Fiji Human Rights Abuses post 2006 & 1987 Coup-de-tats.

[Fiji Truth]

Below is an excerpt of an article blogged by a reputable Fijian Blogger; the situation in Fiji has escalated to a degree that if nothing is done by International intervention, Fiji can end up like Somalia situation. This is our worry. We as Fiji people want & demand Freedom in Fiji in all aspects with Zero tolerance to any further Military coup & military dictatorship as is the current case.

How do we as a group of concerned Fiji people consolidate our efforts on an international platform such as this to bring Normalcy to our land.

The Excerpt: quoted below;


"Human Rights Abuse Escalate in Fiji
Human Rights Watch letter to Josefa Iloilo
May 6, 2009

May 5, 2009

President of the Republic of the Fiji Islands
H.E. Ratu Josefa Iloilovatu Uluivuda, CF, MBE, KStJ, MSD, JP
Fiji Islands

Dear President Ratu Iloilo,

In February 2007, Human Rights Watch wrote to you detailing a number of grave human rights violations in Fiji stemming from the December 2006 military coup, including one death in military custody, arbitrary detentions of at least two dozen people, and the provision of immunity for military personnel involved in the coup. To date we have yet to receive a response.
We write again now to communicate urgent concerns regarding the recent developments in Fiji following the Court of Appeal decision in Qarase v. Bainimarama on April 9, 2009, and your subsequent announcement, with the backing of the army, “I hereby confirm I have abrogated the 1997 constitution and appointed myself as head of state in the new order.” Over the past three weeks, the Fiji government has engaged in serious violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, among others, and abolished any pretence of an independent judiciary. These actions, in which the President has given himself near absolute powers, have made Fiji a dictatorship.

On April 9, 2009, the Fiji Court of Appeal declared the coup of December 5, 2006, unlawful and noted that it would be advisable for the President to appoint a distinguished person independent of the parties to the litigation as caretaker Prime Minister. That caretaker Prime Minister was to advise the dissolution of the Parliament and direct the issuance of writs for an election. The following day, you abrogated the Constitution, appointed yourself head of state, revoked the appointment of all judicial officers, and reappointed military commander Commodore Bainimarama as interim Prime Minister. Despite your promise, in your Address to the Nation at this time, that basic rights would be protected under the new legal order, the interim government and security forces have committed serious human rights violations.

Rule of law and the independence of the judiciary
Recent presidential actions have failed to uphold the rule of law and encroached on the independence of the judiciary. On April 10, 2009, you removed all judicial officers from office. On April 16, you issued the Administration of Justice Decree, which removes the President of the Law Society from the Judicial Services Commission and terminates all pending cases that challenge the actions of the interim administration since the coup. On April 20, you appointed, under this Decree, Ajmal Gulab Khan as Chief Magistrate and Faizal Koya as magistrate, together with seven others who were sitting magistrates prior to the abrogation. Ana Rokomokoti, the former military lawyer who was appointed a magistrate by the interim administration in May 2007, was appointed Chief Registrar on April 15 by the Public Service Commission, reconstituted under the State Services Decree 2009. Five magistrates, Amani Rokotinaviti, Josaia Waqavolavola, Vani Ravono, Laisa Laveti, and former Chief Magistrate Naomi Matanitobua, were not reappointed. All other judicial offices remain vacant. Since their removal, judges have been closely monitored by police and military officers and have been refused access to the court buildings."
Read More...Fiji Coup 2006: Human Rights Abuse Escalate in Fiji

Will forward to my US congressman!! You should do the same.

[Fiji Truth]

Much appreciated. We thank you for your support. We would like to do the same, the only problem, Fiji has been militarized where the ordinary person in the street like us do not have anywhere else to go to air our deep thoughts and concerns. This is why we thank this World Law Forum for giving us such a platform with the hope that someone will hear our 'Fiji cries' in this vast virtual wilderness.
Thank you again for taking the time to give us thumbs up on this.
Fiji Truth Admin Team.

I thought the government was rather stable and decent there. Is this a long term problem?

Wonder if we're on the same page. Anyway, try reading this bit from Global voices, might enlighten you;

"As the two-year anniversary of Fiji's military takeover approaches, another international governing body has called the Pacific island nation to hold elections in 2009 as once promised.

