Essay by Eric Worrall
Al Jazeera claims to have seen a leaked memo detailing the USA’s “strong objections” to Vanuatu’s actions. But there is a lot more to this story.
US pressures Vanuatu at UN over ICJ’s landmark climate change ruling
Cable seen by Al Jazeera says the US ‘strongly objects’ to the island nation seeking support for ICJ’s landmark climate ruling.
By Lyndal Rowlands and News Agencies
Published On 14 Feb 202614 Feb 2026
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A US State Department cable seen by Al Jazeera on Saturday says that the Trump administration “strongly objects” to the proposed resolution being circulated by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in support of last year’s ruling by the ICJ – the UN’s top court.
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“We are strongly urging Vanuatu to immediately withdraw its draft resolution and cease attempting to wield the Court’s Advisory Opinion as a basis for creating an avenue to pursue any misguided claims of international legal obligations,” a copy of the cable seen by Al Jazeera states.
…Louis Charbonneau, Human Rights Watch’s director at the UN, urged support for Vanuatu’s draft resolution on Friday, saying “governments should live up to their obligation” to protect human rights around the world by protecting the environment.
“Responsible governments shouldn’t allow themselves to be bullied by those that reject the global scientific consensus and continue to support reliance on harmful fossil fuels,” he said.
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Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/14/us-pressures-vanuatu-at-un-over-icjs-landmark-climate-change-ruling
Vanuatu has one of the nicest cultures of any place I’ve ever visited, especially outside the capital Port Vila. My favourite place was Port Luganville. I decided to walk back into town from my cruise, when a tour operator who had just finished dropping everyone off at the cruise liner asked if I wanted a lift. I said “sure, thanks”, then asked them where the best steak restaurant was. They took me to a place where for US $3 I had one of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten – raising beef cattle is big business in Vanuatu. The tour operators who gave me a lift, I offered to buy them lunch or a beer, to say thank you for showing me the restaurant, they said, “sorry, we’ve got to get back to work”. That was my lasting impression of Luganville – tropical paradise, no hustle, people dressed in rags waving and smiling from across the street, no panhandlers, and lots of kindness.
Vanuatu’s capital city Port Vila is faster paced. You have to be more careful in Port Vila. Like most poor nations, in Vanuatu you are most likely to get into trouble in the capital city. But even so the crime risk in most of Port Vila is nothing like the scale of crime risk you face in cities like Fiji’s Suva or Phillipines Manila.
Sadly no place is perfect. In Vanuatu, some of the people nobody wants in their village leave and become politicians.
The locals I spoke to hate their politicians, but in a place like Vanuatu, there’s not a lot an ordinary person can do to stop questionable use of public funds. A taxi driver who took me on a tour around Port Vila, pointing out the sites, described the parliament building as “corruption house number one”. Then he pointed to a large, under-utilised convention center built with Chinese money and said “corruption house number two”.
Vanuatu is drowning in debt, they signed up to Belt and Road in 2018, and have struggled with repayments ever since. There are real concerns that borrowed money has been wasted, including questions over the “gifted” Chinese money used to build the Vanuatu Presidential Palace.
I’m sure most Vanuatu people are horrified their government is taking actions which are offending the USA. The people of Vanuatu love the USA, they have a story telling culture, and there are powerful cultural memories of how the USA built a large military base to defend Vanuatu against the Japanese in WW2.
But I doubt Vanuatu will back off from pursuing climate claims against the USA, no matter how much ICJ climate court action offends the USA or upsets the Vanuatu people. The Vanuatu government is too desperate for cash, and are utterly desperate to keep their Chinese creditors happy.
Why would China lend so much money to a place which obviously can’t pay them back? Why would China want a small island nation under their thumb, a place so mired in debt they stay afloat only by the generosity of their Chinese creditors?
Only the Chinese know what they are thinking when they lent Vanuatu all that money, but it’s interesting that not all the infrastructure loans were wasted. That Luganville port my cruise liner docked at – a surprisingly good port for such as low income place. For some reason when Vanuatu asked the Chinese to build a civilian port for the tourist industry, the Chinese instead built a military grade deep water port of thick reinforced concrete, large enough for warships. I’m sure that was all just some kind of misunderstanding, nothing to do with Espiritu Santo, the island where the city of Luganville is, being a mountainous place with lots of rugged defensible terrain, a mere 1200 miles from the North East coast of Australia. I’m sure its also just a coincidence that Australia recently reinforced a major combined army and air force base in Townsville, close to the shortest sea route between Luganville and the Australian coast.
If you do visit Vanuatu, and you will have a wonderful time if you do, you still need to take precautions. Make sure you purchase top quality holiday health insurance. Vanuatu’s medical system is a little basic. Seek medical advice before you travel. If you have any serious health problems you’ll probably need a medivac to Brisbane or Singapore. Bring some Malaria pills, and ensure you have all the usual vaccinations for visiting such places.
Vanuatu is a lovely place to visit with a laid back friendly culture, by far my favourite Pacific Island holiday destination. But one area where corners have been cut due to public cash shortages is mosquito spraying.
