Islands Business Magazine March 2018 Edition

WOMEN: CLOSING THE GENDER GAP IN THE PACIFIC PAGE 18-21 

Media 

Freedom 

Speak up now: 

Media freedom in the 

Pacific under seige P6 

ISLANDS 

MARCH 2018 FJD $4.35 

BUSINESS 

Australia’s new 

assertiveness 

P14-15 

Is regulation the 

answer 

P31 

On the road to 

the World Cup 

P32-33 

www.islandsbusiness.com 

The Big 

Threat 

Organised crime creeps into the region 

•Australia AU$4.00•Cook Islands NZ$4.50•Federated States of Micronesia US$4.00•Fiji Islands F$4.35•French Polynesia CPF300•Hawaii US$4.50•Kiribati AU$4.00•Marshall Islands US$4.00•Nauru AU$4.00 

•New Caledonia CPF300•New Zealand NZ$4.50•Niue NZ$4.00•Palau US$4.50•Papua New Guinea K5.00•Samoa T4.00•Solomon Islands SL$8.00•Tonga P4.00•Tuvalu AU$4.00•Vanuatu Vatu300•

Aselu applied for a New Zealand Pacific 

Scholarship to come to AUT because he wanted 

to pursue his studies and become successful as a 

site engineer in his home of Tuvalu. 

“AUT’s engineering students are the best. I’m developing 

new skills and gaining knowledge that I can apply in my 

future work.” 

At AUT, our people are more than just lecturers and students 

- they’re researchers, collaborators, and problem solvers. Expert 

academics and incredible facilities mean we can enable students 

to achieve their goals and make a real impact, just like Aselu is 

going to do. 

Start your university journey today. 

Aselu O’Brien 

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) 

in Construction Engineering 

aut.ac.nz/pacific

CONTENTS 

March 2018 Vol. 44 No.03 

PAGE 

12 

COVER STORY 

PAGE 

6 

WE 

SAY 

Speak up now: 

Media freedom in the Pacific unde seige 

Political Briefs 

10-11 

Politics 

14-15 The new Aussie assertiveness 

16 At the dawn of a new day 

17 We are almost CEDAW compliant says Fiji 

Special Features 

18-19 Closing the gender gap in the Pacific 

20-21 Some gains, some losses on women in the 

Pacific 

Health 

22 Plans to address HIV-AIDS stigma 

Indepth 

23 Who pays for the ferry tragedy? 

Culture 

24-25 Winds of change in the isles 

Gender 

29 Empowering Pacific rural women 

Economy 

30 Remove military presence, asks Fiji 

NGO Coalition 

Opinion 

31 Is regulation the answer 

Sports 

32-33 Fiji, Tonga eye Europe players 

for World Cup 

Business Intelligence 

34-35 

COVER: The big threat. Photo: News Central 

BUSINESS INTEL 

4 OBSERVERS ARE MISSING AT SEA 

PAGE 

34 

Islands Business, March 2018 3

Fiji elections: 

New ba tleground for 

Fiji politicians- P15 

16-19 

on Manus 

P20-21 

to acid rain 

P23 

OUR WORD 

Managing Director / Publisher 

Samisoni Pareti 

Group Editor-in-Chief 

Samisoni Pareti 

Staff Writer 

Nanise Volau 

Design Consultant 

Dick Lee 

Main Correspondents 

Fiji Anish Chand 

Australia Nic Maclellan 

Cook Islands Helen Greig 

Kiribati Taberannang Korauaba 

French Polynesia Nic Maclellan 

New Caledonia Nic Maclellan 

New Zealand Jason Brown 

Niue Naea Michael Jackson 

Papua New Guinea Sam Vulum 

Patrick Matbob 

Samoa Taina Kami-Enoka 

Solomon Islands Priestly Habru 

Tonga Iliesa Tora 

Vanuatu Bob Makin 

Islands Business is published monthly by 

Front Page Limited 

Editorial & Advertising Offices 

117 Amy Street, 

PO Box 12718, Suva, Fiji Islands. 

Tel: +679 330 3108 

Emails 

Editorial: editor@islandsbusiness.com 

Subscriptions: subs@islandsbusiness.com 

Advertising: marketing@islandsbusiness.com 

Printing: 

PrintHouse, Suva, Fiji. 

Fiji’s small knit aviation community was 

engulfed in grief and lots of sadness early 

in the month when a trainee pilot and her 

instructor died in a plane crash in Fiji’s 

north. Just like the death of pilot David Tong 

who in January lost his life when his small 

plane crash in rugged mountainous terrain 

in Papua New Guinea, rescue arrived too 

late for young Merelesita Lutu and flying 

instructor Iliesa Tawalo. 

As a New Zealand expert arrives to begin 

an investigation into the tragedy, I am reminded 

of two equally harrowing episodes 

involving domestic aviation. The first was 

taking one of the most terrifying plane rides 

of my entire life from the capital Suva in 

a small plane in 2016 bound for a remote 

island in Fiji’s eastern region as part of a 

documentary I was producing for the US 

Embassy. Nothing could be seen out of the 

plane’s windows during the entire 60 minute 

flight and for the whole time, both pilots had 

their hands firmly on the plane equipment. 

They say the weather on that day was 

somewhat similar to the day the small 

Cessna plane of which Lutu and Tawalo 

were in went down. The rain was relentless 

and thunderstorms could be heard. The kind 

of weather that should see one holed up in 

the warmth of a blanket at home instead of 

by Samisoni Pareti 

Saluting our brave aviators 

being contained in a small metal machine 

flying hundreds of metres up in the sky. 

The other incident in 2010 involved another 

small plane though a bit bigger than a 

Cessna aircraft. It was a Twin Otter belonging 

to Pacific Sun, forerunner of what’s Fiji 

Link today. About five minutes away from 

landing at Nadi Airport, the plane flew 

through dark, ominous black cloud formations. 

The plane was struck by lightning 

seconds later and it dropped. 

Fortunately for the passengers, the crew 

led by a woman captain from Tonga recovered 

from the shock, stabilised the plane 

and with its instruments knocked out by 

lightning, flew the aircraft out towards the 

sea off the city of Lautoka. Using their own 

visions, they safely landed the plane some 

10 to 20 minutes later at Nadi. This incident 

forced the airline to ensure that all its planes 

are fitted with weather radar equipment. 

It’s a real tragedy when lives of our aviators 

are lost but such incidents will continue 

to be isolated and far between it is hoped, 

and that it ought not take away the respect 

and admiration we have for these bunch of 

brave professionals who skilfully deliver us 

to our destinations safe and sound day in 

and day out. 

RUGBY FAIRNESS: PUSH FOR BIG GUNS TO GIVE BETTER DEAL P24 

The vote on 

social media 

BUSINESS 

ISLANDS 

DECEMBER 2017 FJD $4.35 

Delegates Directory 

New Caledonia 

at the crossroad 

Refugee crisis 

Return home 


Pacific Peoples of the Year P8-12 

It’s RAMSI 

•Australia AU$4. 0•C ok Islands NZ$4.50•Federated States of Micronesia US$4. 0•Fiji Islands F$4.35•French Polynesia CPF3 0•Hawa i US$4.50•Kiribati AU$4. 0•Marsha l Islands US$4. 0•Nauru AU$4. 0 

•New Caledonia CPF3 0•New Zealand NZ$4.50•Niue NZ$4. 0•Palau US$4.50•Papua New Guinea K5. 0•Samoa T4. 0•Solomon Islands SL$8. 0•Tonga P4. 0•Tuvalu AU$4. 0•Vanuatu Vatu3 0• 

Copyright © 2018 Front Page Ltd. 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be 

reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. 



Your region, your website 

The LATEST news one click away 

4 Islands Business, March 2018

Talk to us about contents insurance. 

Whether its a fire that damages everything or just a split coffee 

that destroys your computer, having the right contents insurance 

will make sure your things are replaced. 

Call Suva on , Nadi on or Lautoka on . 

Visit us info@towerinsurance.com.fj 

What a fire does. 

We undo. 

Ts&Cs apply 

Islands Business, November 2017 5

WE SAY 

“We need to realise something: Either we speak up now and draw a clear line 

under freedom of speech, or we write it off in the Pacific region” 

IT’S becoming far too common: Journalists and whistle blowers 

are being singled out and silenced as governments throughout 

the region allow the Pacific to slide down the slippery slope of 

repression. Either we act now to stop it, or we accept that in ten 

years, the region’s media may look a lot more like the People’s 

Daily News than the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Australia is no exception. Even now, the Coalition government 

is considering draconian new laws that would outlaw activity that 

is necessary to the proper functioning of a democracy. 

In every country of the world, social media is eroding people’s 

sense of the truth, and undermining its importance in their daily 

existence. 

In the Pacific islands, the threat is real. [In February], three 

veteran journalists, all of them with spotless reputations, were 

detained by police on suspicion of inciting unrest. They had 

published the news that a magistrate who ruled against the 

government’s interest in a labour case had been sacked. They 

were held for hours, and their phones and laptops were seized. 

As this editorial is being finalised, Samisoni Pareti, Netani 

Rika and Nanise Volau are facing the possibility of charges of 

incitement to sedition. 

This action by police, presumably with the blessing of the Fiji 

First government, is inexcusable. There is no possible justification 

for it. It is a direct assault on free speech and the freedom of the 

media to question the actions of public officials. 

We have to ask: Are the days of dictatorship in Fiji truly past? 

In Kiribati too, as details emerged about the tragic—and possibly 

preventable—sinking of a passenger ferry, we heard that 

a New Zealand television news crew had their gear confiscated. 

This is just not on. 

Yes, the news media are often the bearers of bad tidings. Yes, 

sometimes they are the ones who dig these stories up. Yes, 

sometimes they make mistakes. 

None of this justifies punishing people for speaking their mind. 

The danger is greater than it has been in a decade. Media 

freedom pioneer Marc Neil-Jones suffered assaults, imprisonment, 

deportation and constant threats as he fought to build and 

preserve media freedom in Vanuatu. He did not do it alone. Every 

time he suffered another affront, an uproar spread across the 

region, making it clear to the government of Vanuatu that there 

would be consequences for their ill-advised actions. 

Now, government and civil society leaders will gather in Nauru, 

and not a peep is heard about their government’s serial abuses 

of freedom of speech and human rights. Fiji subverts the entire 

media establishment, and nothing is said. Kiribati outright says 

‘stop reporting on this story’, and aside from the usual angry 

squawks, nothing happens. 

The very governments who claim to defend democracy and 

western values don’t seem as married to them as they once were. 

We need to realise something: Either we speak up now and 

draw a clear line under freedom of speech, or we write it off in 

the Pacific region. 

The right to express oneself is not granted by governments. 

Constitutions don’t give these rights either. They recognise them. 

These rights existed before we were born, and they will continue 

to exist whether we admit it or not. The only question, 

really, is how high a price do we have to pay to exercise them? 

Detention? Imprisonment? Deportation? Assault? 

This is not an abstract discussion. The truth matters more 

than ever, and media professionals across the Pacific need to 

understand that time is not on our side. 

Across the globe, people are beginning to see the damage 

caused by Facebook’s pernicious influence on people’s perception 

of what’s true. It’s felt in small communities more intensely than 

anywhere else. A few unprincipled and unrestrained people are 

playing fast and loose with the truth, and ruining people’s lives 

in the process. 

If our professional media associations were doing their job, 

they would set an example for others to follow. Instead, they 

cower, just as they’ve done in the face of government repression. 

And now, the worst excesses of social media are being used 

as justification for even more suppression from these same 

governments. 

If we don’t reaffirm this now, if we don’t repeat this chorus 

loud and long, we will lose our democracy. In New Zealand and 

Australia, in Fiji, in Kiribati, in Nauru—across the entire region— 

media professionals need to stand up and speak in defence of 

the truth. We need to set an example for others, show them how 

responsible, principled, fair and fearless reporting comes about. 

Nobody is going to do this for us. If we don’t act, our governments 

will. And that won’t end well for any of us. 

- Condensed version of editorial republished with permission of 

Dan McGarry and Marc Neil-Jones, Media Director and Publisher 

respectively of the Vanuatu Daily Post newspaper. The Vanuatu 

daily first published this on 16 February, 2018. 

So what’s stopping our 22 countries and territories of the Pacific from giving women 

50 per cent or more of positions in national leadership? Why can’t we have 10 or 11 

more Hilda Heine, the current President of Marshall Islands? 

PLAIN and simple, the Pacific has a long way to go in the work 

of gender mainstreaming. Indeed in spite of the many colourful 

and enthusiastic rhetoric about women rights delivered in much 

fanfare over the years by our politicians and bureaucrats, statistics 

from the islands around the region tell the same story. A story 

that is bleak at best and depressing at worst. 

It is nothing sort of unbelievable that just a year short of four 

decades after the adoption of CEDAW, the UN Convention on 

the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 

women and girls in the Pacific are still lagging behind in whatever 

indicators one cares to apply. In our national parliaments 

for instance, women currently make up only a mere 7 per cent 


WE SAY 

Women politicians like President Hilda Heine, Ro Teimumu Kepa and Fiame Naomi Mata’afa are among the few women that are parliamentarians in the Pacific. Photo: Supplied 

of the total number of legislators in the Pacific. Just 40 women 

MPs out of the current 559 we have. When you take this, and 

add figures of women in governments, boards and businesses, 

total women representation is at 15 per cent. Ours is the lowest 

in women representation in the world, according to UN Women. 

Story is not expected to change in the number of women 

entrepreneurs or those holding chairpersons or director roles in 

boards of corporations. 

Similar story is found in women’s participation in paid employment. 

Up to the Pacific’s north-west, at the Federated States of 

Micronesia, 56 per cent of their women were part of the island’s 

labour force in 2000. By 2010, the number has dropped to 28 

per cent. In the larger Melanesian island of Vanuatu, 71 per cent 

of women were in paid employment in 2000, but this fell to 61 

per cent one decade later. 

The FWRM in their contribution to our Status of Women in the 

Pacific Report special feature in this edition quoted a study by 

Professor Wadan Narsey that shows females in the labour force 

do less paid work per week on average than males, although 

females do far more unpaid household work. The end result 

is that females do 6 hours per week more total work per week 

than do males. 

Maternal mortality is, well, work in progress. Some island 

states register zero maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 births, 

but only because their population does not even surpass the 

1000,000 mark. These include countries like the Cook Islands, 

Niue and Tokelau. 

Papua New Guinea on the other hand, in 2010, recorded a maternal 

mortality rate of 710 and Kiribati has a 215 ratio. Compare 

that with Fiji which is at a low 59.5. 

This of course is in no way to belittle the humongous effort 

women and gender focussed groups especially in the civil society 

movement have put into improving the status of women in the 

islands over the past decades, and longer. 

Most countries and territories are nearing the goal of universal 

primary education for both girls and boys. Five in ten girls in 

the Pacific demonstrate having the expected numeracy skills, as 

a recent numeracy study shows. Four countries – Fiji, Kiribati, 

Samoa and Solomon Islands -- now have ministries specifically 

for women. 

We should not kid ourselves though. Even those four nations, 

if a recent World Health Organisation study is to be believed claim 

very high rates of domestic and sexual partner violence. That 

WHO study puts Kiribati with the highest prevalence of lifetime 

physical and/or sexual partner violence at 70 per cent. Fiji is a 

close second at about 68 per cent and Solomon Islands at a close 

third at around 67 or 68 percentage. 

The thing is this: With women making up half of our population, 

imagine what each of our countries are missing when only 

a very small number of them are being given the opportunity to 

take up leadership roles in all levels of our society, be in national 

governments, corporations, churches, sporting bodies or villages. 

So apt and timely is what Sandra Bernklau, the UN Women’s 

Pacific Regional Technical Specialist told this magazine that when 

“you withhold 50 per cent of the population, you withhold 50 per 

cent of the economic and other potential in a country.” 

So what’s stopping our 22 countries and territories of the Pacific 

from giving women 50 per cent or more of positions in national 

leadership? Why can’t we have 10 or 11 more Hilda Heine, the 

current President of Marshall Islands? What is stopping island 

nations from having thousands more successful business women 

like Mere Samisoni, founder and owner of Fiji’s Hot Bread Kitchen 

chain, or Rosemary Leona, owner of hotel and kava businesses 

in Vanuatu? 

Is it wishful thinking to believe that in the next decade, there 

will be hundred more women like Dr Cecilia Nembou, current Vice 

Chancellor of Divine Word University in Papua New Guinea? Or 

Dame Meg Taylor, current head of the Secretariat of the Pacific 

Islands Forum, or Lourdes T Pangelinan who was actually the 

first woman from the Pacific to lead a regional organisation when 

she was appointed Director-General of the SPC in January, 2000. 

Why do names like trade unionist Rosine Streeter of New Caledonia, 

the Reverend Sereima Lomaloma of the Anglican Church in 

Fiji or professional tennis player Abigail Agivanagi Tere-Apisah 

of PNG have to be lone figures in their professions? 

Or perhaps the question should be, when will you the electorate 

say enough is enough, and that you won’t settle for nothing less 

than seeing concrete actions on the ground that offer a lot more 

opportunities and spaces or platforms for our girls and women to 

pursue and excel in. Male politicians can start walking the gender 

talk by letting women take up at least 50 per cent of their electoral 

candidates, appoint women to 50 per cent or more director 

of company positions and that more than half of all business or 

entrepreneurial loans are reserved for women. 

Only with such concrete, practical and measureable measures 

on the ground could lead one to agree that there is genuine and 

real efforts to exploit and maximise the huge potentials women 

and girls can offer to the development of humanity and our various 

human endeavours in the Pacific. 


WHISPERS 

No to Sundancer movie 

The length to which authorities can go 

to make life miserable for political foes is, 

well breath-taking to say the least. This 

is so true for the 

former head of the 

republic of Kiribati 

Anote Tong who 

after completing 

his 10 year term 

in office last year 

has been replaced 

by a new administration 

which sees 

no reason why the 

former leader should be travelling with 

a diplomatic passport and stripped of all 

the protocols accorded to national leaders. 

Even at the premiere of a documentary 

on Tong’s work on climate change at the 

international Sundancer film festival in 

January, the new administration through 

its newly appointed ambassador at the 

UN (who also happens to be a former 

president), wrote to the festival organisers 

to have the film removed from the silver 

screen. 

t 

Kiribati is overly camera ‘shy’ 

Still on the northern Pacific atoll, the 

world didn’t know of the detention in Kiribati 

of Canadian film maker Matthieu Rytz 

early this year and the way he sneaked 

out of the country. He’s the producer of 

‘Anote’s Ark,’ a documentary on former 

president Anote Tong’s fight to champion 

the plight of his people who are at the 

frontline of global warming and rising sea 

level. Rtyz was apparently filming with his 

crew at an outer island in Kiribati when 

authorities detained him. The outside 

world heard nothing of the detention 

because it took place right about the time 

the tragic ferry disaster took place in the 

atoll nation. 

t 

‘Off in the head’ clampdown 

People who are “off in the head” are 

using technology the wrong way. That’s 

the warning from the longest serving 

prime minister in Oceania, Tuilaepa 

Lupesoliai Neioti Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi. 

(And yes, he could easily hold 

the title of the leader with the longest 

name too.) His issue is the anonymous 

blogger ‘Ole Palemia’ which he claims 

publishes false and defamatory allegations 

against him. In his on-going battle 

to unmask the blogger and bring the site 

down, Tuilaepa has resurrected an old 

criminal law on libel, got Facebook to 

block ‘Ole Palemia’ page and now given 

fresh orders to his attorney general to 

“take action” against the blogger. He did 

not specify what actions would these be 

or in what form would these actions take. 

Asked whether blocking Facebook in 

Samoa was being considered, the veteran 

leader remarked, ‘all options are open.’ 

t 

Vanuatu woos Mega flyers 

Much fanfare in Vanuatu of the seemingly 

“positive” outcome of their discussions 

with China on a new air services 

agreement. A big song and dance is being 

made by the island nation officials about 

upgrades at its main airport in the capital, 

Baurfield as well as the “rehabilitation” of 

two of its airports in the outer islands. A 

ni-Van official was even quoted as saying 

that the republic is now better placed 

to “explore” long haul direct flights from 

China. It may be worth their while though 

to check on their immediate neighbours 

to the east as to why Fiji is not too keen 

in entertaining long haul flights from the 

mainland. Struggling and tiny airlines 

of the two countries are no match to the 

colossal, government subsidised airways 

in China which will smother and suffocate 

competition in no time. 

t 

Powerful official of the island 

The going-ons of a particular public 

official at a recent cyclone damage assessment 

boat trip raised many an eye brow 

when islanders, who have just survived 

a category four storm, came to the boat 

with sacks of coconuts and fish for this 

particular official. At one particular island, 

he diverted the government-chartered ship 

to an uninhabited island some hours of 

sailing away only because he needed to 

stock up on his coconut and fresh lobster 

supplies. This unscheduled sailing 

disrupted the distribution of relief supplies, 

forcing emergency workers to work 

throughout the night unloading supplies. 

