Tonga’s Prime Minister, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva Akilisi challenged world leaders to have moral commitment and moral courage to address climate change and global inequalities; and not be distracted by political priorities, when he made his first address to the United Nations General Assembly on 29 September.

“Our political priorities must not distract us from the call so well embodied in the 2030 Agenda to ‘leave no one behind’,” he stated.

‘Akilisi believed that those with power and privilege could make a choice “to stop polluting our oceans, to stop driving the negative effects of climate change.”

He went on to say that Tonga remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, which continue to increase in frequency and destructiveness. “Climate change continues to pose an irreversible threat to our people, our society, our livelihoods and our natural environment.”

He believed that such vulnerabilities should be factored into the development finance calculations designed to assist Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to replace the GDP per capita basis for access to finance. He said that that would save Tonga from increasing its indebtedness in obtaining funds from multilateral institutions for reconstruction in the wake of a natural disaster. Tonga is currently accessing these funds under the condition of 50% grant and 50% credit.  

‘Akilisi, who is also Tonga’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Minister for Education and Training was addressing the General Debate of the 70^th Session of the UN General Assembly.

He told the assembly that good governance is the guiding principal of his government and pledged a commitment to good governance, transparency, accountability and law and order, which he said would drive all other development goals of a country.

Constraints

He said his government was considering the establishment of an Anti-Corruption Commission, “and [we] are considering removing challenges and constraints to sustainable development such as cultural perceptions and religious dogma.”

However, he did not elaborate on what he meant by those constraints.

With regards to what Tonga had achieved in line with the Millennium Development Goals, he said that in the areas of Health and Education, Tongans “now enjoy an acceptable standard of quality health service, children and young people are able to go to school and advance to higher education.”

He said that Tonga’s 14 new priorities for the next 15 years, included:

• No Poverty,
• Good Health and Well-being,
• Quality Education,
• Gender Equality,
• Decent Work and Economic growth,
• Industry, Innovation and infrastructure,
• Reduced inequalities,
• Life on Land,
• Partnership for the Goals.

Pope Francis

“We leaders must rise to a higher moral order beyond interests,” he concluded, while expressing a concern that the message and moral imperative delivered by Pope Francis to the body a few days previously “may not have been well and truly heard.”

He called on leaders to work together against injustice and violation of human rights and dignity.

On a regional issue, ‘Akilisi said that the United Nations has a duty to closely follow up this West Papua case and take necessary action to stop “these brutal and inhumane activities.”