Amnesty International Report 2003 - Fiji

Covering events from January - December 2002

REPUBLIC OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
Head of state: Ratu Josefa Iloilovatu Uluivuda
Head of government: Laisenia Qarase
Death penalty: abolitionist for ordinary crimes
International Criminal Court: ratified

Political considerations continued to undermine respect for constitutional human rights and the rule of law. People responsible for coup-related racist violence, torture and extrajudicial executions continued to enjoy effective impunity while others were convicted in proceedings which avoided evidence on human rights violations and abuses being presented in court. Fifteen rebel soldiers were sentenced to prison terms for their involvement in a mutiny in 2000; some were ill-treated after their arrest. Indo-Fijian families were effectively internally displaced after being illegally evicted from leased indigenous land. The death penalty was abolished for all crimes, except under military law.

Political situation


Return to full political stability was hampered by unresolved power struggles within the indigenous Fijian community over land and other resources and by constitutional uncertainty over the composition of the government. Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry – who was held hostage during the 2000 coup – held informal talks to resolve the situation. However, the talks were effectively undermined by politicians making racist statements in parliament against the Indo-Fijian (ethnic Indian) minority.

The large scale emigration of skilled labour, particularly among Indo-Fijians, which had begun in the wake of the 2000 coup, continued. Ongoing disputes over communally owned resources and land leases adversely affected thousands of indigenous landowners as well as Indo-Fijian tenant farmers, many of whom lost their livelihoods after being illegally evicted from leasehold land. Indigenous officials continued to implement policies based on racial identity and aimed at benefiting indigenous Fijians.

Government actions indicated a growing awareness of constitutional and international human rights law, but also demonstrated a reluctance to implement controversial provisions and court rulings which challenged government decisions. Lack of safeguards and government action on racial discrimination remained an issue.

Post-coup legal developments

There were setbacks as courts dealing with coup-related cases failed to act on evidence of ill-treatment, torture and extrajudicial executions. The judiciary remained split with some judges committed to upholding the existing Constitution and others favouring political considerations over constitutional human rights.

In February, when coup leader George Speight faced being sentenced to death on charges of treason, the Attorney General moved to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, except under military law. However, before the law had been passed by the Senate, George Speight pleaded guilty, thus avoiding evidence on officials implicated in the coup being presented in court. George Speight was sentenced to death, but the President commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, on the recommendation of a Committee on Mercy chaired by the Attorney General.

In November, 15 former elite soldiers accused of mutiny in November 2000 were sentenced to prison terms of between 18 months and life imprisonment in court-martial proceedings from which the public was excluded. They had faced possible death sentences, but were given prison terms following appeals by a pro-government religious group, and after the court heard evidence of how some had been tortured or ill-treated by the arresting officers. None of the members of the security forces alleged to have tortured or ill-treated the suspects was brought to justice. In February, independent forensic evidence presented in court showed that four suspected rebel soldiers died from injuries consistent with eyewitness reports that they were beaten to death by soldiers loyal to the military commander. The military refused to cooperate with police investigations into the extrajudicial executions.

Chief Justice Timoci Tuivaga, who had blamed the Constitution for Fiji's ongoing political instability and urged substantial amendments, retired in September. He was replaced by Daniel Fatiaki who was appointed Chief Justice despite controversy over his role, with Timoci Tuivaga, in the drafting of post-coup emergency decrees which purported to abolish the Supreme Court and the Constitution. In November, the government nominated Timoci Tuivaga for the International Criminal Court. The Chief Justice and non-governmental organizations in Fiji had supported Indo-Fijian High Court judge Nazhat Shameem's nomination.

The government took steps to revive a process of law reform halted by the 2000 coup. However, the government's focus for reform ignored Penal Code provisions on corporal punishment, ruled unconstitutional by Fijian courts, and the criminalization of homosexuality and of certain sexual acts between consenting adults in private.

International scrutiny

In August the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination rescheduled a full consideration of the situation in Fiji to 2003. The authorities had failed to submit a comprehensive report on its implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination since 1982, but submitted an update to the Committee in November. The Committee took up Fiji's offer to address specific questions prior to its March 2003 session. It requested further information on issues including social confrontation and economic decline in Fiji linked to polarized race relations; on access to, and the effectiveness of, mechanisms to address racial discrimination; and on the deregistration of the Citizens Constitutional Forum, a leading human rights non-governmental organization (NGO), after it filed constitutional challenges against the government in court. The Committee noted initial achievements in government-NGO consultation on Fiji's reporting commitments, after receiving an independent submission, made at the request of the authorities, by the Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights.

National Human Rights Commission

Although two of the three Commissioner posts remained vacant throughout the year, the Commission consolidated its key position in the promotion of human rights in Fiji. In March, the Commission raised public awareness about the prohibition of corporal punishment under national and international law. Following advice from the Commission, the High Court declared corporal punishment unlawful under the Constitution. In May the Commission announced work towards a National Plan of Action to include human rights in formal education. In September, the Commission hosted an international seminar attended by representatives of Fiji's diverse ethnic and religious groups, as well as government and civil society groups. In line with the Declaration and Program of Action formulated at the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, the seminar agreed resolutions including calling on the government to fund a race relations unit for the Commission and urging members of parliament to refrain from statements under parliamentary privilege which vilify communities on the basis of race or religion.