Luisa Tuilau stood proud as all her years of hard work culmi­nated into that one moment when she was admitted to the Bar as a legal practitioner at the High Court yesterday.

Ms Tuilau was among the 51 Uni­versity of the South Pacific students who were sworn-in as Barristers and Solicitors during an official ceremo­ny at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva.

She is originally from Namara, Tai­levu and completed part of her law programme in Vanuatu.

“Law had always been part of the pathway for me,” Ms Tuilau said.

“It has always been about bringing change, making a difference some­where.”

Ms Tuilau was also one of the 60 young people from across the Com­monwealth to receive the Queen’s Young Leaders Award in 2016 for her exceptional work in the community.

Currently, she is pursuing her post-graduate qualification in Gender Studies.

Ms Tuilau said her passion was hu­man rights and she takes every op­portunity to advocate on the issue.

“Even right now there is a Pacific Leaders meeting happening in Tu­valu and human rights will be part of that. I would ask our leaders to be bold and courageous and be commit­ted to human rights for everyone,” she said.

“We are responsible for the future of our blue Pacific and as young people we need to use what we have learnt to actually make a difference somewhere.”

Edited by Susana Hirst

Feedback: neelam.prasad@fijisun.com.fj