Youth, Journalists Call On Pacific Leaders To Deliver On Integrity Boost

Nuku’alofa (Tonga), 27 August 2024 – Youth, civil society and journalists in the Pacific are calling on their national leaders to deliver on integrity commitments made in their regional anti-corruption roadmap, as part of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s Pacific Unity Against Corruption 28 August roundtable to the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting (PIFLM53) which began in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa this week.

Over 1000 leaders, officials, stakeholders, media and civil society, along with UN Secretary-General Anthony Guterres and UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Masood Karimipour, are meeting at the annual week-long Leaders Forum where Pacific Prime Ministers and Presidents set their regional agenda for the next 12 months.

In 2021, the Leaders Forum adopted Teieniwa Vision, the outcome commitment statement of the first Pacific Unity Against Corruption Leaders Conference in Kiribati in 2020, as the official regional anti-corruption roadmap for the 18 member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

UNODC as the custodian of the UN Convention against Corruption, and facilitator of the original Teieniwa Vision adoption conference, are partnering with the PIF on assisting member countries to implement Teieniwa Vision commitments, as directed by leaders at last year’s PIFLM.

In the lead-up to PIFLM53 UNODC last week has assisted with dedicated anti-corruption and advocacy technical training for Tongan and regional youth, civil society and journalists participating at PIFLM.

Masood Karimipour, UNODC Regional Representative for SE Asia and the Pacific, urged civil society and journalist participants to: "Turn your Leaders' Anti-Corruption commitments in Teieniwa Vision into weapons for access to information, whistleblowing and accountability."

The training participants, in deference to the genuine partnerships that the Teieniwa statements commit leaders to, have coalesced around nine key priorities they want their national governments to progress.

In support of the Call to leaders, Christy Langilangi, a member of Tonga’s Take the lead NGO, said: “There is an iron curtain between CSOs and youth leaders on one side and the leaders on the other side. We need genuine partnerships and freedom of information to tear down this curtain.”

Pacific Anti-Corruption Journalists Network (PACJN) member and Solomon Islands investigative journalist Jeremy Gwao said: “Media is the mirror of society. We rightly investigated uncomfortable truths when there is no fair share of the cake on the climate change funding.”

The Call to Action includes: increased education on anti-corruption good practices for leaders and building Government integrity systems with strong Government transparency around legislation and policy change; constant investment into education of all our people on the work of anti-corruption; support and investments into developing and maintaining independent integrity bodies; support to re-activate the Pacific Youth Forum Against Corruption as a conduit for the voice of youth into PIFS processes, regional and national anti-corruption policies; to promote the co-design of a strategy that identifies and addresses culture and traditional norms, beliefs and practices that exacerbate corruption to strengthen customary tribunals to help guide our leaders in both: (1) upholding our cultural and traditional values that signify the importance of ethics and integrity in decision making; and (2) discouraging those cultural and traditional practices that lead to corruption; develop effective engagement and partnership with Governments to support access to information and promote awareness of the role of the media in reporting on integrity and corruption issues, in a process that involves journalists and the public in participatory legislation and policy making; urge leaders to adhere to the regional whistleblower framework (ongoing efforts on whistleblower protection in the Pacific) to protect reporters and activists; support climate assistance, community empowerment, and climate justice; and urge leaders to prioritize transparency and consistency in public finance practices, especially in annual climate financing audits, and to involve all CSOs in decision making.

The Pacific Unity Against Corruption leaders’ side-event, hosted by UNODC and PIFS, where the Call to Leaders for Teieniwa Vision Implementation Priorities will be made, will be held on Wednesday, 28 August, from 02.00pm – 03.30pm at the Fa’onelua Convention Center, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, as part of PIFLM53.

Anti-corruption stakeholders are anticipating that as at PIFLM52 last year, leaders will address corruption issues in their final PIFLM53 communique to be released on 30 August.

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