2 October 2012, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Suva, Fiji -

Communities and groups within member countries of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) are making use of the resources offered by the SPC Legislative Lobbying Project.

The SPC Lobbying Project is a supported by the AusAID-funded Pacific Leadership Programme.

Ms Seema Naidu, SPC Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT), said that civil society groups in Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Samoa are engaged in a variety of community-led projects that are heading towards legislative change within their countries.

Ms Naidu is a trainer responsible for coordinating the Legislative Lobbying Project.

For example, in Nauru, a group of people with disabilities are addressing the rights of the disabled, and Chiefs in Vanuatu are supporting gender equality and promoting human rights.

This ownership is assisted by the information RRRT and the Legislative Lobbying Project provide to communities about their countries' constitutions and the purpose that laws fulfill.

She said that, as an example, access to clean water may be a health and sanitation issue, an environmental issue, or a climate change issue, but underlying all of these is the issue of a fundamental human right.

'For example, Vanuatu is engaged in three campaigns. One is on the outdated sexual offence penal code, which brought together local communities, the Department of Women, the Police Department, the Vanuatu Law Reform Commission, as well as the NGO World Vision.

Secondly, the Trade Unions are cooperating to progress the Vanuatu Employment Relations Bill so that it becomes an Act. In the process, union representative Evelyn Barney focused, successfully, on increasing the minimum wage.

Thirdly, there is a campaign to amend the Peoples Representation Act, a legislative change that will ensure a certain number of reserved seats for women in Parliament.

Ms Naidu said that the project gives people in the participating countries the opportunity to enter into a dialogue with their parliamentarians.

Wednesday 29 August 2012, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji –

Members of parliament in the Pacific have expressed alarm at the disturbing level of violence affecting women in the region. The Pacific has some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.

Sitting MPs from Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu met in Brisbane last month to discuss the issue and demand responses.

Dame Carol Kidu, former leader of the opposition in PNG, who attended the meeting, said MPs 'were alarmed that the Pacific has the worst record globally for violence against women.

The meeting prompted fourteen MPs to write a letter in support of the UN Secretary-General's global UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign. They are hoping more Pacific Island MPs will take up the cause to address the high rates of domestic, sexual and other types of gender-based violence affecting women and children in the Pacific.

Studies conducted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have found that in Kiribati 68 per cent of women aged 15 – 49 have experienced physical and or sexual violence.

In Solomon Islands the figure was 64 per cent and in Samoa it was 41 per cent. These figures are considered indicative of the scale of the problem across the region.

MPs are increasingly affirming that they have a pivotal role in addressing the issue through supporting law reform in parliament. Many of the present laws relating to violence against women in Pacific Island nations are decades old and do a poor job of recognising and responding to this complex social problem.

The introduction of new laws that provide more comprehensive legal responses and remedies can have a big impact on reducing rates of violence and providing support services to those affected.

The members of parliament signing in support of the UN Secretary-General's UNiTE campaign and calling for increased action in the Pacific were the Honourable Nandie Glassie and Tangata Vavia from Cook Islands, the Honourable Paliknoa Welly and Joseph Uresemal from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Honourable Martin Tofinga from Kiribati, the Honourable Regina Mesebeluu from Palau, former Opposition Leader Dame Carol Kidu from Papua New Guinea, the Honourable Clay Forau Soalaoi, Peter Tom, Martin Sopage and Vasian Lonamei from Solomon Islands, the Honourable Faalesa Pitoi from Tuvalu, and current Speaker of the House, the Honourable Dunstan Hilton, and former Minister for Justice, Isabelle Kora, from Vanuatu.

The MPs want their action to act as a catalyst for increased political awareness and effort throughout the Pacific to better protect women and children and ensure their right to live free from violence.

Pacific Leaders have, through the 2009 Cairns Communiqué, acknowledged that violence against women is an impediment to Pacific societies. They recognised sexual and gender based violence as a sensitive issue in Pacific cultures and noted that it is pervasive and underreported.

Addressing the problem 'at all levels of the community' is a priority, according to Leaders.