Out of the 5 islands visited, this official, 

and he’s not even a politician, went ashore 

to only one, preferring to stay in the boat 

when it called on the other 4 islands. 

The whisper was that he was not man 

enough to answer to questions about the 

many promises of public assistance he 

had the habit of offering over the years. 

t 

Go public with office commute 

Looks like someone is eyeing some 

practical solutions to Honaira’s traffic 

mayhem. “Every morning I drive my own 

car to work. If there are 1,000 drivers who 

are like me driving themselves to work, 

we will have 1,000 vehicles on the road. 

Now if the 1,000 drivers can go by public 

transportation, say a 15-seater bus, we 

will only need 67 buses on the road.” Then 

the writer dropped a bombshell. “Tomorrow 

I will catch a public bus to work,” 

adding “nara problem moa sapos mi arrive 

to ofis at 10am instead of 8am” (I guess 

there won’t be any problem if I get to the 

office at 10am instead of 8am.). 

t 

Special staffer queries 

‘What is so special about her’ was a 

recent tweet from a local politician in Fiji 

and the “her” happens to be an expatriate 

staff member of a government ministry. 

The staff, according to the politician 

spends six months working in the country 

and other months working overseas, 

begging the question, what’s so special 

about her? She is apparently in charge of 

human resources of the ministry, having 

come into the country initially to work as 

adviser to the election office only to be side 

transferred to the new ministry of public 

service to head public sector reforms. 

t 


WHISPERS 

No to law practice in jail 

Plans by a former cabinet minister 

who is serving time in jail on corruption 

to be given time to study law at the local 

university has met a roadblock – people 

with a criminal conviction are barred from 

practising law. The clarification had been 

issued by PNG’s deputy chief justice and it 

followed an application from the country’s 

jail administration for ‘leave of absence’ 

for one Paul Tiensten. He was a cabinet 

minister in the former government of Michael 

Somare but was jailed for nine years 

in 2014. “Many people will regard this as 

unfair as the little people are serving time 

and the big people are being allowed to do 

this,” the deputy chief justice was reported 

as telling gaol administrators. 

t 

The Pacific’s ‘worst’ 

Honiara’s poor road conditions and 

traffic congestion may not be the only 

issues that need urgent fixing with the 

observation by a local football administrator 

that the capital city’s main sports 

stadium needs an extreme makeover. The 

senior official is quoted in the local daily 

as rating Lawson Tama sports stadium as 

“the worst in the Pacific.” Yet this is the 

country that is a powerhouse in football’s 

3 codes of 11-a side, Futsal and beach 

soccer. There is hope that with the country 

hosting the Pacific Games in 2023, the 

stadium at Lawson Tama will undergo a 

long overdue transformation. 

t 

Floating island idea ‘sinks’ 

Local opposition has forced the cancellation 

of plans to construct the world’s 

first floating island in French Polynesia. 

A California-based NGO had signed a deal 

with the French Polynesian government to 

build a floating island platform in Atimaono 

lagoon to the south of the archipelago. 

However locals in the area didn’t want to 

have anything to do with this seemingly 

pie in the sky concept and with the support 

of an opposition MP, urged the central 

government to scrap the deal. Not too long 

ago, government in Papeete announced 

that the deal with the US NGO expired 

last year and the concept has now lapsed. 

t 

Million dollar tourism blunder 

A US$180,000 blunder is what it 

amounted to when the board of the tourism 

office in Vanuatu decided to dismiss 

its boss and appoint a replacement. 

Former general manager of Vanuatu 

Tourism Office won her court case and 

with it an award of 19 million Vatu, 

some USD183,000 in compensation. The 

former boss has been paid six million 

Vatu already, so the tourism office would 

have to fork out the balance of 12.9 

million. No whisper yet on whether the 

tourism board is appealing or whether 

it is just going to make the pay-out. 

Like us on facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/islands-business/ 

Follow us on Twitter 

twitter@IBIupdate 

Front Page Limited 

117 Amy Street 

PO Box 12718, Suva, Fiji Islands. 

Tel: +679 330 3108. Fax: +679 330 1423. 

Email: advertising@islandsbusiness.com 

Circulation & Distribution 

Sara Vafoou 

svafoou@islandsbusiness.com 

subs@islandsbusiness.com 

Accounts 

accounts@islandsbusiness.com 

Regional magazine sales agents 

Pacific Cosmos – 89 Brisbane Street, 

Oxley Park, NSW, Australia 

Pacific Supplies – Rarotonga, Cook Islands 

Yap Cooperative Association – Colonia, YAP, 

Federated States of Micronesia 

Paper Power Bookshop – Town Council Bldg, 

Main Street, Nadi, Fiji 

Suva Bookshop – Downtown Boulevard, Suva, Fiji 

Fatiaki Enterprises Limited – Vakabalea St, 

Lautoka, Fiji 

Sanatan Bookshop - Nasinu, Tebara Shopping 

Complex 

Nausori Airport Bookshop – Nausori 

Ba Book Centre – Ba (opposite Ba Bus Station, Fiji 

Lami Pharmacy – Main Street, Lami 

Kays Kona Shop – Dolphin Plaza, Suva, Fiji 

USP Bookcentre – USP, Laucala Campus, Suva, Fiji 

Samabula Drugstore – Samabula, Suva, Fiji 

Kundan Singh Supermarket – Tamavua, Suva, Fiji 

MH Superfresh – Tamavua, Suva, Fiji 

Methodist Bookstore – Stewart Street, Suva, Fiji 

Textbook Wholesalers – BSP Centre Suva, Fiji 

MHCC – Suva, Fiji 

786 Supermarket – Toorak ,Suva, Fiji 

TOTAL Hibiscus – Victoria Parade, Suva, Fiji 

Tappoo outlets – Fijiwide 

Kundan Singh Supermarket – Arts Village, 

Pacific Harbour, Fiji 

Gulabdas & Sons – Beach Road, Levuka, Fiji 

Hachette Pacifique – Papeete, French Polynesia 

Kiribati Newstar – Bairiki, Kiribati 

One Stop Stores – Bairiki, Kiribati 

Robert Reimers Enterprises – Majuro, Marshall Islands 

Pacific & Occidental – Yaren, Nauru 

South Seas Traders – Alofi, Niue 

Nouvelle Messageries Caledoniennes de Presse 

– Noumea, New Caledonia 

Wewak Christian Bookshop – Wewak, PNG 

Boroko Foodworld – Boroko, PNG 

UPNG Bookshop – Waigani, PNG 

Wesley Bookshop – Apia, Samoa 

Panatina Chemist Ltd – Honiara, Solomon Islands 

Officeworks Ltd – Honiara, Solomon Islands 

National Stationery Supplies – Honiara, 

Solomon Islands 

Friendly Islands Bookshop – Nuku’alofa, Tonga 

Tuvalu Air Travel, Shipping – Funafuti, Tuvalu 

Trade and Consultancies – Funafuti, Tuvalu 

Stop Press – Port Vila, Vanuatu 

A year’s subscription to 12 issues of Islands Business 

within Fiji costs $47.40. 


Political Brief 

Tuvalu rejects NZ study on expanding land 

A student on Tuvalu makes his plea to the world amid the rising ocean around his tiny island 

nation. 

Photo: Whale Oil Media 

FUNAFUTI, Tuvalu -- The government of Tuvalu has rejected 

findings of a research conducted by scientists at the Auckland 

University that says the tiny island nation may not be sinking 

due to the impact of climate change. 

Enele Sopoaga has called on scientists and the media to 

exercise care when conducting research of atoll islands such 

as Tuvalu which he is Prime Minister of, so as not to confuse 

the public. 

Speaking at press conference he called in Suva, Fiji last 

month, PM Sogopaga said Tuvaluan as well as Pacific scientists 

whom he did not name believed the research ‘had holes.’ 

“The important thing is to have the scientific reports properly 

clarified by credible scientific communities,” 

the PM said. 

“The scientists working with us are very stunned 

by the manner in which this report was done and 

was released and the media was able to pick it up 

and put it out without verification.” 

Funded by the Auckland University, the New 

Zealand study largely based on 40 years’ worth 

of imagery of the Tuvaluan shoreline concluded 

amongst other things that the country’s habitable 

land mass had expanded. 

“The timing is alarming me to think more deeply 

about the true motive behind the report. It comes at a 

very, very critical time when the world had convened 

COP23 very successfully under the leadership of PM 

Bainimarama,” PM Sopoaga said. 

The Tuvalu leader accused the three university 

researchers of Professor Paul S. Kench, Dr Murray R. 

Ford and Dr Susan D. Owen of not seeking his government’s 

consent on the study. 

“According to the analysis of their reports, there’s a lot of 

holes, it doesn’t hold water. It has to be verified by SPREP, 

perhaps by some of the regional environmental communities 

and by the IPCC,” PM Sopoaga said. 

The study was released online on 9 February and NZ media 

carried it as a news item the next day. 

“I must say however that this is not the first time that a 

report like this has come to the attention of the public. There 

were a couple of other reports that came sometime even before 

Paris COP21,” he said. 

DPM Natuman pleads guilty 

Port Vila, Vanuatu -- Joe Natuman, deputy prime minister and 

minister for tourism, trade, commerce and ni-Vanuatu business 

has pleaded guilty to two counts of obstructing or interfering 

with the execution of a criminal process, reports the Daily Post 

newspaper. Natuman was joined by the other defendant in the 

Criminal Case 188 of 2016, former Acting Police Commissioner, 

Aru Maralau, who also pleaded guilty to one count of complicity 

to obstruct or interfere with the execution of a criminal process. 

Natuman and Maralau entered guilty pleas ahead of the initial 

trial date which was set for 15 and 16 March. Sentencing is now 

scheduled for 16 March. Meanwhile Natuman will continue to 

hold the position of DPM and his portfolios following an agreement 

with Prime Minister Charlot Salwai. “Depending on how 

heavy or light the sentence will be, it will then be up to the Prime 

Minister or even myself,” he said on his future.” 

Pacific Mission takes on 4 Poly nations 

Wellington, New Zealand - New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister 

Winston Peters says the government’s Pacific Mission will 

take place from 4-9 March and will encompass Tonga, Samoa, 

Niue, and the Cook Islands. “It will be an honour to have the 

Pacific mission led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and is a 

further sign of the importance New Zealand attaches to our Pacific 

neighbours,” says Peters. “The government carefully considered 

whether the Pacific mission would impose a burden on Tonga 

and Samoa in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Gita. However the 

government decided to proceed to allow the delegation to see 

first-hand the ongoing response,” he says. The Pacific mission 

delegation is made up of MPs, Pasifika community leaders, and 

NGO representatives. The delegation size is smaller this year with 

the mission changing focus because of Tropical Cyclone Gita. 

Solomon Islands, Fiji to assist PNG 

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea - Solomon Islands Prime 

Minister of Solomon Islands Rick Hou said his government will 

look at the possibility of sending a contingent to assist PNG with 

their policing during APEC. Hou, in an interview said discussions 

are on-going and Solomon Islands stands ready to assist PNG as 

it prepares to host the summit. “It pretty much depends on what 

PNG will want us to engage in. There have been some talks on 

assistance on policing and discussions are ongoing and Police 

Authorities are already in discussions,” Hou told the Post-Courier. 

“Solomon Islands will send its police contingent to Papua New 

Guinea later this year so they can assist with policing with APEC 

and the MSG countries have been told to send their contingents 

here for policing training.” 

Long wait for Cyclone Winston victims 

Suva, Fiji - About 50 per cent of all homes damaged by Severe 

Tropical Cyclone Winston on Koro Island in Fiji’s central islands 

are yet to be built or completed, reports the Fiji Times. About 


Political Brief 

1600 out of more than 3000 people on the island are still living 

in tents and makeshift shelters. A survey conducted by the Fiji 

Times and based on data collated from the village headmen, 969 

houses from 14 villages were destroyed by the monster cyclone 

and nearly two years after government’s Help for Homes initiative, 

499 houses have been completely built while 470 have not been 

built or have not been completed. Of these, 12 homeowners have 

not received materials from the hardware stores despite being 

promised that their housing materials would be shipped within 

a month’s time from the date of purchase and about two years 

on, the wait for the materials continued. 

Teufaiva Stadium damaged again after Gita 

Nuku’alofa, Tonga - Less than eight months after being officially 

re-opened, Nuku’alofa’s Teufaiva Stadium has fallen back 

into disrepair with much of the stadium’s tin roofing torn off 

by Cyclone Gita. The stadium lights however appeared to have 

withstood the winds, but metal sheets on the eastern edge of the 

stadium were less lucky. The Teufaiva Fitness Centre appeared 

to be intact. The New Zealand Government funded over NZ$2 

million (US$1.5 million) upgrading work for Teufaiva Stadium 

last year. The upgrade was marked with a re-opening ceremony 

on 16 June, and was completed in time for the ‘Ikale Tahi to play 

against Manu Samoa on 30 June, the ‘Ikale Tahi’s first game on 

home soil for more than 9 years. 

Prince Harry gets role in Commonwealth 

London, United Kingdom - Prince Harry is set to be given a 

special ambassadorial role with the Commonwealth Games, it has 

been reported. He is said to have taken on an official leadership 

position with the Commonwealth in a bid to attract new generations 

to the organisation. This will include, The Sunday Times in 

London reported, having a special role with the Commonwealth 

Games. The position is not expected to be officially confirmed 

until the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, due to 

take place between 16 to 20 April in London. Before that, though, 

Harry could attend the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast 

between 4 to 15 April. His father Prince Charles is due to represent 

the Queen at the Opening Ceremony. 

PNG uni sacks VC 

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea - The University of Technology 

council in Papua New Guinea has sacked Vice-Chancellor Dr 

Albert Schram after questioning his academic credentials and 

other management issues. Schram, who was deported in February 

2013 over management issues, reinstated in April 2014 after a 

student protest, suspended last month, and now sacked, said he 

had been given seven days to vacate his home. The university 

council reached the decision after Schram had replied to 22 allegations 

made against him, which led to his suspension in January. 

Maritime talks successful 

Port Vila, Vanuatu - Prime Minister Charlot Salwai has announced 

the successful outcome of the historical maritime 

boundary talks between France and Vanuatu. “This first ever 

negotiation between the two countries is a milestone achievement 

in Vanuatu’s history and it paves the way for future high-level 

negotiations,” Prime Minister Salwai said. The boundary talks 

focused on the issue of sovereignty over Umaenupe (Matthew) 

and Leka (Hunter) islands and secondly the median line between 

New Caledonia and the Vanuatu waters. 

A friend in the business. 

Hamburg Süd. 

Always at your side. 

We learned a long time ago 

that above all, customers 

need a friend. Someone 

who’ll take extra care, and 

who delights in pleasing you. 

That kind of relationship is built up over a long 

time. And it requires a commitment on both 

sides. (Trust works both ways). Hamburg Süd 

treasures that kind of relationship. 

How about you? 

For more, please contact Williams & Gosling Ltd 

n Suva: (679) 331 2633 / info@wgfiji.com.fj 

n Lautoka: (679) 666 4090 / helpwest@wgfiji.com.fj 

www.hamburgsud-line.com 


Cover Story 

The Big Threat 

Organised crime creeps into the region 

By Netani Rika 

A NEW crime wave looms over the region 

– this time on the back of motorbikes. 

As Australia and New Zealand crack 

down on the illicit trading activities of 

Outlawed Motorcycle Gangs, these criminal 

groups have sought new targets and 

found them in the world’s soft underbelly. 

With porous maritime borders which 

stretch for miles and few assets to patrol 

the sea, the Pacific is wide open for illegal 

business. 

Law enforcement agencies have battle 

for years will illegal transnational activities 

at sea, says Oceania Customs Organisation 

Chief Executive Officer, Seve Paeniu. 

“We have maritime issues not only with 

illegal fishing but transfer on the high sea 

(of fuel and other supplies), all those illicit 

activities through the waters (open seas),” 

Paeniu said. 

In the early 1990s police uncovered 

the transfer of contraband cigarettes to 

Chinese fishing ships on the high seas for 

transportation to Fiji for sale. 

Unable to hit the offending vessels at 

sea, police used tax evasion laws to crackdown 

on shops and market stalls selling 

the cigarettes. 

With its porous borders, need for foreign 

investment and weak law enforcement 

agencies, the Pacific fits the profile 

for transnational criminals dealing with 

drugs, arms smuggling, human trafficking 

and money laundering. 

There is an increasing threat now in the 

region in terms of illegal trade – especially 

transnational organised crime 

“Drug trafficking of course is at the top 

of that list,” Paeniu said. 

“But increasingly there are other forms 

of transnational organised crimes – money 

laundering, financial crimes, ATM card 

skimming are just a few examples.” 

Last year Chinese police with the assistance 

of their Fijian counterparts 

made dozens of arrests, ostensibly of 

cyber-criminals working in Fiji for Asian 

syndicates. 

While many of the arrests were linked 

to credit card fraud and skimming – stealing 

information from legitimate cards and 

using this to make purchases or withdrawals 

– there was an element of prostitution 

involved. 

The new wave of criminal activities, 

however, comes from next door in Australia 

and New Zealand. 

“There’s also organised motorcycle 

gangs now coming into the Pacific – we’ve 

seen signs of that,” Paeniu said. 

IB: Any country in particular? 

Paeniu: Across. 

IB: Across? 

Paeniu: Well, apart from the tiny little 

ones we’ve seen clear evidence of it 

really creeping into the region. 

IB: Motorcycle gangs in Australia 

are involved in illegal 

activities like drugs. So 

they’re moving into the 

region? 

Paeniu: Five or six gangs are now based 

in Fiji and the Cook Islands has a lot more 

than Fiji and it’s spreading across the Pacific 

now. Outlaw motorcycle gangs, that’s 

the terminology we use for it. And there’s 

a whole lot of illicit activities they bring. 

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - 

AUGUST 16: Hells Angels bikies 

leave after the funeral for 

Melbourne crime figure 

Macchour Chaouk at 

Preston Mosque on August 

16, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. 

61-year old Chaouk 

was gunned down in the 

backyard of his Melbourne 

home. 

Photo: News Central 

IB: And not necessarily drugs anymore? 

Money laundering? 

Paeniu: Yes. Money-laundering 

The money-laundering activities involve 

the purchase of real estate including residential 

dwellings, apartments and farms. 

Owning legitimate businesses in the Pacific 

allows criminal organisations to pass 

the illegally earned money through these 

investments to “clean” the cash. 

Australian gangs already control and 

own suburbs in Thailand including casinos, 

bars, strip joints and real estate. 

The Australian Criminal Intelligence 

Commission recently estimated that 

organised crime costs AUD36 billion 

(US$27b) annually with frauds perpetrated 

against government bodies being 

the primary concern in 2017. 

And that is without the involvement 

of the Outlaw Motorcycle 

Gangs. 

Paeniu said the battle against 

transnational organised crime 

was vast and required a joint effort 

by customs and law enforcement 

authorities. 

“Therefore, the need to 


Cover Story 

And then there’s 

also organised 

motorcycle gangs 

now coming into 

the Pacific – 

we’ve seen signs 

of that 

– Seve Paeniu, Oceania 

Customs Organisation 

work collaboratively with all those agencies, 

but also across borders in terms of 

sharing that information and being alerted 

to those activities, before it hits you or 

comes through your borders,” Paeniu said. 

“Cooperation and collaboration of all 

customs and border security agencies and 

officials – biosecurity, immigration, the 

legal people, police is critical 

“There’s a whole effort being looked 

at to work out how they can better work 

together in their joint interests.” 

Much of the work to control the Outlawed 

Motorcycle Gangs and other players 

in the transnational crime business 

lies at the feet of national and regional 

policing units set up especially to handle 

these cases. 

