This is an abridged version of the communiqué issued by the third NGO Parallel Forum, held to coincide with the South Pacific Forum meeting in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, September 19-26. The forum brought together Pacific-based non-government and community organisations, representatives of churches, trade unions, women's groups and environmental organisations.
The land is our mother, our life, our history, our culture, our spirituality, our future generations. The sea is where all life comes from. The ocean unites us as peoples of the Pacific.
We give voice to our visions and concerns, and our commitment to action on issues affecting: our environment and resources; indigenous rights, sovereignty and decolonisation; economic, social and cultural development and relations with our governments and the governments of the colonial powers in the Pacific.
We note that the 1997 South Pacific Forum communiqué does not address the right to self-determination and independence for colonised peoples. Together with our delegates from East Timor, West Papua, Te Ao Maohi (French Polynesia), Bougainville, the Kanaka Maoli of Ka Pae A'ina (Hawai'i), Aotearoa and Aboriginal Australia, we reaffirm our support for the right to self-determination.
Next year is the anniversary of the annexation of Ka Pae A'ina, and the Kanak people of Kanaky (New Caledonia) will determine their future. People in Wallis and Futuna, Rapanui [Easter Island] and the South Moluccas have also been colonised by foreign powers.
We call for more action by the governments of the South Pacific Forum and the Forum Secretariat for the complete decolonisation of the South Pacific. We call for the extension of the mandate of the UN Decolonisation Committee beyond 2000 and the reinscription of colonised peoples with the committee's list of non-self-governing territories.
We are saddened by the response of the Australian government to the Human Rights Commission report on the Stolen Generations, and oppose the government's plans for theft of land under the 10-point plan for extinguishment of native title.
The NGO Parallel Forum also planned actions to halt the destruction of our environment and resources. We must act to maintain control of our land, our waters, our labour.
We welcome the South Pacific Forum's statement on positive progress in the movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons. But the end of nuclear testing in the Pacific does not mean the end of the nuclear age. We will return to our homes to press for an end to the transhipment, storage and dumping of nuclear wastes in the Pacific, the clean-up and ongoing monitoring of contaminated sites, and support for test site workers affected by nuclear testing, especially in Te Ao Maohi, Christmas Island and the Marshall Islands.
From Rarotonga, where the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty was first signed, we call on our governments to amend and strengthen the treaty. We support initiatives for a Nuclear Weapons Convention and seek government support for its formal introduction to the United Nations.
We were angered that Pacific peoples' concern on climate change was overridden at the South Pacific Forum. As Australia and other industrialised nations failed to heed our voices, we call for Pacific governments to support the position of the Alliance of Small Islands States at the December 1997 climate change negotiations in Kyoto, Japan.
We oppose the proposed 10 year extension of permits for the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agents Disposal System, and call for the South Pacific Forum to carry our concern to the United States government. Our air and waters are sacred — we are not the dump site for the world.
The focus of the Forum Economic Action Plan is on economic growth and privatisation, but we reaffirm that development can only take place if it builds community and equity, and addresses all aspects of life: our land, our culture, our values, our environment and the social well-being of our communities.