Tonga: Female Discrimination

From Bruce Hill @ Radio Australia:

Tonga's parliament has decided not to ratify an international convention outlawing discrimination against women. It voted 18 to 1 with 4 abstentions to not ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, or CEDAW. The Tongan prime minister's office says he Legislative Assembly believed that to ratify CEDAW would cut across the cultural and social heritage that makes up the Tongan way of life, which is not based on individual rights and freedoms, but on the individual's relationship with the extended family and the wider community.