On TckTckTck: Five key take-aways from last week’s Social PreCOP

David Tong is the Chair of the P3 Foundation. Last week, Venezuela hosted an unprecedented PreCOP meeting between ministers and negotiators from 40 countries and representatives from some 80 civil society organisations and social movements worldwide. Here are five important points about the Social PreCOP to know before next month’s climate talks in Lima. 1) The […]

RTCC: Venezuela did not hijack civil society climate meeting

The Responding to Climate Change newswire syndicated my closing summary of the Social PreCOP in Venezuela: Last week, I was in Margarita Island, Venezuela, for the “social pre-COP”: a warm-up meeting to next month’s climate talks in Lima. On the final day, there was a closed door (or at least closed tent) ministerial meeting, as […]

Oxfam blog: The march for climate justice

Thought I’d draw a few comparisons between Yeb Saño’s 1000km Climate Walk and the Oxfam Trailwalker: A guest blog from David Tong, Chair of the P3 Foundation. Oxfam Trailwalker is a pretty incredible challenge. You walk 100 km over some of New Zealand’s most stunning countryside, challenge yourself like perhaps never before, and help to support […]

Thoughts for Oxfam on inequality

Oxfam New Zealand asked me to share a few thoughts on inequality for Blog Action Day: I was 20 years old when a woman begging on the street tried to thrust her baby into my hands. We were in Zhuhai, China, and I’m pretty sure she was even younger than I was. Nine years on, […]

Management Committee Member, Human Rights Foundation

I joined the Human Rights Foundation‘s board in October 2014. Being approached itself was an honour, because other board members include senior lawyers, respected academics, and former Human Rights Commissioners. Here’s what we do: The Human Rights Foundation is a non-governmental organisation, established in December 2001, to promote and defend human rights through research based […]

Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Lawyers Association Condemns Killing of Filipino Lawyer

The following statement appeared on the website of the Human Rights Lawyers Association of Aotearoa/NZ. Attorney Rodolfo R. Felicio, a member of the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, was gunned down while working on a land dispute in Rizal, east of Manila. Two caretakers of the disputed land were also injured in the attack. Attorney […]

Hot Topic: We play dirty at the climate talks too: New Zealand’s dirty politics of climate

Sparked by the dirty politics scandal, I shared my experiences of New Zealand’s aggressive, dirty politics at the climate talks: Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics and the subsequent revelations have shaken New Zealand’s Government. On Saturday, Minister of Justice Judith Collins resigned, facing allegations of interfering with Serious Fraud Office investigations. On Sunday, the Inspector General […]

Profiled in LawTalk

Issue 848 of LawTalk just published a very flattering profile of me and the work I do with the New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education. You can read it online here or in the full magazine. Young lawyer David Tong spreads himself across a plethora of different causes. Perhaps unsurprisingly one which he feels very […]

Helen Clark

Photos from last month’s Helen Clark lecture are up on the Aotearoa New Zealand Human Rights Lawyers Association Facebook page now.

Dubrovnik dusk

Finally getting a chance to post process some of my photos from when Rachel and I took our mothers Karen and Rosie on a road trip through Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia in January. Photos up on Facebook: Milan, Venice and Jesolo, Slovenia, Zagreb, Split, Korcula, and Dubrovnik.

David Tong

Campaigner | Former litigator

Author: David Tong