There is a huge opportunity for the Pacific to show global leadership with a declaration of peace that promotes WPS. Political leaders should work with civil society organisations to seize the moment, writes William W. McInerney.
The “Ocean of Peace” is a new, and potently consequential, peace and security policy initiative being developed by Pacific Island Countries (PICs) at the region’s leading intergovernmental body, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Initially proposed by Fiji’s Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, the Ocean of Peace seeks to address growing threats to security in the South Pacific including climate crisis, regional conflicts, and rising militarisation stemming from US-China geopolitical tensions. It does so by aiming to bring PICs together to promote Pacific-led approaches to peace, collective security, and de-escalation. As Rabuka noted,
“It is my hope that Pacific Islands Forum members will unite to declare our Ocean of Peace to the world, making the region and its peoples the very emblems of peace. Our declaration would make it clear: there is no place for military buildup in the Pacific.”
Supporters of the initiative are aiming for a formal Ocean of Peace Declaration at the 54th PIF Leaders Meeting in the Solomon Islands in September 2025. This year is also the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, which marked the start of the UN’s Women, Peace, and Security Agenda (in addition to the 30th anniversary of the monumental Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action). This serendipitous timing, bringing peace, security and gender to the top of global and regional policy agendas, presents a prime opportunity to address the security challenges facing women in the Pacific and to highlight the extensive work being done by Pacific women’s rights, gender equality, and feminist movements to advance peace.
While the final proposal and principles for the Ocean of Peace remain under development, key WPS issues like gender equality, gender-based violence, and the gendered impacts of climate change have not been included in the initial public statements or draft documents. Sharon Bhagwan Rolls of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict and the Pacific Women Mediators Network has said clearly: “There can’t be peace without gender equality and gender justice”.
Globally and in the Pacific, efforts to promote WPS face a series of intersecting challenges and crises.Increased militarism, ongoing structural violence, and poly-crises have led to losses in women’s rights, reduced gender equality funding, and increased hostility toward feminist movements around the world.
The Pacific is no exception. The latest WPS Index data from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, which ranks countries in terms of women’s inclusion, justice, and security, shows a range of scores for PIF members in the South Pacific. New Zealand ranks 10th out of 177 in the world at one end, while Papua New Guinea ranks 155th on the other.
▪ New Zealand: 10
▪ Australia: 11
▪ Fiji: 64
▪ Samoa: 76
▪ Tonga: 85
▪ Solomon Islands: 100
▪ Vanuatu: 112
▪ Papua New Guinea: 155
▪ Micronesia – partial data
▪ Kiribati – partial data
▪ Marshall Islands – partial data
▪ Nauru – partial data
▪ Palau – partial data
▪ Tuvalu – partial dat
▪ Cook Islands – no data
▪ French Polynesia – no data
▪ New Caledonia – no data
▪ Niue – no data
The available data highlights several major challenges facing WPS in the South Pacific. First, gender-based violence (GBV) remains a severe problem. The Pacific has some of the highest rates of GBV. Two out of three women across the region have experienced physical and/or sexual violence. Second, women in the Pacific continue to fight for equal participation. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in 2025, the average proportion of women in national parliaments in the Pacific Islands is 7.9 per cent – the lowest of any global region and well below the 27.2 per cent global average. Third, WPS work intersects with the climate crisis in a gender climate-security nexus. Environmental and humanitarian disasters disproportionately affect women and the Pacific is on the frontline. All too often, gender work is sidelined in times of crisis, including the climate crisis.
The Pacific already has an existing set of policy frameworks to address these issues, but just as in other regions of the world, WPS implementation gaps persist. These gaps matter because there can be no true Ocean of Peace without gender justice. GBV is a threat to peace and security – not just to women but to communities and societies. More gender equal and inclusive societies are less prone to violent conflict, and research shows that peace initiatives that are more inclusive of women have a better chance of success. Women provide needed leadership in politics and peacebuilding to help society thrive in all aspects of life, not just those traditionally framed as “women’s” or “gender” issues. Further, people of all genders, – including boys and men – have a vital role to play in advancing gender equality and preventing GBV in the region and globally.
Feminist and women’s movements are essential partners for advancing WPS and the Ocean of Peace. There is a long history of Pacific Islander women and their allies working to promote gender equality and raise awareness about the gendered impacts of conflict and peacebuilding. Organisations like femLINKpacific, Soqosoqo Vakamarama iTaukei, and the Fiji Women’s Crisis Center play a key role alongside global and regional networks and institutions like the Pacific Women Mediators Network, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) Pacific Secretariat, the Pacific Islands Forum Women’s Leaders Meeting, and UN Women Asia and the Pacific. These movements and institutions are active and powerful sources of inspiration and learning within the region and could play a vital role in the Ocean of Peace’s development. As Sharon Bhagwan Rolls pointed out, women’s civil society leaders called for an “Ocean of Peace” at the adoption of the Pacific Platform for Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in 1994, long before the current policy debate.
The Ocean of Peace has been described as a way to address geopolitical tensions in the region and to advance a Pacific-led peacebuilding approach; peace done the Pacific Way. This could be a transformative moment for the region to put peace at the centre of its intergovernmental policymaking agenda. It could also be a powerful example for other regions of the world to learn from and follow. But an Ocean of Peace must include women and people of all genders in the process – using this as an opportunity to further localise the WPS agenda and advance gender equality, the Pacific Way.
As the 25th anniversary of the UN’s WPS Agenda coincides with the potential adoption of an Ocean of Peace Declaration at the PIF in 2025, I am reminded of what a women’s rights advocate told me in Suva last year: An Ocean of Peace is women – and women are Oceans of Peace.