This time a European Union delegation, led by German legislator Gabrielle Zimmer, met with leaders in Fiji and urged, “that parliamentary elections take place before the end of 2009 based on a political dialogue process involving all stakeholders and conducted without delay.”

Problems between the island nation and regional partners began when self-appointed Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama promised in 2007 that elections would be held in March 2009, a pledge he later back away from. Government officials have long claimed the country isn't ready for elections until it undergoes major changes in its race-based electoral laws.

The EU statement follows the Pacific Forum indication in August it would suspend Fiji from the organization if the government failed to schedule elections and return the country to Parliamentary democracy. Yet Bainimarama has held firm. In its most recent budget, the government allocated no extra monies for organizing an election, although funds were set aside for buying electronic equipment for voter registration.

Unlike the Pacific Forum's threats, the EU's statement could be especially damning to Fiji’s economy because the organization may withhold sugar subsidies for another year. ($50 million in subsidies were suspended for 2008 due to overthrowing the government of Laisenia Qarase.)"
For more: Global Voices Online Fiji: How to change the government from within?

Perhaps you need to read more of Fiji saga to get a background of how corrupt the current regime is.

ps: Oh My Fiji....stories gets worser by the day!!! A concern Fijian

Read more.....
Brutal military dictatorship that backs Fiji Water
Posted by Cory Doctorow, August 20, 2009 4:10 AM | permalink
Fiji Water isn't just devastating to the environment of Fiji, the planet that endures the cost of shipping it, and the environments of the places where it is consumed. It is also the product of a brutal military regime that monitors all outgoing Internet traffic from the island for criticisms of the water business and immediately arrests people who transmit them, bringing them in for intensive questioning and the occasional prison-rape threat, as journalist Anna Lenzer discovered.

I sat down and sent out a few emails--filling friends in on my visit to the Fiji Water bottling plant, forwarding a story about foreign journalists being kicked off the island. Then my connection died. "It will just be a few minutes," one of the clerks said.
Moments later, a pair of police officers walked in. They headed for a woman at another terminal; I turned to my screen to compose a note about how cops were even showing up in the Internet cafés. Then I saw them coming toward me. "We're going to take you in for questioning about the emails you've been writing," they said.

What followed, in a windowless room at the main police station, felt like a bad cop movie. "Who are you really?" the bespectacled inspector wearing a khaki uniform and a smug grin asked me over and over, as if my passport, press credentials, and stacks of notes about Fiji Water weren't sufficient clues to my identity. (My iPod, he surmised tensely, was "good for transmitting information.") I asked him to call my editors, even a UN official who could vouch for me. "Shut up!" he snapped. He rifled through my bags, read my notebooks and emails. "I'd hate to see a young lady like you go into a jail full of men," he averred, smiling grimly. "You know what happened to women during the 2000 coup, don't you?"

Eventually, it dawned on me that his concern wasn't just with my potentially seditious emails; he was worried that my reporting would taint the Fiji Water brand. "Who do you work for, another water company? It would be good to come here and try to take away Fiji Water's business, wouldn't it?" Then he switched tacks and offered to protect me--from other Fijian officials, who he said would soon be after me--by letting me go so I could leave the country. I walked out into the muggy morning, hid in a stairwell, and called a Fijian friend. Within minutes, a US Embassy van was speeding toward me on the seawall.

Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle (via Kottke)

Update: Fiji's response and Mother Jones's rebuttal here.
Brutal military dictatorship that backs Fiji Water - Boing Boing

Human Rights Violations Continue in Fiji Courts

Here's a media release we received from Jagannath Sami affirming that the respect for human rights is non-existent in our courts, thanks to the illegal and treasonous Actg Chief Registrar of the High Courts in Fiji, Major Ana Rokomokoti.


FIJI’s INJUSTICE DECREE
Civil Action No: HBC 12 OF 2007 IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI AT LAUTOKA.CIVIL JURISDICTION
Jagannath Sami VS Army Commander Voreqe Bainimarama, The Royal Fiji Military Forces, Ministry of Home affairs and Immigration, The Attorney General of Fiji, Ratu Josefa Iloilo Uluivuda, Hon. President of Fiji Islands and Sugar Cane Growers Council.