Most Pacific nations have a Transnational 

Crime Unit which comprises officers 

from police, customs, immigration, 

bio-security and other border control or 

management authorities. 

From these national centres, information 

is shared through the regional hub 

in Apia, Samoa. 

Set up by the Australian Federal Police 

and the New Zealand Police Service, 

the centre takes staff from border 

control authorities across 

the region and reports to the 

Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police. 

“The unit allows countries 

to provide intelligence to 

cooperating agencies and to 

each other providing information 

alerts,” Paeniu said. 

“The unit has elements of 

police, customs, and immigration 

– all the border security agencies 

accessing the same set of information 

and feeding in information 

which can be shared with other 

countries. 

“That information is 

secure and confidential 

and allows them to 

take pro-active 

action against.” 

In its fight 

against organised 

crime, the 

OCO works closely 

with the Samoa centre. 

“We recognise that 

Customs alone can’t 

address this and no 

one country alone 

can stop transnational 

crime,” Paeniu said. 

So do law enforcement 

agencies, particularly Customs, 

receive enough support from regional 

governments? 

“Not necessarily,” Paeniu said, “so 

that’s part of my outreach activity in 2018. 

“Customs do not necessarily get the support 

they need. My view is that it’s perhaps 

to do with promoting the understanding 

and awareness of our key functions not 

only as a money-earning entity but also 

as a protector of the borders.” 

With the burgeoning use of electronic 

media in the region, even small countries 

like Samoa have become targets for cyber 

criminals who comb Facebook and 

other social media networks for innocent 

victims. 

This forced the Central Bank of Samoa 

to issue a scammer alert to internet users 

after organised criminals, used Facebook 

to defraud Samoans. 

“Please be alert and vigilant of these 

scammers on the social network like 

Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram 

and the like,” the CBS alert said. 

Compared to Outlawed Motorcycle 

Gangs and the Russian Mafia or Japanese 

Yakuza and Chinese triads, internet scamming 

is relatively mild. 

The threat from the gangs is real – 

prostitution, extortion, drugs, arms and 

violence. 

In June 2016 the bodies of a Russian 

couple were found off Natadola on Fiji’s 

Coral Coast. 

The international Police Organisation, 

INTERPOL, was called to assist in investigations 

into the deaths of Yuri Anatolyevich 

Shipulin and Nataliya Gerasimova 

who had lived on a nearby farm. 

Police have been tight-lipped about 

investigations. 

But the remote piece of land on which 

they lived and where no farm took shape 

despite the presence of all the necessary 

pipes, pumps and nursery cloth, their 

mysterious disappearance and decapitation 

pointed to a gang-style execution. 

There have been suggestions that a 

team sent to murder the couple could have 

arrived and left undetected by sea. 

In May 2011, Lieutenant-Colonel Roko 

Tevita Uluilakeba Mara was picked up 

off Fiji’s southern island of Kadavu and 

spirited off to Tonga where he remains in 

exile today. 

Two years earlier Australian conman 

Peter Foster escaped Fijian authorities by 

ship to Vanuatu. 

It is against this backdrop of weak 

border protection that Pacific law enforcement 

agencies must work with limited 

resources against multi-billion dollar crime 

syndicates. 

Closer to home New Zealand police have 

expressed concern about the Australian 

Comanchero, Lone Wolf, Finks, Mongols, 

Notorious and Descendants motorcycle 

clubs. 

These clubs have set up chapters in 

New Zealand and want to muscle in on 

the drug trade. 

Customs agencies across the region 

have gone into preventative mode as the 

threat looms larger than ever before. 

“So we (the Oceania Customs Organisations) 

provide expertise to member countries 

on how they can better protect their 

borders by risk profiling,” Paeniu said. 

“Before a traveller comes in they do 

advance profiling of that particular commodity 

or person and identify what type of 

risk level that person or commodity poses 

so that it can be addressed even before the 

transaction takes place.” 

IB: In terms of building intelligence 

capacity in the Customs community 

in the Pacific, how important 

will that be in view of these new 

crimes? 

Paeniu: There’s a lot of work that has 

already gone into it and we work very 

closely with our partner organisations 

like the police. 

But will it be enough to stop the 

gangs? 

r netrika66@gmail.com 


Politics 

Scheme for some smaller island states and 

efforts to reduce the cost of remittances 

from Australia to the Pacific. 

In November, Foreign Minister Julie 

Bishop released a major Foreign Policy 

White Paper, which highlights growing 

Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific 

region and calls for enhanced engagement 

with the Pacific islands. Shadow 

Defence Minister Richard Marles from 

the opposition Australian Labour Party 

(ALP) – a former Parliamentary Secretary 

for Pacific Island Affairs – has also called 

for increased engagement by Australia in 

the islands region. 

Fierravanti-Wells with Fiji Defence Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola 

The new Aussie assertiveness 

By Nic Maclellan 

A diplomatic spat between Beijing and 

Canberra has highlighted the Turnbull 

government’s new assertiveness in the 

Pacific islands as it pushes back against 

the growing regional influence of “nontraditional” 

development partners. 

Earlier this year, Australia’s Minister 

for International Cooperation and Pacific 

Affairs Concetta Fierravanti-Wells made 

headlines when she criticised Chinese aid 

projects in the Pacific. 

Senator Fierravanti-Wells accused China 

of “duchessing” Pacific leaders and officials 

through its aid programme. Criticising 

“roads to nowhere” built by China, 

she told The Australian newspaper that: 

“You’ve got the Pacific full of these useless 

buildings which nobody maintains, which 

are basically white elephants.” 

In response, Chinese diplomats lodged 

an official diplomatic complaint to Australia’s 

Department of Foreign Affairs and 

Trade (DFAT), calling the Minister’s claims 

Photo: Paulius Staniunas. 

“irresponsible” and “full of ignorance and 

prejudice.” 

Fierravanti-Wells’ critique of Chinese 

loans and aid grants to the Pacific comes 

as the Turnbull government has ramped 

up its criticism of growing Chinese political 

influence in the Asia-Pacific region, including 

alleged interference in Australian 

domestic politics. 

In recent years under the “new Pacific 

diplomacy,” Pacific island nations have extended 

links beyond the ANZUS partners, 

advancing collective priorities on trade, 

climate change and the oceans. They’ve 

made some headway - over the last year, 

Fiji has served as President of the UN 

General Assembly, co-chaired the global 

oceans conference and been appointed to 

the presidency of the UNFCCC Conference 

of the Parties (COP23). 

Now we’re seeing a renewed Australian 

assertiveness, as Canberra seeks to retain 

Australia’s role as the largest aid, trade 

and military power in the region. 

At the 2016 Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ 

meeting in Pohnpei, Prime Minister 

Malcolm Turnbull committed to a “step 

change” in Australia’s engagement with 

the Pacific. At the 2017 Forum in Apia, 

Turnbull announced a Pacific Labour 

Australian policy failures 

The growing influence of non-traditional 

players like China, India and Indonesia has 

in part come from a series of “own goals” 

by successive Australian governments. 

There have also been a number of policies 

from the Coalition and ALP that have 

arguably damaged Australia’s standing 

in the region. These include the ongoing 

commitment to coal exports at a time 

Pacific governments are seeking reduced 

use of fossil fuels; the expensive and 

unresolved warehousing of asylum seekers 

and refugees on Manus and Nauru; 

cutbacks to Radio Australia; the closure of 

AusAID as an independent statutory organisation; 

and the gutting of the overseas 

aid programme, slashed to the lowest ratio 

of national income ever recorded. 

Over the last two decades, trade policy 

has been a central pillar of regional engagement. 

PACER was first signed in 

2001, but years of trade negotiations have 

ended with the PACER-Plus agreement 

that the two largest island economies 

have refused to sign (once a flagship of 

Australian policy, the treaty isn’t even 

mentioned in the new White Paper chapter 

on the Pacific). 

In global summits, DFAT diplomats often 

oppose Pacific island policies on loss 

and damage, greenhouse emission targets 

or nuclear disarmament. In response, 

many innovative policies are being formulated 

and promoted through institutions 

where Australia is not in the room, such as 

the Pacific Small Island Developing States 

group or sub-regional organisations such 

as the Melanesian Spearhead Group and 

Polynesian Leaders Group. 

Australian government budget cuts 

have contributed to the hollowing out 

of institutions that are vital for engagement 

with the region, from volunteer 

programmes to Radio Australia and the 

Bureau of Meteorology. 


Politics 

Australia is also lagging other OECD 

nations with its climate finance commitments. 

By 2020, Australian governments 

must ramp up public climate financing to 

meet Canberra’s fair share of global targets, 

requiring a massive increase beyond 

existing commitments. 

Since the 2009 Copenhagen summit, 

Australia’s public climate finance has been 

drawn completely from the aid budget. At 

a time when there is widespread debate in 

Australia about energy security and pricing, 

there is little if any discussion about 

where to find new and innovative sources 

of climate funding. Neither the Coalition 

nor ALP has said where extra money could 

come from, at a time that budget papers 

predict overseas aid will sink to 0.2 per 

cent of gross national income by 2020. 

Countries like France and New Zealand 

are addressing this challenge, through 

studies on financial transaction taxes, redirecting 

fossil fuel subsidies, or cracking 

down on fiscal avoidance in tax havens. 

Given smaller island states will always 

need public investment, emerging Asian 

economies are filling the gap, through institutions 

like China’s Asian Infrastructure 

Investment Bank (AIIB). 

White paper highlights security 

According to the 2017 Foreign Policy 

White Paper, Australia’s approach to the 

region will focus on “helping to integrate 

Pacific countries in the Australian and 

New Zealand economies and our security 

institutions.” 

The renewed Australian engagement 

is often framed as a policy of strategic 

denial to protect the homeland from an 

arc of instability. 

In August 2017, Turnbull and then 

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed 

a bilateral security treaty between Australia 

and the Solomon Islands. This was 

followed in September by bilateral MOUs 

on security partnership with Tuvalu and 

Nauru. Australia has committed AU$2 

billion to the Pacific Maritime Security 

Programme over the next 30 years, with 

support to provide 19 replacement patrol 

boats across the Pacific and an aerial surveillance 

capability to bolster Pacific island 

maritime security. 

The call for security integration was 

echoed by the ALP’s Richard Marles, in 

a major speech to the Lowy Institute last 

November. The Shadow Defence Minister 

argued that the first “cornerstone” for renewed 

Pacific engagement “is a far more 

extensive and deeper defence relationship 

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his official visit to Fiji in July 2015. China 

remains one of Fiji’s biggest allies after the West turned its back on the South Pacific republic. 

Photo: SCMP 

with those countries which have a defence 

force…..it would benefit us to see the 

capability of the Pacific Island Countries’ 

defence forces grow.” 

But whose security are we talking about? 

During conflicts in Bougainville, Solomon 

Islands and New Caledonia, churches and 

NGOs posed alternative perspectives on 

regional security that didn’t put defence of 

Australia at the heart of the debate. They 

have advocated spending more resources 

on “human security” rather than “national 

security” – yet Australian governments 

prioritise the latter in funding and technical 

assistance (83 per cent of the $2.6 

billion spent on RAMSI went on policing, 

law and justice programmes, while many 

Solomon Islanders were calling for greater 

resources to be allocated to development 

initiatives that bolster community security, 

in agriculture, employment and women’s 

empowerment). 

Some Pacific citizens will be anxious 

about extensive new support for the 

Papua New Guinea Defence Force or the 

Republic of Fiji Military Forces, given human 

rights abuses during the 1990s war 

on Bougainville and coups in Fiji. As the 

Forum launches a regional dialogue on a 

new “Biketawa-Plus” security framework, 

there will be calls to prioritise support for 

actors beyond the defence forces. 

The Australian Foreign Policy White Paper 

also dodges the complex and challenging 

debate around self-determination in 

Pacific territories administered by France, 

the United States and New Zealand, as 

well as in neighbouring countries like 

Indonesia and Papua Guinea. There is 

just one paragraph on Bougainville and no 

mention of New Caledonia or West Papua. 

Despite this silence, debates around autonomy 

or independence will be a central 

feature of regional politics in coming years. 

Successive governments in Canberra have 

already chosen sides in these debates, 

wary of new nation states being created 

across Melanesia. But popular support 

for self-determination will inevitably 

complicate bilateral relationships with 

Port Moresby, Jakarta and Paris, as well 

as Australia’s role in the Pacific Islands 

Forum. 

A central challenge for Australian governments 

is to resolve this contradiction 

between global and regional priorities. 

The White Paper wants to increase “our 

exports of high-quality coal and LNG” to 

Asia but also lead the Pacific debate on 

climate policy. Australia can’t do both. 

The 2017 ‘joint statement of enhanced 

strategic partnership between Australia 

and France’ highlights the increasing 

global engagement between Canberra and 

Paris, and follows the decision to extend 

full Forum membership to New Caledonia 

and French Polynesia. This amplifies 

the capacity of the French Republic to 

intervene in this regional security debate, 

because the French state – and not governments 

in Noumea or Papeete – controls key 

legal powers over defence, policing and the 

military in France’s Pacific dependencies. 

Despite Australia’s new Pacific assertiveness, 

it will be increasingly difficult 

to paper over contested visions for the 

future. Within the Forum, fundamental 

policy differences over climate change, 

trade and decolonisation will continue to 

complicate regional relations. There will 

be new calls to transform the regional 

architecture, as these differences reinforce 

the growing sentiment that Australia and 

New Zealand should play a different role 

within the Forum. 

r nicmaclellan@optusnet.com 


Politics 

‘At the dawn of a new day’ 

FLNKS Congress 

calls for “full 

sovereignty” 

By Nic Maclellan 

AS New Caledonia’s FLNKS independence 

movement met in congress last month 

near the northern town of Poum, the 

theme highlighted the importance of the 

coming year: “Yet Tim Men Ta Yabwat” (At 

the dawn of a new day). 

After decades of campaigning, a decision 

on New Caledonia’s political status 

is looming. The exact date is still to be 

announced, but New Caledonia’s referendum 

on self-determination must be 

held before the end of the year, after a 

20-year transition established by the 1998 

Noumea Accord. 

Opponents of independence believe that 

they will win the vote and retain their 

current status within the French Republic. 

After generations of settlement and 

migration, the indigenous Kanak people 

are a minority in their own country, so 

mobilising independence supporters in 

the lead up to the referendum is all the 

more important. 

The 36 th Congress of the Front de 

Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste 

(FLNKS) met at Arama on 3-4 February. 

The meeting provided a crucial opportunity 

for delegates and activists to build 

common understanding on issues that 

have long been debated within the broad 

independence coalition. 

For many years, there have been internal 

tensions over leadership, how to 

negotiate with conservative pro-French 

parties and the best path for a transition 

to a new political status. But with only 

months remaining until the referendum, 

there is a need to promote unity amongst 

the four political parties that comprise the 

FLNKS: Union Calédonienne (UC); Parti 

de Libération Kanak (Palika); Rassemblement 

Démocratique Océanien (RDO); and 

Union Progressiste Mélanésien (UPM). 

The first President of the FLNKS, Jean- 

Marie Tjibaou, was assassinated in 1989 

and the position was later filled by Palika’s 

Paul Neaoutyine and UC’s Roch Wamytan. 

But since 2001, the independence coalition 

has been unable to agree on a President. 

To avoid potentially divisive debates over 

leadership, the Arama Congress decided 

to leave the position vacant and instead 

appointed UC President Daniel Goa as its 

official spokesperson within New Caledonia, 

the region and internationally. 

Debating the path forward 

As the largest and oldest member of 

the independence movement, UC has long 

called for the adoption of full, sovereign 

political independence. The other FLNKS 

members have been more open to variations 

of political status. Palika President 

Paul Neaoutyine has declared his party 

is open to discussing “l’indépendance 

avec partenariat” (independence with 

partnership), which would establish New 

Caledonia as an independent nation but 

with an ongoing relationship with France. 

Despite these differences, the FLNKS 

congress “reaffirmed its objective to have 

the country accede to full sovereignty in 

the referendum scheduled for this year 

2018.” 

If New Caledonia’s Congress cannot 

agree on a date for the referendum by May 

this year, the French State must hold the 

referendum at least six months before next 

Congressional elections in May 2019. For 

this reason, everyone is gearing up for a 

referendum in late October or November, 

preparing for a public campaign in the 

months before the vote. 

One of the central concerns for independence 

supporters has been to meet the legal 

requirement that potential referendum 

voters must be registered on the general 

electoral roll. The Congress called on independence 

activists appointed to the Special 

Administrative Committees which register 

voters “to maintain the greatest possible 

vigilance during the forthcoming work 

to update the special lists and especially 

those for the referendum.” 

The United Nations Special Committee 

on Decolonisation is expected to send a 

mission to New Caledonia this month, to 

monitor the work of these Special Administrative 

Committees, as they finalise the 

voting roll that will be released publically 

in August. 

The FLNKS Congress reaffirmed its call 

for automatic registration of all indigenous 

Kanaks of voting age, echoing a 

central concern of the Rassemblement des 

indépendantistes et nationalistes (RIN). 

The RIN is a loose network outside the 

FLNKS that includes more radical proindependence 

groups like the Parti Travailliste 

(PT), Dynamique Unitaire Sud (DUS), 

the USTKE trade union confederation and 

individual activists. 

UC President Daniel Goa has floated the 

idea of re-incorporating all pro-independence 

forces - including political parties, 

trade unions and churches - within the 

FLNKS. However this idea was not accepted 

by Palika and UPM at the Arama 

congress. Instead, the congress resolution 

called on “independence supporters, 

progressives and nationalists to support 

the planned accession to full sovereignty 

and to re-join the structures created by 

the FLNKS to undertake a campaign at 

local level.” 

This aims to reinforce the “Comités Nationalistes 

et Citoyens” (CNC), a network 

of local action groups in tribes and towns 

across the country. The CNC were created 

in 2016 as a structure for independence 

supporters to campaign together at the 

grassroots, regardless of political affiliation. 

Young people share their vision 

This spirit of cooperation was evident 

amongst young Kanaks at the Arama 

meeting. A key feature of the congress 

was the strong presence and coordination 

of young people, who have not been 

involved in longstanding political jousting 

amongst their elders, often dating back to 

the 1970s. 

Each of the FLNKS member parties 

has a separate youth wing, but younger 

delegates caucused together and issued 

a joint statement from the congress. The 

youth declaration called for “a sovereign 

Kanaky-New-Caledonia, as a multicultural, 

secular, democratic and united 

republic.” The united youth network will 

organise a series of cultural and sporting 

events during 2018, so that “young New 

Caledonians, whoever they may be, can 

join the movement for national unity so 

our country can access full sovereignty.” 

New Caledonian leaders across the political 

spectrum will meet with French Prime 


Politics 

Minister Edouard Philippe and other representatives 

in March for the next Committee 

of Signatories to the Noumea Accord. This 

meeting, one of the last before the referendum, 

will address outstanding issues 

over the referendum process, as well as 

the transfer of the remaining “Article 27” 

powers from Paris to Noumea (including 

control of the university, TV and radio, as 

well as the ADRAF land reform agency 

currently managed by the French State). 

To continue the momentum towards 

the vote, the FLNKS will hold a national 

convention in April. This meeting will see 

the formal launch of the independence 

movement’s campaign, in the lead up to 

a scheduled visit by French President Emmanuel 

Macron. Since last year, the FLNKS 

has been developing a proposal for “a 

sovereign Kanaky-New-Caledonia,” with 

ideas for economic, political and cultural 

reform that will be the centrepiece of the 

referendum campaign. 

Beyond its mobilisation on the ground, 

the FLNKS congress resolutions highlighted 

the importance of international solidarity, 

including the “historic and ongoing 

support of the Melanesian Spearhead 

Group,” support from the Non-Aligned 

Movement as well as churches, NGOs and 

trade unions (a notable omission from the 

list is the Pacific Islands Forum, given the 

rapprochement between France and key 

Forum member states like Australia). 

To mobilise international support during 

2018, the FLNKS will soon name overseas 

representatives as official spokespeople 

in Europe and the Pacific islands. The 

movement will also send a team to build 

support for independence and sovereignty 

in French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna 

(key constituencies, given the large 

Tahitian and Wallisian populations living 

in New Caledonia). 

