The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has encouraged the Tongan government “to start taking concrete steps for implementing CEDAW,” the Tonga Prime Minister's Office said in a statement last week.

The encouragement comes after Cabinet decided on March 6 to approve the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and on March 9 the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. Fe‘ao Vakatā, on behalf of the Government announced to the United Nations 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Tonga's intent to ratify the convention with five reservations.

The office of the UN Secretary General responded on March 21 that: “The Secretary-General encourages the Government of Tonga to start undertaking concrete steps for implementing CEDAW. He affirms the continuous support of the United Nations for its efforts to improve the position of women in Tonga.”

The CEDAW Convention was the first international convention that the new government of Prime Minister, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva has dealt with, and in early March after three days of deliberation the Cabinet gave its consent for Tonga to ratify the convention with some specific reservations.

But on April 15 the Prime Minister has issued a press statement that at the same time his Cabinet’s decision “also gave time duration for those reservations that will be unlimited.”

The Prime Minister's Office also stated “The process of ratification is ongoing but as yet the instruments required for ratification is still being prepared and yet to be deposited with the United Nations.”

The statement indicated that consultation “may also be carried out with church leaders, as well as parliament before the actual signing for ratification”.

Parliament will reconvene at the end of May.

During the March sitting of Parliament some Members challenged the Prime Minister to produce evidence that the UN recognized Tonga’s reservations over articles in CEDAW after Lord Fusitu’a pointed out that under Article 28 of the Convention, reservations that are incompatible with the object and purpose of the present convention shall not be permitted.

The discussion in Parliament ended with an understanding that government would present to parliament a statement from the UN on Tonga’s declaration that it was ready to ratify CEDAW. However, what has emerged was the PMO's April 15 statement asserting that government has given itself “unlimited time” to finalise the commitment it made to the United Nations.

Discouraging

Although many people welcomed the news that the new Tonga government had committed to ratifying CEDAW, there were strong reactions against the decision notably among church leaders, including the newly appointed Catholic Cardinal, HE Soane Patita Paini Cardinal Mafi.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which took place at UN headquarters from March 9-20 reviewed progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 20 years after its adoption at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Tonga was strongly represented at the 1995 conference.

Today, Tonga is one of only seven countries in the world that has not ratified CEDAW.