By Ryan L. Maness

Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Fiji

SUVA, Fiji — Bob Debus, the Australian Minister for Home Affairs, has closed the office of the Transnational Crime Coordination Centre (PTCCC) that was located in Suva and will reopen it in Apia, Somoa.  The PTCCC, which is an organization design to investigate transnational crime in the Pacific, closed its office in Fiji due to Fiji’s political instability.

According to the SDL party, the opposition party to Fiji’s interim government, the move comes as no surprise.  The SDL’s National Director, Peceli Kinivuwai, said, “I think the member countries who make up the Transnational Crime Centre they also very much champion the rule of law and it would be ironic if they have that Centre here while at the same time we cannot solve our political differences – we still have political instabilities and economic decline.”

Ema Mua, a spokeswoman for Fiji’s police, said that the decision was premature.  According to Mua, while human trafficking must be dealt with, Fiji’s political situation should not affect the work of the center.

For more information, please see:

Fiji Times — Crime office to reopen — 10 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Somoa’s PM opens Pacific Trans-national crime co-ordination centre — 10 June 2008

Fiji Times — New crimes a reality — 09 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji’s main political party says loss of international policing agency, no surprise — 09 June 2008

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SUVA, Fiji — Following an inspection team’s examination of Fiji’s fishing industry last year, the European Union has decided to ban the importation of fish from Fiji.  The EU’s trade adviser in Fiji, Andrea Salviati, said that she believed that the fish carried health risks for the citizens of Europe and that is why the ban was imposed.  According to Salviati “The competent authority at present is not so competent, to fulfill with EU standards…the main issue is to improve the body that they already have.”

Fiji Fish Managing Director, Grahame Southwick, said that the ban is a product of the government’s relationship with the country’s fishing industry.  The ban came after the EU issued a number of warnings to Fiji regarding their fishing practices.

Due to the strength of the European Economy, Radio New Zealand International projects that Fiji could lose thousands of jobs as a result of the ban, laboring a country already hampered with high unemployment.

For more information, please see:

Fiji Village — Fiji Can Make it Back says EU — 10 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — European Union ban could cost thousands of jobs in Fiji fishing industry — 09 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — EU says it has banned Fiji fish exports because processing is poorly monitored — 09 June 2008

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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, USA — The American State Department has released an annual report which examines the proliferation of human trafficking in 153 countries around the world and has listed Fiji among tier 3 countries.  Because of their placement in the report, Fiji is in danger of losing aid from the United States.

According to the report (which can be found in relevant part here), Fiji has failed to make a significant effort to eliminate human trafficking since last year’s report.  “Fiji is a source country for children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and a destination country for a small number of women from the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) and India trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation,” the report begins.  The report goes on to say that Fiji’s children are also being exploited by local Fijians or foreign tourists and that Fiji’s government has taken “no action to investigate or prosecute traffickers, assist victims, or participate in public awareness campaigns to prevent trafficking.”

Fiji’s interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has said that dealing with human trafficking is a priority following the US’s report.  He also called upon other nations with more resources to assist in Fiji’s fight against human trafficking.  However, he was quick to insinuate that Fiji’s presence on the report should not risk its foreign aid. “Shunning us because simply it wasn’t done in the past is not a positive way to deal with the situation,” the interim AG said.

For more information, please see:

Fiji Times — A-G toughens on human trade — 08 June 2008

Pacific Magazine  — Fiji AG Concerned About Human Trafficking — 08 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — U.S. State Department says that Fiji and PNG could lose aid following human trafficking report — 04 June 2008

Hayley Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

DILI, East Timor — More than 90 human rights groups have called upon the United Nations to hold Indonesia accountable for war crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

The letter was addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and was signed by more than 30 academics in addition to human rights organizations. In the letter, the joint groups asked the UN to “fulfill its long standing commitment to see that justice is done for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in East Timor during Indonesia’s two and a half decade occupation.”

The groups came together to draft the letter just as the bilateral Commission on Truth and Friendship was compiling its report on Indonesia and East Timor. As to the report’s contents, the joint letter said that the issue of war crimes against East Timor cannot be solved with one report.

“The right to know (the truth) and the right to justice are inalienable, and are a bulwark against the culture of impunity represented by [Indonesia’s] Ad Hoc Court and the CTF.”

To read the joint letter, click here

For more information, please see:
The Westender, Brisbane — International Coalition Urges UN to Be Active for Justice for East Timorese — 05 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Calls for justice for East Timor — 03 June 2008

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SAIPAN, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands –- The Governor of the Northern Marianas Islands has announced he will suspend the board of the Commonwealth Ports Authority (CPA) in order to avoid financial ruin.

