Feed aggregator

Tuesday 9 September

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Displaced persons’ tents crowded along the coastal strip of Gaza City in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Credit: UN News

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Sep 9 2025 (IPS)

During the upcoming annual UN General Assembly, several key European countries are expected to recognize a Palestinian state. The question that looms is how to translate such a significant development into reality, whereby the Palestinians will realize their national aspiration for statehood

One of the main issues that may take center stage at the upcoming UN General Assembly is the ongoing devastating war in Gaza, and the international outcry for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state to end the plight of the Palestinians in the context of a two-state solution.

What will make the discussion at the UN about Palestinian statehood more potent and relevant is the expectation that several Western powers, including the UK, France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, and Portugal, will formally recognize a Palestinian state, joining Spain, Ireland, and Norway, which recognized Palestine last year.

That said, although such recognition is significant, it remains symbolic unless many critical measures are taken by all the players involved to mitigate the following four reasons behind the failures in advancing the prospect of establishing such a state.

First, Israel has done everything within its reach, especially now with the support of the Trump administration, to prevent that from happening.

Second, the Palestinian Authority has done little to establish a legitimate representative government and a political apparatus responsive to public needs, even though 147 countries have already recognized it.

Third, the Arab states, though publicly supportive, have provided some financial support but have made no concerted effort over the years to bring the idea to fruition.

And four, the countries that have recognized Palestinian statehood have not taken significant measures to ensure its implementation.

To realistically pave the way to Palestinian statehood, the players involved will have to take momentous measures and remain on course, even though Israel will vehemently resist and lean on the US to use its weight to prevent such an outcome.

The Palestinian Authority

The PA must now wake up to its bitter reality and recognize that independent statehood will remain only a slogan unless it takes the following steps:

First, new elections must be held. Every Palestinian faction must be invited to participate, as long as they commit themselves to a peaceful solution to the conflict with Israel. The Palestinians need to demonstrate a unity of purpose and forsake violent resistance, which has only worked in favor of Israel over the years.

Second, the PA should reiterate its recognition of Israel and commit to entering unconditionally into peace negotiations. This is not a capitulation to Israel’s whims; to the contrary, it will put Israel on the defensive, as it would have no legitimate excuses in the eyes of the international community to reject the Palestinians’ initiative.

Third, the PA must actively engage in public diplomacy by strengthening diplomatic outreach and using the media and public relations to show readiness for dialogue and shape global opinion positively to increase support for the Palestinian cause.

Fourth, it must demonstrate its commitment to democratic principles and human rights, which is essential for the Western countries planning to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Fifth, economic development plans should be presented to gain international confidence, which would encourage many countries supportive of the Palestinians to offer financial support.

Sixth, Palestinian leaders ought to actively promote nonviolent means to highlight the Palestinian cause and gain the high moral ground internationally.

The role of the European Countries

The important role of European countries in supporting Palestinian independence cannot be overstated. Their support must transcend symbolism and focus on the nitty-gritty of what is needed to advance the Palestinians’ cause. The measures to be taken include:

Providing direct economic support to Palestinian institutions and infrastructure while ensuring accountability.

Establishing bilateral trade agreements with the Palestinians to boost their economy, independent of Israel.

Pushing for enhanced observer status and participation of Palestine in international bodies while providing legal forums to pursue international acceptance and rights.

Upgrading Palestinian consulate representative offices in their capitals to a higher diplomatic level.

Funding a public diplomacy campaign in their respective capitals to build support for Palestinian statehood.

Offering training and support for Palestinian internal security forces in coordination with Israel to maintain order and stability.

The Role of the Arab States

The Arab states must play a far greater role than ever before in advancing the Palestinian cause, particularly because it is directly linked to the nature of their desired future relationship with Israel. To that end, the Arab states should work in unison and send a clear message that their relations with Israel hinge directly on finding an amicable solution to the conflict.

The Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, should:

Make it abundantly clear that no other Arab state would normalize relations with Israel unless there is a clear path that would lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Threaten Israel that continued violations of the Palestinians’ human rights will lead to the severing of diplomatic relations, especially with the signatories to the Abraham Accords.

Provide targeted financial aid for Palestinian governance and infrastructure, focusing on sustainable development projects, and use collective economic leverage to encourage other countries to support Palestinian statehood.

Open new or upgrade existing Palestinian embassies in Arab capitals.

Support Palestine in the international legal arena for rights and recognition, and enhance the Palestinian narrative and position in Arab and international media outlets.

Align regional policies to support Palestinian diplomatic efforts, work through UN bodies and behind-the-scenes talks, and adopt measures to minimize frictions between Israel and the Palestinians and prevent confrontations.

It would be grossly misleading to suggest that taking all the measures enumerated above will offer smooth sailing toward realizing a Palestinian state. Being in total control of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, especially under the current Netanyahu-led government, with staunch support of Trump, will stop at nothing to sabotage any effort that could improve the prospect of a Palestinian state.

Notwithstanding the uphill battle, however, the concerted and consistent efforts by all the players will eventually lead to a dramatic change in the trajectory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It has been demonstrated that after 80 years of violent conflict, Netanyahu’s strategy to maintain a state of constant hostilities and make incremental gains has now run its course. And the Palestinian strategy of resistance has failed, too. Hamas’ attack and Israel’s retaliatory war have demonstrated that there will be no enduring Israeli-Palestinian peace short of a two-state solution.

The Netanyahu government and the Trump presidency will end, but the Palestinian reality will never fade away. The Western European countries’ decision to recognize a Palestinian state will be a historic game-changer if steady and concrete steps follow their recognition, and they remain determined to realize Palestinian statehood regardless of the changing times and circumstances.

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Depuis l'arrestation de sa gouverneure, la région moldave de Gagaouzie est dirigée de facto par Ilia Uzun, un proche de l'oligarque en fuite Ilan Șor, accusé d'avoir agressé un adversaire politique et soudoyé des électeurs pour le compte du DPS de Bulgarie.

- Articles / Populations, minorités et migrations, Politique, Courrier des Balkans, Moldavie, Personnalités, Minorités Moldavie

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sep 9 2025 (IPS)

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have risen over the last two centuries, with current and accumulated emissions per capita from rich nations greatly exceeding those of the Global South.

Tropical vulnerability
The last six millennia have seen much higher ‘carrying capacities’, soil fertility, population densities, and urbanisation in the tropics than in the temperate zone.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Most of the world’s population lives in tropical and subtropical areas in developing nations, now increasingly threatened by planetary heating.

Different environments, geographies, ecologies and means affect vulnerability to planetary heating. Climate change’s effects vary considerably, especially between tropical and temperate regions.

Extreme weather events – cyclones, hurricanes, or typhoons – are generally much more severe in the tropics, which are also much more vulnerable to planetary heating.

Although they have emitted relatively less GHGs per capita, tropical developing countries must now adapt much more to planetary heating and its consequences.

Many rural livelihoods have become increasingly unviable, forcing ‘climate refugees’ to move away. Increasing numbers in the countryside have little choice but to leave.

Worse, economic and technological changes of recent decades have limited job creation in many developing countries, causing employment to fall further behind labour force growth.

Unequal development has also worsened climate injustice. Adaptation efforts are far more urgent in the tropics as planetary heating has damaged these regions much more.

Technological solutions?
While science may offer solutions, innovation has become increasingly commercialised for profit. Previously, developing countries could negotiate technology transfer agreements, but this option is becoming less available.

Strengthened intellectual property rights (IPRs) limit technology transfer, innovation, and development. The World Trade Organization (WTO) greatly increased the scope of IPRs in 1995 with its new Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions.

Thus, access to technology depends increasingly on ability to pay and getting government permission, slowing climate action in the Global South. Financial constraints doubly handicap the worst off.

