On a Fast Track to Freedom

Just as Australia is weary of South Pacific micro-states, New Zealand is quietly engaged in the business of creating a new one‹Tokelau.

It is not as if Tokelauans, all 1500 of them, are crying out for freedom from Wellington's oppression, nor are New Zealand's taxpayers calling for relief from the burden, around NZ$8 million a year. The problem is that a handful of New Zealand diplomats are awfully embarrassed about being on a United Nations' list of "colonies".

Tokelauans are being put through the hoops to decide whether they want independence, self-government in free association with New Zealand, or full integration with New Zealand. By various vague measures, diplomats have got their way and Tokelau is heading towards the self-government option, the same as the increasingly discredited model used for the Cook Islands and Niue. So talks have been underway to create the world's ultimate microstate, a nation without a capital, an airport or a harbour, a new head of state every year, and with most of its citizens living in another country. Tokelau would not be the world's smallest state: the Vatican has 800 people living in 0.44 square kilometres of land.

"They want to make Tokelau independent because to some diplomats it is embarrassing to have the UN going there now and again and inspecting the place," one insider, who did not want to be named said, adding that Tokelauans were quietly told: "Forget what we call it, just negotiate terms of the continuing relationship".

Tokelau, made up of the three atolls of Atafu (600 people), Nukunonu (400) and Fakaofo (500), atolls with a combined land area of just 17.5 square kilometres (seven square miles), is 480 kilometres north of Samoa. Around 5000 Tokelauans live in New Zealand.

The UN decolonisation list now runs to 16 names, five of them are in the Pacific‹although not including the colonies of French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna. On the list are American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guam, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Tokelau, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, and Western Sahara.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Phil Goff says Tokelau has decided to explore the self-government option ahead of a possible "act of self-determination" under UN supervision.

"New Zealand has already acknowledged that due to Tokelau's size and isolation it will require ongoing economic and administrative support, even after an act of self-determination," he says.

The act was some way off but Goff said many would argue that Tokelau, for all practical purposes, had been governing itself for sometime and has responsibility for its own budget, law making and administrative decision-making. Tokelau did generate some of its own money through fishing licences, coins, stamps, copra and handicraft, in addition to the around NZ$8 million New Zealand puts in. It also has a trust fund.

Each atoll puts up a Ulu o Tokelau or Head of Tokelau for a year, and the current Ulu, Patuki Isaako from Atafu, told a meeting in March on self government that the "key to a self-governing Tokelau is to strengthen the Council of Elders on each of the three villages."

It is a big ask for a country whose main administrative office is in another country; neighbouring Samoa. Late last year, the then Ulu, Kolouei O'Brien on behalf of Tokelau, signed a "joint statement of the principles of partnership between New Zealand and Tokelau". Signing for New Zealand was a junior minister, Associate Pacific Island Affairs Minister, Phillip Field.

The principles, which attracted no public debate in New Zealand, affirmed the "ongoing relationship, to honour their shared past and to build upon the close historical, social and cultural links between their people". The principles say self-determination is an important goal for both New Zealand and Tokelau.

"New Zealand and Tokelau affirm their commitment to work in partnership with the United Nations to achieve a self-determination outcome that fits the local Tokelauan context and has the support of the Tokelauan people. Where a self-determination option involves an ongoing relationship between Tokelau and New Zealand, the partners acknowledge that the nature of that relationship will be one that is acceptable to both."

The principles acknowledge New Zealand's obligations for economic support to Tokelau "as long as Tokelau retains a constitutional relationship with New Zealand".

In a tortured piece of language at the bottom of the statement, the international lawyers tried to give a nod in the direction of Tokelauans in New Zealand, while making it clear that they really did not matter: "In terms of New Zealand/Tokelau relations, the primary link is between New Zealand and Tokelau."

There would be mutual benefit in continued engagement with the Tokelauan community in New Zealand: "This engagement will strengthen and reinforce the cultural identity of Tokelauans resident in New Zealand. It will also maximise the potential of the Tokelauan community in New Zealand, in terms of support and assistance for Tokelau."

The Tokelauan community "should be informed about developments in Tokelau's relationship with New Zealand, constitutional developments concerning Tokelau, and other issues of potential interest or concern to the Tokelauan community in New Zealand," says the principles.

While Tokelau escapes much of the world's attention, independence will pose a modest problem in Washington: Tokelauans have a long standing claim on a piece of the United States. Nearby Swains Atoll‹known to Tokelauans as Olosega‹is part of American Samoa but until 1980 New Zealand claimed it. Wellington renounced its claim while Washington in reply gave up conquering Tokelau.

Tokelau says New Zealand had no right to do that and wants it back.