Soon after the congress, FLNKS delegates 

travelled to Port Moresby for the 

MSG summit. As a signal to the host 

government, the Arama congress “reaffirmed 

its unshakeable support for the 

United Liberation Movement of West 

Papua (ULMWP) in its combat for human 

rights and the right to self-determination 

in West Papua.” 

The FLNKS congress also resolved to 

support nationalist movements in Corsica, 

Catalonia and French Polynesia – signalling 

their support for allies in the debate 

over autonomy, decentralisation and 

independence that is raging around the 

globe, from Spain to Indonesia and Papua 

New Guinea, from old Caledonia to New 

Caledonia. 

We are almost CEDAW compliant, says Fiji 

By Anish Chand 

FIJI remains a potential transit area for 

human traffiicking because of its role as 

a regional transportation hub. 

In their submission to the United 

Nations Committee on the Elimination 

of Discrimination Against Women 

(CEDAW) in Geneva last month, Fiji 

defended its record on trafficking and 

exploitation of prostitution, including 

tracking victims of trafficking, their 

rescue and protection. 

Fiji has told CEDAW it has solid prosecution 

and antitrafficking laws in place 

which are reflected specifically in the 

Crimes Act 2009 under Section 111 to 

121 titled, “Trafficking in Persons and 

Children.” 

“It not only looks at international 

trafficking but domestic trafficking too. 

Harsher penalties are in place under this 

legislation with a minimal of 12 years 

and maximum of 25 years imprisonment 

for offenders,” the Fiji response said. 

Four branches of law enforcement and 

two NGO’s have a working relationship 

to identify victims of trafficking. 

The Department of Social Welfare, 

Homes of Hope, Pacific Dialogue, Department 

of Immigration, the Police Human 

Trafficking Unit, and the Fiji Police Force 

Transnational Crimes Unit are the frontrunners 

in keeping a tab on domestic 

and international trafficking of persons. 

“The National Plan of Action Eradicating 

Trafficking has provisions of temporary 

visas, temporary work permits, 

and safe-home for victims during the 

investigation period,” CEDAW was told. 

Any victims of trafficking, if found 

are given accommodation, medical care, 

interpreters, allowance for basic necessities, 

and temporary visas for foreign 

victims. 

“If the victims are women or children, 

they are eligible to apply for government 

legal aid and become a party to 

the United Nations Convention against 

Transnational Organised Crime and its 

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish 

Trafficking in Persons,” Fiji said. 

Fiji Police have five cases under 

investiogation at the moment, two of 

these cases from 2015 involving forced 

labour of male foreign nationals and 

three were involved in sex trafficking of 

Fijian women and children. 

Fiji also informed CEDAW it has one 

of the most stringent punishments 

under law for people convicted of trafficking 

in persons with up to 25 years 

imprisonment, and possible fines of up 

to FJ$100,000 (US$49,700). 

“These are sufficiently stringent and 

commensurate with penalties prescribed 

for other serious crimes,” CEDAW was 

told. 

Prostitution is the final outcome of human 

trafficking of women and children. 

“If a person is apprehended for prostitution 

but has been asertained to be a 

victim of human trafficking, Fijian laws 

gives them assistance like temporary visas, 

temporary work permits, safe-home 

and furthering their involvement in livelihood 

programmes,” Fiji told CEDAW. 

Fiji has also acknowledged prostitution 

by women is rife and that they 

have exit programmes in place for these 

women to get off the streets. They include 

giving grants to women to earn a 

livelihood through other means where 

income is generated by small business 

ventures. 

Fiji was also asked by CEDAW to 

provide data on the number of women 

serving in its diplomatic and international 

organisations. 

Fiji has a total of 17 diplomatic missions 

overseas with a roving Ambassador 

based in Fiji. 

“Out of 63 available diplomatic posts, 

in its 18 diplomatic missions, women 

make up 30 per cent of the postings,” 

Fiji said in reply. 

Of the 18 available Heads of Missions 

posts, 14 are filled with 4 positions currently 

vacant. 

“Women Heads of Missions are at 21 

per cent or 3 out of 14 as at November 

2017,” CEDAW was told. 

A total of 19 local women are employed 

in International Organisations. 

r achandftv@gmail.com 

Fiji NGOs response on page 30. 


Special Feature 

progress towards improving gender equality 

in the Pacific region, but more work was 

needed to achieve gender equality across 

men and women of the region. 

“As Pacific nations move progressively 

towards closing the gap in gender 

equality, we will then see commensurate 

improvements in the Pacific Island country 

development overall.” 

Fijian women join the UN’s Unite to end violence against women’s campaign. The Pacific region has twice the global 

average of violence against women. 

Photo: UN Women/Caitlin Clifford 

Closing the gender 

gap in the Pacific 

IB’s Status of Women in the Pacific Report 

By Mereseini Marau-Totoka 

As the world celebrates International 

Women’s Day on 8th March, at least two 

Pacific countries have not ratified the 

popular instrument dedicated to eliminate 

any form of discrimination against 

women- CEDAW. 

Palau and Tonga out of the seven countries 

globally have yet to join the rest of 

the Pacific to ratify the Convention on the 

Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination 

against Women which was adopted by the 

United Nations General Assembly in 1979 

and came into force in 1981. 

While most Pacific Island countries have 

ratified CEDAW, Nauru was the only country 

to ratify it in the last decade. 

Speaking to UN Women’s Pacific Regional 

Technical Specialist Sandra Bernklau, 

Islands Business established that 

a lot has changed for the women in the 

region over the last ten years. 

Despite the progress to advancing the 

gender equality gap, work and commitment 

was needed especially in critical areas 

like Violence Against Women, Women 

in Leadership and Women in Employment. 

“There is a strong commitment by Pacific 

governments to advance gender equality 

in the region as reflected by most Pacific 

Island countries having ratified the global 

convention called CEDAW,” she said. 

“Pacific Island countries and territories 

increasingly recognise that gender equality 

is important for national and regional 

development- you cannot have economic 

growth without improvements in gender 

equality.” 

Bernklau reflecting on the progress of 

gender equality in the region in the last 

decade shared that there has been much 

Reflection over last decade 

Since most countries have patriarchal 

societies, where things are viewed from a 

male’s perspective, there has to be extra 

work done to ensure gender equality. 

Bernklau who has been working in the 

region since 1994 said that ten years ago, 

most countries in the region did not have 

gender equality plans and strategies. That 

has changed today. 

“Most countries now have dedicated 

departments and division looking after 

women’s affairs.” 

‘That is huge. Four countries namely 

Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Kiribati 

have a ministry for women. 

“That has all happened in the last ten 

years and it is fantastic.” 

The commitment by governments 

to have departments and ministries 

dedicated to women demonstrates that 

governments know and understand the 

importance of gender equality to development 

and its link. 

“It makes sense that those countries 

that have gender equality, have better 

economy.” 

“You withhold 50 per cent of the population 

(women), you withhold 50 per cent 

of the economic and other potential in a 

country.” 

She explained that most countries have 

their gender development plans linked to 

their national development plans. 

“That’s smart thinking and a huge 

bonus, a huge gain in the last ten years.” 

Critical areas that need work 

Acknowledging that governments, 

non-government organisations especially 

women’s association, agencies and individuals 

have contributed immensely to 

this effort to create a level playing field, 

Berklau said there were challenges faced 

in the region. 

And this she agreed was faced in the 

world over. 

The region has twice the global average 

of violence against women with an 

estimated two out of three women experiencing 

physical or sexual violence in 

their lifetime. 


Status of Women in the Pacific Report 

“Violence against women impedes 

women’s progress across all sectors and 

this is a big constraint for everyone’s 

development.” 

Such gender based violence is a violation 

of human rights and in the Pacific 

there are many dedicated and talented 

national women’s organisations and other 

agencies working tirelessly to end violence 

against women and girls. 

Between 2009 and 2014 domestic violence 

laws were passed in 10 Pacific states- 

Fiji, Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New 

Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Kosrae 

State of the Federated States of Micronesia, 

Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. 

In addition to swift action to change 

domestic violence legislation, many Pacific 

countries are looking at related legislation 

in their criminal codes on rape and assault 

to address violence against women 

and girls. 

“This is an incredible progress, but 

there is much work ahead to implement 

legislation.” 

“It is implementing the legislation that 

is the next big hurdle, the counselling, 

the care services that has to go along 

with that.” 

She attributed it to the talents and research 

of talented and competent women’s 

organisations. 

“Governments can’t argue with evidence.” 

“There has been incredible research 

done across the Pacific on violence against 

women and the linkages to health of 

women, health of families, economy- all 

of these have come out in the last ten 

years and government has not been able 

to ignore that.” 

“The enactment of these domestic violence 

legislation has been quite incredible, 

that has been a wow factor, a big change 

in the last ten years.” 

While progress was noted on few areas, 

somethings have not changed much over 

the last ten years. 

That includes low representation of 

women in leadership at all levels- from 

parliaments, governments, boards and 

businesses. 

“The Pacific ranks the lowest in women’s 

representation at 15 per cent.” 

“There are 40 women Members of 

Parliament out of the 559 Members of 

Parliament in the region.” 

Bernklau said there was a need to step 

up in that area of women in leadership 

and some countries like Samoa have put 

in place temporary special measures to 

close the gap. 

The likes of President Hilda Heine of 

Sandra Bernklau is 

currently a Regional 

Technical Specialist 

at UN Women Fiji 

Multi-Country Office 

(MCO). She has 

worked in the Pacific 

for over 20 years in 

the areas of human 

rights and gender. 

the Marshall Islands, Samoa’s Deputy 

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, 

Fiji’s Speaker Dr Jiko Luveni, Leader of 

Opposition Ro Teimumu Kepa, Minister 

Mereseini Vuniwaqa and Rosy Akbar, 

Assistant Minister Veena Bhatnagar and 

Lorna Eden were few of the women leaders 

who have shown that women can do the 

job as equal as men. 

“Some of the things that are impeding 

women in leadership is the overall perception 

of women as leaders and gender 

equality.” 

“This is tied up in our social norms 

related to culture, religion, education and 

family- all those things that set our perception 

and values.” 

While there are successful women run 

businesses in the region and a lot of 

women engaged in employment, that has 

yet to be distributed equally. 

“It is still like a triangle, where we have 

bulk of women in employment at the lower 

level and are getting lesser pay.” 

Statistics show that there were a lot 

of women in informal sectors and less 

women in highly paid professional positions 

like heads of businesses, technical 

roles such as scientists and engineers. 

Despite that, the Pacific has closed the 

gap in education where it has increased 

girls’ enrolment in primary and secondary 

education. 

“We now have more girls enrolled, excelling 

in schools and graduating, but that 

has not translated to equality in employment 

afterwards.” 

What exactly is the barrier there? 

Except for Fiji’s Family Law Act, the current 

property laws in most countries have 

limited women from equal rights and equal 

access to property than men. 

“That holds women back, if we don’t 

have assets, we can’t have loans or start 

businesses.” 

“Equality in property is a big barrier for 

many women in the Pacific.” 

Another area that needed to be addressed 

is science and technology. 

While girls are being enrolled in schools, 

they are not pushed to become an engineer, 

a pilot, scientist or construction 

worker, instead they are encouraged to 

become a nurse or a teacher. 

“This relates to social norms where girls 

are encouraged to pursue certain professions 

and not others.” 

To have clearer gender lenses and a 

shift from the normative patriarchal’s 

perspective, there is a need for governments, 

churches, schools, families and 

everyone to start the conversation on 

gender equality. 

There was still a long way to go to level 

the playing field. 

But that can be achieved if everyone will 

see women as equal to men. 

r mememarau@gmail.com 

The Pacific has acknowledged that gender equality is an integral part of its economic, political, cultural and social 

development. 

Photo: UN Women/Murray Lloyd 


Special Feature 

Some gains, some losses 

on women in the Pacific 

By Mereseini Marau-Totoka 

WOMEN including girls in the Pacific still 

got some way to go to improving their 

status in the islands although a lot of 

gains have been achieved especially in the 

area of education and health for some of 

the countries and territories in the region. 

In education for example, girls are doing 

better than boys although only three out 

of ten students of the 270,000 students 

tested from 14 countries in the Pacific on 

literacy and numeracy skills have demonstrated 

the skills expected at their level 

of schooling. 

From the same test, five in ten students 

failed to reach the expected standard of 

numeracy. 

Three in 10 girls demonstrated the 

expected literacy skills compared to two 

in 10 boys. 

For numeracy, five in 10 girls are demonstrating 

the expected numeracy skills, 

compared to four in 10 boys. 

Based on the Pacific Islands Literacy and 

Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) 2012, it 

was established that girls of the Pacific are 

performing significantly better in schools 

than boys in both literacy and numeracy. 

This was one of the critical areas faced 

by women and girls as reported by the 

Pacific Community in their review of the 

progress in 20 years of implementing the 

Beijing Platform for Action in the Pacific. 

When it comes to education and training 

of women, it was highlighted that 

most countries and territories are close to 

achieving universal primary education. 

In 2014 Palau for example achieved 

universal primary education of 80 per cent 

for women and 85 per cent for girls while 

it was 70 per cent and 75 per cent for men 

and boys respectively. 

In 2013 New Caledonia recorded 100 

per cent for both boys and girls, Samoa 

for girls and boys between the ages of 15 

to 24 recorded 98 per cent and 95 per cent 

respectively, while Nauru had 61 per cent 

for girls and 75 per cent for boys. 

In 2012 Tonga achieved 100 per cent 

for both female and male while Tuvalu 

reported 100 per cent for female only and 

French Polynesia had 96 per cent female 

and 94 per cent male. 

For Melanesia, Vanuatu had 84 per cent 

women and 41 per cent girls while men 

were 86 per cent and boys 37 per cent for 

2009 to 2012. 

Papua New Guinea on the other hand 

had 74 per cent for females and 67 per cent 

for males in the age group of 15 to 24 year 

olds from 2008 to 2018. 

In 2009 Solomon Islands reported 79 

per cent for women and girls over 15 

years of age. 

Efforts to provide free and compulsory 

education have proven to be effective tools 

in improving access. 

Despite these important gains, at the 

secondary and tertiary levels concerns 

remain relating to unequal access to 

education and training for boys and girls. 

Several countries reported that difficulties 

in meeting the costs associated with 

education such as uniforms, lunch, stationery 

and transport were common across 

their communities. 

Fiji and Samoa have made efforts to 

subsidise transportation and reduce 

school fees. 

Samoa initiated a school fee grant 

scheme for primary schools in 2010, and 

extended it to secondary schools in 2014. 

Solomon Islands reported that access to 

secondary education by girls was problematic, 

with a decrease in girls’ enrolments at 

the senior education level when compared 

to the junior levels. 

This gap is attributed to gender norms, 

including the prioritisation of boys’ education: 

rather than sending their daughters 

to school, some disadvantaged families 

will send girls to work as child minders 

for relatives in urban centres. 

Girls are often expected to work and 

remit their earnings to their parents. 

But several Pacific Island countries and 

territories have reported that adolescent 

pregnancies constituted a significant obstacle 

to girls’ education and professional 

training. 

When teenage pregnancy occurs, a girl’s 

healthy development into adulthood is 

side swiped and her chances of achieving 

her full potential are placed at serious risk. 

In the United Nation’s Population Fund’s 

Pacific Supplementary titled ‘I am not a lost 

cause- Young Women’s Empowerment 

and Teenage Pregnancy in the Pacific’ 

states that early pregnancy can impede a 

girl’s rights, including her rights to education 

and social supports. 

Child marriage, coercive sex, and gender- 

based violence are often key elements 

in the context in which a girl becomes 

pregnant and all are human rights violations, 

as are denials of access to sexual 

and reproductive health information and 

essential services. 

Under these circumstances, the consequences 

of pregnancy in her teenage years 

can be felt throughout her life and carry 

over to the next generation. 

In the Pacific Community’s Beijing Platform 

for Action review, recommendations 

were suggested to improve girls’ education 

that includes adopting measures that: 

• Ensure that girls have equal access to 

primary, secondary and tertiary education, 

especially in rural and remote 

areas, and in areas of great hardship 

• Promote respect for the safety of 

women and girls in the school environment, 

including measures to prevent 

as well as to respond to sexual and 

gender-based violence 

• Put in place inclusive policies to accommodate 

pregnant young women and 

mothers to complete their education 

• Review school curricula and all teaching 

materials in order to eliminate 

gender stereotypes and all forms of 

discrimination 

• Disseminate data regarding Pacific 

women’s access to education and to 

support initiatives that address all 

barriers – civil, political, social, cultural, 

economic and physical – faced 

by women, young women, and girls, 

including those with disabilities, to 

access all levels of education 

The Pacific has acknowledged that 

gender equality is an integral part of its 

economic, political, cultural and social 

development. 

According to the Pacific Community, 

since the adoption of the Beijing Platform 

for Action, majority of the Pacific Island 

Countries and Territories have ratified 

the Convention on the Elimination of all 

Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 

and have engaged in the regular reporting 

of their progress towards full compliance. 

Across the Pacific region, initiatives 


Status of Women in the Pacific Report 

have been carried out to build the capacity 

of public institutions and civil society 

in the various aspects of gender mainstreaming. 

Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga 

in his foreword on the review noted that 

though there were important advances 

in health, education and human rights, 

several daunting challenges to women’s 

full participation in all spheres of society 

remain. 

Among them are the exceedingly high 

rates of violence against women and the 

stiff barriers, in the form of customs, 

traditions and stereotypes that constrain 

women’s participation in decision-making 

and leadership. 

“One area in which the exclusion 

of women from decision-making, the 

violation of their fundamental human 

rights and the underestimation of their 

knowledge and experience, is hurting 

our societies the most is in our efforts to 

adapt to the adverse impacts of climate 

change,” he said. 

Sopoaga believes that stronger partnership 

and more coordinated efforts are 

needed from government, civil society 

and development partners to systematically 

include gender concerns in all sectors 

of development if we are to build a 

resilient Pacific community that is capable 

of overcoming emerging environmental, 

economic and social challenges. 

“Since ‘knowledge is power’, it is my 

belief that this report, by contributing to 

our collective understanding of where 

we stand on delivering on the promises 

made to Pacific women and girls in Beijing 

20 years ago, should enable us to better 

strategise, prioritise and implement gender 

equality commitments.” 

Pacific Community’s Director General 

Colin Tukuitonga said it was the Pacific 

Island country and territory government’s 

national reviews of the implementation of 

the Beijing Declaration and Platform for 

Action that sourced their review. 

Most PICTS have adopted specific national 

gender equality policies, and have 

established national women’s machineries, 

while six of them currently apply affirmative 

action measures to foster women’s 

political participation. 

Eleven countries have conducted national 

prevalence studies on domestic 

violence, which have informed the design 

and adoption of specific legislation to protect 

women from violence. 

The effects of those reforms on the 

advancement of Pacific women are being 

seen in a great variety of contexts, 

and manifest in many ways, including 

women’s education levels, their leadership 

in communities and civil society organisations 

and their entrepreneurship and 

economic dynamism. 

One of the most critical areas in the 118 

page report was on women and health. 

Despite the gains made in maternal 

health, the women of the Pacific faced 

a number of challenges regarding their 

sexual and reproductive health. 

For example, the conditions under 

which women engage in sex may affect 

their health; low rates of contraceptive 

use coupled with unmet needs regarding 

family planning lead to high fertility 

rates, including high levels of adolescent 

pregnancies. 

In 2008, Cook Islands and Niue have 

100 per cent antenatal coverage and birth 

attendance by skilled personnel. 

And there were zero maternal mortality 

ratio per 100,000 births from 2006 to 

2010 for Cooks and the same for Niue 

between 2007 and 2011. 

New Zealand-administered territory of 

Tokelau enjoyed the same in 2011. 

Women are more vulnerable than men 

to contracting the Human Immunodeficiency 

Virus (HIV) and sexually transmitted 

infections (STIs). Women with disabilities 

are, overall, experiencing higher rates 

of violence than other women, including 

sexual violence, as well as overall poorer 

health outcomes. 

Pacific fertility rates remain high: seven 

PICTs have rates of 4.0 or more births per 

woman. Despite progress in the availability 

of family planning services, some of the 

factors contributing to high fertility rates 

include a lack of sexual and reproductive 

health and rights information, limited 

access to contraception, isolation and 

women’s limited decision-making power 

in respect of the spacing of births. 

On women and the economy, the report 

found that higher levels of education do 

not always translate into greater access to 

employment for women. 