Despite rapidly mounting deaths due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, European governments refused to honour the West’s public health exception (PHE) concession in 2001 to restart WTO ministerial talks after the 1999 Seattle debacle.

Instead of implementing the TRIPS PHE as the pandemic quickly spread, Europeans dragged out negotiations until a poor compromise was reached years after the pandemic had been officially declared and millions had died worldwide.

With the second Trump administration withdrawing again from the World Health Organization (WHO) and cutting research funding, tropical threats will continue to dominate the WHO list of neglected diseases.

Climate finance inadequate
Citing the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC), rich nations claimed they could only afford to contribute a hundred billion dollars annually to climate finance for developing countries in line with the sustainable development principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’.

This hundred-billion-dollar promise was made before the 2009 Copenhagen Conference of the Parties (COP) to secure support for a significant new climate agreement after the US Senate rejected the Kyoto Protocol before the end of the 20th century.

Rich nations promised to raise their concessional climate finance contributions from 2020 after recovery from the recession following the GFC. However, official development assistance has declined while military spending pledges have risen sharply.

The rich OECD nations now claim that the hundred-billion-dollar climate finance promise has been met with some new ‘creative accounting’, including Italian government funding support for a commercial gelateria chain abroad!

In recent climate finance talks, Western governments increasingly insist that only mitigation funding should qualify as climate finance, claiming adaptation efforts do not slow planetary heating.

Meanwhile, reparations funds for ‘losses and damages’ remain embarrassingly low. Worse, in recent years, much of the West has abandoned specific promises to slow planetary heating.

Despite being among the greatest GHG emitters per capita, the USA has made the least progress. The two Trump administrations’ aggressive reversals of modest earlier US commitments have further reduced the negligible progress so far.

In late 2021, the Glasgow climate COP pledged to end coal burning for energy. But less than half a year later, the West abandoned this promise to block energy imports from Russia after it invaded Ukraine.

Concessional to commercial finance
Responding to developing countries’ demands for more financial resources on concessional terms to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and address the climate crisis, World Bank president Jim Kim promoted the ‘from billions to trillions’ financing slogan.

The catchphrase was used to urge developing countries to take much more commercial loans as access to concessional finance declined and borrowing terms tightened.

With lower interest rates in the West due to unconventional monetary policies following the 2008 GFC, many developing nations increased borrowing until interest rates were sharply raised from early 2022.

Funds leaving developing countries in great haste precipitated widespread debt distress, especially in many poorer developing countries. Thus, purported market financial solutions compounded rather than mitigated the climate crisis.

Meanwhile, growing geopolitical hostilities, leading to what some consider a new Cold War, are accelerating planetary heating and further threatening tropical ecologies, rural livelihoods, and well-being.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Net Zero by 2050 Delays Needed Urgent Climate Action
• Western Climate Hypocrisy Exposed by NATO Energy Policy
• Rich Nation Hypocrisy Accelerating Global Heating
• Carbon Markets Biased, Distorted, Undermined
• Insider Exposé of ESG Greenwashing
• Beware Climate Finance Charade
• Can Carbon Trading Stop Global Heating?
• COP27 Fiddling as World Warms
• Climate Hypocrisy Ensures Global Warming

La police a donné l'assaut au siège d'Istanbul du CHP, le principal parti d'opposition en Turquie, où des députés s'étaient retranchés. Les manifestations sont interdites jusqu'à mercredi et l'accès aux réseaux sociaux a été ralenti.

- Le fil de l'Info / Turquie, Erdogan, Courrier des Balkans, Défense, police et justice, Politique

Pourtant, l'instabilité nuit à la croissance et à l'investissement, tandis que l'explosion de la dette nationale présente des risques à long terme.

The post Pourquoi la crise politique française n’est pas (encore) une crise économique appeared first on Euractiv FR.

What Trump could learn from Reagan.

