By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

China Town in the city of Honiara in the Solomon Islands was burned to the ground after rioting following the 2006 election (Photo Courtesy of New Zealand Herald)

HONIARA, Solomon Islands – Angry voters in a remote province of the Solomon Islands started throwing rocks after their supporting candidate lost the election, damaging nearby buildings and a polling station.

MP Patterson Oti is one of a record 509 candidates seeking election to the tiny Pacific island nation’s 50-seat parliament. When Mr. Patterson Oti failed to capture a seat in this week’s elections in Lata, a remote province of the Solomons, hundreds of his supporters erupted and went on a rampage, suspending vote counting.

However, a Solomons election spokesperson downplayed reports of a riot breaking out and claimed that the situation was calm and well handled.

“Last night (Thursday), counting was coming to a close in a tightly contested electorate. Some supporters got upset and threw some rocks, the returning officer did the right thing and stopped counting and closed the station to calm the situation.

“Officials in the area are now speaking with both groups of supporters, local leaders and tribal elders to make sure the counting can be completed peacefully,” he said.

However, his comments were contradictory to that of a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The situation this morning is tense and we are helpless to stop the rampage because we do not have adequate officers and resources,” he said.

Solomons Islands is not new to such problems. In 2003, hundreds were killed in ethnic violence that drove at least 20,000 people from their homes, which led to the deployment of an Australian-led international security force, RAMSI, to maintain peace in the Solomons.

Subsequently, in 2006, when the unpopular Snyder Rini was announced prime minister, riots erupted in the capital Honiara which destroyed much of Chinatown and injured dozens of Australian police officers.

To prevent a repeat of such violence, foreign peacekeepers stepped up security in Honiara, the nation’s capital, during Wednesday’s poll and the continuing vote counting, but no extra forces were sent to remote centers like Lata.

Vote counting in most constituencies is expected to be completed by Sunday.

For more information, please see:
Sky News-Vote count suspended over rock throwing-6 August 2010

Metronewsca-Security tight for Solomon Islands vote count-5 August 2010

Yahoo News-Voters riot after local MP ousted in Solomons poll -5 August 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji–Fiji’s prime minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, remains unapologetically in favor of censorship and an iron-fisted military regime.  Despite pressure from nearby nations such as Australia and New Zealand, Fiji’s strongman continues to place trust in his military, but not his own people.

Commodore Bainimarama took control of the impoverished island nation in a military coup in 2006.  He did away with the constitution and now rules by decrees.  He told ABC television that he believes only the military can adequately run the country and that politicians, judges, and the public aren’t trustworthy.  He also defended his strict censorship regulations and rule-by-decree regime.

“I don’t trust the people,” the dictator said.  “We can’t bring about changes if there are people that are still talking about bringing instability.”

Bainimarama says dissent will not be allowed and has silenced opponents, including the Methodist Church and tribal chiefs.  He has also expelled Australian and New Zealand diplomats after their governments spoke out against his seizure of power and refusal to implement elections.

“We need to stop all people speaking out against the government and its reforms.  I need to silence them,” the military leader stated.

A ban on foreign ownership of the media has been installed, and Fiji Times, a popular news outlet, will close soon.

“I’ll be glad that people like the Fiji Times will no longer be here,” Bainimarama said.  “We’ll have our ownership of the papers, so we’ll have at least some support for what we’re trying to do.”

The dictator has tried to justify censorship by explaining that some media outlets understand his reasons.

“They understood that at some stage we’ll need to shut some people up. . . .  Reforms will never happen if we open everything out to every Tom, Dick and Harry to have their say.”

Fiji has been suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum, which is holding its annual summit this week in Vanuatu.  Bainimarama has criticized the Forum, saying it is dominated by Australia and New Zealand which are not Pacific Islanders.

“They crept in slowly like the proverbial camel,” he complained, “with their head in, and then the front legs, and then the back legs, and all of a sudden the owners of the tent were out and they were inside the tent.”

Bainimarama says he wants to free Fiji from racial politics and hold elections in 2014.  Fiji has been divided by a power struggle between a majority Fijian Indian community and various indigenous groups.

For more information, please see:

AFP-Fiji ruler says he doesn’t trust his people with democracy-3 August 2010

Sydney Morning Herald-Only military can save Fiji: Bainimarama-3 August 2010

ABC-At home with Fiji’s strongman-3 August 2010

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The U.S. military has decided to lift a decade-long ban on engagement with Indonesia’s Komanda Pasukan Khusus (Kopassas), a special forces unit that has been accused of humans rights abuses.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, during a visit to Jakarta on Thursday, said after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that a limited program of engagement with the group would be permitted after the Obama administration concluded that the group has demonstrated a commitment to human rights.

“I was pleased to be able to tell the president that as a result of Indonesian military reforms over the past decade, the ongoing professionalization of the [Indonesian armed forces], and recent actions taken by the ministry of defense to address human rights issues,” Gates told reporters after meeting with Yudhoyono, “the United States will begin a gradual, limited program of security cooperation activities with the Indonesian army special forces.”

