Oceania

BRIEF: UN Works with Fiji Security Forces to Ban Torture

SUVA, Fiji – The United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights is helping Fiji’s security forces ensure that detainees will not be tortured or ill-treated.

International law dictates that torture or ill-treatment of those arrested or detained is illegal. Matilda Bogner, a regional representative, said that Fiji already has a strong commitment to banning torture and ill treatment.

At the same time, Bogner says she has worked closely with Fiji Police and the Prison Authority to educate them not to take the law into their own hands, but to defer to the proper legal authority.

Bogner was also careful to point out that Fiji is not unique, and it is crucial that the UN work with other countries around the world to educate and eradicate torturous treatment of those who are arrested or detained. The UN hopes to work harmoniously together with local security forces to address these human rights issues.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – UN works on torture ban in Fiji – 28 June 2009

French Polynesian Nuclear Test Veterans Denied Compensation

By Angela Marie Watkins
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

PAPEETE, French Polynesia – French Polynesia’s Nuclear Workers’ Association, Moruroa E. Tatou, is dismayed that the Papeete labor court has thrown out compensation claim cases by eight former test site workers. This morning, the court found that under local law the complaints cannot be ruled on.

However, the court found that the Atomic Energy Commissariat had failed in its obligation as an employer to provide security and awarded 11,000 US dollars to each of the three children of a deceased local veteran.

French Polynesians who have had their claims for compensation for the effects of nuclear testing rejected say they won’t give up their bids for redress.

John Doom, of Moruroa E. Tatou, says eight people who took their cases to French Polynesia’s industrial relations tribunal were unsuccessful.

He says the three surviving workers have leukemia, and they and the five widows will consult with lawyers over how to continue with their bids.

“We will not give up anyhow, we will continue this fight and represent again the three who were not accepted, and these three have leukemia,” said Doom.

For more information, please see:
New Zealand International Radio – Former Moruroa workers fail in nuclear testing compensation bids – 26 June 2009

New Zealand International Radio – French Polynesian test veterans dismayed at Tahiti court decision – 26 June 2009

Radio Australia – French Polynesia rejects nuclear compensation – 26 June 2009

French Polynesian Court Rules For Nuclear Test Veteran

By Angela Marie Watkins
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

PAPEETE, French Polynesia – French Polynesian court has ruled in favor of three children of a deceased nuclear weapons test veteran who sought compensation for the effects of the tests.

The court found that the Atomic Energy Commissariat had failed in its obligation as an employer to provide security and ordered that each claimant be paid 11,000 US dollars.

The Nuclear Workers’ Association Moruroa E. Tatou has expressed disappointment at the low compensation sum. However, today’s decision coincided with the French parliament beginning debates on a landmark bill for compensating the victims of nuclear tests carried out in French Polynesia and Algeria over more than three decades.

About 150,000 civilian and military personnel took part in 210 nuclear tests carried out in the Sahara desert and the Pacific between 1960 and 1996, many of whom later developed serious health problems.

The government unveiled a bill on compensating the test victims in March, after decades of denying its responsibility for fear the admission would have weakened its nuclear program during the Cold War.

Under the bill, which is to be put to the vote on June 30, a nine-member committee of physicians, led by a magistrate, will examine individual claims for compensation.

Defense Minister Herve Morin told the lower-house National Assembly that the bill, thirteen years after the end of the tests in the Pacific, will allow France to serenely close a chapter of its history.

For more information, please see:

New Zealand International Radio – French Polynesian Court rules in favour of nuclear test veteran’s children – 25 June 2009

New Zealand International Radio – France begins debating nuclear compensation bill – 25 June 2009

Australian News – French debate nuclear test compo – 26 June 2009

Fiji’s Prime Minister Announces Road Map To Democracy

By Angela Marie Watkins
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, announced he will reveal Fiji’s road map to democracy within the next few days.

While speaking to villagers in Tailevu North on Monday, Bainimarama said a constitution review team would be appointed to look at a new constitution and electoral changes.

The speech is one of the first times Bainimarama has publicly spoken about Fiji’s political future and although Bainimarama did not provide a timetable, or framework, it is the first signs of the country gaining a new political and social code since April, when the president annulled the country’s constitution and gave Bainimarama and his government a five-year mandate.

Bainimarama has said repeatedly one of the reasons for the military’s takeover of Fiji was to end racial and social division and Bainimarama’s speech primarily focused on how the new constitution would not tolerate politicians using racial discrimination as a tool to win votes. However, just last weekend, all police officers not on duty were required to attend a Christian crusade event. The country’s ethnic make-up means its police force has members who are Hindu and Muslim, as well as Christian.

Also, as Bainimarama was speaking of a new constitution, his government extended to August the Public Emergency Rules that limit free media by placing government censors in newsrooms, extend police search and seizure powers, and force organizations to ask for permission to hold meetings.

For more information, please see:
Australia Network News – Fiji’s multi-ethnic police join Christian crusade – 24 June 2009

New Zealand International Radio – New Fiji constitution to be drawn up soon – 24 June 2009

Fiji Sun – WE ARE ONE :PM – 24 June 2009

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited – Censorship extended till August – 24 June 2009

Amnesty International Reports Torture and Abuse by Indonesian Police

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Amnesty International is reporting that Indonesian police regularly torture and abuse suspects held for questioning, in addition to taking bribes in the form of money and sex.

Amnesty International’s report entitled, “Unfinished Business: Police Accountability in Indonesia,” found that the most marginalized people in Indonesian society receive the worst treatment.

The organization’s Asia Pacific deputy director, Donna Guest said that, “Amnesty International’s report shows how widespread the culture of abuse is among the Indonesian police force.” She added, “The police’s primary role is to enforce the law and protect human rights, yet all too often many police officers behave as if they are above the law.”

Rebecca Emery, deputy director for Amnesty International, says that some of these marginalized people are from the Papua region. Papuans have long reported abuse by Indonesian police, and have struggled to gain independence from Indonesia.

“Since the national Indonesian police separated from the military in 1999, it has undertaken significant reforms, even though these reforms have been undertaken, the actual practice with regards to policing haven’t reflected human rights improvements. There’re a lot of violations and abuses, which are still deeply rooted in Indonesian policing,” Ms. Emery said.

The most vulnerable groups include women, drug addicts, and sex workers.

Ms. Emery added that the Indonesian government must recognize these human rights violations and work to stop them.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Amnesty reports serious abuse by Indonesian police – 25 June 2009

BBC News – Indonesia police abuse ‘ongoing’ – 24 June 2009

AFP – Torture ‘widespread’ in Indonesia: Amnesty – 24 June 2009