The 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women opened yesterday (27 April) with the host government of French Polynesia calling for making the inclusion and empowerment of women a top priority for the region.

The Honourable Isabelle Sachet, Minister for Family, Social Affairs and Feminine Condition of French Polynesia made this call during her remarks at the opening session of the Conference. The Hon. Sachet said that the COVID pandemic had brought about serious challenges for the advancement of gender equality in the region and that this was threatening to reverse some of the gains made over the last decade.

Hon. Sachet told the conference participants that, “In our efforts to fight COVID-19 and promote economic and social recovery, we need to focus on the specific needs of women and on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action on Gender Equality. We need to make the protection of women’s rights an interest and a priority of our agenda…by widening their participation in working life and fight the infringement of their rights.”

Hon. Sachet further noted that while “COVID-19 is a huge unprecedented challenge, it gives us an opportunity to reflect and to reshape our future. Our world needs to commit to a more egalitarian inclusive and sustainable development path.”

The Pacific Community’s (SPC) Director General, Dr Stuart Minchin, echoed this sentiment reminding participants and high-level representatives from around the region of need to work cooperatively and collaboratively as a region on Gender Equality as a key component of the Pacific’s overall development goals.

“Today we're faced with more frequent and severe tropical cyclones flooding, droughts, and now with the added burden of the COVID-19 pandemic, we're at a critical point in Pacific history. Greater levels of political commitment are required to ensure that our collective efforts are gender responsive on all fronts. Gender equality and empowerment must be at the core of our regional and national planning actions, policy development and funding allocations.” Dr Minchin said.

As part of his opening remarks, he shared his optimism around the Beijing Declaration’s 25-year anniversary regional review report noting that the Pacific has made significant progress in the area of gender equality and women’s human rights, but also noted that there was still a long road ahead.  

Dr Minchin also highlighted the launch of SPC’s Social and Environment Responsibility policy in October 2020 which has prompted “More SPC programmes to  undertake gender assessments of their respective sectors such as energy disaster risk management and climate change. SPC staff emerge from those undertakings with renewed energy and the understanding that by empowering women at every level of our work, we can dramatically improve the impact, effectiveness and sustainability of everything we do.”

The Triennial Conference represents a unique opportunity for the Pacific and remains a high priority event for all regional stakeholders, despite the challenges created by the COVID pandemic. Over 1000 participants are registered combining their perspectives, experience and expertise to this critical subject.

In closing Hon. Sachet gave high praise to all the participants and reminded how important their work is to the future of the region saying, “To the development partners and organizations of civil society, thank you all for your commitment. Your support has been very important to make this project a reality, to build a world where women are free from any type of discrimination and build an inclusive society. We still have a lot of work to do. And we need to ramp up our efforts. Let's go ahead with our common efforts to make sure that gender equality is a reality and to promote the cause of women throughout the Pacific.”

The Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and the 7th Meeting of the Pacific Ministers for Women, coordinated by SPC takes place from 27 – 29 April and 4 May respectively (Fiji Time). For more news, information and updates from this regional meeting, please visit: https://www.spc.int/pacificwomentriennial

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division

The Pacific Community (SPC) has launched the Pacific Beijing Platform for Action plus 25 report (BPA+25) at its 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.

The BPA+25 report focuses on the progress in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) in Pacific Island Countries and Territories.

The BPA was unanimously adopted as an outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. It became the global agenda to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. 2020 was a key year as it marked 25 years of implementation of the BPA. This publication brings together key information on how the region has progressed.

The report shares the on-going dialogue and collaborations between governments, civil society organisations, development partners and communities on strategic actions to accelerate progress to achieve gender equality.

It also presents some significant advances in the implementation of the BPA in all 12 critical areas of concern.

These advances include investments that increases access to health services and education for women and girls resulting in positive outcomes; enactment of domestic violence legislation in most Pacific Island Countries and Territories; increase in women’s participation in the labour force; implementation of measures to increase the number of women in leadership and decision-making in some nations.

Delivering her keynote address at the launch event, French Polynesian writer and poet, Flora Aurima Devatine said the BPA+25 will become a wonderful resource that can be utilised in the various work to further gender equality.

