The judiciary in the Pacific Region has remained independent and its integrity unassailable, HM King George Tupou V told Pacific judges, in opening the 17th Pacific Judicial Conference at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in Nuku'alofa this morning.

The king attributed the stability of the region's judiciary, "to the tradition of justice enjoyed by the region during the past 100 years as well as the calibre of judges who dispensed justice."

He praised this achievement despite the recent political instabilities in the region.

The king warmly welcomed to Tonga the Chief Justices and Judges who are attending the three-day conference.

17 Chief Justices

The Chief Justice of Tonga, Mr Justice Anthony Ford, in his welcome address said that countries in the region were well represented at the conference by 41 judges, coming from around the Pacific and from faraway countries and states like California, Hawai'i, and from East Timor to Tahiti, "including 17 Chief Justices from 21 countries, which is a big turnout."

The Pacific Judicial Conference is bi-annual gathering, started in the 1960s by the then Chief Justice of Samoa, "who decided to get together with his counterpart from American Samoa to share problems and other matters affecting their courts and from there it developed.

"Now in terms of the World Judicial Conferences this is one of the longest going organizations", said the Chief Justice.

Chief Justice Ford singled out the Hon. Michael Black, the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia and Chief Judge J. Clifford Wallace from the United States Court of Appeals who had made a tremendous impact to the judiciary, "not only in Tonga but in other Pacific nations."

The conference from November 7-9 is closed to the public while judges discuss a number of confidential matters. Session one deals with the independence of the judiciary in the region.