Ethnic and racial cleavages in pacific Island constitutions

Prosecuting in paradise – race, politics and the rule of law in Fiji

“…52 Colonialism often encouraged widescale migration of persons from mixed racial and ethnic groups that were quite dissimilar to the resident indigenous population. 53 Similar disturbances have occurred in other Pacific Island Nations. 54 In New Caledonia, the indigenous liberation movement, which sought to free the island of its French rulers, attempted to polarise the population along Kanak-non Kanak lines and eventually staged a ruthlessly suppressed rebellion in 1984-1989.…”

“…1 The communal divisions are essentially a legacy of British imperialism, beginning in 1874 when Ratu 2 Seru Cakobau, then the dominant chief in Fiji, invited Britain to take the islands over. 3 The population is largely composed of two very distinct communities: the indigenous Fijians and the Indo-Fijians.…”

Extreme weather events in Small Island Developing States: barriers to climate change adaptation among coastal communities in a remote island of Fiji

“…There are four villages: the administrative centre, Tabwewa in the far north, and Uma, Tabiang, and Buakonikai, as shown by Figure 1. Rabi is home to around 5,000 Banaba people, descendants of those who were forcibly migrated in 1945 from Banaba Island, Kiribati, as their island was degraded by colonial phosphate mining (Meller, 1997). The islanders retain their Banaba culture and language.…”