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 135) Although Tonga has not considered ratifying ICCPR, the Courts in Tonga have referred to and applied this convention.

Para 136) In R v Vola [2005] Tonga LR 404 the court did not hesitate in applying international cases and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), notwithstanding that they did not apply directly to Tonga or that Tonga had yet to ratify the covenant. It was recognized that the principles set out in the covenant and in the numerous authorities cited were reflective of the circumstances exercised in relation to the death penalty. The court was not hindered by the Kingdom's non-ratification.

Para 139) Although Tonga has not considered ratifying ICESCR and CRC-OPS, principles in ICESCR are incorporated in the Tongan laws, which include a right to adequate health care, right to an education, and the right to a decent home, food and shelter, the right to fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value, right to take part in cultural life.
- Education Act: s.52 requires compulsory education between the ages of 6 and 13 inclusive for everyone.
- Medical Services Act: s.9 provides that the primary object of the public medical service is to provide accommodation and medical and surgical aid for all Tongan subjects without individual payment.
- Retirement Fund Act: includes benefit for total and permanent disability.
- Nationality (Amendment) Act 2007: allows Tongan women who marry non- Tongan citizens, and their children, to retain their Tongan nationality.
- Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act 1999: allows marital rape to be prosecuted.

UN Compilation:
Para 2) UNHCR underlined that Tonga had acceded to the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), but was not party to any other international human rights treaty.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 1) The Civil Society Organisation - Human Rights Task Force, including the Civil Society Forum of Tonga, the Ma'a Fafine mo e Famili Inc, the Women and Children Crisis Centre, the Friendly Island Human Rights and Democracy Movement, the Friendly Island Teacher Association, the Tonga Women National Congress and the Tonga Leitis Association (CSO HRTF) noted that Tonga had ratified only a few of the human rights core conventions: the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Tonga had also become a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Para 2) CSO HRTF underscored that Tonga had not ratified the following treaties: the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)