“This publication documents the implementation of the BPA and its challenges and compiles the comprehensive national reports that were submitted on the BPA+25 and the voluntary national reviews on the progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This publication is an opportunity to document the work that we have all done in the region, celebrate the progress that has been done and committing to address the gaps,” Ms Devatine said.

SPC’s Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) division Director, Miles Young said, “The publication is an opportunity to share the progress made by the Pacific when it comes to gender equality. It also recognises there is still much to do to ensure women and girls in our region are able to equally access resources and achieve equitable outcomes and improve their lives more generally.”

The BPA envisages a world where each women and girl can exercise freedoms and choices, and realise their rights, live free from violence, protect and preserve our physical environment, to go to school, to participate in decisions and to earn equal pay for equal work.

The BPA contains 12 critical areas of concerns and sets out the strategic framework and key actions to realise gender equality. These critical areas include poverty, power and decision-making, violence against women, and the environment. The BPA is a far-sighted blueprint for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment globally, and endures as one of the most influential international policy frameworks for women’s human rights.

In the concluding reflections in the BPA+25 report, Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade CEO,  Peseta Simi stated that achieving gender equality and women’s economic empowerment requires transformative economic and social policy agendas that are firmly anchored within a human rights framework, and that greater efforts are essential to mobilise and increase domestic and international resources for gender equality, including official development assistance.

“The full and equal participation of women at all levels of decision-making to influence the planning, implementation and monitoring of policies, is essential. Achieving gender equality requires the involvement of everyone, and is the responsibility of all stakeholders,” she stated.

The BPA +25 is currently undergoing minor amendments and will be made available in due time.

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division

TOKSAVE- Pacific Gender Resource, an online portal which aims to make quality Pacific Gender research and knowledge accessible and discoverable, was officially launched at the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women side- event on 23 April 2021.

University students, academics, and researchers in the field of gender research will be able to get information from this mobile and user-friendly online platform that currently have over 600 research articles.

Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of School of Law and Social Science at the University of the South Pacific (USP), Margaret Mishra says TOKSAVE brings together research that studies the production, reproduction and resistance to norms that produce inequality across all genders.

“By having access to resources about men, women, Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex communities, we can better understand how gender is performed, and woven into our everyday lives.

“We are in a better position to critique the structures and the practices that contribute to our oppression,” Mishra said.  

Mishra added that "TOKSAVE will offer a safe space for us to critically evaluate inequalities, highlighted through our research. Through these dialogues, we can bring about change in our homes, in our communities in our countries, the region and the world.”

Associate Professor of Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, Yvonne Underhill-Sem says TOKSAVE will highlight the pre-existing research and grow a community of researchers.

“We wanted it to be sure that it [TOKSAVE portal] highlighted the research that was happening in our region, the ways it was done, and the connections to other older researches and research entities.

“We also need to build new generations of researchers who have the courage and confidence to be innovative and creative, so that we can bring those insights and make the kind of difference we really want.

“TOKSAVE belongs to the people, and it is your one stop platform for gender research in the Pacific,” Yvonne said.

The TOKSAVE online resource was put together by a Reference Group made up of representatives from the University of the South Pacific, National University of Samoa, University of Papua New Guinea, University of Auckland, Australian National University, and the Pacific Community (SPC).

The portal can be accessed here and is live now.

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division

Building alliances to address social issues affecting women and girls is the focus of ministries and organizations attending the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women scheduled to take place virtually from 27 – 29 April (Fiji Time).

Deputy CEO and Head of Women’s Affairs and Gender Equality Division (WAGED) in Tonga’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Polotu Fakafanua-Paunga says issues affecting women are cross-cutting, therefore finding solutions should be a united effort of ministries and governments across the region.

“It is very important that information of good practices, and solutions of different country government stakeholders and civil society organisations are shared at the triennial,” Fakafanua said.

She highlighted that “Gender mainstreaming is a way to go with regards to integrating and promoting gender equality across sectors.”

“There are other ways so we could learn what would and would not work from each country so there are lessons learnt from each other,” Fakafanua added.

