The United Nations staged its first-ever treaty law workshop in the Pacific this week, bringing together senior officials from Pacific Islands Forum member countries, judges, legislators and regional legal experts for three days of training and dialogue aimed at strengthening how Pacific states engage with international treaties.
Organised by the Treaty Section of the UN Office of Legal Affairs and coordinated in the region by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Workshop on Treaty Law and Practice in the Pacific is being run in collaboration with the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore and with support from Austria. Participants included officials from ministries of foreign affairs and other government agencies alongside representatives from judicial and legislative branches of Forum governments. The programme covered treaty negotiation, signature, ratification, implementation and participation in the UN treaty system.
“For the Pacific, hosting the workshop represents an important milestone, reflecting the increasing engagement of Pacific countries with international law and the global treaty system,” Forum Secretary General Baron Divavesi Waqa said, noting the sessions offered both technical guidance and a forum for officials to share practical national experiences. Organisers said the event was designed to translate international legal obligations into implementable domestic measures and to boost the region’s capacity to advance its priorities in global negotiations.
Workshop discussions highlighted recent examples of Pacific influence in treaty-making. Delegates noted the region’s leadership role in developing the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), the Pacific-led financial instrument intended to bolster community resilience to climate change and disasters. Participants also reflected on the Pacific’s significant contributions to the negotiations that produced the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), adopted under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
A persistent theme was the need to strengthen national capacities to engage across all stages of the treaty cycle so Pacific perspectives and priorities — from sustainable development and ocean governance to climate action and regional cooperation — are reflected in international law. Workshop speakers emphasised that technical legal expertise within ministries, parliaments and judiciaries, as well as practical tools for treaty implementation, are essential if Forum members are to shape global decision-making and to translate agreements into local outcomes.
Organisers framed the workshop as part of broader efforts to reinforce regional cooperation under the Vision 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific, which seeks long-term, integrated approaches to ocean governance and resilience. The UN, regional organisations and academic partners said ongoing collaboration will be needed to provide Pacific governments with the technical advice and training required to navigate complex treaty processes.
The three-day gathering is the latest step in increasing legal engagement by Pacific states at the UN and other multilateral fora. While no formal outcomes were announced at its close, organisers said the workshop was intended to seed follow-up capacity-building, advisory support and deeper regional coordination on treaty strategy and implementation.
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