Overview:
Pacific civil society is asking Pacific leaders for more than an invitation — it wants a permanent seat at the table. At the 55th Pacific Islands Forum, Ridep Okada Techitong challenged leaders to build a regional system where communities and civil society groups help shape decisions before policies are written, not after.
By: L.N. Reklai
KOROR, Palau — Pacific civil society organizations are demanding a permanent place in the Pacific Islands Forum’s decision-making processes, saying they should no longer be treated as invited guests or outsiders who are consulted only after regional priorities have been set.
Ridep Okada Techitong, president of Belau Offshore Fisheries Inc. and a representative of the Ngaimis Men’s Traditional Organization of Ngatpang State, made the call during the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau.
Speaking on inclusive regional architecture and Pacific-led solutions, Techitong told Pacific leaders that civil society has been shaping regional priorities for generations, often without formal recognition or a seat at the table.
He recalled Palau’s 1979 constitutional fight to prohibit nuclear weapons testing, storage and disposal. After the government moved to weaken the provision, 50 women elders challenged their own government in court, despite threats and the firebombing of one woman’s home.
“That was civil society,” Techitong said. “Nobody consulted us. Nobody funded us. We were on no agenda and in no architecture.”
He said civil society groups remain on the front lines of change, working directly with communities and often identifying problems months or years before formal assessments.
“Civil society is the Pacific’s early warning system,” Techitong said, arguing that the region is wasting that resource because there is no reliable channel to bring community concerns to regional leaders in time to influence decisions.
He also stressed that civil society provides continuity that governments and development programs may not.
“Partners will come and go. Projects will end. Programs will close and their staff will fly home,” he said. “But the church women’s group will still be running the evacuation centre.”
Techitong said Pacific leaders had already accepted the principle of civil society participation when they welcomed civil society into a formal session in Honiara last year. What is needed now, he said, is a permanent mechanism rather than participation dependent on individual leaders or invitations.
The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations Alliance is asking leaders to take four steps.
First, the Forum Secretariat should formally consult civil society on the Review of the Regional Architecture and establish a joint working group with the alliance.
Second, leaders should endorse a 12-month pilot allowing civil society participation across the Officials Committee, ministerial meetings, the 2050 Strategy Subcommittee, Thematic Advisory Groups and the Leaders process, with consultation taking place before recommendations are written.
Third, the Officials Committee should present the working group’s proposal to leaders for a decision at the 56th Forum Leaders Meeting.
Finally, Techitong asked leaders to determine the cost of establishing a permanent civil society function within the Forum.
“Give us the chair at the table,” he said, “and we will keep bringing what we have always brought.”