In 2010 the Pacific Islands Forum Regional Security Committee established a Reference Group to Address Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

The Reference Group's mandate is to raise awareness and guide national efforts to meet Forum Leaders' commitment to eradicate sexual and gender based violence and to ensure all individuals have equal protection of the law and equal access to justice.

For more information, contact Daiana Buresova, Senior Human Rights Legal Policy Researcher, SPC Regional Rights Resource Team: [email protected] +679 330 5582

Friday 20 July 2012, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Brisbane, Australia –

Dame Carol Kidu, former Leader of the Opposition in Papua New Guinea stated that, "Pacific countries are fighting issues of commonality such as climate change and violence against women despite the diversity of culture and language in the region".

Dame Kidu's remarks opened the Regional Human Rights Consultation for Members of Parliament held in Brisbane this week.

Dame Kidu shared the challenges she encountered in implementing human rights approaches as a PNG parliamentarian and emphasised that legislative reform especially in human rights related issues demanded courage of the parliamentarians and sensitising of one's constituency of the relevant human rights issue.

Dame Kidu highlighted that, "globalisation poses a greater threat to the region than colonisation and therefore it is imperative that human rights standards are adhered to."

She relayed her experience as the former PNG Minister of Community Development in which she was instrumental in lobbying for the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; adding that national ownership of such international treaties is vital.

Members of Parliament from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Niue, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are being exposed to critical human rights issues facing the Pacific region such as: climate change, sexual and gender based violence, national and regional human rights commissions, HIV and inclusivity of persons with disabilities at the 4th Pacific Consultation on Advancing Legislative Reform in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

The consultation is aimed at providing an opportunity for Pacific Parliamentarians to gain further information on, and discuss current and critical human rights issues in their national parliaments.

The week long consultation ended with a mock parliament in which regional Parliamentarians raised and debated human rights issues.

The consultation is currently underway at the Park Regis North Quay Hotel in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 16 to 20 July 2012.

The annual consultation is facilitated by the SPC RRRT team in collaboration with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and in partnership with UN Women and the Asia Pacific Forum for National Human Rights Institutions.

The consultation is made possible thanks to the generous funding of AusAID.

For more information, contact Lionel Aingimea ([email protected])

16 May 2012, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji –

Solomon Islands is on track to consider human rights-based national HIV legislation aimed at halting new infections and ensuring the rights of affected people.

The Solomon Islands HIV Legislative Working Group will present a cabinet paper to the Solomon Islands National AIDS Council (SINAC) on 29 May for endorsement.

SINAC, which is chaired by Charles Sigoto MP, Minister for Health and Medical Services, may then submit the paper to cabinet for review in June. If this process is successful, national consultations with beneficiaries, stakeholders and service providers will follow and parliament is expected to consider legislation in the later part of 2012.

Lionel Aingimea, a Senior Trainer with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT), says it is important that HIV legislation is based on principles of human rights. This approach is credited with more effectively arresting the spread of the virus by addressing issues of discrimination and stigma faced by sufferers.

If people are afraid to access testing and other medical services, this allows the HIV virus to spread unchecked in the community.

Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Pohnpei state in the Federated States of Micronesia have all introduced human rights-based HIV legislation in recent years. Solomon Islands looks set to follow suit if all goes according to plan.

John Gela, SINAC Coordinator, says the Ministry of Health wants to take a proactive approach in dealing with HIV before opportunities are missed.

Solomon Islands currently has only 17 recorded cases of HIV infection but Gela points to the experience of Papua New Guinea, where HIV/AIDS is a serious and ongoing problem.

Dr Lester Ross, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, has emphasised, 'It is important that we ensure the rights of HIV [positive] people' during any legislative process.He was speaking at the opening of a national HIV policy consultation between the ministry and stakeholders, including religious and non-governmental organisations that ran from 8 to 10 May at the Iron Bottom Sound Hotel in Honiara.

The consultation was facilitated by SPC RRRT with assistance from the Pacific Response Fund on HIV, STIs and TB, and AusAID.

For further information please contact:
Sean Hobbs
+679 330 5582 (ext. 103)
[email protected]
Publications and Communication Coordinator
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT)

9 May 2012, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Honiara, Solomon Islands –

The Solomon Islands Government is making progress towards the introduction of national HIV legislation by holding a consultation to discuss a national HIV policy.

