The Kingdom of Tonga is an archipelagic kingdom in the South Pacific Ocean, situated roughly midway between New Zealand and Hawaii, comprising 169 islands—of which 36 are inhabited. Tonga is not a State party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, nor to the 1967 Protocol. Tonga is not a State party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, nor to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Tonga acceded to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on 16 February 1972 and to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 6 November 1995, but it is not a State party to any of the other core international human rights treaties. Tonga has signed, but not acceded to, the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 15 November 2007.

Having regard to the small number of individual cases, the situation of asylum-seekers, refugees, stateless persons and internally displaced persons have not been prominent concerns in Tonga. To UNHCR’s knowledge, at least one recognized refugee (recognized by UNHCR under its mandate) has been identified in Tonga in 2022. A permanent solution was found for this refugee by way of resettlement to another State.