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United States Institute of Peace

Camilla Pohle

Senior Program Specialist, Pacific Islands

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Please submit all media inquiries to interviews@usip.org or call 202.429.3869.

For all other inquiries, please call 202.457.1700

Camilla Pohle is a senior program specialist at USIP, where her work focuses on peace and stability in the Pacific Islands. 

Before joining USIP, she worked for the U.S. government as a political analyst covering the Pacific Islands, including their politics, security and foreign policy. 

Pohle holds a bachelor's degree in history from Mount Holyoke College.

Publications By Camilla

At Pacific Islands Forum, Tensions Flare Over Taiwan, Geopolitics and Climate

At Pacific Islands Forum, Tensions Flare Over Taiwan, Geopolitics and Climate

Thursday, September 5, 2024

By: Gordon Peake, Ph.D.;  Camilla Pohle;  Andrew Scobell, Ph.D.

Last week, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) met in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga, to discuss the challenges affecting the region. The PIF is an intergovernmental organization with the purpose of enhancing cooperation among the countries and territories of Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand, 14 independent Pacific Island countries, and France’s territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia. China and the United States interact with the PIF as dialogue partners and the Pacific Islands have emerged in recent years as another arena of great power competition.

Type: Question and Answer

Environment;  Global Policy

Japan-Pacific Islands Summit: Contending with Nuclear and Colonial Legacies

Japan-Pacific Islands Summit: Contending with Nuclear and Colonial Legacies

Thursday, July 25, 2024

By: Camilla Pohle

Last week, Pacific Island leaders flew to Tokyo for the Pacific Alliance Leaders Meeting (PALM), a summit between Japan and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). The meeting, which has occurred every three years since 1997, is designed to elevate Japan’s engagement with the forum and address common challenges, including climate change, fisheries and development.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

Explainer: What Caused the Recent Unrest in New Caledonia?

Explainer: What Caused the Recent Unrest in New Caledonia?

Thursday, May 23, 2024

By: Camilla Pohle

Violence engulfed New Caledonia last week as the French National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment that will undermine the political representation of the Pacific territory’s Indigenous Kanak people. During days of unrest unprecedented since the 1980s, security forces and protesters clashed across the archipelago, leaving six dead and hundreds injured. Buildings and vehicles were set on fire in the capital, Nouméa, while streets were barricaded throughout the territory, flights were grounded and New Caledonia was placed under a state of emergency.

Type: Question and Answer

Democracy & Governance;  Fragility & Resilience

China’s Edge in the Pacific Islands: Xi Jinping Makes Time for Leaders

China’s Edge in the Pacific Islands: Xi Jinping Makes Time for Leaders

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

By: Camilla Pohle

If the U.S. government wants an edge over China in the Pacific Islands, it needs to facilitate more meetings between the president of the United States and regional leaders, preferably one-on-one. When Pacific Island leaders fly to Beijing, they often have a one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but such a meeting between the leader of a Pacific Island country and a sitting president of the United States has never taken place. The White House has only conducted joint meetings with Pacific Island leaders. Sometimes even joint meetings don’t make the cut.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

The Untapped Potential of Grassroots Peacebuilding in Papua New Guinea

The Untapped Potential of Grassroots Peacebuilding in Papua New Guinea

Thursday, May 9, 2024

By: Gordon Peake, Ph.D.;  Camilla Pohle;  Zuabe Tinning

This past January, deadly riots in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, spilled over into other towns and cities across the nation. As the dust settled, many held the country’s struggling youth population responsible, at least partially, for kindling the widespread unrest. Papua New Guinea’s government responded by announcing ambitious plans to address a broad range of problems facing youth — a promising move.

Type: Blog

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

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