A/HRC23/4 States to understand Tonga’s circumstances and to continue to assist Tonga in pursuing ratification of the treaties through the provision of technical assistance. 26. Concerning other questions that Tonga had received in advance, but which were not directly covered in the second national report, Lord Vaea referred to a question from Mexico as to what obstacles Tonga faced in effectively implementing previous UPR recommendations. He highlighted as main obstacles the lack of resources and the delicate balancing exercise of significant factors unique to Tonga. 27. Lord Vaea then referred to another question from Mexico regarding plans to prevent statelessness. He stated that Tonga had widened the scope of its nationality laws in 2007, and that more persons were now able to become Tongan citizens. He added that there has not been any cases of statelessness in Tonga. He said that naturalization is possible after five years of residence and knowledge of the Tongan language; however, the King has absolute discretion to grant Tongan nationality to any person at any time. 28. Lord Vaea referred to a question from Spain about Tonga’s opinion on the human right to drinking water. He said that Tonga had not voted in support of the resolutions on the human right to drinking water because it was not present during the voting, due to limited resources. He added that like many other small-island developing states, Tonga has limited and scarce natural resources, including water. Nevertheless, Tonga continues to make its own national efforts to deliver this crucial resource to its citizens as best as it can. Tonga is currently processing a Water Resources Bill in order to monitor and regulate water use. Any meaningful discussion on the right of access to clean water and adequate sanitation, including the scope of obligations, remain a matter of great importance to Tonga. Further, Tonga would be supportive of any efforts that involve calling on States, particularly developing countries, and international organizations to provide financial resources, build capacity and transfer technology to scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. 29. Lord Vaea concluded the opening statement by stating that Tonga remained committed to improving the level of its human rights obligations, and requested States to understand and appreciate the unique circumstances Tonga faces in advancing human rights protection. He also requested States to assist and support Tonga in advancing human rights, in particular with regard to gender equality, persons with disabilities and any other human rights that States were willing to assist Tonga with. Lord Vaea expressed his appreciation to the Working Group for its attention and wished it well for the work to be accomplished over the next few weeks and the rest of 2013. B. Interactive dialogue and responses by the State under review 30. During the interactive dialogue, 40 delegations made statements. Recommendations made during the dialogue are to be found in section II of the present report. 31. Indonesia was encouraged by Tonga’s constitutional and political reforms to strengthen democracy. It commended Tonga’s willingness to obtain international assistance to support democratic reform. It welcomed the enactment of legislation to eradicate institutional violence, but noted that human rights education for public officials was still necessary. It commended steps taken towards the ratification of CEDAW. Indonesia made recommendations. 32. Italy commended Tonga for the de facto moratorium on executions since 1982 and called for a total abolition of the death penalty. It regretted that Tonga had not yet acceded to numerous core international human rights instruments and encouraged the country to urgently remove all obstacles preventing its ratification of the International Covenant on 7