Tonga reports to UN Human Rights Council

Tonga has become the first Pacific island country to report to the United Nations new Human Rights Council.

The UN is stepping up its focus on human rights accountability under the new Council, which now makes human rights reporting and investigating compulsory.

The new structure means UN member states must report regularly, whether or not they have ratified previous human rights treaties.

Tonga has never ratified a human rights agreement and has never reported to the world body on the situation in the country, but was among the first countries asked to report to the Council this year

Pacific human rights lawyer, Imrana Jalal, has told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program, Tonga was asked some pointed questions during its peer review by the Council.

"They were asked questions about womens' land rights, which are very controversial as you know in Tonga, women don't have equal rights to land," she said.

"They were asked questions about the democratic process of reform, which is the biggest and hottest topic in Tonga at the moment.

"And they were asked questions about the rights of those people who have imprisoned after the November 2006 riots whose cases are coming up for trial, so they were asked very very searching questions."