Women’s access to productive resources 

and opportunities for income generation is 

still highly affected by discriminatory practices 

and traditional beliefs, and hindered 

by women’s involvement in subsistence 

farming and unpaid work in the home. 

Labour force participation rates for both 

men and women tend to be lower in the 

Pacific Islands region than in other parts 

of the world, due to the high proportion 

of subsistence agriculture and fishing, the 

importance of the informal sector and the 

limited labour market. 

Girl child- 3 in 10 girls have the expected literacy skills 

companted to 2 in 10 boys. 

Photo: UN Women/Shalom Waita 

The gender gap in employment rates is 

considerable in the region. 

According to the 2013 Pacific Regional 

Millennium Development Goals tracking 

report, all Melanesian countries are 

considered off-track for additional MDG 

1 Target 1B on achieving full and productive 

employment and decent work for all, 

including for women and young people 

Women‘s economic empowerment in the 

Pacific Islands region remains a key challenge, 

as women continue to experience 

limited job opportunities, remain underrepresented 

in management positions 

and face weak employment and social 

protection mechanisms, particularly in the 

private sector. 

The review found that progress has undeniably 

been made towards recognising 

and protecting women’s human rights and 

achieving gender equality in Pacific Island 

countries and territories. 

Most PICTs have adopted laws to protect 

women and children against domestic 

violence; there is a better understanding 

of the need to integrate a gender perspective 

across all sectors of development 

and through new initiatives promoting 

women’s political leadership. 

Overall, women’s health and women’s 

access to education are improving, and 

the multi-faceted contribution of women 

to the economy has slowly begun to be 

recognised. 

But progress remains to be made before 

Pacific Island women are able to say that 

their human rights are protected, that 

they benefit equally from development 

outcomes, and that they can fulfill their 

legitimate aspirations. 

The review stated that substantial challenges 

remain across the full spectrum 

of the goals of the Beijing Platform for 

Action. 

For now, women can say that to fully realise 

their potential in the male dominated 

Pacific is still work in progress. 


Health 

Guests with copies of the People Living with HIV Stigma Index Study Report in seven Pacific countries that was launched at the Holiday Inn, Suva 

. Picture: Nanise Volau 

Plans to address HIV-AIDS stigma 

By Nanise Volau 

AT least 747 new cases of people living 

with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus 

(HIV) have been diagnosed in Fiji since 

February last year. 

Jokapeci Tuberi, Regional Coordinator 

for HIV Stigma Index of the Fiji Network 

of People Living with HIV (FJN+1) says 

the number is expected to increase once 

the updated record is release from the Fiji 

Ministry of Health. 

“With more aggressive public awareness 

and prevention campaigns, more 

people are coming out to have their status 

known to the public,” Tuberi said. 

From the month of January to October 

2016, Fiji has a total of 43 newly-diagnosed 

HIV positive cases. That is an average 

of more than four cases per month. 

There was also an increase in the 

number of new HIV infections, particularly 

among those between the ages of 

19 and 29. 

An overview report of People Living 

with HIV Stigma Index Study in seven 

countries in the Pacific indicated that 

Kiribati has 28 cases of people living with 

HIV, Samoa has 11, Federated States of 

Micronesia 9, Marshall Islands 8, Vanuatu 

6, Palau 5 and Tonga 2. Tuberi said HIV 

cases in Kiribati was high because of the 

number of foreign fishing vessels that call 

on the island. 

The report also found that people living 

with HIV in the Pacific Islands are 

experiencing high levels of stigma and 

discrimination, resulting in social exclusion 

and hindering access to basic social 

services including health care. 

The People Living with HIV Stigma Index 

Study, conducted by the FJN+1 with 

support of from the United Nations Development 

Programme (UNDP), provides 

valuable data on the real life experiences 

of people living with HIV and will inform 

programme, interventions and policies to 

ensure a more effective HIV response in 

the region. One of the key findings was 

the high levels of stigma that participants 

reported. Over 70 per cent of respondents 

reported of having feelings of shame, guilt, 

self-blame or having low self-esteem in the 

previous 12 months. Twenty-two per cent 

had felt suicidal. 

To address this, the study recommends 

providing wellness and psychosocial support 

to people living with HIV and their 

affected spouses, partners, families and 

children. Access to counselling is important 

not only in the early stages following 

diagnosis but throughout a person’s life. 

Programme Manager of the Multi-Country 

Western Pacific Programme at UNDP 

Pacific Office in Suva, Anna Chernyshova 

said “If countries are to achieve the 2030 

Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 

principles of equality, inclusion and nondiscrimination 

must be adhered to and this 

must include people living with HIV who 

are one of the most vulnerable groups in 

society.” 

UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for the 

Pacific Ratu Epeli Nailaikau said of the 

seven countries targeted, some have been 

known to still have archaic legislation, policies 

and regulations that openly discriminate 

against people living with HIV/AIDS, 

restricting their movements or worse, deter 

their access to gain much needed medication 

and vital check-ups. 

“The Pacific region more than any other 

has the best chance at reaching the goal of 

achieving the 90/90/90 treatment target 

that 90 per cent of all people living with 

HIV will know their HIV Status, due to the 

region’s geography and population,” said 

Ratu Epeli. 

“We are naturally an inclusive society 

and can achieve and survive through this 

together,” he added. 

The report which was launched in Suva 

in early March provides a roadmap of how 

stakeholders can better deliver people-centred 

and human rights protected approach 

to HIV prevention, treatment and care. 

People living with HIV suffer higher rates 

of discrimination and the report reaffirms 

that everyone has the right to enjoy a 

safe and nurturing environment and that 

everyone has the right to good health care. 

“This is not the end of the journey but 

the beginning. I am still convinced that 

fighting stigma and discrimination is an 

effective way to combat HIV & AIDS in 

the Pacific,” says Chairperson of FJN+1 

Emosi Ratini. 

“In many fields, to be an expert on a 

subject is an admirable thing. But to be 

an expert on discrimination as a victim is 

nothing to be admired about. But today 

marks the rise of a new dawn, we refuse 

to remain victims,” he added. 

r nvolau@gmail.com 


Indepth 

Who will be held responsible? 

Kiribati under the spotlight after ferry disaster 

ATOLL nation of Kiribati in the northern 

Pacific was consumed with grief in January 

when 80 people including children died 

presumably drowned in a ferry incident. Grief 

turned to anger later when it was learnt that 

authorities did not initiate a search for the 

passengers and crew of the MV Butiraoi until 

one week after it sunk. Former President of 

Kiribati Anote Tong has been among those 

who have been vocal about the government’s 

handling of the sea tragedy, believed to be 

the country’s worst to date. In a visit to Fiji 

last month, President Tong spoke to Indepth 

about the tragedy. 

IB: Given the Kiribati Government’s 

handling of the tragedy, do you believe 

things could have been handled 

better? 

Former President Tong: It would be pretentious 

on my part to pretend that I know the 

whole story but I think what has happened is 

that there has been very strong public reaction 

to what I call the very long silence. That’s 

really what the public was so upset about. 

There was nothing coming from anybody 

especially government until a week later, a 

week after the boat has been lost. They are 

asking, why did that happen? How come 

something like a boat could be lost for a 

week and it was not reported? 

IB: In your experience, does Kiribati 

has adequate laws which if 

enforced could avoid this type of 

sea disasters? 

Former President Tong: During 

my term, we had a similar accident but 

we got into it the next day. Its not easy to 

put out a rescue but we did find survivors. 

I was curious to hear contradictions coming 

from government. Initially the President 

came out to say the boat was not sea worthy, 

but later we were informed that the boat had a 

sea worthiness certificate. Certainly enforcement 

of existing laws could have been done. 

If it (boat) was sea worthy, than it certainly 

didn’t have the life-saving equipment 

that’s needed to be part of the 

vessel. There are laws that are in place, but 

I think what happened was those laws were 

not taken into account 

IB: So the ferry did not have enough 

life-saving equipment on board? 

Former President Tong: Any passenger 

carrying vessel should carry life-saving 

equipment. It’s a legal requirement. The 

question that arises is that if the vessel did 

get a sea worthiness certificate, how could it 

be given such when it didn’t carry life-saving 

equipment. 

IB: Stories of survivors say they were 

adrift for 5 to 6 days before help 

arrived, do you believe more lives 

would have been saved if search 

was mounted soon after the boat 

capsized? 

Former President Tong: I think it seems 

very likely from the accounts we have heard 

that if the rescue was mounted much, much 

earlier than definitely their chances of survival 

would have been higher. So the question is, 

why was it not reported much earlier. 

IB: Now the government wants to 

convene a commission of inquiry 

to look into this disaster. As former 

President what do you hope this inquiry 

would provide? 

Former President Tong: To me it depends 

on how the commission of inquiry is constituted 

because under the law, the commission 

of inquiry is constituted by the president in 

his capacity as head of state in a sense to 

check on the performance of government. 

Whether this inquiry would be independent 

enough to give an independent evaluation 

of what really happened is one question. My 

other question is what happened, was there 

gross negligence, was there a criminal act 

committed and if so what actions should 

be taken.Naturally a lot of emotions are 

involved and there is a high demand for a 

very comprehensive inquiry. The questions 

are, were there liabilities for whoever was 

involved. Should there be compensation if 

there was negligence? 

IB: How was the media treated when 

you had a boating disaster during 

your tenure? 

Former President Tong: No, I have 

never taken the position to place restrictions 

on the work of journalists, never at 

any time I had done that. I always believe 

in the freedom of the media. I know 

the media has always given me good 

coverage. In situations like this, I think 

its important for information to be made 

available. The fact that government is now 

placing restrictions is raising further questions, 

why? It raises suspicions as to what 

is it that cannot be told. 

Anote Tong, President of Kiribati during the panel the topics 

Human Rights and climate change. 

6 March 2015. UN 

Photo : Jean-Marc Ferré

Culture 

First arrival ... Jimione Paki, left, with his eldest son Semitri Cama in 2006. 

Winds of change in the isles 

This is Part One of a three-part series on a Pacific family’s survival and dream 

to revive ancient canoe technology as a cultural tourism venture. It is a story of 

despair, wonder and pride for the ocean and holds answers for the future. 

By Ilaitia Turagabeci 

JIMIONE Paki was 71 when he decided 

to do something for his children and 

grandchildren. 

His children had moved from the island 

of Moce in Lau to the city to study and 

work. 

Life was tough on the island. His village 

of Korotolu was fast emptying. The young 

were moving to Viti Levu, leaving the elderly 

like him behind in their search for a 

better life in the fast-growing capital Suva. 

It was in the ‘80s and early ’90s and 

the people of Lau were the leaders in Fiji’s 

urban drift. 

The furthest islands in the Fiji archipelago, 

Lau was investing in the education 

of its children and quality education was 

then only available in urban centres. 

Jimione’s wife was from the neighbouring 

island of Ogea and they had 16 

children. He sent some of them to the 

mainland on Viti Levu where they were 

educated and found work. 

Photos: Helen Traill 

But with no home of their own in Suva, 

he worked hard to secure a place that his 

kin of Korotolu could call their own. 

His prayer was answered in 1991 when 

the then Tui (chief) Suva, on whose ancestral 

land the capital was built, allowed 

them to settle among the mangroves along 

the Suva Peninsula, close to the University 

of the South Pacific’s Maritime Studies. 

Named Korova, the swampland became 

home for his children, grandchildren and 

extended families. 

From Korova, Jimione could see cruise 

liners sail into the harbour and the flurry 

of activities tourists brought to the other 

side of the peninsula. 

A dream is born 

It was the year that he decided he’d 

return to Lau and sail back on a drua, a 

traditional Fijian canoe in the hope that it 

would help them start a business in their 

new-found home by the sea. 

The old man was not only in love 

with the drua but also with the camakau 

(single-hulled canoes) that the people of 

Ogea built. 

And he prided himself at sailing them. 

He believed that promoting their culture 

through tourism would help them save a 

way of life that was fast disappearing in 

the islands. 

His eldest son, Semiti Cama said his 

father always told them that the people 

of Fulaga and Ogea were the best canoe 

craftsmen in Lau but the people of Moce 

were the better sailors. 

“When we were small on the island, he 

would always encourage and teach us the 

right way to sail using the wind, the stars 

and the pattern of the waves,” he said. 

“My father believed that through the 

venture we would not only benefit financially 

but save ancient knowledge and 

technology that scientists believe is apt 

for our needs in today’s world.” 

His mother’s relatives on Ogea built their 

drua and camakau from vesi trees (Intsia 

bijuga), a hardwood found on many islands 

of Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia 

and southeast Asia that grows up to 40 

metres tall and is one of the most highly 

valued trees in the region, both in terms 

of its traditional cultural importance and 

value for commercial timber - for fishing 

and travel between the islands. 

“We were fortunate that the then Tui 

Suva gave us a place to live. 

“He came here and told us to fill the 

swamp and build our houses and we have 

been here since. 

“Our people had big plans to turn this 

foreshore settlement into a traditional village 

attraction for the many tourists who 

were visiting Suva.” 

One of his relatives built a model of 

the village and Paki gave inspiration to 

Korova’s dream when he sailed the drua 

from Moce. 

He was accompanied by his son, Metuisela 

Biuvakaloloma, on a camakau. 

The purpose of the camakau was to 

ensure that his descendants at Korova 

would not lose their sailing knowledge 

while living in the capital. 

When the drua and camakau arrived at 

Korova, Biuvakaloloma decided he would 

own a business sailing tourists around the 

harbour on the traditional canoes. 

“My brother was one of our parents’ 

favourite,” Cama said. 

“When my father sailed the drua to 

Suva, Metuisela followed in the camakau.” 

That historic voyage changed life for 

Biuvakaloloma. His wife, also of Korotolu 

in Moce, gave birth to a son that same year. 

They named him Fuluna Tui Moce after 

the first recorded chief of Moce. 

Cama said his younger brother was full 

of energy. 

“He had a big heart and big dreams and 


Culture 

a streak of rebellion.” 

Traditional Protocol 

When Biuvakaloloma 

decided to return 

to Moce to bring back 

another drua to start 

his tourism venture in 

1993, he was told to 

wait until the sea was 

cleared for travel. 

A taboo had been 

imposed in the waters 

of the Tovata confederacy 

following the death 

of Fiji’s then President, 

the Tui Cakau, Ratu Sir 

Penaia Ganilau, at the 

Walter Reed Hospital in 

the US on 16 December, 

1993. 

Ratu Penaia was 

head of the cultural 

Tovata confederacy of 

which the islands of 

Lau are part of. 

As part of the traditional 

protocol and 

sign of respect for the 

paramount chief of the 

confederacy, mariners were warned to stay 

clear while the chiefly cortege travelled to 

Somosomo in Taveuni, Fiji’s fourth largest 

island. 

On the night of 28 December, 1993, Biuvakaloloma 

defied the taboo and set sail 

for Suva to start his drua cruise business. 

It was mistake, he would never learn 

from. 

The next morning the government vessel, 

Tovata, left Suva carrying the fallen 

chief. 

The Fiji Times reported that it was only 

fitting that a school of sharks appeared 

suddenly to accompany the funeral flotilla 

that Wednesday. 

The event was witnessed by the thousands 

of mourners who came to bid farewell 

to the chief on his final journey home. 

The sharks - regarded as the traditional 

custodians of the Tui Cakau resurfaced 

during the ceremonial 21-gun salute in 

front of the Tovuto, which carried the former 

president of Fiji’s coffin to Somosomo 

where he was laid to rest. 

The Fiji Times reported that the seas 

were rough as the Tovuto sailed towards 

Taveuni. 

Cama said from the accounts of relatives 

on Moce and Moala, another island about 

169km away towards Suva, the sea conditions 

were the same. 

Fiji Islands 

The map shows the route JImione Paki took when he sailed from Moce to Suva on his drua (inset: Top right) where he settled with on 

the tip of the peninsula at Korova in Suva. (inset: above left ). 

The route Metuisela Biuvakaloloma (inset left) is believed to have taken when he defied traditional protocol on his fateful voyage in 1993. 

It was the last place from where Biuvakaloloma 

was seen. 

No one knows what happened to him 

that day. 

Cama and Biuvakaloloma’s son, Fuluna, 

who was only three at that time, 

believe his defiance of traditional protocol 

cost him his life. 

“We can only imagine what happened 

to my brother. He could have fallen off 

the drua because of the bad weather 

conditions or something worse could have 

happened,” Cama, now 73, said. 

“Maybe the sharks attacked him.” 

Fuluna said his father breached rules 

that indigenous Fijians should have 

observed. 

“When there’s a taboo at sea, we should 

always observe that. The land and ocean 

are inter-linked.” 

“Our forefethares respected that and 

our people have always relied on the 

ocean for their survival. 

“Our stories revolve around it, our life 

too. The ocean sustains us and gives 

us life and we should always link them 

because they always have been.” 

Several days later, the family at Korova 

heard a report that a canoe had beached 

at Buliya, an island off the Kadavu mainland, 

313km from Moce. 

Some of Biuvakaloloma’s brothers later 

tried to travel to Kadavu to retrieve the 

drua but their father advised against it. 

“My father said the drua was his coffin 

and for us to let it be at Buliya.” 

According to Marika Biaukula of Buliya, 

the canoe was pulled to the village from 

where it had beached. Over the years, it 

disintegrated. All that’s left of it today is 

part of the bow. 

Being blessed with many sons, Paki 

never lost hope of the dream he shared 

with his lost son. 

Cama moved to Korova in 1996 and 

helped his father teach the younger generation 

The children at the swampland continued 

to learn the art of sailing the drua 

and camakau. 

The drua and camakau he brought from 

Moce in 1991 had started to rot. 

Cama kept their tradition alive and built 

several more camakau at Korova the following 

years. 

Eleven years after he lost his son at sea, 

Paki decided to return to Lau and return 

with another drua to Suva. 

But the ghosts of 1993 returned to 

haunt the family. 

r ilaitia.turagabeci@gmail.com 

Next month: Curse haunts the 

canoe dream 


Violence Against Women in the Pacific 

Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre received the Australian Mitchell 

Humanitarian Award in Feb 2018. 

In the United Nations Declaration 

on the Elimination of Violence Against 

Women (DEVAW), violence against 

women is defined as any act of gender 

based violence that “results in, or 

is likely to result in, physical, sexual 

or psychological harm or suffering to 

women, including the threat of violence, 

coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of 

liberty. Violence against women (VAW) 

includes: 

1. Physical, sexual and psychological 

violence occurring in the family, 

including battering, sexual abuse of 

female children in the household, 

dowry related violence and violence 

related to exploitation. Physical, 

sexual and psychological violence 

occurring within the general community 

including rape, sexual abuse, 

sexual harassment and intimidation 

at work, in educational institutions 

and elsewhere, trafficking in women 

and forced prostitution and physical, 

sexual and psychological violence 

perpetrated or condones by the state, 

wherever its occurs.” 

2. Of the 6 Pacific countries with national 

prevalence studies using the 

World Health Organisation methodology 

(Fiji, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Solo- 

mon Islands, Tonga and Samoa), 

all have prevalence rates 

for intimate partner violence 

that greatly exceed the global 

averages, ranging from 60% to 

68% in Melanesia and Kiribati, 

and from 40 to 46% in Polynesia. 

Rates of non-partner violence 

are also extremely high 

in the Pacific when compared 

with global averages, particularly 

non-partner physical 

violence in Tonga and Samoa. 

The rates of childhood sexual 

abuse of girls are extraordinarily high: 

37% in the Solomon Islands, 30% in 

Vanuatu and 8% in Tonga. Emotional 

violence and coercive control by intimate 

partners is extremely high across 

the region. In Fiji, 58% of women were 

emotional abused in their lifetime, 69% 

were subjected to one or more forms of 

control by their husband/partner, and 

28% to 4 or more types of control. For 

example, 39% of women have to ask 

for permission from their husbands before 

seeking health care for themselves. 

Women living with their intimate partner 

violence are subjected to economic 

abuse: 28% had husbands/partners 

who either took their savings or refused 

to give them money. 

3. Women and girls who face multiple 

forms of discrimination due to ethnicity, 

sexual identity and ability/disability 

are exposed to increased risk of all 

forms of violence. Although prevalence 

data is scarce on violence against women 

and girls with disabilities, it indicates 

that these women experience much 

higher rates of violence. Our research 

also demonstrated that violence against 

women contributes to disability, due to 

the frequency and severity of injuries. 

