NUKU’ALOFA (Pacnews) —Australia and New Zealand should impose sanctions on Tonga because there have been widespread abuses by security forces since last year’s riots, says a human rights advocate.
Betty Blake from Tonga’s Community Paralegal Taskforce said a recent study by her group found that 41 percent of people they interviewed had suffered physical abuse by security forces following last year’s rioting
The study found that 77 percent of those arrested by soldiers claimed to have been physically violated and boys as young as 12 had been caught up in the abuse.
She said the worst abuses were those who suffered broken bones and teeth at the hands of the Tongan military and police.
“Predominantly, the perpetrators of violence during these arrests were the Tonga Defense Force,” Blake said.
Prison cells designed to hold only four people often had up to 25 inmates crammed into them after the riots and a 16-year-old boy was kept in such conditions for 48 days, she said.
The study also found a 12-year-old boy had been arrested after the riots and interrogated by police.
“They took him to the central police station. They took off his watch and shoes. I myself talked to this little boy and asked him how he felt. He told me with tears in his eyes that he was very angry,” Blake said.
The group interviewed 84 people who had been arrested following the rioting in Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa last November. The riots broke out amid fears that parliament would delay democratic reforms of Tonga’s semi-feudal system that were promised after the death of long-serving monarch King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV in September.
Blake said Australia and New Zealand should take action against Tonga the same way they had pressured the Fijian government in a bid to halt human rights abuses since the military coup in that country last year.
“Tonga also needs Australian and New Zealand assistance with regards to violations of human rights. They need to help Tongans to make sure the rights of people are not violated or abused,” Blake said.
“I think there is a need for sanctions right now. We need international assistance in terms of protecting our people. There is a need for that,” she said.
The calls come amid news Tonga has again extended a state of emergency in the country that was originally imposed following the riots. Tonga has come under pressure to remove the state of emergency, which places limits on civil liberties.
Blake said the government had however relaxed parts of the state of emergency declaration, so it was now possible to have public gatherings of five people or more. The state of emergency now only applies to Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu.