Book shows Pacific tribal war had modern conventions
Updated
'Under the Protection of the Palm: Wars of Dignity in the Pacific' is the title of a book examining if there are traditional protocols in tribal war in the Pacific that are similar to the Geneva Convention. The book shows traditional warfare is subject to humanitarian rules.
The Fiji Red Cross Society and the ICRC are encouraged that the results of the research show striking similarities to modern-day international humanitarian law as set out in the Geneva Conventions. Josua Tuwere describes the similarities.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Josua Tuwere, International Committee of the Red Cross in Suva
NOTE--You can download a free copy of the book 'Under the Protection of the Palm: Wars of Dignity in the Pacific' at http://www.icrc.org/eng/wars-of-dignity-pacific/
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TUWERE: Maybe just to give you a bit of history of the project itself, it came out of discussions we had with the late Tongan academic, Dr Langi Kavaliku, and we wanted to know, we were interested in perceptions in the Pacific of international humanitarian law, and he basically proposed and challenged us to discuss some common ground with the Pacific cultures. So that's how the project came about. And some of the things we found out like for example in Vanuatu the frond of the Lycas Palm, which now appears in the national flag, served in the traditional times as an emblem of protection and immunity in times of warfare. For example a man may walk anywhere in war as long as he holds up the frond of the Lycas palm and carries no weapons, that's a direct quote from the research itself. And this is consistent with different articles in the Geneva Convention, so that's some of the more concrete examples from this search, and for us it helps dispel the notion that or helped us, encouraged us to dispel the notion that laws of warfare were not just a foreign thing, but actually contained in the Pacific cultures themselves.
COUTTS: And it also takes into account Oceania developed, over centuries, behaviour and rituals that protected women and children in particular. What were some of those conventions?
TUWERE: We find that for example in Tuvalu one of the things the research found was that, this is again a direct quote, to kill women and children was considered an immensely shameful thing to do as a man. A man must only attack another man of equal strength, that's another direct quote itself, and it's again consistent with additional protocol 1 Article 48, there are obligations to distinguish between the civilian population and combatants, as well as between civilian objects and military objectives. So I mean it's good because a lot of the literature that comes out that was written in the 18th, 19th century sort of portrays warfare by Pacific Islanders as blood thirsty cannibals, savages and so it's important to dispel the notion that yes, there was warfare, there was a lot of bloodshed, but there was also unwritten rules within the cultures themselves that really helped put limits and stops to a lot of the savagery.
COUTTS: Well speaking about that savagery, we do know that cannibalism did take part in earlier years throughout the Pacific. Where does that fit into this kind of convention?
TUWERE: It doesn't, the research itself doesn't ignore the fact that cannibalism did happen, the point of the research was not to dispel that or to ignore that, but we found that even with a context of such savagery there were humanitarian principles being implemented and acted upon in the different cultures of the Pacific.
COUTTS: And the book is launched today in Brisbane I understand, "Under the Protection of the Palm: Wars of Dignity in the Pacific", who's it published by?
TUWERE: We published the book in Sydney at our Sydney office; it is indeed being launched tonight in Brisbane at the Queensland State Library, Stanley Street, Southbank Brisbane. And I believe Her Excellency, Ms Penelope Wensley, the Governor of Queensland will also launch the book and so it's being organised by the ICRC and the Australian Red Cross, and the keynote speech will be delivered by His Excellency, Lemalu Tate Simi, the High Commissioner for Samoa.
