In March 2020, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child held its 84th session in Apia, Samoa.  This Extraordinary Outreach session was an historic occasion for the UN human rights treaty system – the first time any of the nine UN human rights treaty bodies have held a formal session outside of Geneva or New York.  But more importantly, the 84th session saw the Committee directly interact with over a hundred children – perhaps the most it has ever engaged with in its history.

The Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) of The Pacific Community (SPC) played a key role in bringing the Committee to Samoa.  We were fortunate to work closely with Justice Clarence Vui Nelson of Samoa, a member of the Committee and the only Pacific Islander to ever sit on any of the UN human rights treaty bodies.  The session in Samoa was, for him, a dream come true.  There was also great cooperation with UN agencies, the Government of Samoa, and our donors – the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden – all of which recognised the value of holding the session outside of Geneva.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has an important mandate – it comprises independent experts from across the world who monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its optional protocols.  While the Committee considers and makes recommendations on critical issues for children, there are not many opportunities for it to engage directly with children.  The costs and time involved in having children from around the world travel to Geneva can be prohibitive.  But, given the Committee’s mandate and Article 12 of the CRC, which provides that children have the right to express an opinion on decisions affecting them, and for their opinions to be taken into account, the idea of bringing the Committee to the children appeared to be an ideal solution.

The choice of the Pacific was no coincidence. Our region is most adversely affected by its remoteness from Geneva – since 2016, for example, six of the seven reviews of states parties from the region were conducted via video-link, with limited participation of civil society and no children involved.

When the 84th session opened in Samoa, the benefit of being in the country was immediately obvious.  Members were able talk with hundreds of children from Samoa and other Pacific Island Countries.  Holding the session in their ‘back yard’ enabled children from the region to attend the session and discuss with the Committee, the range of issues of importance to them.  The children spoke honestly, freely and passionately about issues concerning them at home, at school and at their communities, offering insights and reflections which could not have been adequately captured in reports, research papers or via video-links.  They discussed issues specific to the Pacific context as well around the world, such as the effects of climate change and natural disasters on children, corporal punishment and physical violence, access to education, sexual abuse and sexual and reproductive health.  Clearly inspired by their participation and confident in expressing their views, many called for a more inclusive framework which better facilitates children’s participation and dialogue in the work of the Committee.

The children also clearly understood the need for reciprocity when it comes to rights – during one of the side events facilitated by students, children reminded each other of the need to exercise their rights responsibly, having regard to the rights of others, as well as the need to be respectful of all views, demonstrating the kind of leadership which should make the Pacific confident about its collective future.

During the country reviews of Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Tuvalu, I spoke with Mr Orest Nowosad, Chief of the UN section which is the secretariat to the Committee.  He told me, with the widest of smiles, that this was by far the most number of children he has seen the Committee interact with in the course of its sessions.

In addition, representatives of civil society organisations from at least nine Pacific Island Countries attended the session in Samoa, including from countries which were not under review by the Committee.  Again, the close proximity to Samoa enabled this significant Pacific civil society presence.  CSO representatives indicated that their presence gave them valuable insights into the important role they can play in informing the work of the Committee and how to use the Committee’s concluding observations to further child rights and the status of children in their respective countries.  Armed with this information, many of them have now developed action plans for engaging with the CRC, the UN Universal Period Review and other UN human rights treaty mechanisms.

The Committee Chair, Luis Pedernera Reyna, was clearly impressed with the success of the week, highlighting the “unprecedented level of participation by government officials, civil society and children from the region”, and noting how much the Committee “learned about the unique context and rich culture of the Pacific region, and engaged with passionate child human rights defenders, including children with disabilities, in ways that would never have been possible from our meeting room in Geneva.”

So is the 84th session a sign of things to come for the UN human rights treaty system or will it be a one-off?

While the Samoa event was the first of its kind for the UN human rights treaty system, the idea is not new.  For many years now, Professor Christof Heyns of the University of Pretoria and others have been calling for treaty bodies to combine their work in Geneva with meetings away from their home base, in particular in the South.  Their argument is that undertaking treaty body work in the regions may help to enhance broader ownership of the system and increase its visibility and its impact where the beneficiaries of the system live – see recent blog post by Professor Heyns and Willem Gravett, here.

More recently, the chairs of the nine UN human rights treaty bodies at their annual meeting of June 2019, agreed that there are considerable benefits in holding its reviews of states at a regional level, and that this option should be offered on a pilot basis, with a view to permanent implementation.  SPC RRRT relied on the arguments of Professor Heyns (and others) and the June 2019 statement of the chairs, in its advocacy for the 84th session to be held in Samoa.

Now that a regional session has been held, there is an opportunity make this a permanent fixture of the UN human rights treaty system.  SPC RRRT certainly considers the 84th session to have been a success and would support a move in this direction.  To help the UN take a decision on future regional sittings, we are preparing a report on the Samoan event which will include a cost-benefit analysis.

