Human Rights Council

Thirty-eighth session

18 June–6 July 2018

Agenda item 6

Universal periodic review

Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review *

Tonga

Introduction

The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, held its twenty-ninth session from 15 to 26 January 2018. The review of Tonga was held at the 2nd meeting, on 15 January 2018. The delegation of Tonga was headed by the Solicitor General, Sione Sisifa. At its 10th meeting, held on 19 January 2018, the Working Group adopted the report on Tonga.

On 10 January 2018, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of Tonga: Angola, Slovakia and the United Arab Emirates.

In accordance with paragraph 15 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and paragraph 5 of the annex to Council resolution 16/21, the following documents were issued for the review of Tonga:

(a)A national report submitted/written presentation made in accordance with paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/29/TON/1);

(b)A compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/29/TON/2);

(c)A summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/29/TON/3).

A list of questions prepared in advance by Brazil, Germany, Liechtenstein, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was transmitted to Tonga through the troika. These questions are available on the website of the universal periodic review.

I.Summary of the proceedings of the review process

A.Presentation by the State under review

The delegation noted that, as a small Pacific island country, Tonga suffered from the challenges of its small size, geographic isolation, natural vulnerability and fragility and its limited human and financial resource base, which had a high cost in terms of social and community services as well as economic development. Unfortunately, the process of ensuring its compatibility and compliance with international human rights treaties represented a huge demand on its limited capacity. Despite such challenges, many of the underlying human rights principles enshrined in the core human rights conventions formed the basis for many Tongan laws. In addition, Tonga remained committed to pursuing the ratification of the core human rights conventions and intended to continue its active participation in the universal periodic review process.

Tonga still had not made formal commitments to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, due to human and financial resource constraints. However, its legislation, in particular its Constitution, enshrined many of the articles espoused in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Tongan courts also applied many of the human rights conventions in determining court cases, such as the 2005 case of R v. Vola, which had set an important and binding precedent in preventing arbitrary application of the death penalty.

The principles underlying the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had been incorporated into Tongan legislation, which included laws on gaining access to adequate health care and the rights to education, to a decent home, food and shelter, to fair wages and equal remuneration for equal value, and to take part in cultural life.

The 2013 Education Act had established a new compulsory school age of 4 to18 years. Furthermore, it had imposed a legal duty on parents to educate their children, and had introduced the principle of inclusive education for children with special needs and the right of all children under the age of 19 years to have access to quality education in Tonga, irrespective of the child’s gender, religion, socioeconomic status, physical condition or location.

The Health Services Act 1991, the Medical and Dental Practice Act 2001, the Mental Health Act 2001 and the Public Health Act 2008 protected the rights of a person to have access to medical and health services in Tonga. The Ministry of Health was in the process of reviewing some of these legal provisions to ensure compatibility with international health standards.

In 2016, Tonga had become the 187th member of the International Labour Organization (ILO), thereby reflecting its commitment to promoting and ensuring a decent work environment and the progressive realization of international labour standards at the national level. An employment relations bill 2013 had been drafted and was in the process of full public consultation.

On the issue of ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Tonga had announced that it was ready to ratify the Convention at the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, held at United Nations Headquarters on 12 March 2015. However, due to public protests, Tonga had had to defer the ratification process for further consultation. Through targeted and strategic consultations, Tonga continued to move towards ratification. In addition, the underlying principles of the Convention were being addressed through projects linked to the commitments of Tonga to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For Tonga, the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was an ongoing process and represented a generational change.

Tonga had a liberal maternity leave policy for public service employees, with three months’ paid maternity leave and five working days’ paternity leave. Tonga supported women’s economic empowerment activities through the identification of key women’s economic empowerment priorities in the National Community Development Plans, the sourcing of existing training opportunities and identification of funding as well as additional training as required. Furthermore, Tonga planned to develop an electronic registration system for community women’s development groups, strengthen networks and build partnerships between stakeholder groups and donors, and help female entrepreneurs to attend regional festivals and trade fairs. Women’s economic empowerment was a priority issue for Tonga. In its view, an important means for eradicating poverty was the provision of an environment that helped to ensure that women earned a decent income, were represented in both the formal and informal sectors and were given equal opportunities and education.

Tonga was implementing projects that addressed the issue of domestic violence, which had been identified as a major impediment to gender equality.

In May 2017, Tonga had conducted a holistic justice sector review and public consultation, which had led to the identification of projects to give women and children and vulnerable members of society and persons with disabilities better access to justice.

In December 2016, Tonga had set up a criminal policy Cabinet subcommittee to examine, analyse and address the issues of violence against vulnerable members of society, such as women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

In Tonga, women and men generally received equal pay for equal employment levels, for instance within the public service. The Tongan Armed Forces had recently reviewed their employment policies to ensure gender equality.