It is widely accepted that the rick of violence 

against women increases during 

periods of political, tribal and ethnic 

conflict and in the context of natural 

disasters and emergencies. 

4. Our analysis of the consequences 

of VAW highlights the health, social 

broader development and economic 

impacts. This analysis aligns with 

other international actors who identify 

VAW as a critical problem which 

contributes to and reinforces poverty 

and impedes sustainable economic 

growth and overall national development. 

Our analysis also highlights 

the fact that VAW, in addition to being 

caused by gender inequality, is 

a social mechanism that perpetuates 

and reinforces inequality and 

unequal gender power relations, by 

forcing women into a subordinate 

position compared to men. Impacts 

of VAW highlighted by the findings 

of FWCC’s research report include: direct 

impacts on survivors including to 

their physical, reproductive and mental 

health. Direct economic costs to 

families, communities and the nation 

due to the significant health impacts 

of VAW and other costs of responding 

to the problem (such as by welfare 

and law and justice agencies). 

Enormous lost opportunities for social 

and economic development due 

to the threat of violence and coercive 

control, which undermines women’s 

agency and prevents women from 

participating in education, economic 

development and political decisionmaking 

and short term and long term 

impacts on children which further 

impede economic development. 

Around the Pacific a lot of work is 

being done in the area of eliminating 

violence against women through 

the Pacific Women’s Network against 

Violence against Women (PWNAVAW) 

and other agencies in partnership with 

development partners. Over the last 34 

years we have seen changes- many 

more stakeholders including faithbased 

organisation, traditional leaders 

and some governments are committing 

to ending violence against women and 

children through specific legislation, 

policies and programmes. 

Most of the funding for this work is 

from foreign governments. Its time our 

own governments come to the table and 

take responsibility to demonstrate this 

commitment to our women and children. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 


Opinion 

Since 1984, we have worked towards empowering survivors of violence 

and advocating for the human rights of women in Fiji and the Pacific. 

Our Services Include: 

• Free and confidential, non-judgmental crisis counselling and advocacy for survivors of Domestic 

Violence, Rape, Child Abuse and Sexual Harassment. 

• Community Education 

• Advocacy and Lobbying 

• Information and Research 

• Regional and National Training on Gender, Violence Against Women and Human Rights 

• Male Advocacy Programme on Women’s Human Rights 

• Coordinating the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women 

For further information contact the: 

Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre 

88 Gordon Street 

P O Box 12882, Suva, Fiji 

Tel: (679) 3313 300 (24 Hour Line) Fax: (679) 3313 650 

Mobile: (679) 9209 470 (24 Hour Line) 

Email: fwcc@connect.com.fj Website: www.fijiwomen.com 

Nadi Women’s Crisis Centre 

84 Sagayam Road 

Tel: 670 7558 Mobile: 9182 884 (24 Hour Line) 

Labasa Women’s Crisis Centre 

Lot 3 Naiyaca Subdivision (Off Hospital Road) 


Ba Women’s Crisis Centre 

35 Navatu Street, Varadoli 


Rakiraki Women’s Crisis Centre 

Lot 2, Yaratale Road, Vaileka 


24-HOUR TOLL-FREE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HELPLINE: 1560 

www.facebook.com/FijiWomen/ 

Fiji Women - @CommsFwcc 


Advertorial 

International Women’s Day 

“When in a country daughters are disrespected and demeaned 

tell me truly, can that country be called free?” A GIRL CHILD 

(1993) 

By Fiji Women’s Rights Movement 

FWRM’s vision is for the women of Fiji 

to be free from all forms of discrimination, 

have equal access to opportunities, and to 

live in a healthy environment where the 

principles of feminism, democracy, good 

governance, multiculturalism and human 

rights prevail. 

In line with this, a core part of FWRM’s 

work is promoting women’s participation 

and leadership in different spaces and 

levels of decision-making. This includes 

young women and girls and recognising 

that their experiences could draw 

meaningful and significant contributions 

to dealing with existing social issues. 

Hence, the ground-breaking and pioneering 

work with empowering girls has been 

a popular, high-profile feature of FWRM’s 

Intergenerational Women in Leadership 

Programme (formerly Young Women in 

Leadership Programme). 

FWRM GIRLS 

In 2006, FWRM began working with 

girls, in response to a research, “Violence 

against the Girl Child in the Pacific Islands 

Region” by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre. 

The research highlighted the different 

forms of violence and discrimination girls 

faced because of their perceived inferior 

status in Pacific Island society (due to patriarchal 

cultural norms). Girls were vulnerable 

to physical emotional and sexual 

abuse and exploitation. There would be 

no better voice to share these experiences 

than the girls themselves but this would 

mean challenging what society dictates, 

‘girls are seen not heard.’ The women’s 

movement and feminism has always 

been about challenging the norms and 

inspiring transformative change. Recognising 

the leadership and capacities of 

women across all diversities, including 

age groups, FWRM moved to create a 

platform that empowered girls to speak. 

The idea was to use more innovative approaches, 

like arts and sports, to encourage 

girls’ creative expression. 

One of the first activities was ‘Picture 

This,’ which involved the girls in FWRM’s 

International Women’s Day celebrations. 

This became a staple for IWD and 

to this day, girls have always been part 

of the March 8 celebrations. The concept 

evolved until in 2013, when the 

GROW, INSPIRE, RELATE, LEAD, SUC- 

CEED (GIRLS) Theatre programme was 

launched. It involved girls in theatre arts 

and rugby, encouraging them to share 

their stories in a positive space and challenge 

gender stereotypes. 

GIRLS became a phenomenon, creating 

wonderful vibrant young leaders and inspiring 

the formation of the GIRLS Club. 

GIRLS sparked a love for activism and 

advocacy among the participants and created 

an impression with parents. For this 

reason, the GIRLS Club was created as 

another avenue for the GIRLS graduates 

to continue learning about advocacy, engage 

with the Movement and help mentor 

the next cohort of GIRLS. 

FWRM Movement-building 

International Women’s Day celebrates 

the contributions of women and girls to 

society, although in reality, they largely go 

unrecognised every day. 

Females in the labour force do less paid 

work per week on average than males, 

females do far more unpaid household 

work, with the end result that females do 6 

hours per week more Total Work per week 

than do males. (Narsey, Fiji Women and 

Men at Work and Leisure 2013) Women 

and young women are under-represented 

at leadership spaces, with only 7.2 per 

cent of women in Pacific parliaments. 

(Pacific Women in Politics, 2018) 

FWRM recognised the power of movements 

in catalysing change, particularly 

the women’s movement who have dedicated 

decades of work to dismantle existing 

patriarchal and discrimintory barriers 

that hindered gender equality. FWRM 

formed key partnerships, including the 

ground-breaking and inspirational We 

Rise Coalition. The Coalition is made up of 

Pacific feminist groups including FWRM, 

International Women’s Development 

Agency (IWDA), femLINKPacific and Diverse 

Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality 

. The Coalition moves to creating visibility 

for margnalised voices, by providing 

enabling spaces and mobilising women 

through their networks. This was evident 

during the Pacific Feminist Forum in 

November, 2016 when We Rise provided 

support to bring together over 100 women 

human rights defenders from across the 

Pacific into one space to strategise, re-energise 

and strengthen their networks and 

amplify their messages. Recently in 2017, 

We Rise was able to sponsor 31 participants 

from Civil Society organisations and 

social justice groups from across the Pacific 

to attend the 13th Triennial Conference 

of Pacific Women and Sixth Meeting of 

Pacific Ministers for Women at Novotel in 

Lami. The Coalition’s work in empowering 

and mobilising women is a key partnership 

in moving towards FWRM’s vision 

for Fiji and the Pacific, to realise gender 

justice, freedom and equality for all. 

This International Women’s Day, FWRM 

pays tribute to the women’s movement 

and stands in solidarity with them globally 

to amplify the call for justice and an 

end to all forms of discrimination against 

women and girls. 

References: 

A Girl Child. (1993). Balance, [online] 

(November), p.10. Available at: http:// 

www.fwrm.org.fj/images/fwrm/publications/balance/pdf/1993_BalanceNovember.pdf 

[Accessed 13 Dec. 2017]. 

Pacific Women in Politics. 2018. National 

Women MPS. [ONLINE] Available 

at: https://www.pacwip.org/womenmps/national-women-mps/. 

[Accessed 

16 February 2018]. 


Gender 

Empowering Pacific rural women 

47-year old Emily Qilarisa lives 

in Sepa, a remote village of 

around 240 residents in Choiseul 

Province in the northern 

most part of Solomon Islands. 

For the people in her community, 

the adverse impacts of 

climate change is something 

they’re having to contend 

with as coastal erosion, severe 

storm surges and inundation 

resulting from tropical cyclones 

has destroyed food crops and 

threatened food security. 

To address the needs of Pacific 

rural women like Emily, 

The Pacific Community (SPC) 

with the financial contribution 

of USAID has helped over 300 

women set up home gardens in 

Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon 

Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu 

and taught them new farming 

skills to grow a greater diversity 

of crops for enhanced food 

security. SPC has also helped 

the women learn new food 

preparation skills, and assisted 

with the setting up of poultry 

farms, piggeries and honey bee 

farms to generate income and 

strengthen their communities’ 

resilience. 

Prior to the assistance, Emily and other 

women in her community would walk long 

distances to bush gardens to grow root 

crops and vegetables in order to feed their 

families and bring in some much-needed 

income for household needs. Today, they 

have thriving home gardens and nurseries 

where they grow a greater diversity of food 

crops and sell the surplus produce at the 

village market day on Saturdays. 

Compared to their urban counterparts, 

Pacific rural women face a myriad of challenges; 

from accessing basic services and 

infrastructure such as water and sanitation, 

electricity, health and education; to 

being more at risk to domestic violence 

and unwanted pregnancies; as well as being 

more exposed to the adverse impacts of 

climate change like cyclone and droughts. 

Laisani Adivuki is a single mother of 

two sons aged 23 and 11 who lives in Ra 

Province on Fiji’s main island Viti Levu. 

She has leased 120 acres of prime land 

from her clan (or landing owning unit) 

for growing food crops and setting up her 

A young mother prepares land in her bush garden prior to planting in Auki on 

Malaita Island in Solomon Islands. 

Photo: SPC 

tilapia pond. She has set up a small roadside 

market, where she and other women 

from her community sell fresh produce to 

passing motorists. 

When Laisani embarked on tilapia 

farming, she was made fun of by people 

in her village and surrounding community. 

Often men would ask what she knew 

about tilapia farming, insisting that this 

was no job for a woman. Undeterred, 

Laisani persevered reinvesting the earnings 

from her farming and aquaculture 

activities back into her business. Being 

able to make her own decisions has been 

very empowering, she said. Additionally, 

it has been empowering for other women 

in her community when they sell produce 

and earn their own money at the roadside 

stall that Laisani has set up. 

Aquaculture and inland fishery is relatively 

new in the Pacific with very little 

information on the division of labour and 

women’s role in aquaculture. The assumption, 

as usual, is that fish farming – is 

performed by men, with little help from 

women. 

A gender analysis of the aquaculture 

sector in Fiji conducted 

by SPC in 2017 found otherwise 

with rural women playing a 

major role in aquaculture farming 

across tilapia farms in the 

country, however they are not 

often included in training opportunities. 

The analysis found that aquaculture 

activities are having an 

impact on the empowerment of 

women like Laisani with respect 

to more decision-making opportunities 

(outside the household) 

and are leading to their greater 

recognition in formal structures 

within communities. 

In addition, group-managed 

farms – either a women’s committee 

collective or a cluster 

– and large family-run farms 

appear to give women a sense 

of power, notably as a result of 

associations of women and the 

opportunity for a collective voice. 

Prior to the study, SPC had 

undertaken gender mainstreaming 

training and field work for 

extension officers in the Fijian 

Ministry of Fisheries with the 

view that women’s roles and 

inputs are included in community based 

projects. 

With the empowerment of rural women 

and girls a specific focus of the sixtysecond 

session of the Commission on 

the Status of Women in New York in mid 

March, SPC is strengthening its commitment 

to work alongside Pacific Island 

governments to improve the lives of Pacific 

rural women. 

The different divisions of SPC are working 

together across a number of critical 

development areas including fisheries 

and agriculture, water and sanitation, and 

energy to name a few to improve the livelihoods 

and living conditions of Pacific rural 

women. In addition, SPC is also addressing 

the social dimension of empowerment by 

raising awareness about inequality, building 

capacity to progress gender equality, 

and promoting women’s human rights to 

empower Pacific rural women. 

• The Pacific Community 


Gender 

Fiji NGO Coalition on CEDAW has warned that Fijian women will continue to face wide gender 

disparities in Fiji. 

Photo: UNDP 

Remove military presence, 

asks Fiji NGO Coalition 

By Anish Chand 

THE Fiji NGO Coalition on CEDAW has 

said as Fiji moves towards another election, 

it must show that a robust constitutional 

democracy has replaced all vestiges 

of authoritarian rule. 

In their written submission to CEDAW, 

the NGO Coalition report states “authoritarian 

military presence remains,” and 

women’s political rights and participation, 

both at the local and national level, will 

continually be constrained. 

“In 2018, the Fijian elections will serve 

as a benchmark of whether women have 

the political agency and opportunity to 

engage at the political level or whether 

they will continue to be marginalised from 

public life,” the NGO Coalition said. 

CEDAW was informed Fijian women 

continue to face wide gender disparities 

in Fiji. 

Based on the World Economic Forum’s 

Global Gender Gap Index of 2015, Fiji 

ranked at 121st out of 142 countries. 

“In the last five years, Fiji’s rank has 

declined from 108 to 121.5 These results 

indicate that women’s progress, specifically 

in the economic and political empowerment 

sphere are severely curtailed,” the 

NGO Coalition said. 

CEDAW was told the Fijian 2013 Constitution 

has not expressly adopted CEDAW’s 

definition of “discrimination” and makes 

no explicit reference to women. 

“Both the CEDAW Committee and 

women’s rights NGOs agree that a general 

equality provision is insufficient to cover 

the intersecting structural factors that 

continually impede women’s progress. 

The government had a unique opportunity 

to repair the historical marginalisation of 

women and attacks on women human 

rights defenders during the coup period; 

yet, it made no attempt to redress past 

human rights violations, include special 

measures, or offer specific protections to 

women as defined by CEDAW,” the NGO 

Coalition submission said. 

It pointed out that the Public Order Act 

2012, Media Industry Development Act 

2010, Crimes Act 2009, and Domestic 

Violence Act 2009 were issued via decree 

from 2006 to 2014 and were done without 

public consultations and parliamentary 

approval. 

“With provisions in the Constitution 

that bar the ability for courts or tribunals 

to challenge their validity, there are some 

progressive elements to the legislation and 

areas within the legislation and its implementation 

where discrimination persists 

and has an impact on gender equality,” 

the NGO Coalition said. 

The NGO Coalition submission said 

“domestic violence cases are charged under 

the Crimes Act 2009 and the penalties 

imposed are captured under “Assaults,” 

which carry relatively light sentences with 

a maximum of one year for common assault 

and maximum five years for assaults 

causing actual bodily harm. 

“Where domestic violence cases are 

prosecuted (more often in instances 

where actual bodily harm has occurred), 

perpetrators only receive a sentence of 

0.82 years on average and the Sentencing 

and Penalties Act of 2009 provides 

an opportunity for judges to enhance 

punishment for domestic violence cases 

based on aggravating factors, but case law 

analysis on sentencing decisions shows 

that the act has not had a tangible effect 

on the final sentences imposed.” said the 

NGO Coalition. 

The NGO Coalition also questioned 

the independence and credibility of the 

Fiji Human Rights Anti-Discrimination 

Commission. 

“First, it is still suspended from the 

Global Alliance of National Human Rights 

Institutions (formerly ICC) and Asia- 

Pacific Forum of National Human Rights 

Institutions owing to its inability to comply 

with the Paris Principles adopted by U.N. 

General Assembly resolution in 1993 

and second, FHRADC is under the Office 

of the Prime Minister which plays a vital 

role in advising the President on who is 

appointed to the Commission,” said the 

NGO Coalition. 

“For an institution that is meant to independently 

investigate human rights violations 

committed by the state or where the 

state has not done enough to prevent those 

violations, this creates a direct conflict of 

interest,” the submission said. 

The NGO Coalition said the FHRADC is 

constitutionally forbidden from receiving, 

investigating, or challenging any complaints 

on the legality of the Acts introduced 

from 2006-2013, abrogation of the 

previous Constitution, and the 2006 coup. 

“FHRADC reported that they have 

received 703 complaints since 2013, but 

data on the types of complaints made 

and the cases that proceed forward is not 

transparent on their website, which only 

substantively provides a complaint 

form,” CEDAW was informed. 


Opinion 

Is regulation 

the answer? 

Social media under 

state scrutiny in Fiji 

By Jope Tarai* 

DISCUSSION around regulating cyberspace 

at Fiji Attorney General’s conference 

generates a few interesting questions and 

reactions for public discussion. Police 

Commissioner, Brigadier-General Sitiveni 

Qiliho, was perhaps the clearest in his 

sentiment stating, “To answer the question 

of whether we should regulate cyberspace, 

the answer is a definite yes.” This sentiment 

in amongst others is underpinned 

by a variety of what can be termed as 

cases of digital deviance that has recently 

attained a significant level of notoriety and 

attention. This has overshadowed healthy 

digital discourse and dissent, which does 

exist in Fiji’s digital landscape. To an extent 

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s 

statement of “when used correctly, can 

be an invaluable tool for… encouraging 

healthy discourse” only reaffirms the 

obvious for the constructive and engaged 

digital Fijian citizens. 

Most of the notoriety has been generated 

on interactive platforms or social 

networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook. 

It is worth acknowledging that there are 

a variety of other social networking sites 

that are active in Fiji, such as Twitter, Instagram, 

Snapchat, Pinterest and Tumblr. 

However, Facebook is the most heavily 

engaged and prominent social networking 

site in Fiji’s digital landscape. Facebook 

in Fiji now has an estimated 490,000 

accounts, ranging in age from 13 to well 

over 65. Those within the age of 15-35 

account for 71% of Facebook account users. 

The Suva – Nausori corridor has the 

largest number of estimated accounts, at 

over 330,000 accounts, with over 60% 

of these within the ages of 18-35. The 

greater affordability of digital devices and 

interconnectivity has hastened the expansion 

of Fiji’s digital landscape. This is most 

evident with hand held devices utilised 

through competitive mobile internet costs, 

which has widened the scope for access. 

Digital Deviance 

Since 2015, the Fiji Media Industry 

Development Authority (MIDA) chairman, 

Ashwin Raj had alluded to concerns 

around social media use and certain 

account users expressing hate speech. 

In the lead up to the recent AG’s conference, 

a series of alarmist and Islamphobic 

content targeting the Muslim community 

emerged, which led to a member of parliament’s 

press statement. Aside from this, 

cases of online fraud, revenge porn and 

sexual conduct, shared online in recent 

months have become prominent cases 

of digital deviance. These cases indicate 

the variety of issues which have emerged 

and haunt Fiji’s digital landscape. Without 

a doubt these are serious concerns, 

which warrant the need for appropriate 

but prudent legislation. However, there is 

a need to recognise that a safe limit must 

be respected to not constrain constructive 

digital discourse and healthy dissent. 

Digital Discourse and Dissent 

In light of Fiji’s challenging political and 

media landscape, especially in the last 

ten years, the digital sphere has become 

an outlet, a platform for opposing views. 

While some of this discourse has not always 

been productive, it has nonetheless 

been a healthy pressure valve for spirited 

and often suppressed views. There are 

also a wide variety of constructive digital 

Fijian citizens, who will often critique all 

prevalent views providing some essence 

of balance. This is evident in the critical 

questions that are not only generated 

towards government and its policies but 

also towards opposition parties. 

It has then created a multifaceted 

dynamic, within Fiji’s digital sphere as 

daily online content continues to reveal 

challenged principles, policies as well as 

personalities. Burgeoning digital citizen 

engagement has created a vibrant scope of 

discourse towards what was once thought 

of as an impenetrable status quo. The most 

recent and notable example of constructive 

digital discourse was witnessed, when the 

planned FJD35,000 COP 23 welcoming 

celebration, was questioned by a popular 

social media and local iconic personality. 