Der Staatssekretär im Aussendepartement, Alexandre Fasel, widerspricht den Skeptikern. Er ist überzeugt, dass die Schweiz die neuen Abkommen mit der EU braucht und von diesen profitieren wird.

Könnten auch Schweizer Soldaten ein Friedensabkommen in der Ukraine sichern? Angefragt wurde die Schweiz bislang nicht. Der Bundesrat wird dennoch bald Fragen dazu beantworten müssen.

Depuis l'effondrement mortel de l'auvent de la gare de Novi Sad, le 1er novembre 2024, la Serbie se soulève contre la corruption meurtrière du régime du président Vučić et pour le respect de l'État de droit. Cette exigence de justice menée par les étudiants a gagné tout le pays. Suivez les dernières informations en temps réel et en accès libre.

- Le fil de l'Info / Courrier des Balkans, Vucic, Serbie, Politique, Société, Gratuit

Depuis l'effondrement mortel de l'auvent de la gare de Novi Sad, le 1er novembre 2024, la Serbie se soulève contre la corruption meurtrière du régime du président Vučić et pour le respect de l'État de droit. Cette exigence de justice menée par les étudiants a gagné tout le pays. Suivez les dernières informations en temps réel et en accès libre.

- Le fil de l'Info / Courrier des Balkans, Vucic, Serbie, Politique, Société, Gratuit

By Andrea Pareschi (University of Bologna and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

Across EU member states, Eurosceptic parties – especially on the radical right – are thriving. Not long ago, they had only limited support and were stuck in opposition. But in recent years, many of them have ‘come in from the cold’ and gained real traction. Since 2023, parties vehement in their criticism of the EU have come out on top in parliamentary elections in Slovakia, the Netherlands, France and Austria. In other places – like Finland, Romania, Germany, and Portugal – Eurosceptic parties came in second. And after the 2024 European elections, right-wing Eurosceptic groups Patriots for Europe (11.7 per cent of the seats) and European Conservatives and Reformists (10.8 per cent) are the third and fourth largest in the European Parliament.

Against this background, it is more important than ever to properly understand the different types of Euroscepticism among parties, since that helps us identify what kind of challenges they pose to the EU. The most common way to do so still amounts to the distinction between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ Euroscepticism. First introduced by Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart, this approach basically separates those who oppose the EU on principle from those who just have specific issues with it. Lately, however, a number of researchers have started using the ‘hard Eurosceptic’ label only for parties wanting out of the EU altogether. What I have argued in a recent research note is that this narrower view drifts away from what Taggart and Szczerbiak originally meant – and that it actually hides how much principled opposition to European integration is really out there.

To begin with, it is really instructive to go back to the two scholars’ original work. Initially, Taggart and Szczerbiak linked hard Euroscepticism to rejection both of EU membership and of the project of European integration. Yet, they soon accepted that classification should not revolve around party stances towards membership, which are too superficial to convey a party’s ‘deeper position […] on the broader underlying issue of European integration’. Instead, they argued that the main thing to look at should be ‘underlying support for or opposition to the European integration project as embodied in the EU’. Their following contribution to the Routledge Handbook of Euroscepticism made clear that a party’s stance on the European integration project should be the main factor, when it comes to deciding whether the party is hard Eurosceptic, soft Eurosceptic, or none.

A drift has instead come to affect the concept of hard Euroscepticism. Too often, these days, hard Euroscepticism is equated to the ‘nuclear option’ of exit, whereas every other kind of party stance or behaviour attacking the EU is seen as soft Eurosceptic. To be fair, there are some understandable reasons for this shift. Twenty years after Taggart and Szczerbiak proposed their definitions, the idea of a European integration project looks a lot fuzzier. Does European integration have a stable, recognisable core at all? Some scholars would say no. If one takes this view, indeed, interpretations of hard Euroscepticism centred on exit are justified. If, in other words, the EU is whatever political actors make of it, then the only party position which corresponds to uncompromising opposition to it is wanting out. If one, instead, takes the view that an essence of European integration exists, things are different. In this case, manifest and consistent rejection of such an essence is surely the most appropriate litmus test for hard Euroscepticism.