But for us, the priority now is to utilise the interest in human rights and especially children’s rights generated by the Samoan event towards strengthening a culture of human rights in the Pacific, consistent with our mandate as the human rights division of The Pacific Community.  Would we happily and enthusiastically collaborate with the UN and others to hold a similar treaty body session in the Pacific?  The answer to that is a resounding ‘yes’!

Useful Videos:

• Justice Renate Winter
• Justice Almal Salman Aldoseri
• Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reyna
• Rebecca Hosking-Ellis, Cook Islands
• Victory Tuala Tamalelagi, Brown Girl Woke

• More about CRC
• Justice Vui’s Full article
• Dr Aumua’s Full Speech

Projects related to this news item

• Pacific Commonwealth Equality Project

Other useful links:

• An investment in children’s rights will pay dividends to Pacific communities for generations to come
• The Future Pacific Island Children Want
• Call for the creation of safe spaces for children in the Pacific
• 84th Extraordinary Outreach Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child comes to Pacific providing important regional awareness opportunity
• Story of the CRC Committee and its outreach to the Pacific Islands

Suva – To mark International Human Rights Day today, 10 December 2014, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is partnering with government ministries in the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu, to present individuals and organisations with Human Rights Awards.

The theme for the awards is ‘human rights in everyday life’, which covers many aspects of our daily lives, including rights to food, shelter, education, health, protection, freedom of expression and many more.

The Pacific is not immune to human rights violations, with violence against women a critical concern for the region.  According to studies by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with SPC, the Pacific region has some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.

National studies in 2009 and 2010, in Samoa, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu, indicate that the rates of intimate partner violence are as high as 60 to 70%. Inadequate laws and policies fail to protect women and their families, and impact adversely on the development of a country.

At a recent SPC-RRRT regional lawyers’ consultation, former high court judge in Fiji, Madam Mere Pulea, encouraged lawyers of the region to ‘be at the forefront to challenge inequalities and discrimination faced by women, and to play a critical role for the benefit of society.’

SPC RRRT won the prestigious UNICEF Maurice Pate Award in 1998 for its pioneering work in promoting human rights education for women and children in the Pacific. Since then, SPC RRRT has been offering the Pacific Human Rights Awards to encourage the development of a human rights culture that will protect the rights and promote the well-being of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

The 2014 national awards include:

Kiribati

Rikiaua Takeke

Special recognition for highlighting the right to religion through the documentation of Catechist Tikarerei Takirua’s life story of service to the people of Kiribati.

Selaina Tekonnang

Special recognition for highlighting the right to marriage and to be free from violence through poetry.

Wayne Uan

Special recognition for highlighting the right to participate in any community activities without distinction of any kind such as sex, colour, race, religion or other status.

Samoa

Aoga Fiamalamalama

Special recognition for promoting the right of a child to education in Samoa, including children with disabilities, through role play.

Deborah Jacinta Leu’o

Special recognition for promoting human rights in Samoa through creative drawing.

Faaolo Utumapu-Utailesolo

Special recognition for highlighting the rights of persons with disabilities through the documentation of her personal life story.

Hemiriah Ioane

Special recognition for highlighting the right to education through creative writing.

Nu’ufou Isaia

Special recognition for promoting the right to education for children with disabilities in Samoa, through visual art.

Piu Maneralokina Filipo

Special recognition for highlighting human rights through creative writing.

Samoa Fa’afafine Association

In recognition of the contribution to the promotion of the human rights of marginalised groups, including Fa’afafine and LGBTI groups in Samoa.

Samoa National Youth Council

Special recognition for promoting the right to be heard and of freedom of expression in Samoa through audio visual arts.

Samoa Returnees Charitable Trust

Contribution to advancing the right to freedom from discrimination of Samoan deportees rehabilitating in the community and in community outreach programmes.

Sinalaua Papatoetoe Tupolo

Special recognition for highlighting the right to education, respect and equality through the documentation of her personal life story.

Taiese Taiese

Special recognition for highlighting the right of children to social protection through creative writing.

Tiapapata Art Centre

Special recognition for advancing the right to develop life skills and the right to participate in cultural life, through the Breakthrough initiative, aimed at supporting people affected by trauma and abuse.

Solomon Islands

Br. Gorge Van Der Sant

Special recognition for contribution to advancing the right to education for young persons with disabilities in Solomon Islands.

Community Based Rehabilitation Unit

Special recognition for contribution to advancing the rights of persons with disabilities in Solomon Islands.

Tonga

Women and Children Crisis Centre

Special recognition for advancing the rights of girls in Tonga to be free from domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Talitha Girls

Special recognition for highlighting the rights of single mothers to education and to be respected with equal opportunity.