Hence, in the spirit of sharing information, networking and building alliances, Fakafanua shares some insights of issues affecting women and girls in Tonga ahead of the conference that commenced this week.

Teenage Pregnancy - A challenge for young girls to complete education

One of the key issues and challenge identified by Fakafanua is the issue of teenage pregnancies. Tongan girls that get pregnant while still in school are given no other options apart from leaving school so the opportunity to continue their education stops there.

Fakafanua highlighted that girls are also made to either marry the father of the child or stay at home to look after the child.

She says that despite the number of girls attaining scholarship throughout the years, more males are able to complete their studies as compared to females.

“At the end, at universities, there are more returning male scholars than female because it is the child baring age for women, and some of them would get married or build a family.”

Fakafanua further stated that the lack of awareness, poor policies and infrastructure, and the lack of support from families has been a barrier for young teenage mothers who wish to complete their education.

“Young teenage mothers do not have the support of external family during childbearing year, it is the mother that stays home till the child is old enough then the mother resumes work.

“This shows we need to build an infrastructure to address teenage pregnancies upfront, but also strengthen the change in social and cultural norm,” Fakafanua noted.

“We need to look beyond that, at how we can build an enabling environment so that these unwanted pregnancies are no longer a problem.”

Tongan Women turn to traditional medicine due to stigmatisation on NCD

Although women in Tonga have access to reproductive health and health-services in general, stigmatisation on health-related issues such as non-communicable diseases (NCD) have caused women to seek traditional remedies rather than visit health clinics for proper care and advice.

Cultural and religious norms is another contributing factor to why people seek traditional medication.

“When it comes to sexual reproductive health, we still need to be sensitive about cultural and religious norms because as we know, what makes a country is its culture.

“Therefore, the traditional take on modern medicine and the stigmatisation of health issues such as NCDs, makes women move towards traditional medication,” said Fakafanua.

Fakafanua says there is a need to carry out awareness programmes for people to see hospitals and health clinics as their first focal point whenever they are sick.

“We need to contextualise and maximise the awareness on the importance of seeking medical assistance from hospitals and health clinics.

“Now that health clinics are available in rural and remote areas, there should not be any excuses for still- born children and so forth in this time and age,” she said.

Low reporting on domestic violence issues

Some women would not admit, and or be silent about domestic violence because reporting it is seen as “airing dirty laundry” says Fakafanua.

She said that when violent acts are not reported, the domestic violence cycle continues, and this has plummeted the economy as well.

“The cycle of domestic violence can continue with your children, and this cycle will not end as these children come from families experiencing violent acts.

“Studies have shown that the economic cost of violence to a country includes cost of missing work, cost of treatment at the hospital, cost from the police, and cost from centres women seek help from.

“There is also emotional cost within the family and the community because of the domestic violence experienced from home,” Fakafanua said.

Fakafanua said it’s important for individuals going through violence to acknowledge the abuse and seek help.

“Seeking assistance is important, and this should be normalised through communications and media representation.

“Women can also face depression as a result of domestic violence, and it is important to know that depression does not discriminate or look at the class or status of the person.

“The more help you seek, the more empowered you feel,” Fakafanua said.

Unequal Power - A barrier for Tongan Women in the Economy

Having most men holding rights to the land creates an uneven playing field for women to involve and engage in the informal sector and subsistence micro enterprises says Polotu Fakafanua-Paunga.

Fakafanua adds that women should have access to credit collateral and other financial services as it is their bread and butter.

“In Tonga, we have these grants for women, and it is very popular that it was the first to be exhausted in the Ministry.

“It just speaks a lot about the demand for the level of engagement of women in the informal sector.”

She said the role of women is different regarding engagement in rural areas and it requires the support of government ministries.

“Increasing opportunities in terms of collateral for women’s initiatives for women should be governments priority.

“Tonga has come a long way since establishing the Women’s extension sector in 1968 and the Women’s affairs division in 1993.

“Having the recognition and collective commitment for women’s empowerment in formal and informal sector such as the case of Tonga is what we can share with other countries during the triennial,” she said.

