of freedom of speech, we are talking to candidates, they are saying what they want to say in public. We don’t see anybody being harassed because of it, so I think freedom of speech is present.”

Stefan Armbruster is Brisbane-based Pacific correspondent of SBS News. This article is republished with permission.

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