After looking at what existing research says on the substantive core of the European project, I attempt a redefinition of hard Euroscepticism which is rooted in such a fundamental basis. A party is then defined as hard Eurosceptic if it systematically demonstrates principled opposition towards either of four elements. First, the EU as an integrated common market. Second, the legitimacy of the institutions which form the supranational layer of the EU. Third, the possibility of expanding the EU’s competencies. Fourth, any of the core values set out in the Treaty on European Union and the Copenhagen criteria for eligibility to join the EU. Following Taggart and Szczerbiak’s logic, I suggest that a party should count as hard Eurosceptic if its policies imply being strongly and consistently opposed to any of the above elements.

There are two main reasons why it makes more sense to define hard Euroscepticism this way, instead of the other. First, tying hard Euroscepticism only to exit ends up limiting the label to opposition parties. As a matter of fact, the conditions leading even strongly anti-EU governing parties to pursue EU withdrawal only materialise very rarely. Many of those parties have realised that it is more effective to oppose the EU from within, as like-minded political forces abound in other countries. If only rejection of membership amounts to hard Euroscepticism, the category is applied to parties which flirt with exit while in opposition only to be pulled back once they, having entered government, confront the EU through less blunt strategies. This makes the category too unstable, turning it into the by-product of tactical moves rather than a consistent position.

Second, as a definition based on exit gradually empties the box of hard Eurosceptic parties, very different political forces end up being squeezed together into the adjacent box of soft Eurosceptic ones. There,  ‘Euroalternativist’ parties, that support the EU’s institutional structure while demanding different policies, are unsuitably mixed with parties which barely agree on the ‘principle’ of cooperation, refusing both the ‘practice’ and the ‘future’ of European integration. Conversely, the approach I propose labels as hard Eurosceptic any party demanding little less than a total overhaul of the key tenets of the EU. Soft Eurosceptic parties are only those whose opposition to European integration is indeed contingent.

Within my article, I have dwelled on two parties which serve as good examples: Matteo Salvini’s League and Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz. Having not campaigned for exit, they are classified as soft Eurosceptics by renowned contemporary overviews. Nevertheless, the League regards the supranational layer of the EU as bereft of legitimacy, at odds with the ‘Europe of peoples’ (and its wholesale indifference to migrants’ human rights may negate an EU core value). Fidesz may cross the line on more than one criterion, too. Anyway, nowhere is this more evident than in its sweeping refusal of multiple EU core values. Arguably, a definition qualifying both parties as hard Eurosceptic fits better, as they both fundamentally oppose the European project on principle.

In conclusion: pushing for EU withdrawal certainly makes a party hard Eurosceptic, but if hard Euroscepticism means fundamental opposition to European integration, there is so much more to it than demanding exit. Within national politics, a hard Eurosceptic party may choose different options: asking for a referendum on membership, calling for complete renegotiation of all Treaties, demanding retroactive opt-outs, and so on. At EU level, a hard Eurosceptic party may confront the substantive core of European integration through the behaviour of its representatives in institutions such as the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

My recent article with JCMS aims, as a minimum, to stoke debate on how interpretations of European integration should bear on definitions of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ Euroscepticism. More ambitiously, this contribution warrants adding a piece to current debates around Euroscepticism. Radical right Eurosceptic political forces are bidding to get into the EU control room by forging linkages with the mainstream centre-right, which at times appears receptive to the lure of the so-called ‘Venezuela majority’. Are hard Eurosceptic parties across EU member states actively seeking to modify the essence of the European project? May any such attempts be traced back to coordinated action among them? Last but not least, is there any evidence showing the success of such endeavours? In the Europe of 2025, these are all questions worth asking.