Tonga had no discriminatory legislation in relation to the participation of women in politics. However, women were less successful in securing membership in the Legislative Assembly. For example, in 2014, 16 of the 106 candidates in the general elections had been women. In the 2017 elections, only 15 of the 86 candidates had been women. One of the identified weak areas related to their techniques in campaigning and lobbying for votes. Accordingly, joint programmes were being run to help women to strengthen their campaigning techniques. In 2014, the Legislative Assembly had held the first ever Practice Parliament for Women, a United Nations Development Programme-backed event designed to help women to become effective political leaders. In the 2017 general elections, the 26-member Legislative Assembly had welcomed two successful female candidates to its ranks.

Tonga had a dedicated division for all matters relating to women’s development and empowerment issues under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Women’s Division was instrumental in working together with all relevant ministries and civil society to oversee and report on the effective implementation of the Family Protection Act 2013. Tonga was committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment through the implementation of the Act and the Revised National Policy on Gender and Development. New initiatives in 2017 had included gender mainstreaming activities in key ministries.

In September 2015, the third and final report of Tonga on the Millennium Development Goals had been submitted to the United Nations, showing progress in eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education.

In 2015, Tonga had introduced the Tonga Strategic Development Framework 2015–2025. One of the Framework’s seven national outcomes was for human development to be more inclusive, sustainable and empowering, with an emphasis on gender equality.

In July 2017, Tonga had been represented at a workshop and consultation meeting on gender training needs and design and gender profile information entitled “Promoting Evidence-Based Policymaking for Gender Equality”, organized by the Asian Development Bank. The workshop was aimed at developing national capacity for gender mainstreaming in health, fostering discussions on the role of statistics and gender indicators in decision-making, and identifying priorities for training and capacity-building.

Tongan women were increasingly represented in managerial and higher administrative positions, both within the Government and the private sector. Since 2013, 13 women had held or were holding senior positions in Government.

Tongan women also held diplomatic positions overseas. To date, the High Commissioner of Tonga to Australia, the Ambassador of Tonga to Japan, the Tonga Consul General in San Francisco, United States of America, and the Tongan Honorary Consuls for France, the Netherlands and Sweden were women.

Women held positions as directors, deputies or members on various public enterprise boards, including the Tonga Communications Corporation, the Tonga Broadcasting Commission, the Tonga Water Board, Tonga Post and Fast Print Limited, Tonga Airports Limited, Tonga Market Limited and the Ports Authority.

Tongan women also featured prominently in the private sector as successful owners and managers of small to medium businesses, including retail stores, cafés and restaurants, hotels, resorts and tourist facilities, catering services, handicraft and local produce market stalls, preschools and day-care child services.

Tongan women also held leadership roles in regional and international organizations. For instance, in May 2017, a Tongan woman had been appointed to the position of High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, the first Tongan to hold such a senior position in the United Nations.

In May 2014, Tonga had launched its Revised National Policy on Gender and Development as a result of a joint partnership between the Government, the private sector, civil society, the community and development partners.

In June 2017, Tonga had established a committee comprising relevant ministries, departments and agencies to consider the ratification of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and to review relevant legislation. Tonga had actively participated in relevant workshops in the region, such as the Convention against Torture Initiative regional workshop held in Fiji in October 2016, and a round-table meeting with the Initiative and OHCHR, in October 2017.

Although Tonga had legal provisions allowing whipping as a form of sanction, whipping was no longer considered an option for sentencing. In that regard, Tonga referred to the 2010 case of Fangupo v. R.

In Tonga, the Education (Schools and General Provisions) Regulations 2002 prohibited teachers from inflicting corporal punishment on any student. Furthermore, the Family Protection Act 2013 protected women and children from abuse and domestic violence.

Tonga did not tolerate police brutality. Since the enactment of the Tonga Police Act 2010, there had been a decrease in the rate of civil cases against the Tongan Police, mainly due to the internal disciplinary processes and procedures within the Act. The Ombudsman’s Office also provided an effective external mechanism within the political framework to deal with complaints against the police, which included police brutality.

On 6 June 2014, the National Policy on Disability and Inclusive Development 2014–2018 and the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had been approved. On 20 January 2015, Tonga had established the Social Protection and Disability Division under its Ministry of Internal Affairs as a focal point for persons with disabilities. In 2016, the Division had worked together with the Tongan Attorney General’s Office to review legislation to expedite ratification of the Convention. In 2017, the Division had conducted public consultations to raise awareness prior to the ratification. In June 2017, the Division had received technical assistance from the Pacific Islands Forums Secretariat and Pacific Office of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific to examine the ratification and legislative implementation of the Convention. In addition, the Attorney General’s Office had used its 2016 Law Week as a public awareness programme to highlight the rights of persons with disabilities. Legal provisions were already in place to enable persons with disabilities to enjoy the same political and social rights as all citizens.

Tonga continued to review and revise its Constitution to ensure that it enshrined recognized international principles of democracy and good governance. The Government’s constitutional review projects had been technically and financially assisted by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

In 2016, the Legislative Assembly had established a formal procedure for no-confidence votes to avoid delaying substantive work in processing legislation.

In November 2014, Tonga had held its second national election under the electoral sys