11 Nov 2016

Guidebook on human rights reporting for Pacific govts

10:16 am on 11 November 2016

A guidebook uniquely designed by the Pacific Community to help Pacific governments report on human rights is being finalised this week in Fiji.

Government representatives from around the region are in Nadi to finalise the project.

The guidebook will be published and sent to Pacific governments to assist them in their human rights treaty reporting.

Romulo Nayacalevu, the senior human rights advisor from the Regional Rights Resource Team, said accurate periodic reporting of progress on human rights issues in the Pacific has been challenging.

"We have cultural practices and cultural rights are protected rights and so it's about how you communicate that, how you translate that I guess in terms of your own reporting. And so, in terms of cultural context, we are also trying to see what aspects of cultural context we can write indicators for," he said.

The countries taking part in the consultation are Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.