The Human Rights & Social Development Division (HRSD) 2021-2025

The Human Rights and Social Development (HRSD) is a newly merged division of the Pacific Community (SPC), the regions scientific and technical organisation, bringing together the previous Social Development Programme (SDP) and Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT). HRSD provides culturally and contextually grounded technical assistance to advance human rights, gender equality, social inclusion, youth development and cultural development together termed human rights and social development. The support from Sweden is aimed at contributing to the achievement of development objectives outlined in the HRSD Division Business Plan (BP) 2021-2026 (available online). HRSD implements the various interventions in Cook Islands (CK), Federated States of Micronesia (FM), Fiji (FJ), Kiribati (KI), Republic of Marshall Islands (MH), Papua New Guinea (PG), Palau (PW), Solomon Islands (SB), Samoa (WS), Tonga (TO), Tuvalu (TV), and Vanuatu (VU). The second annual progress report was shared with the embassy in 2024, covering the period 1st of January 2023-31st of December 2023. Key results for 2023 in relation to the overall objectives: 1. Governance and institutional strengthening: Strengthen inclusive, transparent and responsive governance and institutions for human rights and social development - HRSD played a key role in supporting many of its members to prepare for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceedings for an advisory opinion on the impacts of climate change. HRSD convened two writeshops to support Pacific Island Countries (PICs) to prepare their national submissions for the ICJ proceedings and provided SPC experts reports in support of national submissions. The writeshops served as a platform for legal experts, government officials, and stakeholders to engage in collaborative legal drafting processes. - HRSD played a key role in supporting Vanuatu with implementing reforms on the Public Service Commission with the aim of making the Commission and the public service more responsive, inclusive and transparent. In 2023, HRSD´s support included validating the revised Public Service Manual, harmonising the Public Service Act and the Public Service Staff Manual. -When it comes to Human rights and Treaty reporting, HRSD played a key role in supporting the Solomon Islands to become the 12th Pacific Island Country (PIC) to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (CRDP). HRSD supported greater transparency and responsiveness amongst members governments through its human rights treaty reporting work, including support to Tonga with its 4th Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report, Kiribati with its inaugural report under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), and Fiji with its Convention on the Elimination on All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) report. HRSD also supported CSOs in Tuvalu to prepare a shadow report under the 4th cycle of the UPR. Fiji, Tuvalu and Vanuatu have advanced in their Treaty reporting under CEDAW and the UPR process, respectively. - The Fijian Elections Office finalised its new Strategic Plan which includes a focus on improving disability inclusion in national elections, as well as the Electoral Disability Access Working Group´s 4-year Workplan for Inclusive Elections which will ensure persons with disabilities to better engage in electoral processes and national elections. These advancements are the result of the collaborative efforts of HRSD, the Fijian Elections Offices and the Disability Access Working Group. - Via the support of HRSD, HRSD partners have embedded disability inclusion into their gender equality activities. Project partners reported a range of strategies to engage girls and young women living with disabilities, through the development of disability inclusive policies, ensuring accessible transport and spaces for activities, providing sign language interpretation for girls who are hearing impaired, and providing training on the rights of people living with disabilities. 2. Equality and social inclusion: Mobilise, empower and build conditions for gender equality and social inclusion in society and development - Via the Pacific People Advancing Change (PPAC) programme, 63 civil society organisations (CSOs) have been supported across a range of human rights campaigns, including on gender and social inclusion (GESI). According to the annual report, 92% of the CSOs achieved their campaign objectives. - HRSDs training and capacity building efforts in 2023 focused on improving the enforcement on family protection and domestic violence laws, enhancing access to justice for survivors of domestic violence, advocating for human rights, and applying legal frameworks in practical settings. Key initiatives include a training session for Tuvalu Police on domestic violence legislation, a workshop in Tonga to aid justice for domestic violence survivors, discussions on human rights at Kiribati´s National Fisheries Summit, and training for Vanuatu´s Community Justice Supervisors and Probation Officers on the application of human rights in their work under the Correctional Services Act. - The Pacific Youth Engagement, Empowerment and Economic Pathways (PYEEEP) project was launched in 2023, with 80 youths from Solomon Islands and Tonga embarking on training to put themselves in a better position for meaningful, long-term participation in the workforce. As