Pacific MPs with staff of RRRT and other donors and stakeholders during the Regional MPs Dialogue on Human Rights, Good Governance and Sustainable Development in Port Vila from Nov. 5 to 7, 2019. Photo courtesy of SPC
Port Vila, Vanuatu – Pacific Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu made history last week by signing the Port Vila Declaration on Human Rights, Good Governance and Sustainable Development at the conclusion of a three-day Pacific Regional MPs Dialogue in Vanuatu.
The dialogue, conducted from Nov. 5 to 7, was organized by the Pacific Community’s Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) and supported by the UK-funded Pacific Commonwealth Equality Project, with programme funding from the governments of Australia and Sweden.
Albert Seluka, senior human rights Advisor for RRRT, highlighted that the signing of the Port Vila Declaration is the product of a constructive dialogue, not only on substantive topics such as the human rights context of climate change, Pacific cultures and faiths, but also on exploring ways to strengthen the national human rights mechanisms, especially through the establishment of National Human Rights Institutions.
Miles Young, director of RRRT said this Declaration is useful in that it offers parliamentarians in the region a conceptual framework to inspire and guide work on human rights in their respective countries, particularly in the areas of human rights implementation, good governance and sustainable development.
He added that through the Port Vila Declaration Pacific MPs recognised that human rights, good governance and sustainable development could be achieved by drawing on Pacific cultures, traditions and faith.
“As part of the Declaration the MPs recognized the importance of promoting culture as an enabler of human rights given our growing understanding of their mutually reinforcing nature,” Young highlighted.
According to Palau Sen. Phillip Reklai, the Port Vila Declaration highlights important guidelines for legislators and parliamentarians on their roles and responsibilities in terms of the implementation of human rights across national policies and laws, and especially to explore ways in which they could work together and stand in solidarity to address climate change in the region.
“For me as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Maritime and Climate Change, I am proud to attend this dialog and be part of this Declaration to reassert our commitment to battling climate change and protecting human rights,” Reklai said. “Together we can work with the rest of the world to ensure that sustainable development goals are reached so that the fairer and more equitable world we all desire becomes a reality.” (SPC)
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