The Biketawa Declaration is a declaration agreed to by all the leaders of the

Pacific Islands Forum The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 197 ...

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 perman ...

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 Security ...

, 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 The Fiji coup d'état of 2000 was a civilian coup d'état by hardline i-Taukei (ethnic Fijian) nationalists against the elected government of an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry on 19 May 2000. This was followed by an attempt ...

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 ca ...

(

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 Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in K ...

(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 The 2006 Nukualofa riots, also known as the 2006 Tongan riots, started on 16 November, in the Tongan capital of Nukualofa. The Legislative Assembly of Tonga was due to adjourn for the year and despite promises of action, had done little to a ...

, 2006) *

(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 parliamentary ...

) 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 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, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

in Fiji, the 2011 Fiji-Tonga territorial dispute, the Nauru government's 2014 crackdown on opposition, and the

2016 Nauruan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Nauru on 9 July 2016. On 10 June 2016, the Parliament was dissolved by President Baron Waqa after it completed its three-year term. Speaker Ludwig Scotty called the elections for 9 July, with nominations tak ...

. 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 identified ...

. 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 t ...

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 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 islet of Biketawa, where th ...

. 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