It will take time to have women in power and decision making

Fakafanua believes it will take some time for women to have equal participation in politics and decision making because some do not see themselves in such spaces.

Cultural norms throughout generations have also influenced why some women may feel these spaces should only be reserved for men.

Fakafanua says creating an enabling, supportive environment would give women the confidence and voice to be equal in decision making processes.

“We need to have interventions to support women’s participation in decision making, as well as in parliament.

“We have to start getting women to register for voting at the elections, and also encouraging and supporting potential women candidates who are already in these spaces,” says Fakafanua.

The 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women starting tomorrow will be discussing critical areas concerning women’s human rights and gender equality in the region.

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division

Note: This Media Release has been cross-posted from the Pacific Women website.

More than 650 participants registered to join a panel of Pacific speakers today to map women’s empowerment through a ‘Snakes and Ladders’ activity, in the lead up to the Pacific Community’s Triennial Conference of Pacific Women next week.

The panel and its interactive ‘Snakes and Ladders’ tool illustrated the multiple factors that can create opportunities or pitfalls on the journey towards women’s economic empowerment.

‘From participation to power: mapping economic pathways to women’s empowerment’, one of the side events held in the margins of the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women, was convened by the Pacific Women Support Unit in partnership with CARE Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu Skills Partnership.

‘Today we learned about successful, practical approaches used by partners in the Pacific to ensure that women don’t just earn more money, but are also empowered to make decisions about themselves and their income, having a greater say in their homes and communities,’ said Tara Chetty, Partnerships Lead, Pacific Women Support Unit.

‘It’s important for those of us working in this sector to learn about how diverse women in the Pacific navigate economic pathways to empowerment – all the more so in the wake of COVID-19 as women and girls are being disproportionately impacted,’ Ms Chetty said.

Guest speakers for the ‘From participation to power: mapping economic pathways to women’s empowerment’ Triennial side event were:

• Elsie Mongoru, CARE International in Papua New Guinea (PNG)
• Fremden Shadrack, Vanuatu Skills Partnership
• Gabriella Marimyas, Pacific Women Support Unit.

Elsie Mongoru, Program Manager, CARE International in PNG said: ‘we know that strong cultural and economic norms around women’s and men’s roles often disadvantage women in their homes, in their communities, and also at work. That’s why we work with corporations, individuals as well as families to change perceptions, behavior and practices.’

‘Our programs prove that practices that discriminate and disadvantage women can change. It is important to work with both women and men for changing social norms in households,’ Ms Mongoru said.

‘We work to make visible the role women contribute in household livelihoods. We encourage men to take up a fair share of the responsibilities in their homes and to support the participation of their wives in decision making.’
Fremden Shadrack, Director, Vanuatu Skills Partnership, highlighted the importance of empowered women.

‘When women are able to realise their full potential, our nation as a whole benefits – a skilled and empowered population of both men and women is needed for our independence and prosperity,’ Mr Shadrack said.

‘From participation to power’ is one of the side events held in the margins of the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women registering more than 1000 delegates across the Pacific through a combination of in person and virtual discussions from the 27−29 April 2021. The 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women is followed by the 7th Meeting of Pacific Ministers for Women, 4 May. Both meetings will bring together policy maker and representatives from 22 Pacific Island countries and territories of the Pacific Community (SPC) along with other stakeholders.

Media contact: Pacific Women Support Unit, Communications, p: +679 331 4098 or e: [email protected] or [email protected]

Background: Through a long-term commitment, Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women) connects more than 170 gender equality initiatives supported by Australia and implemented by over 160 partners across 14 Pacific Island countries. Pacific Women is one of the largest global commitments to gender equality. It partners with governments, local and international non-government organisations (NGOs), private sector, disabled people’s organisations, coalitions and others to improve the political, economic and social opportunities of Pacific women and to end violence against women and girls. Its emphasis is on partnerships and locally-driven development. Providing technical, knowledge sharing and convening support to the portfolio of partners is Pacific Women’s Support Unit, working to improve the long-term impact of gender equality projects in the Pacific. The Support Unit’s offices are in Suva, Fiji, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Pacific Women was announced at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting in August 2012. It commits up to AUD320 million over 10 years in 14 Pacific Islands Forum member countries. Pacific Women initiatives respond to the commitments in the 2012 Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration, while also supporting Australia’s Pacific Step-up and its Partnerships for Recovery approach of working together with Pacific partners to address COVID-19 impacts on women, girls and their communities.

