Tonga Youth Parliament encourages active engagement [1]
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 - 17:59
A second Tonga Youth Parliament was opened on March 16 aimed to encourage young people to actively engage in the civic and political processes in Tonga.
Princess Latufuipeka Tuku’aho in opening the event via video from Australia, said this was an important concept, which provided an opportunity to represent youth's voices and views at the national level. The theme is 'Our Parliament: Bringing Parliament to You'. The Princess hoped at the end, they would continue to work to encourage other youth, inspire their communities and use the knowledge and skills learnt here to build our beloved country.
"I know for sure that sitting amongst you are future parliamentarians, future church leaders, future teachers, future fathers and mothers. Maybe a future first female Prime Minister. Anything is possible, but in all, you are already influencers for the collective good of not just the youth, but for everyone.”
The 27 youth MPs are aged between 15 -34 years representing a cross section of Tonga’s youth and society.
The youth MPs aim to deliberate on two Motions and two Petitions.
These include: the Motion for the Legislative Assembly to establish and administer a youth council for each electoral constituency in Tonga, and for this youth council to partner with electoral constituency offices in addressing relevant youth development issues.
The other is to order government to establish a separate juvenile detention centre in Tonga for the detention, custody or rehabilitation of youth offenders and to consider passing legislation to effectively restrict and control cyber bullying.
At the same time, the petitions explored opportunities to improve the well being of youth, equitable access to education and strengthening vocational institutions in better accessing alternative employment options.
Youth MPs, joined by senior Members of Parliament and leaders in various fields, took part in an orientation program, learning parliamentary procedures, national development plan, human and rights and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The participants were selected through a competitive process, in which all applicants must be Tongan citizens, aged14-34. They represent all 17 electorates.
The Youth Parliament, which ends on March 20 was organised by the Legislative Assembly of Tonga supported by the Tonga business community, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through its Pacific Parliamentary Effectiveness Initiative (PPEI) project funded by the Government of New Zealand.