An activist in Tonga says she is confident a family protection bill will reduce the Kingdom's high level of violence against women.
The bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament at its next sitting in June.
The co-ordinator of Ma'a Fafine Moe Famili, Betty Blake, says the bill has good protections for women and children, and anyone else that might be in a household.
Tonga is one of only seven countries that has not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, but she says the bill is a step towards that.
"CEDAW is now on the agenda of government, and this bill will be certainly a tool to help Tonga to move towards ratification of CEDAW. I think there's a positive outlooks."
Betty Blake says she has been told that the ratification of CEDAW is also ready to be introduced to parliament.
