Covering events from January - December 2004
Political leaders failed to agree the implementation of a court ruling on constitutional power-sharing provisions. The authorities intensified investigations into people who participated in a coup in 2000 or were involved in subsequent human rights abuses. The Vice-President and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament were jailed for their role in the coup. Judges and witnesses in cases related to the coup were threatened and some were given police protection.
Background
The government continued its policy of favouring indigenous Fijians over the mainly Indo-Fijian non-indigenous community.
Military trials, criminal investigations and civil court cases showed unresolved tensions within and between the major ethnic groups in relation to the 2000 coup and the post-coup political dominance of indigenous Fijians. Political power struggles continued among the indigenous civilian and military elite. Nationalist indigenous Fijians sought the early release of imprisoned rebels.
Disputes over the cabinet's ethnic composition continued. A Supreme Court ruling in July again found that the Constitution required a multi-party (effectively multi-ethnic) cabinet which Fiji had not had since the coup. The opposition Labour Party rejected a government offer to participate in the cabinet.
In July the government replaced Ratu Epeli Ganilau as chairman of the indigenous Great Council of Chiefs after he advocated views that differed from government policy on human rights and social issues. Three government ministers and Fiji's UN representative in New York were accused by Senator Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau of assisting the coup.
In August the High Court sentenced Vice-President Ratu Jope Seniloli, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ratu Rakuita Vakalalabure and three supporters to prison terms of up to six years on charges of treason relating to the 2000 coup. In November the Attorney General released the Vice-President on medical grounds.
In December, five politicians, including the Information Minister and the Lands Minister, were charged for their role in the coup.
Post-coup legal developments
Judges, state witnesses and journalists were anonymously threatened because of their work on high-profile coup trials. One witness lost her job at a government newspaper.
The police again failed to question four Fijian soldiers, now serving as peacekeepers overseas, over the beating to death of at least four military prisoners in November 2000.
Court martial proceedings against suspected rebels implicated senior officers in weapons transfers to coup leaders. In November and December, 43 rebel soldiers were sentenced to prison terms and another 29 admitted their role in the coup. Although a military witness in another court martial gave evidence that rebels had been ill-treated by soldiers arresting them, no officer was known to have been charged for such ill-treatment.
The High Court overturned the acquittal of six men and sentenced them to prison terms of between one and seven years for human rights abuses committed against Indo-Fijian farmers at Muaniweni during the coup.
Law and order
The police service improved its accountability for abuses of power. At least 10 officers were suspended from duty awaiting disciplinary or criminal charges.
Police intensified investigations into 55 officers who facilitated the coup, including former Police Commissioner Isikia Savua, who became Fiji's ambassador to the UN in January 2003. Officers had implicated Isikia Savua in a number of incidents including human rights violations against Indo-Fijian farmers and their families. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to bring his case to trial on grounds of insufficient evidence.
Inhuman prison conditions
In January, the government fined the prison department for obstructing health inspections at Suva's Korovou Prison. Judges requested the advice of the Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC) on conditions at Korovou and released three prisoners who were held in cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions. The government again declined to improve conditions on grounds of financial constraints.
Violence against women
Prison terms of up to five years were imposed for rape. Several men accused of other serious abuses of women and children were merely given warnings by courts or released on bail.
By May the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre reported that violence against women and children had increased by 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2003. The centre's advocacy resulted in the prioritization by police of combating domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Racial discrimination
Discrimination against ethnic minorities was evident in plans for an indigenous Trust Fund and in the appointment of indigenous Fijians to almost all chief executive posts in the public service.
Human rights and law reform
The Fiji Law Reform Commission began extensive reviews of laws covering prisons, and certain crimes including violence against women in the home.
In September, the President published an FHRC handbook for the security services on Fiji's Bill of Rights and international human rights standards.
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