This led to its ‘clarification’ by the Attorney 

General and Minister Responsible for Climate 

Change Aiyaz Sayed‐Khaiyum. This 

instance not only validates constructive 

digital citizen engagement but encourages 

an innovative but unrecognised 

form of transparency and accountability. 

Of course the extent to which transparency 

and accountability is seen may vary 

but to think that with the help of a mere 

online platform has enabled a concern, to 

elicit and compel clarification from a public 

office, is undoubtedly noteworthy. This 

certainly fairs well for social accountability 

and ultimately in encouraging citizen 

engagement and participation. 

Regulate or Educate? 

A year after the 2014 national elections, 

the Fiji Media Industry Development 

Authority (MIDA) chairman, Ashwin Raj 

prescribed an ‘epistemological’ approach 

towards social media. The exact details 

of what that meant has not necessarily 

been clarified or explained since then. 

Now, during the general elections year, the 

calls for social media regulation marks a 

sharp turning point and rather suspicious 

one for critics. A more nuanced consideration 

of social media use and the public 

interest is certainly needed. The lacking 

balance in the current discourse of cyber 

space regulation reveals a flaw, which 

assumes the public are remotely aware 

of communications laws that underpin 

these planned guidelines. The general 

public has yet to fully understand libel, 

contempt of court, obscenity or harassment 

in the manner that the prevailing 

discourse already assumes it should. The 

Whippy – Knight vs. Radrodro case is the 

first and for the moment only defamation 

case through social media in Fiji. There is 

a legal precedent on social media use and 

defamatory remarks that is set but apart 

from this, there are crucial questions that 

need to be considered. 

Can a more holistic advocacy and educational 

approach, discouraging digital deviance 

be at least broached simultaneously 

with the current plans? 

Will ‘regulation’ harm healthy digital 

discourse and constructive dissent? 

What guarantee do constructive digital 

Fijian citizens have that their responsible 

free speech will not be used against them 

by the state? How will the planned regulation 

affect political campaigning in this 

year’s national elections? 

*Jope Tarai is a graduate researcher at USP 

who has published using analytics tools and 

digital ethnography to examine online digital 

landscapes, in Fiji and the Pacific. His other 

research interests include Tuna Diplomacy, Regionalism 

and Politics in Fiji and the Pacific. He’s 

on jopetarai7@gmail.com 


Sports 

Fiji, Tonga eye Europe players for World Cup 

By Ilaitia Turagabeci 

FIJI rugby coach John McKee says Fiji has 

a genuine shot at reaching the knockout 

rounds at the 2019 World Cup if the form 

of its overseas-based players is anything 

to go by. 

With Fiji’s World Cup path confirmed 

with Fiji’s third Pacific Nations Cup victory 

last year, McKee said the next 12 month is 

a chance to play their best players together 

as much as possible. 

Fiji beat Samoa 38-16 in Apia last year 

after securing the Oceania One berth for 

the World Cup in Japan, putting them in 

Pool D alongside Australia, Wales, Georgia 

and a qualifier. 

John McKee said it was important they 

maintained their standards and did not 

slack off just because their main goal had 

been achieved. 

Following the November Autumn tour 

during which Fiji played a friendly against 

Italy, losing 10-19, and coming close 20- 

23 against Ireland, McKee visited Flying 

Fijians plying their trade in Europe to 

check on their progress. 

McKee said he was very happy with 

the reports from the clubs as some of the 

players are in good form and have been 

playing well in their competitions. 

“I had some positive response in my 

conversations with the clubs with which 

our boys are playing with,” McKee said. 

“This trip has been very important in 

meeting with potential RWC players at 

their clubs. It is very good for me as head 

coach to talk to players face to face to 

outline our RWC plans and player requirements. 

It also provides an opportunity to 

outline to players individual work-on’s for 

their game and fitness requirements to be 

able to play the Flying Fijians style of play 

for the RWC.” 

“The Pacific Nations Cup provided us 

with a big challenge but, for us, we’d had 

some good performances and we used 

our past performances through the series 

in giving us confidence going into the 

game,” he said. 

“We were also aware of coming off that 

really tough, physical game in Tonga that 

we absolutely had to be on top of our game 

when we faced Samoa.” 

“We want to qualify for the playoffs. 

I believe that with the talented players 

we’ve got if we do everything right and 

get things right it’s an achievable goal,” 

he said. 

McKee has a big pool of players in Europe 

to draw from as he makes his selection 

this year for matches to be secured in 

the build-up to Japan. There are 120-plus 

Fijian professional players in Europe who 

McKee has at his disposal. 

“So certainly for me now I can really 

identify our top group of 24/25/26 players 

and really try to play them together as 

much as we can, that we really develop our 

combinations, so when we hit the Rugby 


Sports 

World Cup our squad is very settled,” 

revealed McKee. 

“But at the same time I want to leave 

the door open for players. I know some 

players who are outside this group, this 

test series, who are either really close to 

selection or perhaps because of injury were 

not available. 

“The door is always open for them 

to come back in and also I know some 

younger players on the horizon who could 

certainly put their hand up in the next 18 

months, to be worthy of inclusion, because 

ultimately we will pick the best squad 

based on form.” 

First up on Fiji’s road to the World Cup 

is the World Rugby Pacific Challenge to 

be held held in Suva this month. Four 

countries will compete in the 2018 World 

Rugby Pacific Challenge - Junior Japan, 

Tonga ‘A’, Samoa ‘A’ and hosts Fiji Warriors. 

The competition will be an Under 

23 level competition with the allowance 

of five senior players. 

Competition will be played over three 

rounds and the team with the highest 

points on the points table will be declared 

the 2018 champion. McKee said it would 

be a chance for these players, most of 

whom are home based, to prove they 

have the calibre to push into his squad 

for Japan. 

Former National Rugby League star 

Semi Radradra, who has been in-form for 

Toulon in the French Top 14 this season 

had also indicated his interest in playing 

for Fiji at the World Cup. 

“Semi has certainly been in very good 

form in France. I spoke to him during the 

November tour (last year). I will be travelling 

to Europe soon and I will be meeting 

him in Toulon at the end of February to 

outline our plans, if he continues his good 

form he is quite high on my list of players 

I’m considering for June,” McKee said. 

“In November he indicated to me that he 

was interested in talking about our plans 

for 2019. At the end of the day we want 

to pick the best team we can and the team 

will be picked on form. The best players 

will get selected and currently he is playing 

very well and we have got some other good 

players as well playing in those positions. 

I will be tracking his form very closely as I 

do for a lot of players overseas.” 

Radradra is among an elite group of 

Fijians whose performance has been 

hailed by commentators in the Northern 

Hemisphere. At the top of the list is goldwinning 

Olympian Leone Nakarawa, 

whose form for Racing 92 won him the 

title of the world’s best rugby player in 

Racing 92’s Fijian lock Leone 

Nakarawa (with ball) shrugs off 

Montpellier’s FranÁois Steyn (L) 

and French flanker Fulgence 

Ouedraogo (R) during their 

French Top 14 match in 2017. 

Nakarawa, voted the world’s 

number one rugby player in 

2017, will be key in Fiji’s World 

Cup Campaign. Photo: SCMP 

2017. 

His selection by leading rugby website 

rugbybypass.com shocked world rugby. 

According to the website, Nakarawa was 

unmatched in 2017 and would be a man 

to watch at the World Cup. 

“The fact Nakarawa plays for a tier two 

nation undoubtedly works against him in 

terms of the World Rugby awards – and 

quality of opposition is a valid concern in 

that regard – but as a rugby player, he has 

no equal,” it said 

“He lit up countless games in 2017 

with his ability to keep phases alive with 

offloads and allow his teammates to target 

disjointed defences, not to mention his 

formidable lineout work, powerful carrying 

and committed defence.” 

McKee said Fiji’s pool of talented players 

made it difficult for him at selection time. 

He intends to visit Europe again in the 

next few weeks to visit his top prospects. 

Like McKee Tonga coach Toutai Kefu is 

banking on Europe-based players for the 

World Cup. Tonga joins England, France, 

Argentina and the United States in Pool C. 

Kefu told Islands Business that he was 

keen on having former All Black Charles 

Piutau in his squad. Piutau, 26, played 

the last of his 17 Test matches for the All 

Blacks back in 2015, conceivably allowing 

him to be eligible for the nation of his 

heritage at the 2019 tournament in Japan. 

Kefu said the former All Blacks and 

Blues star was eager to make the switch, 

having represented Tonga at under-20 

level. 

“I’ve spoken to him a few times and 

his brother (Siale) as well - he’s very determined 

to play for Tonga so we’re very 

happy about that,” Kefu said. 

Piutau left New Zealand for Ulster in 

2015, ruling him out of All Blacks selection, 

and will next season move to English 

side Bristol as the world’s highest-paid 

player. 

Kefu said that Piutau wasn’t the only 

former All Black being targeted by Tonga, 

singling out ex-Blues and Counties winger 

Frank Halai, who played one Test for the 

All Blacks in 2013. 

“There’s a winger in France now by the 

name of Frank Halai, who’s had also a 

cap for the All Blacks. He’s a player we’re 

very much interested in and he’s a player 

that’s very much interested in coming to 

play for us.” 

Rugby’s eligibility rules state that a 

player can represent another nation, 

provided they hold the correct passport 

and haven’t played international rugby 

for three years. 



Only 4 

Observers 

are missing 

at sea 

Marine biologist Keith Davis, who disappeared at sea while working as a fisheries observer in MRAG Americas’ IATTC 

Transshipment Observer Programme. Four PNG observers are on the missing list as Davis. 

Photos: WWF 

PORT Moresby, Papua New Guinea - 

Only four Observers have been reported 

missing in foreign fishing vessels and 

not 18 says the country’s fisheries and 

marine resources minister, Patrick Basa. 

He made the clarification in response 

to assertions by East Sepik Governor 

Allan Bird that up to 18 Papua New 

Guineans are missing while working as 

observers at sea. 

Basa said according to PNG’s National 

Fisheries Authority records, four observers 

had been reported missing at sea since 

2008. 

Basa said the observer programme 

comes with its functions and training, and 

are guided by the established fisheries 

observer programme of 1996 and revised 

Act of 1998, one of the five units 

under monitoring, compliance and surveillance 

division to collect information. 

He said the observers are trained at 

the Kavieng Fisheries College for 11 

weeks in basic seamanship before they 

are sent out. 

He said there are 272 fisheries officers, 

one of the largest in the world, 

and their welfare and safety, and insurance 

are covered in performing their 

work under section 53 of the Fisheries 

Management Act. 

He said while they are on board 

foreign fishing vessels, the NFA’s managing 

director usually gives notices to 

the vessels on their behalf. 

He said under the Act, they are 

protected from being intimidated, harassed, 

prevented or obstructed from 

performing their duties. 

Basa said they are issued personal 

life saving jackets, personal floating 

device and access to send message from 

the vessel to headquarters through the 

fisheries information system any time 

of the day or night. 

He said if an observer is reported 

missing, the vessel is required to stop 

operation and a search-and-rescue 

takes place within 72 hours. 

Developed status for Cooks 

Rarotonga, Cook Islands - Developed 

nation status is coming for the Cook 

Islands, and that is something for the 

country to be proud of. Those were the 

words of Prime Minister Henry Puna, 

when speaking here during Waitangi 

Day celebrations. Although the PM has 

refuted claims that his meeting with New 

Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 

December included talks on the controversial 

subject of UN membership, Puna said 

that during Ardern’s scheduled visit this 

month, the equally contentious topic of 

graduation would have to be addressed. 

“Whether we like it or not, graduation is 

coming. And for me personally, it’s something 

to be proud of, and there is nothing 

to be scared about.” However, Puna added 

there would also be a need to prepare for 

a “readjustment” of Cook Islands foreign 

relations, as well as the country’s development 

aspirations and partnerships. 

Mining licences in Bougainville 

Buka, Bougainville - Secretary for Bou- 

gainville Mineral and Energy Resources 

Shadrach Himata says the autonomous 

region had issued a total of four mining 

explorations licences to date. He said 

companies from Australia, Canada and 

the Philippines have taken up interest 

in the exploration of various areas in 

Bougainville at the request of landowner 

groups. “We have companies from Australia, 

Canada and the Philippines who are 

interested in exploration,” Himata said. 

“Right now we have issued four exploration 

licences in the Tore area in North 

Bougainville and the Central Bougainville 

is the Isina area. The Filipino company, SR 

Metals, are interested in doing exploration 

in the eastern part of Isina area in Central 

Bougainville.” On the northern part of 

the Tore area, Australian company, Kalia 

Resources, is carrying out exploration. 

Solwara 1 needs more funding 

Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea - Nautilus 

Minerals needs about US$250 million 

more to continue with the development of 

the Solwara 1 project in New Ireland, chief 

executive Mike Johnston says. Johnston 

said that the company was working with 

its financial advisers to find the additional 

financing. During a recent meeting with 

the Mining Minister Johnson Tuke, Johnston 

said: “For the project, the final capital 

we need to raise an additional roughly 

about US$250 million. And then there is 

working capital and exploration that we 

intend to do which brings it up to about 

US$300 million. That’s the final capital,” 

Johnston said. Meanwhile, the company 

is confident that the Solwara 1 project 

will go ahead as planned. Johnston said 

the project is set for production next year. 

Fiji retired teachers off to Kiribati 

Suva, Fiji - Ten retired teachers will 

soon leave for Kiribati to work for two 

years under the Fiji Volunteer Services 

Scheme. This is after the signing of a 

memorandum of agreement between 

the Fijian government and the government 

of Kiribati last month. Ministry of 

Employment permanent secretary in Fiji 

Salaseini Dunabuna said the MOA would 



provide an opportunity for the 

retired Fijian teachers to share 

their knowledge and information 

with the people of Kiribati. Kiribati 

High Commissioner Reteta 

Rimon acknowledged Fiji for the 

continued partnership. She said 

these volunteers are mostly English 

language teachers. 

Illegal group in PNG 

Port Moresby, Papua New 

Guinea - A foreigner who admitted 

in Papua New Guinea courts 

of being part of a syndicate 

involved in the smuggling of 

illegal goods to the country has 

refused to reveal to authorities 

the identities of his accomplices. 

Ian Wang Yua Yan, 42, from 

Longtian in Fujian, China, appeared 

before Waigani District 

Court Magistrate Cosmas Bidar. 

He admitted being part of an 

illegal network involved in the 

smuggling of undeclared goods 

contravening the PNG Customs 

Act. Their illegal activities came to 

light when PNG Customs Services 

officers discovered about K7.3 

million (US$2.2 million) worth 

of illegal cigarettes at its container 

examination facility at Motukea 

late last year. 

Appeal on EU purse seine 

deal 

Rarotonga, Cook Islands - A 

leave to appeal has been granted 

against the High Court’s ruling on 

the government’s development 

of the Cook Islands purse seine 

fishery in partnership with the 

European Union (EU). Justice 

Dame Judith Potter allowed the 

appeal against the decisions she 

made regarding the case last year, 

to go ahead. She also declined the 

state’s application to seek costs 

for the High Court case, and security 

of costs for any further action. The 

government representing the Attorney 

General, Minister of Marines Resources 

and secretary of Marine Resources, did 

not oppose the application for appeal in 

substance, but sought security for costs 

of US$10,887 as well as High Court costs 

of US$10,887. The application for leave 

to appeal was filed in December last year 

by the traditional chiefs, the Aronga Mana 

of Te Au O represented by broadcaster 

William Framhein, and the environmental 

Company 

SOUTH PACIFIC STOCK EXCHANGE (SPSE) MARKET U[DATE 

Share Price 

(31/12/2017) 

Share Price 

(31/12/2016) 

group, Te Ipukarea Society, after Justice 

Potter dismissed the initial case which 

was filed in November, 2016. The case alleged 

the government failed to conduct an 

environmental impact assessment and did 

not consult with traditional leaders before 

going ahead with the EU fishing deal. 

International arbitration reforms 

Nadi, Fiji - Countries in the Pacific 

will have to work together to implement 

international arbitration reform if they 

Gain/Loss 

(%) 

Year To Date 28 Feb 2018 

Trades 

Volume 

Traded 

Value 

No. of 

Atlantic & Pacific Packaging Com- 1.15 1.05 9.52% 2 5,650 6,498 

pany Ltd (APP) 

Amalgamated Telecom Holdings 2.17 2.00 8.50% 21 55,775 115,167 

Traded 

Ltd (ATH) 

Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) 4.72 4.72 0.00% 1 880 4,154 

Free Bird Institute Ltd (FBL) 2.75 2.55 7.84% 10 82,005 217,438 

Future Forests Fiji Ltd (FFF) 0.79 0.79 0.00% NO TRADES 

FijiCare Insurance Ltd (FIL) 1.19 1.16 2.59% 1 24,663 29,349 

FMF Foods Ltd (FMF) 1.20 1.15 4.35% 2 22,825 27,079 

Fiji Television Ltd (FTV) 2.14 1.99 7.54% 13 27,571 56,071 

Kinetic Growth Fund Ltd (KGF) 0.58 0.53 9.43% 2 42,671 24,749 

Paradise Beverages Fiji Ltd (PBF) 13.00 13.00 0.00% 12 44,860 583,180 

Pleass Global Ltd (PBP) 2.26 2.10 7.62% 7 9,500 20,521 

Pacific Green Industries Fiji Ltd (PGI) 1.00 1.00 0.00% NO TRADES 

RB Patel Group Ltd (RBG) 4.30 4.30 0.00% 1 4,990 21,457 

The Rice Company of Fiji Ltd (RCF) 4.13 4.10 0.73% 1 1,236 5,105 

Toyota Tsusho (South Sea) Ltd (TTS) 4.90 4.86 0.82% 2 713 3,494 

VB Holdings Ltd (VBH) 4.50 4.50 0.00% 1 356,285 1,603,283 

Vision Investments Ltd (VIL) 3.01 2.80 7.50% 12 18,679 54,269 

Fijian Holdings Ltd (FHL) 5.20 5.20 0.00% 47 40,982 211,360 

BSP Convertible Notes Ltd (BCN) 8.60 8.55 0.58% 7 1,715 14,665 

Port Moresby Stock Exchange 

Equity Listed Companies 

Code Bid Offer Last 

BSP 9.5 9.5 9.55 

CCP 0 1.6 1.6 

CGA 0.1 0.4 0.12 

COY 0 0 0.05 

CPL 0.98 0.68 0.75 

HIG 0 0 0.2 

IDC 0 0 0 

KAM 0 0.94 0.94 

KPL 0.25 0 0.4 

KSL 2.4 0 2.4 

NCM 57.2 0 57.2 

NGP 0.7 0.7 0.65 

NIU 0 0 0.02 

OSH 0 0 19 

SST 30 0 5 

Prices updated as of 2018-02-27. All 

prices are in PNG Kina (PGK). 

TOTALS 142 741,000 2,997,837 

CURRENCY RATES 

AUD$ NZ$ USD$ Euro UK Yen 

Fijian $1 0.63 0.68 0.49 0.40 0.35 52.34 

PNG Kina $1 0.40 0.43 0.31 0.25 0.22 33.38 

Samoa Tala $1 0.51 0.54 0.39 0.32 0.28 42.04 

Solomons $1 0.16 0.17 0.12 0.10 0.09 13.71 

Tonga Pa’anga $1 0.57 0.61 0.44 0.36 0.32 47.35 

Vanuatu Vatu $1 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 

Aud $1 1 1.07 0.77 0.63 0.56 82.44 

NZ $1 0.93 1 0.71 0.59 0.52 76.77 

US $1 1.29 1.39 1 0.82 0.72 106.75 

Pacific France 100 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 1.090 

Market rates from www.xe.com as at March 1, 2018 

want to improve their collective access 

to international markets and investment, 

according to ongoing discussions at the 

inaugural South Pacific International 

Arbitration Conference, organised here 

last month. The conference, the firstof-its-kind 

on international arbitration 

in the Pacific, brings together over 130 

delegates including government officials, 

policymakers, judges, law practitioners, 

private sector representatives, other 

development partners, and experts. 


