UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 46) Tonga has continued to make commitments on the international, regional and national level to improve women’s political participation.
Para 47) Tonga is committed to Sustainable Development Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Para 48) 16 of 106 candidates for the 2014 General Elections were women, despite the high number of women, none were successful in the elections.
Para 49) However, after a Supreme Court ruling in January 2016 one of the members of Parliament was forced to vacate his seat. This led to a by-election in July 2016 that resulted in a female candidate being elected into Parliament.
Para 50) The November 2017 Elections has a total of 86 candidates, where 15 of those candidates are women.
Para 54) The Tongan Government introduced the Tonga Strategic Development Framework 2015-2025 in 2015 and one of the seven national outcomes is for a more inclusive sustainable and empowering human development with gender equality. This is supported by the following Organisational Outcomes under the Social Pillar: (a) improve gender equality by implementing the government’s gender development policy and ensuring a more balanced and effective engagement by both men and women in decision making and social, economic and political institutions (OO2.1e); …
Para 62) In 2014, the Legislative Assembly held the first ever Practice Parliament for Women in Tonga. This event was to increase the potential of women to become effective political leaders. It was to encourage and empower women to achieve their potential as leaders. This was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Para 65) The Tonga Revised National Policy on Gender and Development identified six Gender Equity Issues in Tonga namely: • … Unequal Political Representation and Participation in Decision-Making; …

UN Compilation:
Para 11) The United Nations country team reported that … in 2014, the Government introduced the revised national policy on gender and development, which focused on promoting equal access, participation and distribution of the benefits of the development process for all women, men and children. However, such measures had yet to be fully implemented.
Para 43) The United Nations country team emphasized that the representation of women in the Legislative Assembly remained extremely low, with currently only one woman representative.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 35) The low participation of women across the decision-making spectrum was of concern to JS1. Whilst there had been an increase in female appointed chief executive officers to government ministries, the appointment of women to the highest decision- making positions remained, in most places, stagnant. JS1 stated that, for example, there had been no women appointed judges since the last review, no female cabinet members and only one female in the Parliament following a bye-election in June 2016. In recognition of the Sustainable Development Goal 5.5, Parliament had approved a motion for two reserved seats for women. However, JS1 expressed concern that such a number (representing seven percent of the total number of parliamentarians) was low compared to UN standards and best practices. …JS1 noted that in June 2017, the King had invested a female as a Law Lord, which was deemed to have been a big step forward for women.
Para 36) According to JS1, the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act 2010 under which the Kingdom had been divided into 17 electoral constituencies – with one seat allocated per constituency – did not favour women candidates as it made it more difficult for women to compete with male candidates. It was even more difficult when there was a lack of support from political parties for women candidates.

National Report:
Para 52) Tonga announced that it is ready to ratify CEDAW at the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN General Assembly in New York on 12 March 2015.
Para 112) On 6 March 2015, His Majesty’s Cabinet approved for the Tonga to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Para 113) On 9 March 2015, Tonga made an international commitment during the 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
Para 114) Tonga is currently working on revising the reservations to CEDAW to be consistent with issues raised by the public before it can proceed to the ratification process.

UN Compilation:
Para 3) The United Nations country team stated that, in March 2015, the Cabinet had approved the process of ratification of the CEDAW, with a number of reservations pertaining to the accession to the throne, nobility, abortion and same-sex marriage. Progress had stalled due to public protest, particularly by women religious leaders associated with the church. In February 2017, the then Prime Minister called for public consultations on ratification with the participation of local women’s groups, given that the country was divided over the subject.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 3) JS1 highlighted that Tonga had not ratified the following instruments: the CEDAW and its OP, …
Para 7) JS1 reported that in 2015, the Government of Tonga had stated at the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York that it was ready to commence the process of ratifying CEDAW. However, a decision by the King in Privy Council put on hold the process, claiming that the decision of the Government to ratify CEDAW contradicted Clause 39 of the Constitution, which stipulated that only the King could make treaties.