By Judy Power
The United States has made many assistance promises to Pacific Islands Countries through the Pacific Islands Forum. But for those of us who call these islands home, these promises often feel like empty words carried away by the wind. We live every day with the harsh reality of climate change, unexploded bombs from past wars, and wounds left by nuclear testing, yet the support the U.S pledged remains painfully absent.
Our islands are sinking. The ocean creeps closer each year, swallowing beaches where children once played, contaminating wells where families drank, and destroying the gardens that feed us. Every time the U.S. speaks of climate change, it sounds like a distant lecture. But for us, it is urgent and personal. We hear promises of money, technology, and action, but too often, these promises come and go without real help. We see our homes flooded by sea, our traditions and heritage threatened, and our future slipping away, while the U.S support remains a fragile hope, never fully realised.
The danger does not stop at climate. Hidden in our lands and waters are unexploded ordnances – reminders of wars fought far from us but on our soil. These silent killers restrict our freedom, endanger our children, and block our growth. The U.S has promised to clear these war remnants and protect our communities, but the work is slow, and many people still live in constant fear. It feels like the past pains inflicted on our people are being forgotten, left to harm us in silence.
Then there are the scars from nuclear testing – scars we carry deep in our bodies, our lands, and our spirits. The nuclear tests left poison that continues to damage lives and erode cultures. While the U.S has made gestures of compensation, they fall far short of what is needed to heal. The suffering persists, passed down through generations, yet the promises to make things right feel like distant echoes.
As a Pacific islander, the pain of these broken promises runs deep. We are not just statistics or geopolitical interests. We are families, communities, and cultures fighting to survive. We call on the U.S to stop treating us as a footnote and start living up to the promises made. Deliver the funding and support to fight climate change genuinely. Clear the dangerous unexploded ordnances from our lands with urgency and care. Provide fair and full compensation for the lasting damage of nuclear testing.
Our islands and our people deserve more than empty words. It’s time for the U.S to stand with us, to make good on its promises, and to honour the trust and hope we once placed in them. The survival of the Pacific Islands Countries depends on it, and so does justice.
Judy Power is a PINA freelancer who writes about the Pacific Ocean
