Commonwealth Alumnus Dr Mele Tupou Vaitohi is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington. Her teaching focuses on fostering critical engagement with legal principles whilst emphasising their relevance to the unique challenges faced by small states and Pacific communities.
Beyond teaching, Mele is deeply involved in projects aimed at improving legal education for Pacific communities in New Zealand. This includes initiatives to enhance access to legal education for Pacific students, create culturally responsive curricula and address systemic barriers within the legal profession. Her work reflects her commitment to empowering Pacific communities through education and ensuring the law is a tool for equity and justice.
“Just being a bridge between framework and reality of people living in these small states are one of my passions, and one of the things that I really strive to connect and contribute to, and that’s what I’m currently doing at the law school.”
Bridging legal gaps for Pacific communities
Mele moved to New Zealand in 2016 to complete a PhD in Law and subsequently was employed at Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand is home to a large Pacific community, making up approximately 8% of the total population. Pacific people are the youngest and fastest growing population in the county, with youth playing an important role in shaping New Zealand’s future.
Pacific people face significant social and economic challenges which affect their personal and professional opportunities which has resulted in over-representation in the criminal justice system.
Mele shares two important factors contributing to this disproportionate representation: firstly, that laws and policies do not consider the social context and longer-term impact of colonialism on Pacific people. Secondly, Pacific people are under-represented in the legal profession, meaning these challenges are not adequately considered in the justice system.
Despite a growing youth population, Pacific people make up only 3% of law students. Increasing the number of Pacific people in legal professions, such as lawyers and judges, will be an important way of reducing the number of Pacific people in the criminal justice system and ensuring that laws and policies are reflective of their experiences and needs.
To address this, between 2021 and 2022, Mele was the lead researcher in a national project, ‘Improving Pasifika Legal Education’. The project aimed to identify the barriers to success in legal education, identify solutions and explore the themes of equity, belonging and authority. The overall objective of the project is to increase the number of Pacific people enrolling and graduating with law degrees.
Mele reflects the project was an eye-opening experience. Her research identified inequality and inequity in access to legal education amongst Pacific people and that Pacific people working in the sector continued to experience barriers to opportunities, including racism and other forms of discrimination.
In 2022, a report outlining the research findings was published alongside recommendations for change. One output of the report has been the development of ‘the Hub’, a multidisciplinary research network that connects students, graduates and lawyers with academics and policymakers. The Hub provides a platform for collaboration between these groups to implement and test interventions.
The report was endorsed by the Chief Justice of New Zealand and is key resource and call to action within the justice sector. Mele is pleased to share that she has witnessed change within law schools.
“Law schools and the legal profession here in New Zealand are engaging with the ideas of how do we help the Pacific community? How do we make laws serve the communities that it should serve? The project did not just stop with the report.”
Mele has been directly involved in implementing some of the recommendations. This has included a collaborative project with the Penn State Dickinson Law School in the USA, exploring ways of addressing racism in the justice and legal sectors. As a senior lecturer, she has worked with colleagues to influence the curriculum at her institution, introducing a new course, Legal Issues in the Pacific, and encouraging multidisciplinary perspectives on legal issues.
“The idea is to approach the issues in the multidisciplinary perspective, so that people would not just look at the legal side of things, their views are enriched by other disciplines. This is just my way of ensuring that students that are doing law go out into the profession being informed, or have some ideas, or some inspiration to understand the background and stories that their clients may have.”
Contributing to democratic reform in Tonga
Mele completed her Commonwealth Scholarship and LLM in Law at Queen Mary University of London in 2008. She returned home in the same year with a renewed passion and confidence to work in the justice sector.
2010 was a landmark year for political reform in Tonga. Following growing public demands for the introduction of a democratic government, in 2010 constitutional reforms were introduced, marking first major change to Tonga’s political landscape since 1875.
The reforms enabled Tonga to shift toward a more democratic system and enhance the voice and representation of the Tongan people in governance. Key changes include the relinquishing of most of the executive powers from the monarch to the people’s elected representatives and an increase in People’s Representatives, representing 100,000 people, from nine to 17, alongside nine Representatives of the Nobles, representing 30 Nobles. This is a significant re-balance in favour of the people of Tonga.
In the lead-up to this transformative change, Mele worked as a Legal Officer at the Ministry of Justice, where she provided foundational legal support and gained insight into the intricacies of the development of Tonga’s legal system.
She then transitioned to the Office of the Public Service Commission, where her role expanded to include advising on governance and administrative processes critical to public sector operations. Following this appointment, she joined the Parliament Office in a senior position, where she played a key role in facilitating legal opinions and offering advice to decision-makers during the crucial period of reform planning and implementation.
In this role, Mele was involved not only in analysing complex legal and constitutional issues but also engaging with Ministers and senior government stakeholders to ensure that decisions were informed by sound legal principles and aligned with Tonga’s unique social and cultural context. In this context, she acted as a bridge between legal frameworks and the aspirations of the Tongan people, contributing to a reform that was both meaningful and sustainable.
“In navigating that responsibility, I found peace in knowing that I had done my part: offering the best legal advice I could and clearly explaining it to the leaders. That way, whatever decision they made was informed and, ultimately, the best possible under the circumstances.”
A global perspective on law and justice
Mele reflects this was an interesting experience and time in Tongan history. As well as liaising with various government stakeholders, throughout and following the implementation of the political reform, she organised and conducted workshop programs across the country.
The workshops were aimed at explaining the nuances of the reform to the public, empowering citizens to understand and engage with the new democratic structures. This educational outreach was essential in building public confidence in the reformed political system and ensuring that the changes were embraced and utilised effectively.
This public engagement highlighted to Mele the importance of her contribution in ensuring people’s representation in governance.
“When we were translating some of these changes and legal principles to the people, they looked at it as this great thing, and they were so happy. There were not a lot of questions asked about what this implicates, or would my interest be affected. It was more they were so in awe with the changes and the possibility that further changes may happen.”
Through her work during this transformative period, Mele applied the knowledge and skills gained during her Scholarship to support Tonga’s journey toward a more inclusive and democratic future. This experience not only allowed her to make a tangible difference at the national level but also solidified her commitment to using legal expertise to foster governance and justice in the Pacific region.
“What I found helpful from the UK and Scholarship experience was the confidence. I came from the island with a very tunnel view of how the law and the world works. The next minute I found myself in London, a bustling city that never sleeps, engaged with students whose worldview was just very different from mine in a very raw sense of that word.
“I learned so much, not only from the professors, but also from the students I came to know… So, when I went back, even though I felt I was not prepared for the work, but I felt like I had that attitude that I can do it.”
Although now based in New Zealand, Mele continues to stay connected to the longer-term impact of the political reform in Tonga and to advancing change in political and justice systems to ensure good governance and representation.
“I believe law is definitely one of those tools that would help people who are disadvantaged in life. Whether it would be through legislation that are passed in parliament, or through court decisions, or jurisprudence that are developed by judges and the courts. I really believe that law plays a part in inequity and belonging and all those things.”
Dr Mele Tupou Vaitohi is a 2007 Commonwealth Scholar from Tonga. She completed an LLM in Law at Queen Mary University of London.
