01st November 2018 TONGAN The Attorney General’s Office wishes to inform the public that it will deliver Law Week 2018 from Sunday 4 November to Friday 9 November 2018.
The theme for Law Week 2018 will be the Law and Cyberspace.
The objective of Law Week 2018 is to inform the public of the law that is applicable to the use of cyberspace, and the current benefits and challenges in the use of cyberspace through computers and mobile devices, and hopefully the users of cyberspace, especially the children and youth, become more aware of the risks in cyberspace, and to protect themselves from these risks either by their own reasonable actions or active supervision by their guardians.
This will be the eleventh year that the Attorney General’s Office has delivered Law Week.
Law Week is delivered annually as part of the celebrations of the granting of the Constitution by the late King George Tupou I on 4 November 1875.
Sunday 4 November 2018 will be the 143rd anniversary of the granting of the Constitution, which is the supreme law, and the source of all law and authority in the Kingdom.
Accordingly, Law Week will start off with a commemorative church service on Sunday 4 November 2018 at the Centenary Church of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in
Nuku’alofa, which will be led by Dr the Reverend ‘Ahio, President of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga.
During Law Week 2018, the Attorney General’s Office will also be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the posts of the Attorney General and the Solicitor
General by His Majesty the Late King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, who was the first ever Tongan law graduate.
The Attorney General is the First Law Officer of the Crown, and the Solicitor General is the Second Law Officer of the Crown.
The establishment of these posts in 1988 marked the beginning of Tongan law graduates delivering and directing all legal services for Government and the people of the Kingdom.
The first Attorney General was the Hon Tevita Poasi Tupou, who was later appointed by His Majesty the Late King George Tupou V as Lord Tupou of Kolofo’ou, and Law Lord of His Majesty and Member of the Privy Council. The first Solicitor General was ‘Aisea Havea Taumoepeau, who also served as Attorney General, and is now the Ombudsman.
Before these posts were established, the Government legal services were provided by a Crown Solicitor, who worked under the Prime Minister’s Office. This post was usually occupied by expatriates from the United Kingdom and Australia, until the late Taniela Hoko’ila Tufui was appointed as the first Tongan Crown Solicitor, and who later became Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, and who was later appointed by His Majesty the Late King George Tupou V as Lord Tufui of Talaheu, and Law Lord of His Majesty and Member of the Privy Council.
Law Week will involve daily radio talkback shows from Radio FM 90 of Radioa Tonga at 5pm to 6.30pm from Monday 5 November to Friday 9 November.
On Tuesday 6 November 2018, an Open Day will opened by Hon Poasi Tei, Minister for
Information and Communications, to be held at the Digicel Square in Nuku’alofa for some Government Primary School students from the Eastern and Western Districts of Tongatapu. The students will be presented with information from the Attorney General’s Office, Tonga Police, Tonga Communications Corporation, Digicel, CERT Tonga and other stakeholders who support the safe use of cyberspace. This will also include special activities and competitions for the students.
All programmes will be broadcast on Radio Tonga for the benefit of those who would be listening from the outer islands and also from overseas via the internet.
Members of the public are invited by the Attorney General’s Office to contribute in this celebration of the rule of law in Tonga, and the use of the law to help protect users of cyberspace, and also to encourage the use of cyberspace to advance standards of living of people in the Kingdom.
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For further information or clarification, please contact:
Mr ‘Aminiasi Kefu
Acting Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions
Telephone Numbers: (676) 25347 (Direct), (676) 7715314
Facsimile: (676) 24005
Email: dpp@crownlaw.gov.to, aakefu@gmail.com