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Media Release

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division

A series of online trainings to support Pacific media to report on gender equality and the role of women in economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, commenced this week.

Supported by the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS), the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Island News Association (PINA), the workshop will gather 18 journalists who have been selected from 9 countries in the region from mainstream, freelance, student journalists and civil society.

The online training aims to increase journalists’ understanding of issues of women’s economic empowerment and gender equality and develop their storytelling skills on women as development leaders.

Participants of the workshop will receive one-on-one mentoring and sub-editing support from leading Solomon Island’s journalist Priestly Habru and Prianka Srinivasan from Australia’s ABC Pacific Newsroom.

Besides the online sessions, the workshop participants will get to apply their reporting skills to cover the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and the 7th Women’s Ministerial Meeting which would address themes of women’s economic empowerment, climate change and gender-based violence.

The 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women involves a series of meetings and consultations aimed at sustaining the momentum towards gender equality in the Pacific.

As workshop participants, they would cover the outcomes from both conferences and ask important questions to Pacific leaders.

The value of hosting media workshops was realised by the secretariat in the successive Triennial Conferences, this training provided an important space for the participation of Pacific journalists, media practitioners and community media in amplifying commitments on gender equality and outcomes of the Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.

Miles Young, Director of the Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) division at SPC, explained that “We recognise the crucial role the media can play in advancing gender equality. The media training during the Triennial Conference is an opportunity for Pacific journalists and media practitioners, including community media, to enhance their awareness and understanding of gender issues, produce gender sensitive media content, and report on the gender policies and commitments of the respective countries.”

Hosting similar trainings in the past triennials saw increasing participation and access of women to expression and decision making through the media and new technologies of communication and an opportunity to promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media.

The four online formal training sessions will run from April 20 - May 11, 2021.

More Information:

14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and the 7th Women’s Ministerial Meeting

Media Contact:

Mereseini Senikau: [email protected]

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division

The drastic effects of climate change are now felt more aggressively in many provinces in Fiji leading to destruction of agricultural and poultry produce, damages to households and major disruptions in the school timetable for children.

These impacts of climate change were voiced out by the Nadroga Navosa Provincial Youth Council at the Strategic planning workshop, facilitated by the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) division.

The provincial youth council member, Iosefa Tavoitai, highlighted climate change as a hinderance to the development of youth as the impacts have ripple effects in the community.

“Lately the Tuva river that runs within Emuri, the host village, has been flooding three to four times a year. This leads to disruption on the community’s diets, health issues such as diarrhea and typhoid but most importantly the loss of income for the majority who are dependent on agriculture for survival,” he said.

In response to these severe impacts, the youth in the province are now leading the mitigation work by turning towards the use of traditional knowledge-based initiatives to lessen the impacts of climate change in the area.

Tavoitai explained that improving infrastructure in the settlement using traditional knowledge practices was proposed by the council. In its assessment, the council saw severe erosion of soil along Tuva river due to flooding, prompting a response from the youth.

“Tree planting is done to mitigate soil erosion from flooding is one of the traditional methods young people applied. During the Strategic Planning Workshop week, we planted 2,000 native plants along the Tuva river banks in Emuri and Vavinaqiri and Nalele settlements,” Tavoitai said.

The weeklong Strategic Planning Workshop was facilitated and supported by the HRSD division of SPC and was funded by the New Zealand Government.

The Nadroga Navosa Provincial Youth Council Strategic Plan 2021 – 2025 was drafted as an outcome of the workshop and is currently undergoing further consultations and deliberations by the Council board members and community youth. It is expected to be finalised by 24 April, 2021.

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division

In the Pacific, youth development is still under-resourced and faces many challenges.

To support Pacific Islands and Territories in developing strategies to take on these challenges, the Pacific Community’s (SPC) Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) division has published two policy briefs concerning youth in the Pacific region.

