Democracy is founded on the participation of all members of society, both men and women, and this concept is at the core of a modern parliament, said Brigitte Filion, a spokesperson from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Nuku‘alofa today.
She is participating in the Pacific Parliamentary Partnerships Meeting which opened today November 7 at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre. The two-day meeting is held under a theme 'Modern Parliaments: the Pacific Perspective' and will discuss concepts of democracy including gender equality.
Brigitte said gender equality is central to achieving better parliaments and stronger democracies and the promotion of gender equality has long been one of the IPU’s main endeavours and a pillar of their five-year strategy.
“Over the two-day meeting, we will examine the skills and capacities required by parliamentarians to fulfill their core functions of representing their constituents, participating in debates, legislating and overseeing government action on key national and regional issues while ensuring a smooth running of a modern parliament in the Pacific,” she said.
"Modern parliaments are those in which citizens recognize themselves and find answers to their questions and aspirations and they represent their communities and respond to the issues they raise. Modern parliaments also translate the diverse needs of their communities into legislative action by engaging strategically with governments to play a strong and effective role in policy making and implementation."
Brigitte said Pacific Island Parliaments were characterized by their unique geographic location and parliamentarians had the privilege of being very close to their electorate.
“We believe that Parliament is at the heart of democracy and their views are crucial to all key governance, social, cultural and economic questions of our time. ...the main task for our generation is to finish the great unfinished business of the 20th Century, Equality for All,” she said.
The meeting, which has one day of discussion on gender equality, will also address professional development and services required by the parliamentarians, strengthening parliaments' infrastructure and administrative capacity development that includes bridge building between parliaments, constituents, and civil society.
Tonga
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Lord Fakafanua said they had planned a Mock Parliament for Women in Tonga for March 2014.
He said Pacific Island countries had the lowest number of female parliamentarians in the world except for Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia. “I advocate candidacy training for women and for both men and women to work together because there are more women registered to vote than men in Tonga,” he said.
"We are here as one Pacific and I believe meetings like this offer more than support for regional cooperation."
The President of the Congress of New Caledonia Hon Roch Wamytan and Hon. Ahohiva Levi the Speaker of the Niue Assembly are among the participants. Other countries includes the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The meeting is jointly funded by IPU, AusAID, UNDP, Parliament of Australia and the Pacific Women’s Parliamentary Partnerships.