a result of the training in 2023, 19 youths in the Solomon Islands have graduated to an internship programme in the hospitality sector in 2024. It is expected that additional PYEEEP participants will graduate from training in 2024. - Womens Economic Empowerment (WEE) Roundtable is a platform to share information, lessons learnt and good practices. Over 50 participants (93% women) from 11 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) participated in the two convenings of the WEE Roundtable in 2023. - Since the commencement of the Social Citizenship Education (SCE) component of the Pacific Partnership to End Violence against Women and Girls (PPEVAWG) programme, approximately 38 500 students across schools in Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu have received training on gender equality and ending violence against women and girls, alongside various activities to foster a deeper understanding of human rights, GESI, and environmental sustainability. 3. Culture: Promote, preserve and protect positive expressions of culture - SPC, through HRSD, is the custodian of the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, the largest celebration of indigenous Pacific Cultures which is convened every four years. In 2023, HRSD supported the planning for the upcoming festival in 2024. - HRSD supported the development and rollout of cultural policies and strategies in 2023. A notable achievement was the Fiji National Culture Policy 2022-2032, as well as a Pacific Regional Culture Strategy (PRCS) 5 year implementation plan, serving as a strategic guide to cultural preservation and promotion across the Pacific. Formulated after thorough consultations with PICTs, the implementation plan includes practical measures for incorporating cultural priorities into national development plans. A key part is the resource mobilisation strategy, designed to outline funding mechanisms for the implementation, including a guide to assist with fundraising efforts at the national level. 4. Knowledge and innovation: Accelerate the impact of human rights and social development priorities through knowledge, learning and innovative solutions. - In 2023, HRSD performed activities and delivered a range of publications in relation to objective 4, mainly focusing on the thematic areas of GESI, culture, and digital safety, for example: - Pacific Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit which is a practical "how to" manual for applying a gendered lens in policy and programme formulation and implementation. - The Pacific Cyber Safety Symposium was a pioneering event which focused on an emerging issue for the Pacific. The Symposium discussed cyber safety measures, identified knowledge gaps, and encouraged collaboration, resulting in the creation of a priorities document. In sum, HRSD states that through focused research, strategic publications, advocacy, and cooperative workshops, progress has been made towards embedding gender equality, cultural preservation and digital safety into the social development framework of the Pacific.

The purposes of the HRSD Business Plan are: • to detail HRSD's key functions and strategies to progress ongoing and emerging human rights and social development priorities in the region; • to detail HRSD's role in supporting SPC to strengthen its people-centred and culturally responsive work; and • to outline transitional activities that HRSD will undergo over its first 12 months as a newly-merged division, and to align with an SPC-wide transition to a new strategic plan. HRSD's vision is: "Our vision is for just, equitable and resilient Pacific Island societies. This will be achieved by advancing human rights, gender equality and social inclusion for all Pacific people, grounded in cultural values and principles, and people-centred approaches." The HRSD Business Plan is built around four objectives, connected to SPCs Development Objective 6 (Advance social development through the promotion of human rights, gender equality, cultural diversity and opportunities for young people): 1. Governance and institutional strengthening: Strengthen inclusive, transparent and responsive governance and institutions for human rights and social development 1.1: State laws, policies and institutions are strengthened to serve the rights of all people 1.2: Civil society (including women and young people) have the capacity and positioning to influence policies and programmes 1.3 Regional leadership improves implementation of human rights and social development priorities at a national level. 2. Equality and social inclusion: Mobilise, empower and build conditions for gender equality and social inclusion in society and development 2.1 Services and programmes target and respond to the needs of the most marginalized (especially in EVAWG, climate change and disaster response). 2.2 Skills and opportunities grow for income generation and sustainable livelihoods among women, young people, artists and cultural producers 2.3 More communities and leaders advocate for human rights, gender equality and non-violence 3. Culture: Promote, preserve and protect positive expressions of culture 3.1 Cultural knowledge is protected and dynamic in development policy/programming 4. Knowledge and innovation: Accelerate the impact of human rights and social development priorities through knowledge, learning and innovative solutions. 4.1 Human rights and social development knowledge is used to inform national policies and development programmes