Green MP Keith Locke will travel to Tonga tonight to lend support to the movement for democratic reform there, which is currently focused around a month-long civil servants’ strike.
Mr Locke’s two-day trip is part of the Green Party’s campaign for human rights and democracy.
“If we are going to stand up for human rights in faraway countries like Zimbabwe or Burma, we also have to do so in our Pacific backyard,” he says.
“I will be meeting leaders of the strike, fellow MPs from the democracy movements, and others supporting democracy, including church leaders.
“I hope to find out what more New Zealand can do to support the Tongan people. This month the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee, which I was a member of, released a report on New Zealand’s relations with Tonga. The majority view it contained was criticised by Tongan MPs for not being strong enough in its support of democracy. I want such leaders to be assured of the Green Party’s support.”