PINA

By Selita Bolanavanua Executive Director of Femlink Pacific, Fay Volatabu is urging political party leaders to provide support for women. She highlighted that Fiji lacks a general quota or reserved seats in Parliament for women, placing the responsibility on political parties to nominate female candidates. “Political parties, please, you have a role to play. Let’s talk about breaking barriers and increasing female...

By Selita Bolanavanua Female participation in local elections has escaped scrutiny, says Dr Shailendra Singh, Head of Journalism at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji. He made this statement last week at a panel discussion on increasing female participation in local government elections in Fiji, organised by Dialogue Fiji. Although local elections have not been held in recent years,...

By Selita Bolanavanua “Something is not right," says Fiji's Assistant Minister for Women, Sashi Kiran, expressing her concern on the low visibility of women in Parliament and leadership roles on boards. When she joined Parliament in 2022, one thing that struck her was the low percentage of women Members of Parliament. With only five women out of 55 MPs, Kiran said the...

The Pacific Islands are on the brink of an environmental and socioeconomic crisis as they confront the devastating impacts of accelerating sea level rise, ocean warming, and acidification. These alarming findings are detailed in the latest "State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023" report, released by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The report, released by United Nations Secretary-General António...

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres has issued a stark warning from Tonga, calling for a major increase in climate finance to support vulnerable countries facing the devastating impacts of rising sea levels. His call comes on the heels of new UN reports that underscore the urgent need for financial intervention to prevent catastrophic consequences for low-lying nations like those...

UN Secretary-General António Guterres sounded the alarm during his visit to Tonga, issuing a dire warning about the catastrophic impact of rising sea levels on Pacific Island nations and the world at large. “I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS—Save Our Seas—on rising sea levels,” Guterres declared “A worldwide catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in peril,” Guterres...

European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, has called for deeper cooperation between the EU and the Pacific at the Pacific ACP (PACP) Group Leaders Dialogue in Tonga. “We already share more than 40 years of successful partnership. “We have stood alongside one another in multilateral fora to fight for common interests and values – from accelerating climate action to defending...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will join regional leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum as tension begins to show over New Caledonia. The Australia prime minister will arrive in Tonga late on Tuesday, joining other leaders from the 18-nation bloc. For the most part, leaders displayed the regional unity that summit organisers have craved after a tumultuous few years. However, on the...

Australia has committed to assisting Tuvalu in climate adaptation through the Falepili Union treaty, Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo says. The agreement signed at the end of last year - labelled “shameful” by one ex-Tuvalu leader - between the two nations creates a special visa pathway for Tuvalu citizens to live in Australia. It also gives Australia veto power over Tuvalu...

By Nic Maclellan As delegates gathered in Nuku’alofa for the annual Pacific Islands Forum, the new Indoor Stadium at Tonga High School resonated with song from hundreds of school students, at Monday’s official opening. Soon after the ceremony, the building shook with the impact of a 6.9 magnitude earthquake. For a nation recovering from the 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and...