The first policy brief titled: Pacific Youth and COVID-19 provides an analysis of pandemic impacts on Pacific youth and identifies priority activities and policy actions needed for effective COVID-19 responses. Some of the immediate actions highlighted in the report include the need to boost youth engagement in agricultural production; providing financial services to enable youth-led, small-scale farming, and small and medium enterprises to overcome cash flow crises; distributing inputs for primary agricultural production to ensure food availability in the poorest areas; and providing digital services for agriculture and education. The brief also emphasises the value of small backyard gardens and local supply chains as essential, for providing nutritious foods needed for a healthy diet.

The second policy brief titled: Farming The Future – Youth-Inclusive Agriculture Policies, Resourcing And Programmes For A Resilient Pacific highlights the potential of agriculture for sustainable youth livelihood, improved food security and employment; and  identifies the policies needed to ensure increased youth engagement in agriculture. The brief shows how SPC and PICTs need to implement short-term innovative agricultural-based projects that are low cost but high impact to respond to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Pacific youth. It also emphasizes the need for SPC to support PICTs with tools to create agricultural skills training and employment pathways for youth.

Other priorities in the brief include increasing engagement of youth in the Pacific Week of Agriculture; the need for National youth policies to encourage youth participation in agriculture strategies, action plans and policies; specific targets to ensure increased and sustained engagement of youth in agriculture production and value-adding processes for increased livelihood and employment export opportunities and; increased government incentives for youths to move into small-medium-large-scale farming with corresponding support for extension and field work, including technical assistance with finance and business management. E.g. government offering tax incentives (tax-free zones) for commercial farming initiatives.

Underpinning both these briefs is HRSD’s emphasis on a 'people centred' approach to all the areas in which SPC serves its members.

Link to policy briefs here:

Pacific Youth and COVID-19

Farming The Future – Youth-Inclusive Agriculture Policies, Resourcing And Programmes For A Resilient Pacific

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division
Land Resources Division (LRD)

The threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in unwinding progress towards gender equality will be a focus of the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and 7th Meeting of Pacific Ministers of Women, to be hosted by French Polynesia next month.

The Triennial will take place from 27-29 April 2021, followed by the 7th Meeting of Pacific Ministers for Women on 4 May 2021. Given the travel restrictions still being observed across the region due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meetings will be held through a combination of in-person and virtual discussions.

The pandemic has disproportionately affected women and girls across the Pacific and threatens women’s human rights in the region. The Conference and Ministers Meeting is an opportunity for government ministers and decision-makers, development partners, research institutions and civil society organisations, to work together and identify measures to counter this threat, and to accelerate progress towards gender equality in the region.

The conference will focus on the following issues which the governments have identified as priorities for the region: gender-based violence, gender responsive climate justice, and women’s economic empowerment. Woven throughout the programme will be the cross-cutting themes of COVID-19 and crisis situations and new ways of working, women in leadership and decision making, gender data and statistics, and intergenerational dialogue – perspectives of youth.

Miles Young, Director of the Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division, said, “We hope the meetings result in agreement on practical actions towards gender equality in the Pacific, which countries and territories in the region will implement, and that resources are made available to implement the actions.”

The Conference is also an opportunity to reflect on the progress made in implementing the revised Pacific Platform for Action on Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights, a key regional policy commitment that reflects the legacy of collaboration between Pacific governments, the Pacific women's movement and the Pacific Community (SPC).

SPC hosted the first Triennial Conference of Pacific Women more than 40 years ago with the goal of creating a space for Pacific women to meet, share experiences and identify measures for the advancement of women in the region. The socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the challenges that women and girls face in the Pacific and reaffirmed that gender equality is inextricably linked to achieving sustainable development.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Our Ocean, Our Heritage, Our Future – Empowering All Women in the Blue Pacific Continent”.

More Information:

14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and the 7th Women’s Ministerial Meeting | The Pacific Community (spc.int)

Media Contact:

Kalpana Nizarat, HRSD Communications Officer | E: [email protected]

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Media Release

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Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) Division