The Biketawa Declaration is a declaration agreed to by all the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum constituting a framework for coordinating response to regional crises. The declaration takes its name from the

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

Biketawa Biketawa is one of the twenty-four small islets which comprise the atoll of Tarawa in the Republic of Kiribati. The capital of Kiribati, South Tarawa, is located on Tarawa. The 2000 Biketawa Declaration on Pacific regional security takes its name ...

, where the Forum Leaders met in a retreat to discuss, agree and adopt measures for collective security. The declaration was agreed to at the 31st Summit of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, held at

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

in October 2000 in the regional context of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état and ethnic tensions in the Solomon Islands. It commits Forum members to eight core values, including good governance, liberty of the individual, democratic processes and indigenous rights. Where these values are breached, the Forum Secretary-General and members will develop a response, which may include mediation, institutional support, or targeted measures (sanctions). Since its adoption it has been invoked a number of times, leading to regional peacekeeping and stabilization operations in: *

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

(

Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), also known as Operation Helpem Fren, Operation Anode and Operation Rata (by New Zealand), was created in 2003 in response to a request for international aid by the Governor-General of ...

, 2003 - 2017) * Nauru (Pacific Regional Assistance to Nauru, 2004-2009) *

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

( 2006 Nukuʻalofa riots, 2006) * Nauru (election observation mission for the

2019 Nauruan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Nauru on 24 August 2019. President Baron Waqa lost his seat in Boe Constituency, making him ineligible for a third term. Following the elections, Lionel Aingimea was elected President, winning a parliamentar ...

) The Declaration also provided the basis for the Forum's 2009 decision to suspend Fiji after it had failed to hold elections in the wake of the

2006 Fijian coup d'état The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 was a coup d'état carried out by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, against the government of President Josefa Iloilo. Iloilo was removed as president, bu ...

. The suspension was lifted in 2014, after the military regime held elections. Forum members and NGOs have unsuccessfully sought to invoke the declaration over

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

in Fiji, the 2011 Fiji-Tonga territorial dispute, the Nauru government's 2014 crackdown on opposition, and the 2016 Nauruan parliamentary election. The Declaration was most recently invoked to respond collectively to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In July 2021 Forum Secretary-General

Henry Puna Henry Tuakeu Puna (born 29 July 1949) is a Cook Islands politician, and the current secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum. He was Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from November 2010 to October 2020. Since 2006 he has been leader of th ...

reminded Samoa's caretaker government of the Declaration in a statement on the

2021 Samoan constitutional crisis A constitutional crisis began in Samoa on 22 May 2021 when O le Ao o le Malo (Head of State) Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II issued a proclamation purporting to prevent the Legislative Assembly from meeting in the wake of the gene ...

Biketawa Plus

In 2017 the Forum began to consider expanding the Biketawa Declaration to cover other security threats such as natural disasters. Talks on the proposed "Biketawa plus" continued through 2018, resulting in the 2018 Boe Declaration. This expanded the Bitekawa Declaration to include issues of human security, environmental security, transnational crime, and cybersecurity.

References

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External links

Biketawa Declaration
Pacific Islands Forum treaties New Zealand–Pacific relations Politics of Oceania 2000 in Oceania 2000 in Kiribati 2000 in international relations