Dignity 

What is dignity and why is it important?

We are all members of the society with a duty to fulfill.  When we are prevented from being able to meet that obligation to contribute, we lose our dignity.  Dignity is about agency and being able to take action on one’s own terms.  When we lose our dignity, we lose our self-respect. Humanity cannot thrive without self-respect.

“Dignity” in this initiative refers to two complementary human values. The first one is the natural recognition of worth that everyone deserves as human beings. This value highlights the significance of our beings regardless of nationality, gender, religion and other categories that defines our unique identities (human rights).  The other value is about the spiritual empowerment that can only be earned by fulfilling the cultural obligations of each individual. Dignity in this initiative refers to both inherent worth and spiritual power, the two common human denominator that can realize the vision of “unity in differences.” 

Oceania being the birthplace of anthropology, Pacific people strongly cherish the cultural value of gift giving where the three obligations to give, to receive, and to reciprocate a gift, forms the backbone of dignified relationships. The first obligation to give a gift denotes that giving a gift initiates a relationship. The second obligation looks at the receiving side and argues that the gift must be received, as refusing to accept a gift signifies rejecting that relationship. The third obligation argues that after receiving a gift, that gift must be reciprocated in order to sustain the dignity of both giver and receiver and this reciprocity also sets the two parties on equal footing, creating neutrality within the relationship. Reciprocity in Oceania is the cornerstone of all communities and failure to reciprocate results in loss of dignity or mana (spiritual authority). The gift giving system encourages hard work by individuals as it forbids anyone from abstaining from receiving; abstention would denote refraining from giving, which in turn means avoiding reciprocity.

This giving philosophy is strongly woven into the Pacific mindset as maintaining generosity within the community, knowing one’s defined status within the social structure, and using one’s full resources to demonstrate obligations to others. We argue that the PICs, having been trapped into the misinterpretations of “aid dependency”, could represent the outcome of not having a recipient country’s contributions acknowledged. By identifying ways to complete the gift giving cycle, we can expect recipient countries including the PICs to carefully design a better aid framework for achieving sustainable development, security and human rights.