SUVA, Fiji — The United States Department of States has issued pointing out a number of human rights violations in Fiji. The report cited human rights violations including: poor prison conditions, discrimination against women, sexual exploitation of children, government corruption, religious strife and the deaths of three, uncharged police detainees (Nimilote Verebasaga, Sakiusa Rabaka and Tevita Malasebe).
Doctor Shaista Shameem, the chairperson of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, has publicly stated that the FHRC has no intention to replying to the report, because the United States is in no position to stand in judgment on the state of human rights in Fiji. In her scathing remarks about the United States, Shameem criticized the US for the War in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and “racism in every sphere of the US Government.” She also said that that many Fiji non-governmental organizations were bought off for the report with “tin badges and a handshake.” She concluded her statement by saying that, “No one wants the USA to be the guardian of human rights for the rest of the world – it’s like asking Dracula to guard the blood bank.”
The US Ambassador to Fiji, Larry Dinger, said that the purpose of the report was not to criticize Fiji, but to encourage it to improve. He admitted that the United States does not have the most sterling record, but stressed that, “[the US] system encourages criticism from others; if Shaista Shameem wants to criticize the US, she is welcomed to do so and she could source lots of US critics in doing so . . . [W]e attempt to improve our performance thereby and similarly we hope that other countries will improve their performance to the kind of criticisms that comes in the human rights reports.”
For more information, please see:
Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited — Dinger: improve from US report — 13 March 2008
Fiji Village — No one wants US as guardian- FHRC — 13 March 2008
Fiji Times — Mind your own, Shameem tells US — 13 March 2008
The Age — Fiji hits back at US human rights report — 13 March 2008
Fiji Times– US should tell Fiji how they’ll deal with human rights violations in Iraq: Shameem — 12 March 2008
Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited — FHRC: We won’t bother to reply — 12 March 2008
