12 Dec 2012

UNDP says Pacific can share solutions to further human rights

3:12 pm on 12 December 2012

The United Nations Development Programme is encouraging Pacific Island countries to share ideas on how to further human rights.

The UNDP has launched a new tool, called the Pacific Handbook on Human Rights Treaty Implementation, to illustrate how countries in the region can improve human rights.

Simone Troller says Pacific Island countries face similar human rights challenges and they can overcome these by sharing ideas and experiences.

"So we've developed the handbook on the premise that countries are best to learn from each other in this region first of all. And then they can also be informed by solutions that have taken place for example outside the region. But this kind of peer fostering of solutions was one of the approaches that we felt would work in this region."

Simone Troller says legal mechanisms allowing complaints to be made against the abuse of human rights are still lacking in the Pacific.