There’s No Such Place as “Away”: Flawed Metaphors of Waste Disposal for Criminal Deportation to the Pacific Islands

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Cook Islands Christina Newport (bio) The year under review was a pivotal one as the Cook Islands celebrated its fiftieth anniversary of independence. Over the last twelve months, immediate and longer-term concerns have seen old relationships revisited and new ones forged. In this review, particular attention is given to highlighting the leadership of women in advancing the Cook Islands across different sectors and issues as political powers continue to shift and take hold. Although women are increasingly elected and appointed as parliamentarians, heads of government departments, chairs and directors of statutory bodies and private entities, and customary titleholders, there appears to be little progress made toward transforming the gendered nature of Cook Islands politics. Indeed, despite women’s making up approximately 50 percent of the country’s population and positions held in the public service, their representation remains low across positions of authority and leadership (Ministry of Finance and Economic Management 2012; Ministry of Internal Affairs 2011). Nevertheless, key appointments have been made this year. Six women were appointed as heads of ministries among the thirteen government departments. They include the first-time appointment of seasoned public servants who have worked their way up the ranks. Tepaeru Herrmann was appointed secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, and Gail Townsend replaced the retiring secretary of the Ministry of Education, Sharyn Paio. Reappointments included Elizabeth Wright-Koteka as chief of staff for the Office of the Prime Minister, Elizabeth Iro as secretary of the Ministry of Health, Bredina Drollett as secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Daphne Ringi as chief executive officer of the Office of the Public Service Commissioner (opsc 2015). This year also saw Teremoana Yala appointed as Cook Islands’ high commissioner to New Zealand. With thirty-five years of public service experience, including fourteen years as a senior official at the Cook Islands High Commission in New Zealand, Yala is very familiar with Cook Islands’ development and diplomatic representation needs (cin, 3 June 2016). Although not the first woman to be appointed to the position, she is the first to take up the office; traditional leader and former head of the Koutu Nui (traditional leaders group) Te Tika Mataiapo Dorice Reid was announced in April 2011 to take up the role but passed away unexpectedly before being able to assume the appointment (cin, 23 June 2011). A less obvious but nevertheless [End Page 127] noteworthy appointment was also made with Caren Rangi taking up a directorship on the Board of Directors for the Cook Islands Investment Corporation (ciic). Based in New Zealand and with ties to Northern and Southern group islands in the Cooks, she holds a range of community and national level governance roles. She is the national president of pacifica Inc, a pan-Pacific women’s organization in New Zealand, and serves as a board member of the Creative New Zealand Arts Council as well as the Pacific Homecare Services and Charities Registration Board (pacifica Inc 2016). Responsible for the oversight of all government assets including land and a number of state-owned enterprises, ciic makes use of Rangi’s expertise in attending to its affairs. These include the development of seabed minerals and preparation of the contract with the United Nations International Seabed Authority, which gives the country mineral rights to a specified area of its exclusive economic zone, and a joint-venture agreement with gsr (Global Sea Mineral Resources nv). This allows the Belgium-based private company the opportunity to explore and mine the designated area held by the Cook Islands (ciic, 15 July 2016; cin, 26 July 2016). Caren Rangi’s appointment can be seen as a reflection of the government’s openness to looking beyond its geographical boundaries in making use of skilled Cook Islanders to provide expertise for the country. As an example of Cook Islands women’s leadership outside of the country, Teresa Manarangi-Trott was appointed to the new Specialist Sub-Committee for Regionalism supporting the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat implementation of the Pacific Regionalism framework (cin, 6 May 2015). She provides the committee with a small island states perspective, supported by her private sector and economic development experience. Having served on the Cook...

Cook Islands Jon Tikivanotau M. Jonassen (bio) Issues in the Cook Islands during the period under review highlight controversial government decisions as well as some notable judicial and parliamentary amendments. Government indifference to voter concerns was reflected in conflicts at Aitutaki and Manihiki airports, a drawn out debate over an indoor stadium for the country, the sudden discontinuation of the vaka (district) council, unfair cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), and even a challenge from the traditional leadership in the House of Ariki. This review underlines the growing disconnect between the Cook Islands government and Cook Islanders, and the marginalization of Cook Islands Māori and their paramount chiefs. The loss of one of the greatest sons of the Cook Islands was a sad event for all Cook Islanders. Dr Thomas Robert Alexander Harries Davis KBE (1917–2007), former prime minister of the Cook Islands and a United States Apollo Space Program scientist, passed away on 23 July 2007 (CIN, 24 July 2007, 1, 5). He was a well-known medical doctor, scientist, statesman, author, voyager, and Pacific politician, who played a major role in the formation of the East-West Center's Pacific Islands Development Program in Hawai'i (CIN, 28 July 2007, 5). Hundreds attended his state funeral on 27 July at the Are Kari Oi Nui (CIN, 30 July 2007, 1). Landowners of two outer-island airports were dissatisfied with the government. At one point Manihiki Airport landowners, angry about lease terms, initiated a forced airport closure by spreading debris over the runway to render it unusable (CIN, 5 July 2007, 1). They later agreed to a new lease arrangement for sixty acres of land at an estimated value of NZ$200 per acre (CIN, 1 Feb 2008, 1). (One NZ dollar was the equivalent of US$.69 as of August 2008.) Despite the agreement, a flight to Manihiki was turned back by some disgruntled Manihiki airport landowners (CIN, 14 May 2008, 1). A police patrol boat was required to help keep the peace (CIN, 16 May 2008, 1). Conflict at the Aitutaki airport focused on the desire of local residents to keep the Sabbath holy (CIN, 12 June 2008, 1). About 300 protestors strongly, yet peacefully, expressed their displeasure at government-sponsored efforts to land planes on the island on Sundays (CIN, 23 June 2008, 1). The peaceful demonstration was in contrast to previous occasions when debris was spread on the runway. In recognition of continuing high emotions, the government agreed to a six-month trial period, although expressions of resistance to Sunday [End Page 145] landings continue (CIH, 28 June 2008, 2). The courts were busy this year beginning with what is believed to be the first successful defamation case in the Cook Islands. The case was successfully argued by lawyer Charles Little for William Framhein against property developer Tim Tepaki (CIN, 2 July 2007, 1). The judge awarded NZ$90,000 to Framhein. Prominent businessman Richard Barton was convicted on five charges of willfully filing false income tax returns and fined (CIN, 10 Nov 2007, 1). The American owners of the South Pacific School of Medicine indicated that they plan to take the government to court for reneging on a contract to open a school in the Cook Islands (CIN, 12 June 2008, 1). Meanwhile, Vai Peua, the member of Parliament for Pukapuka Island, criticized the Cook Islands High Court and Justice System for sending criminals to the outer islands to serve out their sentences. He also lashed out at the police for failing to monitor a criminal who shot three people on his island (CIN, 31 July 2007, 1). The tourism industry faced both challenges and opportunities. Cook Islands Tourism Corporation chief executive Chris Wong resigned after pressure from various sectors of the public for alleged financial discrepancies (CIN, 28 July 2007, 1). John Dean was selected to succeed Wong (CIN, 20 Feb 2008, 1) and now faces several major challenges in maintaining tourism as the country's major industry. The Asian Development Bank outlook highlighted the vulnerability of the tourism industry in the Cook Islands, with its inadequate and aging infrastructure. Aggressive approaches by some local operators proved counterproductive. The Rarotonga Beach Resort...