John Gela from the National AIDS Council says a national HIV policy will form the basis for a legislative process later in the year and, if successful, will lead to the introduction of new HIV legislation.

Representatives from the Ministry of Health and stakeholders, including religious and non-governmental organisations, are attending the consultation, which is taking place at the Iron Bottom Sound Hotel in Honiara from 8 to 10 May. The consultation is facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT).

Gela points to the experience of Papua New Guinea (PNG) where the problem of HIV/AIDS is very serious. 'We are neighbours of Papua New Guinea and we have similar culture, and therefore we need to expand our HIV programme here.'

Gela wants to see this happen before it is too late. 'HIV testing in Solomon Islands is still low and this might be contributing to the low number of cases, so we would like to increase testing. The introduction of HIV legislation will help our HIV programme and the management of HIV cases.'

Lionel Aingimea, a Senior Trainer with SPC RRRT, says it is important that HIV legislation is based on principles of human rights. In recent years, PNG, Fiji and Pohnpei state in the Federated States of Micronesia have introduced human rights-based HIV legislation. This approach is credited with more effectively arresting the spread of the virus by addressing issues of discrimination and stigma faced by sufferers.

If people are afraid to access testing and other medical services, this allows the HIV virus to spread unchecked in the community.

This consultation process is significant because, even though Solomon Islands has only seventeen cases of HIV, the government is now taking steps and making sure they tackle the virus at this early stage. Not only are they protecting their own people but they will also be helping to reduce the spread of the virus across the region and internationally. You need the legislation to be based on human rights.

John Gela explains that the Ministry of Health is calling on stakeholders and provincial HIV coordinators to find out exactly what issues are involved.

In formally opening the consultation, Dr Lester Ross, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services said,

For more information please contact:
Sandra Bernklau
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Programme Manager
Regional Rights Resource Team
[email protected]

PRESS RELEASE – Sept 2011

High Level representatives from the Justice, Health and Civil Society Organizations from Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu gather in Nadi to share their experience on human rights compliant HIV Policies and Laws.

The 3 days 'writeshop' (11-14 September, 2011) is organized by a partnership between the UNDP, UNAIDS, PIAF (Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation) and the Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC/RRRT).

The objective of the workshop is to provide support and technical assistance that is required to advance human rights compliant HIV legislative change by analysing the current legislative status per country, providing various models of legislative reform, looking at the rationale for human rights compliant legislative responses to address the spread of HIV and writing a policy papers to step up progress to legislative reform.

While most HIV interventions target individual behavioral change, it is equally important, if not more, that the norms and structures that shape these behaviours are addressed. There is extensive and longstanding evidence that strategic structural investments can contribute to 'break through' progress.

It is expected that the delegates will leave the 'writeshop' with a strategic plan to implement the policy framework which will work towards guiding the respective countries in their response to HIV.

Garry Wiseman, Manager of UNDP Pacific Centre in his opening remarks highlighted that "...some countries in the region have already passed human rights-based legislation to better address HIV and AIDS: PNG, FSM and more recently Fiji. Others are in the process to start drafting new HIV laws such as Tuvalu and Cook Islands; and some are starting to develop new policy framework to do. This week will be an opportunity to share lessons learned and help each other."

The event represents an opportunity for intra-regional cooperation on these issues and uses an interactive format to ensure countries gain maximum benefit from experience sharing.

The event includes the participation of people living with HIV who are taking an active role in the policy dialogue.

Tuesday 28 July 2009, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Suva, Fiji Islands

No more discriminatory evidence practices in sexual assault law, said the main law making body in Solomon Islands.

With a chorus of support the Solomon Islands Parliament made important strides towards gender equality in its law by changing four legal practices in its newly passed Evidence Act 2009. The changes should also remove major obstacles to successfully prosecuting offenders in sexual assault cases.

Ethel Sigamanu, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women, welcomed the changes.

Sigamanu congratulated the Law Reform Commission and the agencies which had supported the process. Amongst those agencies were the Evidence Bill Committee, the Women Lawyers Association (WILASI), the MWYCA, and UNIFEM. The Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (RRRT) supported the reform process for over 10 years, providing technical and policy advice.

