By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
SUVA, Fiji – The Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights says that the scheduled review of Fiji’s human rights record before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva will be of utmost importance.
Amnesty International accused Fiji of falsifying its human rights record in a report it submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Amnesty International says the Fiji government’s report is full of lies.
Apolosi Bose, spokesman for Amnesty International Pacific, stated that Amnesty International has documented human rights violations from Fiji since 2006.
Amnesty International expressed its strong disappointment with the way in which the government is misrepresenting its human rights record.
Amnesty International contends that Fiji included various things in its report that were not true. One thing is the statement in the report that everyone in Fiji is free to participate in public life.
Another statement allegedly not true is that religious freedom is enjoyed in Fiji. Bose stated that in the last couple months Amnesty International has seen evidence of the government banning the Methodist Church from having its annual conference, and persecution of senior ministers of the church.
Another thing the record included was the statement that Fiji’s judiciary is intact and its independence is intact. Bose stated that the Fiji government has passed decrees which give absolute powers to the register of the High Court, which decides whether or not a case can go before the court, and this decision cannot be challenged by any other courts. Also, in 2009, five magistrates were summarily dismissed without any explanation from the authorities. Bose says that this evidence shows a pattern of judicial interference.
Fiji is scheduled to have its human rights record formally reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council at a meeting in Geneva on the night of February 11, 2010.
The review will be based on one report submitted by the interim regime, another by the UN and a third by NGOs.
The Office’s regional representative, Matilda Bogner, says UN member states will discuss Fiji’s human rights situation and will recommend areas for improvement.
Bogner says Fiji’s interim government will then be called on to respond in a couple of months.
Bogner further stated: ” Fiji will have to state publicly which recommendations it commits itself to actually implement. So in that sense it’s also a very important mechanism, because the state does need to publicly commit to making improvements to human rights and then can be held accountable to those commitments in another four years time when it will be reviewed again.”
For more information, please see:
ABC Radio Australia – Amnesty accuses Fiji of lying over human rights record – 11 February 2010
Matavuvale: Fiji’s Family Network – Amnesty accuses Fiji of lying over human rights record – 11 February 2010
Radio New Zealand International – UN assessment of Fiji’s performance on human rights seen as important – 11 February 2010
