MEDIA RELEASE
12 August 2003

"HRDMT DIRECTOR TO SPEAK IN NGO PANEL IN AUCKLAND DURING PACIFIC ISLAND FORUM MEETING"

The Director of Human Rights and Democracy Movement Office, Lopeti Senituli will speak in a NGO Panel on “Governance” during a Civil Society Presentation in Auckland on 15 August 2003.

The Civil Society Presentation is being organised by the Centre for International Development (Wellington) and the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU) and will be officially opened by Hon. Don McKinnon, Commonwealth Secretary General. It is expected that government delegates to the 34th Pacific Islands Forum meeting will also participate in the event.

Lopeti Senituli said, “The theme of my presentation will be “A free and vibrant media is an essential component of Good Governance” and I will be referring to the Tongan Government’s attempts to further delimit media freedom in Tonga. I will also refer to the NZ Press Council’s decision to reject a Tonga Media Association’s complaint because it was a “transnational complaint”.

Senituli will also participate in a Seminar organized by the Tongan Postgraduate Students in Aotearoa New Zealand on 16 August. The theme of the Seminar is “Tonga at the Crossroads, Whose Politics? Whose Culture?”

The seminar will be held at the University of Auckland’s Waipapa Marae. Some of the other speakers include Dr. Sitiven Halapua (East West Centre), Dr. Linda Manu’atu (Auckland University of Technology), Mrs. Mele Tu’ilotolava (Lawyer), Rev. Tavake Tupou (Former President of Methodist Church of New Zealand)

Senituli will also be meeting with Christian World Service in Christchurch prior to the meetings in Auckland. CWS is the Development, Justice and Aid agency of the Conference of Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand (CCANZ). It is a partner agency of the Human Rights and Democracy Movement in Tonga.

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