The Evidence Act 2009 removed the corroboration rule which treated as suspicious the evidence of a person who claimed to have been sexually assaulted. The law previously held that it was dangerous to convict without some other independent supporting evidence. This requirement, based on an outmoded belief that women almost always lie about sexual matters, has been abolished in the new Act.

The Act also prevents courts from drawing an inference that a woman who delayed reporting her sexual assault must be lying. The new law also requires judicial permission before a complainant can be questioned about her past sexual history with other men, on the basis that such matters are generally unnecessary and irrelevant to the issues in the case. Finally, the Act gives a Court a discretion to permit the complainant and other vulnerable witnesses to testify without facing the assailant, by using modern technology. Such a provision is particularly important for child victims.

A leading expert on gender-based violence has applauded the reforms, while acknowledging that there was still room for improvement. RRRT's Human Rights Advisor, Imrana Jalal stated:

Jalal made the comments at a Violence Against Women legislation workshop in Honiara which was funded and supported by SPC, UNIFEM, the Ministry of Women, Youth and Children's Affairs (MWYCA) and the Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission.

The workshop heard that most Pacific countries still allow the highly discriminatory corroboration practice in relation to the evidence of the complainant. It is still practised in Vanuatu, Solomon Island, FSM and other PICTs. It has been removed by legislation in RMI, PNG, Kiribati and the Cook Islands, and now Solomon Islands; and by the courts in Fiji. Even though the courts in Tonga had attempted to remove the rule in the 1994 case of Tangi, subsequent cases brought back the need for a corroboration warning in sexual offence cases.

Miriam Lidimani, President of the Women Lawyers of the Solomon Islands (WILASI) and a practicing barrister, gave many local examples of how the old law had demeaned women and child victims in the past. She looked forward to a new era for gender equality in the law in the Solomon Islands. All those present at the workshop stressed the importance of gender training for all legal officials who administer the new law, including Judges, Magistrates, lawyers and police officers. Otherwise the new law would not meet its full potential.

The Solomon Islands is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which requires the elimination of all laws and practices that discriminate against women. The Solomon Islands Government, now preparing its Initial Report under the Convention, will be able to point to its success in enacting the Evidence Act 2009 as a milestone on the road to gender equality.

For further information please contact Imrana Jalal of SPC/RRRT at +679 9924765 or email: [email protected]

Background: The Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT), which is a programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, works with partners in nine focus countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru and Vanuatu) to offer training and expert advice on the development of human rights advocacy, lobbying, mobilisation strategies and the drafting of national human rights legislation. The team provides human rights training, technical support, and policy and advocacy services tailored specifically for the Pacific region. Its mission is to seek a Pacific region that is respected for the quality of its governance, the sustainable management of its resources, the full observance of democratic values and for its defence and promotion of human rights.

Tuesday 11 March 2009, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, New York

Pacific laws on violence against women (VAW) are outdated and treat women with indifference despite the globally high rates of VAW in the Pacific region.

Pacific Island governments need to make a concerted effort to review this legislation so that laws can better protect women.

Secretariat of the Pacific Community/Regional Rights Resource Team (SPC/RRRT) Gender and Human Rights Advisor, Imrana Jalal, made the comments whilst addressing members of the Pacific Islands Forum who attended the 53rd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) held recently in New York.

Pacific representatives from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, as well as Australia and New Zealand attended the meeting.

Jalal told those Pacific government representatives that only a handful of Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) had made some progress.

Jalal said Fiji had addressed some elements of domestic violence in its family law but had not touched sexual violence or domestic violence in its criminal or civil codes. Despite being the first country in the region to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, Samoa had not passed any legislation addressing any area of women's rights, since ratification.

Jalal was at the UNCSW as chair of the high-level UN Expert Group on Best Practices in Violence against Women Legislation. The panel advises the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on best practices from around the globe in terms of laws which relate to violence against women (VAW).

She told the PICT government representatives that SPC/RRRT had won a substantial grant from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Trust Fund. SPC/RRRT had to compete with 1027 applicants worldwide for the grant.

The grant, worth USD 720,000 provides SPC/RRRT with some resources to work with PICT governments and non-government organisations to help reform laws which relate to VAW. SPC/RRRT was the only Pacific organisation to win one of the 28 grants available.