Elenga Mailangi

Special recognition for highlighting the right to employment and family support in Tonga.

Tuvalu

Fusi Alofa Association

Special Recognition for contribution to advancing the rights of persons with disabilities in Tuvalu.

Talafai Youth Group

Special recognition for contribution to advancing the rights of children to education through support to pre-school building construction on the island of Nanumago, Tuvalu.

SPC RRRT works to build a culture of human rights, and assists nation states to commit to, and observe, international human rights standards. SPC RRRT is a programme under the Social Development Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and is funded by the Australian Government.

For more information, please contact Jilda Shem, SPC RRRT Communications Officer, on +679 330 5994, or email [email protected]

A coalition of regional partners, including the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Regional Rights Resource Team (SPC RRRT), UNDP Pacific Centre, Pacific Youth Council and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) will be convening a Youth and civil society dialogue to be held from the 23-27th of June in Nadi, Fiji.

SPC RRRT is pleased to invite one representative from Civil Society and one youth representative from each of the following Pacific Island Countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu

Download the conference announcement below for further details and the application form if you are interested to represent your country. Email us your completed form as soon as possible.

SPC_meeting_announcement_Regional_Youth_and_CSO_Dialogue_1.pdf

Tuesday 20 May 2014, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) – Suva, Fiji

Thirty members of Samoa’s National Youth Council are putting their voices together to speak out on priority issues affecting young people in Samoa at the upcoming Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in September 2014 in Apia, Samoa.

This was revealed at the end of a four-day Legislative Lobbying training workshop facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) in partnership with the Pacific Youth Council and Samoa’s Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development.

Although entitled ‘Legislative Lobbying’ training, the workshop focuses on skill building in raising awareness on critical human rights issues that affect our everyday lives. The workshop in Samoa provided skills that will strengthen awareness on key issues that affect young people in Samoa, including youth unemployment, violence against women and children and alcohol abuse.

The training also helped the participants understand the national governance structures and the entry points for lobbying.

Michael Schmalkuchen, youth leader of Levi and Alamutu Saleimoa villages, said he was empowered to share his human rights knowledge with his youth group.

The Legislative Lobbying training carried out by SPC RRRT with support from the Pacific Leadership Program has been rolled out in Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu. In all countries there has been great progress with campaign groups successfully lobbying for domestic violence legislation as well as other issues such as reproductive health, employment rights and school bullying.

SPC RRRT is the pioneer of human rights training in the Pacific region, working to build a culture of human rights. SPC RRRT assists nation states to commit to, and observe, international human rights standards. SPC RRRT receives core funding from Australian Aid.

For more information, please contact Jilda Shem, SPC RRRT Communications Officer on +679 330 5994 or email [email protected].

Tuesday 13 August 2013, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji

Twenty-six representatives from government as well as non-governmental organisations in six Pacific Island countries are in Suva this week for a five-day regional workshop to develop concrete action plans to address high rates of violence against women in the region.

The workshop organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community Regional Rights Resource Team (SPC RRRT) in partnership with the UN Women Fiji Multi-country Office is part of the support provided to Pacific organisations that are recipients of grants from the UN Women Pacific Regional Facility Fund to Eliminate Violence against Women.

Speaking at the opening of the consultation, guest speaker Maha Muna, Gender Adviser with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Suva called on participants to remember youth in their campaigns and to ensure that interventions also focus on empowering young people as a vital way forward in ending the intergenerational cycle of violence in homes and communities in the region.

In highlighting examples of the high prevalence of violence amongst young people in the region, Ms Muna spoke of the findings of a 2010 United Nations Children’s Fund study, Understanding HIV and AIDS. The study reported that 38% of sexually active youth in Solomon Islands had experienced forced sex, with 20% reporting their first sexual encounter as forced. In Vanuatu, the study reported that 45% had experienced forced sex, with 36% reporting that their first sexual encounter had been forced, and in Kiribati, it reported that 43% of sexually active youth had experienced forced sex, with ongoing vulnerability for 79%, and that for 21% their first sexual encounter was forced.

Ms Muna also reaffirmed the findings of Family Health and Safety Studies in the region, supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and UNFPA in collaboration with SPC and national bureaus of statistics, which demonstrated high prevalence of violence against women in the Pacific, particularly in the context of intimate relationships. The recent research shows that 68% of ever-partnered women between the ages of 15 and 49 in Kiribati have experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner. The rates are 64% in Solomon Islands and 46% in Samoa.

Activities on the agenda for this week’s consultation include reviewing national country strategies and advocacy initiatives in addressing violence against women, enhancing capacities of the participants to effectively challenge discriminatory laws and practices in countries using a human rights based approach and developing two-year advocacy and action plans to address gender based violence in the countries.