Andrea Pareschi is affiliated with the University of Bologna and the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science, European Politics and International Relations. His research interests comprise European politics, Euroscepticism, mass-elite congruence, and the EU issue in British politics. His articles have appeared in Journal of Common Market Studies, Italian Political Science Review, Journal of Contemporary European Research, Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée, and other reviews. https://unibo.academia.edu/AndreaPareschi

The post How hard does it have to be? Why hard Euroscepticism is not just about exiting the EU appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Dauer des Videos : 15'

Haftungsausschluss : Die Verdolmetschung der Debatten soll die Kommunikation erleichtern, sie stellt jedoch keine authentische Aufzeichnung der Debatten dar. Authentisch sind nur die Originalfassungen der Reden bzw. ihre überprüften schriftlichen Übersetzungen.
Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2025 - EP

Length of video : 15'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

President Metsola opened the 8-11 September plenary session in Strasbourg with a minute of silence to remember lives lost in various tragedies in the EU and its neighbourhood.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

President Metsola opened the 8-11 September plenary session in Strasbourg with a minute of silence to remember lives lost in various tragedies in the EU and its neighbourhood.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

President Metsola opened the 8-11 September plenary session in Strasbourg with a minute of silence to remember lives lost in various tragedies in the EU and its neighbourhood.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Le Conseil constitutionnel a dévoilé ce lundi 8 septembre la liste définitive des candidats à l’élection présidentielle du 25 octobre 2025. Retrouvez dans ce guide toutes les informations concernant ce scrutin.

Credit: brutto film / shutterstock.com

By Anna Naupa
Sep 8 2025 (IPS)

 
Globally, there is a 0.36% deterioration in average levels of peacefulness, as more countries are increasing their levels of militarisation against the backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, increasing conflict, and rising economic uncertainty.

But this statistic omits most Pacific island countries. In 2025, only three are ranked by the Global Peace Index (GPI): New Zealand in 3rd place, Australia in18th and Papua New Guinea ranking 116th out of 163 nations.

As regional dialogue about an ‘Ocean of Peace’ concept advances, a dedicated Pacific Peace Index—as suggested by Solomon Islands’ Professor Transform Aqorau at the July 2025 Pacific Regional and National Security Conference—might provide additional form to an evolving political dialogue amongst Pacific Islands Forum member states.

But, how is Pacific peace defined? How might our own Pacific measure of peacefulness complement existing efforts to safeguard peace and security in the region?

What is Pacific Peace?

Peace is more than the absence of conflict or violence; it is a global public good that enables people to live full, healthy and prosperous lives without fear.

“Peace must serve the people, not geopolitics, not elites in the region, not distant interests,” Professor Aqorau says, in articulating a vision for Pacific peace. Peace must also tackle broader factors affecting safety and wellbeing across the Pacific, particularly for women and vulnerable populations, says Fiji’s Shamima Ali.

Peace and development are two sides of the same coin. The Pacific 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent places peace alongside harmony, security, social inclusion, and prosperity, as a key element for attaining free, healthy, and productive lives for Pacific peoples. Delivering Pacific peace, therefore, entails securing well-being; protecting people, place and environment; advancing development; and securing futures for present and future generations, the latter efforts entailing climate action and protection of sovereignty.

While global indices are variably critiqued for omissions of Pacific Islands data, unilateral development and indicator bias, poorly contextualized methodologies, or the significant resourcing required to produce Pacific datasets, indices can nonetheless usefully inform policy-makers.

What could a Pacific Peace Index measure?

The current starting point for measuring and monitoring peace in the region is found in the form of existing country commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 (the ‘Peace Goal’).

The Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development has contextualised eight SDG 16 indicators for regional reporting that address experiences of violence, access to justice, civil registration and legal identity, transparency of public expenditure, and public access to information and views on participation in decision-making processes.