Jalal said the grant focused on addressing the issue of legislation specifically, and SPC/RRRT's effort is meant to build on the groundwork already laid by organisations such the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre (FWCC) Pacific Women's Network on VAW.

The UNIFEM Trust Fund Pacific project ties in with the expert group's findings on best practices globally. Jalal said the best VAW laws emanated from the developing world, not the developed world, citing Mexico, Albania and India as examples.

Jalal said that compared to global standards, Vanuatu's new domestic violence law is also 'pretty decent legislation', although it is far from perfect. She said there were no perfect laws in the arena of human relationships.

Jalal said that the goal of the SPC/RRRT UNIFEM Trust Fund project was 'changing laws protecting women and lobbying for legislative change in violence against women and family law in order to enhance protective legislation for women and girls in six PICTs'.

Initially, SPC/RRRT will begin the legislative reforms with the governments of Cook Islands, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Samoa.

Jalal said that there was no need to re-invent the wheel as the UN Expert Group on Best Practices in VAW Legislation had come up with a compilation of best practices from around the globe which could be adapted to suit the Pacific context.

Whilst in New York Jalal made four presentations at various CSW panels as Chair of the UN Expert Group on Best Practices in VAW Legislation and also a half-hour video on VAW legislation for the UN's Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW). The video will be available on UNDAW's website shortly.

For more information, contact Sandra Bernklau, Programme Manager SPC/RRRT +(679) 3305 582 or email: [email protected]

Background: The Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT), which is a programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), works with partners in nine focus countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa,Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru and Vanuatu) to offer training and expert advice on the development of human rights advocacy, lobbying, mobilisation strategies and the drafting of national human rights legislation. The team provides human rights training, technical support, and policy and advocacy services tailored specifically for the Pacific region. Its mission is to seek a Pacific region that is respected for the quality of its governance, the sustainable management of its resources, the full observance of democratic values and for its defence and promotion of human rights.

18 February 2009, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

They came in all colours, shapes and sizes, and in all manner of dress, both traditional and modern, veiled and unveiled, religious and non-religious, to begin a global campaign called Musawah.

Organised by the Malaysian Muslim feminist organisation, Sisters in Islam (SIS), Musawah, which means 'equality' in Arabic, brought together Muslim feminists, women's rights and human rights activists and lawyers to debate and discuss justice and equality in the family law of Islam.

Gender and Human Rights Advisor, Imrana Jalal, from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community's Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT/SPC), was one of the panel of speakers at the 250-strong gathering at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which included the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Yakin Ertürk, who was the keynote speaker.

Jalal, who was invited as an expert in legislative change, led two sessions on changing family laws in environments unfavourable to gender equality. She said the Musawah movement was only at its beginning but would soon be a strong global force.

Musawah will span 50 countries with the goal of reforming family laws in a Muslim context. It works on the premise that gender equality and human rights is consistent with Islamic doctrine. The movement calls for equality, non-discrimination, justice and dignity as the basis of all human relations; full and equal citizenship for every individual; and marriage and family relations based on principles of equality and justice.

Musawah is based on the principle that equality in the family is possible through a framework that is consistent with Islamic teachings, universal human rights principles, fundamental rights guarantees, and the lived realities of women and men.

Jalal shared the strategies she had learned in the passing of the Family Law Act in Fiji.

She told the BBC that although Fiji was a small country with a Muslim minority and without a parallel religious legal system, the lessons learnt on passing good legislation could be adapted and transferred to other parts of the globe.

RRRT works with partners in 9 focus countries; Cook Islands, Fiji , Kiribati , Samoa , Solomon Islands , Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru and Vanuatu, by offering training packages and expert advice to partners which aids in the development of human rights advocacy, lobbying, mobilisation strategies and the drafting of national human rights legislation. RRRT provides human rights training, technical support, and policy and advocacy services tailored specifically for the Pacific region and with a mission to "seek a Pacific region that is respected for the quality of its governance, the sustainable management of its resources, the full observance of democratic values and for its defence and promotion of human rights".

For more information, please contact Sandra Bernklau, SPC RRRT Programme Manager (+679) 3305582 or email: [email protected].