This research explored the lived experiences and perceptions of Pacific Islands’ people responding and adapting to the significant global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary aim of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of the social dimensions of resilience from the perspectives of Pacific Islands’ people. While there has been growing interest in these explorations of resilience, no studies to date have explored how Pacific Islands’ communities respond and adapt to a global disruption through the lens of subjective well-being and human agency. This research addressed this using a comparative case study approach to explore the adaptive responses of people in the Cook Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga. This research used an interpretive research paradigm underpinned by a constructivist grounded theory methodology and, due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, undertook semi-structured interviews with 25 participants in the Cook Islands and 24 participants in Tonga through the use of online video-conferencing technologies (primarily Zoom) facilitated by the development of local research partnerships. The findings indicate that the resilience of Pacific Islands people depends on their capacity to collectively act and forge networks that are simultaneously local and global, enabling the use of traditional and foreign knowledge systems in ways that support the local human capacity that enhances the self-reliance of their island societies amidst a volatile, globalised world. These insights challenge the reductionist, ahistorical, and disempowering framings of small island nations as inherently vulnerable and externally dependent by demonstrating how Pacific Islands people used various forms of situated agency and social capital to increase their bargaining power and support the social-ecological wellbeing of their communities according to their needs, interests, and priorities.

The migration of skilled workers is increasing rapidly in Pacific Island countries including Fiji and the Cook Islands. This paper focuses on teacher migration because of the potentially far-reaching implications of this migration for educational systems and development. The situation in Fiji and the Cook Islands is compared and contrasted. Based on a survey of teachers in selected schools in Fiji and the Cook Islands, the paper examines factors related to intentions to migrate or stay. Findings from the study provide insights on how the government in Fiji and the Cook Islands can retain a competent teaching force. The paper also discusses the vulnerability of the education systems in Pacific Island countries in the light of high rates of international teacher migration.

Progress towards achieving hepatitis B control in the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and Kiribati

The Cook Islands (South Pacific) experience in governance of seabed manganese nodule mining

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss a tool for evaluating resilience of housing, which was tested in the Cook Islands. The Pacific Islands is widely known as being highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. In addition to long-term impacts such as sea level rise, current impacts such as tropical cyclones wreak havoc and the housing sector is often most severely affected. There is therefore a critical need for assessing the resilience of housing in the region. In response to that need, an evaluation tool for assessing housing resilience was developed, discussed in this paper. Design/methodology/approach The analytical framework of the tool consists of five main factors – inputs, output, result, impacts & effects and external factors – and the tool was tested in the Cook Islands. Two housing case studies implemented and/or facilitated by Australia-based agencies on two different island locations were examined: On Aitutaki, it was a reconstruction project built after Cyclone Pat in 2010; in Mangaia, it was a program for strengthening roofing against cyclones. Findings It was found that in different ways both the projects had improved the resilience of the beneficiary communities. However, a number of challenges were also evident in meeting the wider needs of the beneficiaries and long-term sustainability. The sustainability of these interventions, and indeed that of the islands facing severe resource constraints and rapid demographic and environmental change, posed serious questions. Originality/value The study allowed confirming the importance of the evaluation tool in the global context of climate change and consequent widespread disaster occurrence, and the devastating impact on the housing sector. In that respect, while there are obvious implications for other Pacific islands, the findings of the study offer wider global lessons for the multiplicity of agencies engaged in housing reconstruction, disaster risk reduction and development.

The aim of conducted researches is development of the main methodological principles of optimization of material, energetic and informational waste streams on different hierarchical levels (enterprises, population centers, region, inter-regional level) for increasing of environmental, economic and social waste management efficiency. Researches were conducted by the example of existing in Perm Kray system of generation, disposal and transfer of production and consumption waste. As an example of count realization were considered options of implementation and realization of waste account. There were developed methodological principles of creation of waste of production and consumption account transfer on different levels on the basis of hierarchical system of its elements, tasks and mechanisms of state and regional regulation, activities of business enterprises on waste treatment, realization of which is possible with usage of modern means and methods of automating and with considering level of IT technologies development. There was examines branch of waste treatment for Perm Kray, from the viewpoint of streams of generation, detoxification and disposal of waste, distinguished main streams of waste, defined main issues of sector, directions and tasks of modernization of regional waste management system. There was conducted testing of proposed methodology by the example of Perm Kray enterprises as individual elements in hierarchical system under creation, optimization and automating of account of different levels waste.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial isolates from clinical specimens in four Pacific Island countries, 2017–2021