The CPA has been in financial trouble for some time. According to Charles Reyes, spokesman for the Governor’s office, the collapse of the garment industry is largely to blame. The CPA had come close to defaulting on a $20 million airport revenue bond. The suspension was anticipated after Governor Benigno R. Fitial announced last month that the executive branch would assume control of CPA in order to avoid a technical default on the 1998 indenture on its airport bonds.

By the Governor’s request, all members of the CPA board resigned.

“We were technically already in default. However the trustee Bank of Guam didn’t actually technically declare a technical default. However they were about to,” Mr. Reyes said.

Before the CPA’s autonomy is restored, the Governor must select new appointees for the CPA board, subject to the Senate’s confirmation. While Mr. Reyes insists the Governor’s use of emergency powers was necessary, some still question the validity of the suspension.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International — CNMI governor suspends Ports Authority board — 04 June 2008

By Ryan L. Maness
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji — Australia’s foreign Minister Stephen Smith received a death threat on June 27, the third such threat that the diplomat has received in the last few months.  Describing the death threat, Smith said it was serious credible and offensive.

Tension has mounted between the Australian government and the Fiji’s interim government about the appropriate response to the threats.  Australia has requested that federal police personnel be allowed to enter Fiji to beef up Smith’s security detail, but Fiji said that no Australian police officers will be allowed into the country.  Fiji police spokesman Ema Mua said that local Fiji police were available upon request, insisting that local authorities were sufficient to deal with the death threats.

Minister Smith is now on leave in Australia and has been since receipt of the last death threat in May.

For more information, please see:

Fiji Times — No requests received by police — 03 July 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji refuses to allow Australian police to protect High Commissioner — 30 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Australia’s Fiji High Commissioner receives third death threat — 30 June 2008

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SUVA, Fiji — The interim government came to power in December 2005 under a promise, among other things, to weed out corruption from Fiji’s government.  A central instrument to this policy is the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption, which was designed to investigate and prosecute public bodies.  While promulgated by the interim government, it was an open question until this week about what the future of FICAC and whether it was legal.  This week, however, a Fiji High Court has confirmed that FICAC has the power to carry out investigations and prosecute those that it finds evidence against.

The Commission’s deputy commissioner, George Langman, said, “I’m glad that the court has finally come out with that. It hasn’t stopped our investigations we have continued to investigate and charge public officials. We are at the moment investigating a number of public bodies.”  Langman also said that twenty-two public officials and two business men have faced charges of corruption.  More indictments are expected to be handed down soon.

The future is still somewhat uncertain though because the full powers of FICAC are dependent on the legality of the interim government.  As such, if ousted Prime Minister Lasenia Qarase is successful in his suit challenging the legality of the interim government then FICAC will not be allowed to operate.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Daily Post — FICAC to charge more — 30 June 2008

FijiVillage — Lawyers to Appeal Judge’s Decision — 30 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji court confirms power of Commission against Corruption — 29 June 2008

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SUVA, Fiji — Over the past several weeks the Fiji Media Council and the interim government have been trading comments, with the government hinting that governmental regulation of the media might be necessary and with the Media Council denouncing any such regulation.  It is in this atmosphere that many international observers have begun to worry about the media’s independence in Fiji.  This is why it has come as a welcome relief to the Fiji Media Council and others that Fiji has decided to consider giving visas to a group of Australian journalists.

The journalists, from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, had originally been denied visas by the interim government when they had requested to enter Fiji after reporting on the Festival of Pacific Arts in American Somoa.  Explaining the reason for the refusal, acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Information Major Neumi Leweni, said, “”Some reporters from abroad and, the decision has been made and I don’t think I should really been explaining it, because the decision halews been made and Fiji is a sovereign country and decides on who comes in, and that’s it.”

This position has now shifted, however, as reports from the interim government suggest that the journalists will be allowed in after all.  According to Leweni, he had spoken to ABC’s director of international relations and has gotten a better idea of ABC’s mission in Fiji.  This lack of clarity, the Fiji Times reports, was the reason why the visas were to be denied in the first place.  Now Leweni has said that, “We are in the process of advising proper authorities regarding the granting of their visa.”  While not definite, this indicates that it is likely that the reporters will be allowed in.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Times — Visa for journos — 01 July 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji rejection of Australian journalists described as unacceptable — 29 June 2008

FBCL — Reporters likely to get green light to enter Fiji — 29 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Reporters likely to get green light to enter Fiji — 27 June 2008

Fiji Times — Foreign journalists may face ban — 27 June 2008

Radio New Zealand International — Fiji suggests more journalists’ ban over unspecified negative reporting — 26 June 2008