By Pita Ligaiula in Honiara, Solomon Islands
The Pacific Council of Churches (PCC) has welcomed Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele’s decision to bar dialogue and development partners from attending this week’s Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Honiara.
This means countries such as the United States, China, Japan and Taiwan – all of whom normally engage with Forum leaders – will not be present
PCC Secretary General, Reverend James Bhagwan said the move allows leaders to focus on Pacific priorities without outside pressure.
“I think the incoming chair, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, is being quite wise. And I see this as an act of Pacific self-determination,” Bhagwan told regional Journalists in Honiara.
“This is the space now for the Pacific to talk, and I know there are those who wished to be here, but this is now a Pacific Islands Forum. Our leaders will have no distraction apart from civil societies and the media. We hope that adds to the conversation and their thinking.”
Bhagwan said the decision fits within the region’s ongoing discussions around the proposed Ocean of Peace declaration.
“In terms of the geopolitics, I think this is as much as we see shaping around the Ocean of Peace declaration. For us, the call is for the Ocean of Peace to be a truly inclusive, non-traditional peace and security declaration,” he said.
“When we talk about geopolitics, we are also talking about the geopolitics of climate change and self-determination. At the end of the day, what we are talking about are the lives of Pacific Island people.”
Bhagwan said the Forum should be a space for leaders to concentrate on their collective responsibility.
“I hope this coming week is a space where Pacific leaders focus on the Pacific, on one another, and on the theme ‘You Me Together: Act Now.’ We need to be together to act now,” he said.
Pacific Women Mediators Network representative Sharon Bhagwan Rolls also tied the Ocean of Peace to deeper issues of justice.
“In terms of the context of the Ocean of Peace – it’s demilitarised, it’s denuclearised, and it’s decolonised,” Rolls said.
“You can’t have an Ocean of Peace if we still have militarisation, if nuclear waste continues to flow, or if the nuclear fallout and the impacts have not been resolved. Decolonisation also means going beyond political independence.”
The 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting will take place in Honiara from 8–12 September.