Participants are government and civil society stakeholders from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. This consultation and work to support legislative change in addressing violence against women is supported by UN Women and AusAID.

For more information, please contact Jilda Shem, SPC RRRT Communications Officer on +679 330 5994 or email [email protected] or Olivia Owen, Inter-Agency Initiatives Coordinator on +679 330 1178 or email [email protected].

Monday 10 June 2013, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji –

A four-day regional consultation on violence against women legislation in the Pacific, organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community Regional Rights Resources Team (SPC RRRT), is currently underway this week in Nadi, Fiji.

In her remarks at the opening ceremony of the consultation, guest speaker Shamina Ali, Coordinator of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, called for gender specific domestic violence laws in the Pacific as a vital way forward in addressing discrimination against women in the region.

A good example of gender specific domestic violence law, Ms Ali added, is India’s Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005. The act guarantees a women’s right to reside in the matrimonial or shared household, irrespective of whether she has any title or rights in the property.

Other presentations during the opening ceremony reaffirmed the findings of national surveys showing the high prevalence of violence against women in the Pacific. The recent research shows rates of 68% in Kiribati, 60% in Vanuatu, 64% in Solomon Islands, 46% in Samoa and 61% in Fiji.

Participants were also reminded that legislation is only one aspect of the work needed to address violence against women; it is equally important to ensure resources are available for the implementation of the laws and to monitor progress.

Activities on the agenda for this week’s consultation include reviewing legislation to address violence against women in the region and lessons learnt from national committees and consultations, sharing lessons on law reform strategies undertaken in countries and developing plans to progress legislative law reform in the Pacific.

This consultation is the 5th organised since 2009 and is part of SPC RRRT’s programme to develop and support comprehensive integrated legislation that addresses all forms of violence against women. The aim is to build capacity at the national level to advocate for improved legislation through the development of appropriate policy papers and comprehensive legislative reviews encompassing all aspects of legislative change that affect women suffering from violence.

The consultation this week is being attended by government and civil society stakeholders including legal drafters from Cook Islands, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. This consultation and work to support legislative change in addressing violence against women is supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

For more information, please contact Jilda Shem, SPC RRRT Communications Officer on +679 330 5994 or email [email protected].

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.

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])

Press Release – 15 December 2009

'Violence against women costs the Australian economy close to $8.1 billion per year,' said Queensland's Attorney General Hon.

Cameron Dick MP at the opening of an annual consultation with regional members of parliament in Brisbane, Australia held by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community's Regional Rights Resource Team (SPC / RRRT).

Twenty-five MPs from Tonga, Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Tuvalu, Nauru and Kiribati attended this year's event, which focused on violence against women legislation.

The Attorney General stated that he was 'pleased that so many fellow parliamentarians from the Pacific Island countries have shown their commitment to improving the lives of Pacific people.' He made the comments in light of the recent data revealing extremely high prevalence rates of violence against women in the Pacific.

Both Kiribati and Solomon Islands were amongst the countries with the highest rates in a 17-country study by the World Health Organisation. In this study, only Ethiopia and Peru surpassed Kiribati and Solomon Islands in prevalence rates. PNG, Fiji Islands and Samoa have also been shown to have high prevalence rates in other studies.

In a conference room packed with members of parliament from nine Pacific countries, Queensland's Attorney General quoted the recent Cairns Communiqué in which Forum Leaders addressed the issue of sexual and gender-based violence and called for a range of measures to address it, including legal measures.

The Hon. Cameron Dick reiterated the stance taken by the Forum leaders by acknowledging that sexual and gender-based violence 'is now widely recognised as a risk to human security and a potential destabilising factor for communities and societies alike.'

The acknowledgment from Forum leaders is 'most welcome', he said because violence against women is a serious global problem that affects every country.

In 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution calling on all member states and the United Nations system to intensify efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women. Such violence has compounding human rights implications; causing trauma to women, families and communities. Sexual and gender-based violence is both a symptom and a cause of gender inequality and discrimination.

The Minister of Justice from the Republic of Nauru, Hon. Matthew Batsiua, stated

The Hon. Cameron Dick once served as the Attorney General of Tuvalu and was quite proud of that fact. He jokingly said that

He also said that he was proud that Tuvalu was 'mixing it with the big guns in Copenhagen.' The consultation in Brisbane will also discuss human rights implications of climate change.

The members of parliament have a week to look at human rights issues, including violence against women and HIV legislation, the new compulsory Universal Periodic Review process and the potential of a regional human rights mechanism to serve the needs of Pacific Island governments and peoples.

The consultation is funded and supported by SPC / RRRT, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid), the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Pacific Islands HIV and STI Response Fund.

The Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) is a programme under the Social Resources Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. For more information regarding this event, please contact Gwen Philips at [email protected] or Imrana Jalal at [email protected].

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.