Between 1980 and 2008, two Pacific island nations - Nauru and the Cook Islands - experienced the fastest rates of increasing BMI in the world. Rates were over four times higher than the mean global BMI increase. The aim of the present paper is to examine why these populations have been so prone to obesity increases in recent times. Three explanatory frames that apply to both countries are presented: (i) geographic isolation and genetic predisposition; (ii) small population and low food production capacity; and (iii) social change under colonial influence. These are compared with social changes documented by anthropologists during the colonial and post-colonial periods. Nauru and the Cook Islands. While islands are isolated, islanders are interconnected. Similarly, islands are small, but land use is socially determined. While obesity affects individuals, islanders are interdependent. New social values, which were rapidly propagated through institutions such as the colonial system of education and the cash economy, are today reflected in all aspects of islander life, including diet. Such historical social changes may predispose societies to obesity. Colonial processes may have put in place the conditions for subsequent rapidly escalating obesity. Of the three frameworks discussed, social change under colonial influence is not immutable to further change in the future and could take place rapidly. In theorising obesity emergence in the Pacific islands, there is a need to incorporate the idea of obesity being a product of interdependence and interconnectedness, rather than independence and individual choice.

Background Evaluating national health research systems (NHRS) in six Pacific Island states - Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands - is a key step in determining whether their systems, infrastructure and processes are in place to effectively manage health research resources and facilitate conduct of research and its implementation. Methods The COHRED questionnaire used in a 2007 mapping of the Pacific Islands was utilised to survey informants from the six countries. Results Fiji had a more developed NHRS followed by the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands. There was no correlation between the degree of NHRS development and population size, level of GDP or SCImago ranking for research output. All the six countries had a research structure accompanied by a satisfactory level of coordination. However, there was not always dedicated personnel assigned and there was a lack of research policies and legislation in all jurisdictions. With the exception of Fiji and the Solomon Islands, the countries had weak ethics processes and there were no monitoring and evaluation systems with the exception of Samoa. Conclusions The NHRS in six Pacific Island states vary from less developed in Vanuatu to more developed in Fiji. The development of the various components of a NHRS in small Island states is sensitive to political, funding and human resource pressures. There is room for improvement; nevertheless, there is no need in developing all the components of a NHRS in a resource-constrained setting as long as the various countries develop a Pacific solution that includes research collaborations and resource sharing with other Pacific and Pacific-rim countries.

Pacific Island countries, like the Cook Islands, are often considered to be extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Considerable literature highlights that local knowledge can play an important role in climate change adaptation, particularly in small island countries. However, there is less understanding on how to practically integrate and apply local knowledge in climate change adaptation, particularly in the Cook Islands. This research investigated the role of local knowledge in climate change adaptation in the Cook Islands, aiming to understand the role of local knowledge in adaptation policies and the challenges of incorporating local knowledge into climate change adaptation policy through semistructured interviews with key informants and local participants. Key informants often recognized the important role of local knowledge in climate change adaptation while local knowledge was less recognized by local participants. Concerns over both the usefulness of the knowledge today and the loss of this knowledge were expressed. Additionally, challenges to integrating local knowledge into climate change policy were identified, including development pressure, out-migration, and a lack of understanding of local knowledge. This study offers insight into the role of local knowledge in climate change adaptation for other small island countries facing similar challenges.

Nonfatal injury incidence and risk factors among middle school students from four Polynesian countries: The Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, and Tonga

Assessment of essential surgical and anaesthesia care capacity: a cross-sectional study in five Pacific Island Countries