Yudhoyono promised that Indonesian Military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or TNI) reforms would continue and that there would be no repeat of the abuses that once took place.

According to Human Rights Watch, Kopassus members have engaged in serious human rights abuses, including carrying out abductions, forming deadly militia forces in East Timor in 1999, engaging in arbitrary detention of civilians in Papua, and abducting and killing Papuan activist and leader Theys H. Eluay in 2001.

The U.S. government severed all aid to the Indonesian military in 1999 because of the widespread human rights violations.

Human rights groups have expressed concern with the recent decision.

“The Obama administration has just failed a key test. This is not the way to encourage reform with a military that has yet to demonstrate a genuine commitment to accountability for serious human rights abuses. This decision rewards Kopassus for its intransigence over abuses and effectively betrays those in Indonesia who have fought for decades for accountability and justice,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, in response to Thursday’s decision.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Gates that outlined recommendations on how to approach continued engagement with the Indonesian military, urging the Obama administration to focus on a relationship that would both protect human rights in Indonesia and further national security objectives in the United States. However, as the letter noted, “without the necessary reforms in place, such assistance may facilitate continued violations of human rights in Indonesia and reinforce impunity.” The letter detailed past and recent human rights violations.

The decision comes in the development of the U.S.’s attempt to strengthen ties with Indonesia. President Obama has planned two trips to Indonesia this year. Both had to be cancelled in the wake of important domestic events: the health care reform bill and the Gulf oil spill.

Pentagon officials have indicated that the relationship will develop slowly, and that no cash aid will be delivered. Gates noted that members of Congress had been briefed on the decision and response was positive.

Indonesian officials also welcomed the announcement. “This is a positive start,” said Djoko Suyanto, Indonesia’s commander-in-chief, adding, “we will prepare ourselves.”

For more information, please see:

Asia Sentinel – Kopassus Reinstatement Stirs Outrage – 23 July 2010

Jakarta Post – Kopassus officially off US military embargo – 23 July 2010

Los Angeles Times – U.S. to resume aid to controversial Indonesian army unit – 23 July 2010

Washington Post – U.S. to end ban on Indonesia’s special forces, angering human rights groups – 23 July 2010

CNN – U.S. to resume ties with once-notorious Indonesian military unit – 22 July 2010

Department of Defense – Gates Seeks Stronger Military Ties With Indonesia – 22 July 2010

Human Rights Watch – Indonesia: US Resumes Military Assistance to Abusive Force – 22 July 2010

Human Rights Watch – Letter to US Department of Defense Regarding US Military Assistance to Indonesia – 4 February 2010

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga—Two teenagers in Tonga have been spared a whipping sentence that would have given each six lashes with a rod.  The Court of Appeal overturned the sentence this week on the grounds that it would be considered “cruel and unusual.”

Timote Fangupo and Penisimani Fa’aoa, both now 17, were first imprisoned for crimes they committed when they were 15.  They served time for housebreaking and theft, and escaped from prison three times.

The whipping sentences, accompanied by a 13-year prison term, were set late last year by Justice Shuster, a British Commonwealth High Court Judge who had been appointed to Tonga in 2008.

The whipping punishment had not been used in Tonga in 30 years.  The Appeal Court took modern global trends into account when deciding which course to take in this case.  Their judgment stated that, “interpreted in the light of international conventions and decisions of this Court it might be argued that the whipping provision is now unconstitutional.”

The Appeal Court acknowledged that international attitudes toward corporal punishment had changed over the past 20 years, saying, “A number of countries have adopted or amended constitutions to prohibit cruel and unusual punishment.  Tonga has not amended its constitution.”

The Court cited the UN’s Human Rights Committee, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights, all of which have spoken out against whipping or flogging.

Also noted by the Justices was the controversy concerning whether it is ethical for a physician to certify offenders as being fit for whipping.  The judgment mentioned that medical ethics may “prevent a doctor from participating in the infliction” of such a punishment.

The Court concluded that the whipping punishment would be excessive, and that the sentencing judge had committed error by taking certain prejudicial factors into account: “There had been assaults on prison staff in ‘Eua and the burning of the prison in Tongatapu.  There is no suggestion that either of the appellants had anything at all to do with either of these incidents; indeed, their offending and their imprisonment is on the island of Vava’u.”

Instead of enduring the whipping, the teenage appellants will now serve prison sentences totaling six years.

Tonga’s Human Rights and Democracy Movement congratulated the Appeal Court for overturning the sentence.  The Movement’s  director, Po’oi Pohiva, said, “Such punishment should no longer be seen given the international laws that uphold and promote the dignity of the human person.”

For more information, please see:

Matangi Tonga-Appeal Court overturns “cruel” flogging sentence for 17-year-old prisoners-14 July 2010

Radio New Zealand International-Tonga NGO congratulates Appeal Court on whipping decision-14 July 2010

New Zealand Herald-Tonga stops whipping-14 July 2010