'Earth's last paradise' votes on its political future

By David Barber Feb 12, 2006, 16:43 GMT

Wellington - Tokelau, a group of microdot coral islets in the middle of the South Pacific that calls itself the last paradise on earth, will go to the polls next week in a referendum to decide whether to cast off its historic colonial shackles and acquire self-government.

Set halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii, with no airport, a 28-hour boat ride away from its nearest neighbour and most of its people living overseas, it is the ultimate away-from-it-all ministate.

But if the 600-odd voters decide to end Tokelau's 111 years as a colony first of Britain and then New Zealand, it will still fall short of being a sovereign independent country.

A 'yes' vote in the referendum on February 13-14 will see Tokelau become self-governing in free association with New Zealand.

In practice, this will be a small change from its present status as a non-self-governing territory of New Zealand, but in international law an important one.

It will see Tokelau removed from the United Nations list of 16 Non-Self Governing Territories and open the way for the population of about 1,600 to receive aid from other countries previously withheld by diplomatic protocols that saw it as solely New Zealand's colonial responsibility.

New Zealand is not seeking to cut its colony adrift and is strictly neutral on the vote, but it has been under subtle pressure from the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation, which has sent six delegations to Tokelau since 1976, to encourage self-reliance.

Tokelau is the only dependant territory on the list anywhere near achieving self-government and the committee has praised New Zealand's 'exemplary cooperation' and dubbed it a 'case study with wider significance for the United Nations as it seeks to complete its work in decolonisation.'

Neil Walter, a New Zealand diplomat who will be his country's last official administrator of Tokelau if there is a 'yes' vote, said, 'In practice, they have run themselves for a long time to all intents and purposes.

'It's already operating effectively as a country in its own right.'

But he said Tokelau, which remains a traditional Polynesian community, could not sensibly be run in the 21st century from a developed nation 3,000 kilometres away, and it was right and proper that it formally manage its own affairs.

Tokelau is governed by a parliament comprised of village chiefs and its constitution says, 'The villages are the source of all authority in Tokelau.' Tokelau's three main coral atolls cover only 12.2 square kilometres of land spread over 160 kilometres of ocean. None of the 128 islets set in their reef-fringed lagoons is wider than 200 metres or more than five metres above sea level.

There is only a handful of vehicles and the resident population is well outnumbered by the 8,000 or so Tokelauans who live in New Zealand, Australia and Samoa, 500 kilometres to the south.

Many who were born and live in New Zealand are disappointed that they are not allowed to vote in the referendum, but Walter says this is in line with UN advice that only permanent residents should decide such issues.

Discovered 260 years ago by a British navy ship looking for mutineers from Captain William Bligh's HMS Bounty, Tokelau was claimed by Britain in 1889 and passed its administration to New Zealand in 1926. If they vote 'yes', Tokelauans will remain New Zealand citizens and New Zealand has pledged to keep up financial aid which accounts for 80 per cent of the budget, the rest coming from fishing licence fees, copra, handicrafts, stamps and coins.

A vote in favour will see the new self-governing Pacific island state born on a yet to be decided Self Government Day towards the end of the year.