In 2022, a regional monitoring report led by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat found that limited data availability for SDG16 hampered measurement of progress in the Pacific. This is broadly reflective of global trends, where investment is needed in further data generation efforts and statistical capacity to measure SDG 16.

The report also found that the Pacific was regressing on advancing effective institutions, transparency, and accountability.

But are SDG16’s Pacific contextualised indicators sufficient to meet the expectations of the Boe Declaration on Regional Security and the Pacific 2050 Strategy’s Peace and Security pillar? Can this type of reporting serve as a potential proxy ‘Pacific Peace Index’?

While answers to these questions are both technical and political in nature, there are two things to keep in mind:

1) Peace has deep roots in Pacific social and cultural structures

Despite close alignment with regional strategies, the current SDG 16 contextualised indicators do not encapsulate the depth of a Pacific vision for peace.

Pacific Islands Countries’ policy commitments to aspects of peace are well-documented. Each year new initiatives are announced that respond to an expanded concept of security, ranging from traditional security cooperation to tackling gender-based violence, climate mitigation and humanitarian assistance or investing in democratic processes.

But, knowledge gaps remain about the contribution of locally driven peace initiatives to national and regional efforts, and how these contribute to overall Pacific well-being. Addressing these gaps allows for a more comprehensive telling of an aggregated Pacific narrative of peace, which could be factored into a Pacific Peace Index. For example, peace-building dialogues following the Bougainville crisis, Solomon Islands’ ethnic tensions, and series of Fiji coups have highlighted the important contributions of locally-driven approaches, including drawing on traditional dispute resolution.

2) Telling a story of purposeful peace

Yet, Pacific peace is more than a collection of discrete data points and time-bound security-related projects. Peace is an evolving process, it is future-oriented and a proactive, purposeful exercise.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Baron Waqa has stressed that peace must be “anchored in sovereignty, resilience, inclusion and regional solidarity.” Many Pacific scholars agree, arguing that there is no real peace without addressing longstanding issues of colonisation, militarisation, restricted sovereignty and justice, which continue to bear on many Pacific islanders.

To tell a regional story means connecting, for example, Tuvalu’s international statehood recognition, the recent landmark ICJ advisory opinion on climate change, the nuclear legacies in the region, political instability, elections, and well-being measures, to the region’s vision of peace. Combined, we can then begin to grasp all the elements that contribute to a cumulatively peaceful region.

So, where to from here?

Another tool is the Positive Peace Index which measures the ‘attitudes, institutions and structures that sustain and create peaceful societies’. It assesses socio-economic development, justice, good governance and effective institutions, inclusion, resilience and diplomacy. A Pacific Peace Index could adapt this to incorporate Pacific indigenous philosophies of peace and values of social cohesion, well-being and reconciliation that are absent from existing global indices, for example, and track the region’s journey, disaggregated by country.

Multi-country indices demand considerable capacity so a State of Pacific Peace assessment may instead offer a simpler option. This could entail a dedicated section in the existing Pacific Regional Security Outlook report produced by regional organisations. Alternatively, the region’s academic institutions (e.g. via Track 2 mechanisms) could be invited to assist. Investing in peace summits also provides the opportunity for ongoing regional peace dialogue.

The emphasis, however, must be on building, not duplicating, existing regional mechanisms.

The opportunity of a Pacific Peace Index would be in owning and telling a coherent peace narrative that: a) bridges security and development and, b) reflects how the peace interests and dignity of Pacific peoples are being upheld over time.

As political dialogue about a Pacific ‘Ocean of Peace’ evolves, Pacific peoples’ visions of peace must drive any framing and subsequent action. Professor Aqorau offers further wisdom: ” Our peace should not depend on choosing sides, but on asserting our needs, on our terms and on our collective aspirations.”

Related articles:
Peacebuilding: The Missing Peace in COP30 Climate Ambition

Climate Change in Pasifika Relational Itulagi

Anna Naupa is a ni-Vanuatu PhD candidate at the Australian National University.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');