TRADE MARK CAUTIONARY NOTICE IN NAURU, 

PALAU AND MICRONESIA 

Notice is hereby given that AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA (ALSO TRADING AS AISIN SEIKI CO., LTD.), a Japanese joint stock company of 

2-1 Asahi-machi, Kariya-shi, Aichi-ken, Japan, Manufacturers and Merchants, is the sole owner and proprietor in Nauru, Palau and Micronesia 

and elsewhere of the trade mark below: 

which is used in the following International classes upon or in connection with the following goods and services: 

[Class 1]- Anti-freezing liquids; formaldehyde absorbing agents; formaldehyde removing agents; oil additives for automobile engines [chemical 

preparations]; chemical reagents sold as a kit, other than for medical or veterinary purposes; chemicals; brake oils for automobiles; transmission 

fluids for automobiles; adhesives [not for stationery or household purposes]; nonferrous metals; non-metallic minerals; reagent paper [not 

for medical purposes]; unprocessed plastics [plastics in primary form] 

[Class 2]- Paints; dyestuffs; pigments; corrosion inhibitors; corrosion inhibiting preparations for vehicles; mordants; anti-rust preparations; raw 

natural resins; rust inhibiting preparations in the nature of a coating for use on vehicles; anti-rust greases; printing inks; colors [for drawing 

pictures]; nonferrous metals in foil or powder form for painters, decorators, printers and artists; precious metals in foil or powder form for painters, 

decorators, printers and artists 

[Class 4]- Mineral oils and greases for industrial purposes [not for fuel]; automotive engine oils; automotive gear oils; additives, non-chemical, 

to motor-fuel; automotive lubricants; fuels; solid lubricants; leather preserving oil and grease; non-mineral oils and greases for industrial purposes 

[not for fuel]; wax [raw material]; candles; wax for skis 

[Class 6]- Door locks for automobiles; door hinges for automobiles; trunk room locks for automobiles; trunk room hinges for automobiles; automobile 

hood locks; automobile hood hinges; metal hardware; railings of metal; shutters of metal; metal materials for building or construction; 

metal pulleys, springs and valves [not including machine elements]; containers of metal for transport; loading and unloading pallets of metal; 

turn-tables for load handling; traversers for load handling; joinery fittings of metal; metal safes; metal junctions for pipes; metal flanges 

[Class 7]- Water pumps for automobile engines; oil pumps for automobile engines; filters for automobile engines; pistons for automobile engines; 

fan couplings for automobile engines; fans for automobile engines; cylinder head covers for automobile engines; intake manifolds for 

automobile engines; crankcases for automobile engines; pistons [parts of machines or engines]; pistons for cylinders; gas engines [not for 

automobiles]; gas turbines [not for automobiles]; feed water heaters with cogeneration function [for non-electric prime movers and engines]; 

feed water heaters [for non-electric prime movers and engines]; non-electric prime movers [not for automobiles] and parts thereof; machine 

elements [not for automobiles]; power generating devices for cogeneration systems; power generators; power supply control panels and power 

regulating panels for use in power generating devices for cogeneration systems; power supply control devices and power regulating devices 

for power generators; gas engine driven power generators; starters for motors and engines; AC motors and DC motors [not including those 

for automobiles but including “parts” for any AC motors and DC motors]; AC generators [alternators]; DC generators; pumps [not for specified 

purposes]; vacuum pumps; pneumatic or hydraulic machines and instruments; sewing machines; parts and fittings for sewing machines; 

textile machines and apparatus; metalworking machines and tools using laser beam; laser welding machines; metalworking machines and 

tools; plastic processing machines and apparatus; stone working machines and apparatus; glass-working machines and apparatus; ceramic 

processing machines and apparatus; rubber processing machines and apparatus; laser beam machines for manufacturing semi-conductors; 

electrically operated shutter automatic opening and shutting devices 

[Class 9]- Measuring or testing machines and instruments for detecting various information on performance of automobiles; measuring and 

testing machines and instruments; electronic locks; electronic control devices for automobiles; computer programs [recorded or downloadable]; 

electronic machines, apparatus and their parts; navigation apparatus for automobiles; automatic control and remote monitoring apparatus for 

gas engine heat pumps; telecommunications devices, apparatus and instruments; solar cells; solar panels(solar battery panels); solar battery 

power generation devices; fuel cells; fuel-cell power generation devices; automotive batteries and battery chargers; electric controlling and 

regulating machines and apparatus for automobiles; batteries and cells; power distribution or control machines and apparatus; rotary converters; 

phase modifiers; intruder detecting apparatus for security systems; fire alarms; gas alarms; anti-theft warning apparatus; electronic 

publications 

[Class 10]- Electric lift chairs for nursing care; sleep analyzers for medical purposes; medical beds; equipment for holding, moving and handling 

people for nursing care purpose; bathing apparatus for nursing care [for medical use]; medical machines and apparatus; ear plugs for sleeping; 

ear plugs for protection against noise; urinals [for medical purposes]; plug-in bedpan for invalids; pacifier clips; ice bag pillows for medical 

purposes; triangular bandages; supportive bandages; surgical catgut; feeding cups [for medical purposes]; dropping pipettes [for medical 

purposes]; feeding bottle teats; medical ice bags; medical ice bag holders; baby bottles; nursing bottles; finger guards [for medical purposes]; 

electric massage apparatus for household use; esthetic massage apparatus for industrial use; ear picks 

[Class 11]- Bathing apparatus for nursing care, not for medical purposes; bath fittings; toilet stool units with a washing water squirter; disinfectant 

dispensers for toilets; toilet bowls; seating for use with Japanese style toilet bowls; air-conditioning apparatus by gas engine heat pumps for 

industrial purposes; heat pumps; air conditioning apparatus and fittings thereof [for industrial purposes]; space heating and cooling apparatus 

and fittings thereof [for industrial purposes]; air-conditioning apparatus by gas engine heat pumps for household purposes; cooling and heating 


devices and fittings thereof [for household purposes]; air conditioning apparatus and fittings thereof [for household purposes]; household electrothermic 

appliances; feed water heaters with cogeneration functions [for non-electric prime movers and engines]; hot water storage type hot 

water supplying apparatus using heat from gas engines [for industrial purposes]; gas hot water suppliers for industrial purposes; gas engine 

heat pumps and their parts; boilers, not for parts for non-electric prime movers, and not for engines; hot water storage type hot water supplying 

apparatus using heat from gas engines [for household purposes]; gas hot water suppliers for household purposes; gas water heaters for 

household purposes; hot-air space heating apparatus [for household purposes]; stoves for household purposes [non-electric]; toilet bowls and 

seats sold as a unit; prefabricated bathrooms sold as a unit; prefabricated shower baths sold as a unit 

[Class 12]- Non-electric prime movers for land vehicles [not including “their parts”]; vehicles for the physically handicapped and those of reduced 

mobility; automobiles and their parts and fittings; two-wheeled motor vehicles, bicycles and their parts and fittings; self-propelled electric 

vehicles; electrically operated personal mobility type scooters and automobiles; electric vehicles; wheelchairs for nursing care; electric wheelchairs; 

wheelchairs and their parts and fittings; rickshaws; sleighs and sleds [vehicles]; hand trucks; carts; bicycle trailers; machine elements 

for land vehicles; anti-theft alarms for vehicles; anti-theft devices for automobiles; AC motors or DC motors for land vehicles [not including “their 

parts”]; adhesives rubber patches for repairing tubes or tires; baby carriages [prams] 

[Class 16]- Printed matter; stationery; post cards; paper and cardboard; office requisites, except furniture; sewing patterns, knitting patterns or 

embroidery design patterns; tailors’ chalk; photographs; photograph stands; hygienic hand towels of paper; towels of paper; table napkins of 

paper; hand towels of paper; handkerchiefs of paper 

[Class 18]- Bags and the like; pouches and the like; industrial packaging containers of leather; vanity cases [not fitted]; umbrellas and their 

parts; walking stick seats; walking sticks; canes; metal parts of canes and walking-sticks; handles for canes and walking sticks; handbag 

frames; purse frames; leather and fur (unworked or semi-worked) 

[Class 19]- Non-metallic minerals for building or construction; joinery fittings [not of metal]; ceramic building materials, bricks and refractory 

products; building materials made of linoleum for fixing to existing walls or floors; plastic building materials; synthetic building materials; asphalt, 

and asphalt building or construction materials; rubber building or construction materials; plaster [for building purposes]; lime building or 

construction materials; building or construction materials of plaster; rockslide retention nets of textiles [construction materials]; prefabricated 

building kits [not of metal]; road signs [not of metal, non-luminous, and not mechanical]; erosion control mats integrating plants seeds 

[Class 20]- Beds; bed bases; furniture; care beds; hospital beds; mattresses; cushions [furniture]; Japanese floor cushions; pillows; mattresses 

for care beds; cushions for wheelchairs; mattresses, cushions, Japanese floor cushions or pillows for automobiles; locks for vehicles [not of 

metal]; locks [non-electric, not of metal]; indoor window blinds [shade] [furniture]; blinds of reed, rattan or bamboo; bead curtains for decoration; 

window shades; partition screens; oriental folding partition screens; cradles; infant walkers; air mattresses for recreational use 

[Class 21]- Portable toilets for nursing care; chamber pots; portable toilets; stools or chairs for care in bathtub; stirrers for hot bathtub water; 

bathroom stools; bathroom pails; cosmetic and toilet utensils; kitchen utensils and containers, not including gas water heaters for household 

use, non-electric cooking heaters for household purposes, kitchen worktops and kitchen sinks; cleaning tools and washing utensils; ironing 

boards; tailors’ sprayers; fabric marking boards; brushes 

[Class 22]- Bags for mattresses and quilts; cotton batting for mattresses and quilts; cotton waddings for clothes; hammocks; storage bags for 

mattresses and quilts; stuffing [not of rubber, plastics, paper or cardboard]; tarpaulins [not for ships]; tents [not for camping]; raw textile fibers; 

feathers and downs; knitted cords; Japanese-style cords; starched cords; twisted cords; cordage; netting [not of metal]; industrial packaging 

containers of textile 

[Class 24]- Bedsheets; mattresses and quilts; mattresses and quilts cases [linen]; ticks for mattresses and quilts [unstuffed mattresses and 

quilts]; pillowcases [pillow slips]; blankets; mosquito nets; personal articles of woven textile [not for wear]; bed covers; mattress covers; covers 

[loose] for furniture; seat covers of textile; wall hangings of textile; curtains; table cloths [not of paper]; draperies [thick drop curtains]; curtains 

for shop entrance; table napkins of textile; woven fabrics; knitted fabrics; felt and non-woven textile fabrics; sleeping bags [for camping] 

[Class 25]- Clothing; hats and caps; clothes for sports; footwear [other than boots for sports]; boots for sports; garters; sock suspenders; suspenders 

[braces]; waistbands; belts for clothing; masquerade costumes 

[Class 26]- Needles; knitting sticks; sewing boxes; dressmakers’ impressing blades; sewing thimbles; pin and needle cushions; needle cases; 

insignias for wear [not of precious metal]; buckles for clothing [clothing buckles]; badges for wear [not of precious metal]; brooches for clothing; 

sash clips; bonnet pins [not of precious metal]; ornamental stickers for front jackets; brassards; buttons and the like; knitted raschel lace fabrics; 

embroidery lace fabrics; tapes [semi-finished]; ribbons; hair ornaments 

[Class 27]- Floor coverings; wall hangings [not of textile]; toilet mats; wallpaper; bath mats for wash places; bath mats; Tatami mats and the 

like; artificial turf; gymnastic mats 

[Class 28]- Toys; plush toys; plastic toys; stress relief toys; dolls; toys for domestic pets; parlor games; Go games; Japanese chess [Shogi 

games]; Japanese playing cards; dice; dice games; dice cups; diamond games; chess games; checkers [checker sets]; conjuring apparatus; 

dominoes; playing cards; mah-jong; game machines and apparatus; billiard equipment; sports equipment; amusement machines and apparatus 

for use in amusement parks; fishing tackle 

[Class 35]- Referral of career, housekeeper, care worker and nurse; employment agencies; personnel exchanges; information and consulting 

services relating to placement and introduction of staff; reception for visitors in buildings; retail or wholesale services for beds, nursing care 

beds or furniture; retail or wholesale services for cushions, bed clothes, woven fabrics, beddings or mattresses; retail or wholesale services 

for toys; retail or wholesale services for sewing machines; intermediary services relating to sales of beds or furniture; intermediary services 

relating to sewing machine sales; providing information on commodity sales; advisory and information services for consumers relating to commodity 

purchase 

[Class 36]- Management of buildings; agencies or brokerage for renting of buildings; leasing or renting of buildings; purchase and sale of buildings; 

agencies or brokerage for purchase and sale of buildings; real estate appraisal; land management; agencies or brokerage for leasing or 

renting of land; leasing of land; purchase and sale of land; agencies or brokerage for purchase or sale of land; rental of building space; providing 

information on buildings or land [real estate affairs]; asset management for retired people; financial management of employee pension 

plans; advisory services relating to asset buildup; charitable fund raising; charitable fund raising for volunteer and welfare activity; charitable 

fund raising for environmental protection; information services relating to customs duties; information services relating to tax consultancy or 

tax agency; used automobiles appraisal; information and consulting services relating to used automobile appraisal; used automobile parts 

appraisal 


[Class 37]- Reform work; installation of security systems and facilities; installation of toilet stool units with a washing water squirter; construction 

work; repair or maintenance of toilet seats [including toilet stool units with a washing water squirter]; repair or maintenance of chamber 

pots; remote monitoring of running situation of building facilities including air-conditioning, heating or plumbing sanitary facilities; operation, 

check or maintenance of building; repair or maintenance of air-conditioning apparatus [for industrial purposes]; burner maintenance or repair; 

repair or maintenance of boilers; repair or maintenance of pumps; repair or maintenance of freezing machines and apparatus; repair or maintenance 

of gas engine heat pump type air-conditioning apparatus [for industrial purposes]; repair or maintenance of air-conditioning apparatus 

by cogeneration systems; repair or maintenance of gas engine heat pump type air-conditioning apparatus for household purposes; repair or 

maintenance of household electrothermic appliances; repair or maintenance of electric motors; repair or maintenance of power distribution or 

control machines and apparatus; repair or maintenance of power generators; repair or maintenance of gas engine driven power generators; 

repair or maintenance of power generators with cogeneration functions; repair or maintenance of sewing machines 

[Class 39]- Vehicle transport; vehicle-driving services; rental of automobiles with drivers; vehicle rental; rental of wheelchairs; rental of electric 

wheelchairs; rental of wheelchairs for nursing care; rental of walking aid vehicles; parking services; management of parking places; distribution 

of energy and providing information relating thereto; distribution of energy for space heating and cooling of buildings; storage; warehousing 

services of deposited automobiles 

[Class 40]- Metalwork; processing of rubber; processing of plastics; ceramic processing; processing of automobile parts; custom manufacturing 

services relating to automobiles and their parts and fittings; surface processing of building and construction materials; rental of knitting 

machines; rental of sewing machines; recycling of waste; collection, sorting and disposal of waste and trash; collection, sorting, disposal and 

recycling of recycled products and second-hand goods and agency services thereof; providing information or technical advice on collection, 

sorting, disposal or recycling of recycled products or second-hand goods; providing information on recycling of used automobiles based on the 

Act on Recycling, etc. of End-of-Life Vehicles; rental of air-conditioning apparatus [for household purposes]; rental of humidifier [for household 

purposes]; rental of air purifiers [for household purposes]; rental of electric power generators; rental of electric power generators with cogeneration 

functions; rental of humidifier [for industrial purposes]; rental of air purifiers [for industrial purposes]; rental of air-conditioning apparatus 

[for industrial purposes]; rental of air-conditioning apparatus with cogeneration functions [for industrial purposes]; tailoring or dressmaking; embroidery 

[embroidering]; consultancy or agency services for tailoring, dressmaking and embroidering; rental of textile machines and apparatus 

[Class 41]- Educational and instruction services relating to arts, crafts, sports or general knowledge; arranging, conducting or organization of 

seminars; amusements and entertainment; providing amusement facilities; organization, arranging or conducting of sports events and competitions; 

providing sports facilities; providing electronic publications; reference libraries of literature and documentary records; book rental; providing 

facilities for movies, shows, plays, music or educational training; providing facilities for lectures, workshops, seminars and symposiums; 

exhibitions of data and documents relating to automobiles; organization of exhibitions for scientific, economic and cultural purposes 

[Class 42]- Technical testing services; vehicle roadworthiness testing; testing and research on automobiles and their parts; testing or research 

services relating to health equipment; testing or research on machines, apparatus and instruments; testing, inspection or research of computer 

systems; quality control; research and development of products; providing information in the field of product development; planning and design 

of automobile test driving courses and testing facilities; design and development of nursing care equipment; design of fuel cells; design of 

machines, apparatus and instruments, and their parts, as well as systems composed thereof; furniture and interior decoration design; bedding 

design; design of new products; designing; rental of computers and computer software; providing computer programs; providing application 

software utilizing telecommunications networks; computer programming and consultancy relating thereto; technological advice relating to 

computers, automobiles and industrial machines; technical advice relating to performance and operation of machines and apparatus 

[Class 43]- Providing temporary accommodation; preschooler and infant care at daycare centers or nursery centers; providing information on 

preschool and infant care at daycare centers or nursery centers; providing nursery centers; providing daycare centers; providing automobile 

driving test courses; providing automobile performance and endurance testing facilities; rental of care beds and their fittings; rental of care 

chairs; rental of furniture; rental of mattresses, quilts and bedding for nursing care; rental of quilts; rental of pillows; rental of blankets; retirement 

homes and providing information and consultancy relating thereto; providing conference, exhibition and meeting facilities; rental of meeting 

rooms; rental of facilities for exhibitions 

[Class 44]- Rental of mobile lifts for nursing care; rental of medical instruments for nursing care; rental of medical machines and apparatus; 

nursing care (including by home-visiting); providing information and consultancy relating to nursing care; health advisory; dietary advisory; 

nutritional and dietetic consultancy; medical services; providing medical information; physical examination; dentistry; preparation and dispensing 

medications; integration and management of medical information and health information; health care services and providing information 

relating thereto; beauty salons; hairdressing salons; providing bath houses; rehabilitation advisory; massage and therapeutic acupressure 

massage; chiropractics; moxibustion; treatment for dislocated joints, sprain, bone fractures or the like; acupuncture; rental of bath fittings for 

nursing care; rental of prefabricated bathrooms sold as a unit; rental of prefabricated shower baths sold as a unit; rental of chamber pots; rental 

of portable toilets 

[Class 45]- Security guarding for facilities; personal body guarding; fire guarding, gas leakage guarding and security guarding for buildings by 

remote monitoring systems; guarding in vehicles; rental of prime movers; rental of parts of prime movers; rental of anti-theft alarms for vehicles; 

rental of intruder alarms; rental of fire alarms; rental of fire extinguishers; caring for babies [excluding services provided at a facility]; babysitting 

and providing information relating thereto; providing information about the licensing of intellectual property rights; rental of household 

electrothermic appliances [not included in other classes]; rental of pneumatic or hydraulic machines and instruments 

AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA (ALSO TRADING AS AISIN SEIKI CO., LTD.) claims all rights in respect to the above trademark and will 

take all necessary legal steps against any person, firm or corporation counterfeiting, imitating, violating or otherwise infringing its rights in 

Nauru, Palau and Micronesia. 

MUNRO LEYS | Lawyers & Notaries Public 

Pacific House, Butt Street, Box 149 Suva, Fiji 

Tel: +679 331 4188 

Email: trademarks@munroleyslaw.com.fj • www.munroleyslaw.com 

MUNRO LEYS

My Future... Rugby Player! 

Bula Scholar, the perfect educational plan 

with multiple payouts, offering terms of 

15, 20 & 25 years. 

It’s more than 

a policy, it’s a promise! 

• Receive annual payouts of 20% of the sum 

insured in the last 5 years of the policy. 

• Compounded bonuses payable at maturity. 

• Pay premium for ONLY 10 years. 

• Worldwide cover. 

• Optional benefits for Accidental Death, 

Critical Illness & Waiver of Premium. 

Talk to your 

BSP Life Insurance 

Advisor or Call 

132700 

with 

TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY 


in partnership with 

International Women's Day 

An evening of creative expressions through poetry, song, dance and art 

performances! 

Thursday March 8, 2018 

Ausaid Performance Space, 

University of the South Pacific. 

Contact Lillian Delana for more information: lillian@fwrm.org.fj or 8356579 

supported by

Islands Business Magazine March 2018 Edition

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?