Last week my legal counsel, Mr. Shalen Krishna of Krishna & Co. Lautoka, Fiji handed over to me the “Certificate Of Termination Of Proceedings” signed by the Acting Chief Registrar of the High Courts in Fiji.

In essence this means that the High Court in Fiji will not proceed to hear my (Jagannath Sami’s) Civil Action for damages against the Army Commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama (1st Defendant), The Royal Fiji Military Forces (2nd Defendant), Ministry Of Home Affairs and Immigration (3rd Defendant), The Attorney General Of Fiji (4th Defendant), Ratu Josefa Iloilo Uluivuda, Hon. President Of The Republic Of Fiji Islands (5th Defendant) and Sugar Cane Growers Council (Third Party).

The Registrar in issuing the Certificate of Termination of Proceedings states and I Quote:

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to the powers given to me under the section 23(3) of the Administration of Justice Decree 2009, I hereby CERTIFY that this proceeding is wholly terminated pursuant to section 23(3) (e) (g) of the Administration of Justice Decree 2009.

It is a sad day for Fiji and its people that the Registrar of the High Court did not see fit in allowing the Plaintiff his day in Court before terminating the proceedings and thus making mockery of the Fiji Judicial System. No Law is a just law if it deprives the right of justice to a citizen. In this instance what is laughable is the fact the defendents in this action itself decides to terminate the Court proceedings. Is this the equality that the Interim Government brags about.

Indeed, the above action was brought after my unlawful and forceful removal from office as the CEO of the Sugar Cane Growers Council (SCGC) on 02 of January 2007 and subsequent order by the High Court of Lautoka on 16 January 2007 for me to return to work. The High Court had also ordered an injunction against the Royal Fiji Military Forces not to interfere with the Council and its CEO. However despite the High Court Order and the injunction the military and police on 17th January forced me out of office once again.

It’s almost two and a half years now since my removal from office and I have been patiently waiting for the Courts to set a date for the hearing. Instead, the Interim Government by its own naïve actions has produced evidence that the Fiji Judiciary is no longer independent and impartial. There is no respect for human rights of individuals as demonstrated by this action. The Interim government by Promulgating the “Administration of Justice Decree 2009”, which rightly should be named the injustice Decree, has deliberately hijacked the due process of the Judicial system of the country.

I therefore call upon the International Community and democratic societies all over the world to condemn the abuse of Human Rights in Fiji and demand that the country be returned to an elected democratic government and rule of Law and Order as soon as practicable.

Jagannath Sami
Former CEO, Sugar Cane Growers Council
Posted by Keep The Faith at 1:07 PM
Reactions:

3 comments:
Anonymous said...
Lets talk of some other more important issues of human right abuses then someone whose rise to that office was questionable in the first place and the subsequent sacking seems to have been validated by the growers themselves.

Today Fiji has more important and significant issues to face up to then the bitter feelings of one person loosing power.

11 August 2009 20:49
Keep The Faith said...
@ Anon 20:49.

I think you're missing the point. The posting of this article was not to delve into Mr Sami's professional status.

Mr Sami was attempting to seek redress through the courts, which Major Rokomokoti's and farcical CJ Tony Gates assured us as still "impartial and independent".

The world now has valid evidence to believe that the opposite is true.

All this matters in the stacking up of evidence against this illegal & treasonous regime as they will soon discover.

12 August 2009 11:28
Fiji Truth said...
In principle,this appears to have taken similar lines to the Chandrika v Rabuka case except Sami's one never got heard. uuhhmmm smells of 'selective & corruptive activity' within the inner circles of the Judiciary system.

Time to sack the judges!!

August 2009 Intelligentsiya: Human Rights Violations Continue in Fiji Courts

[Fiji Truth]

Why is the United States Human Rights keeping silent over their findings in Fiji 02 years later on Civil Rights abuses?
US report highlights Fiji human rights abuses as recorded in 2007

''Soldiers took the six pro-democracy supporters from their homes, including young persons who had erected a pro-democracy shrine outside a house in Lami, just near the capital, Suva, and brought them to the RFMF's Queen Elizabeth barracks, where they were reportedly beaten, stepped on, and threatened with weapons...

''They were then forced to run several miles through Suva followed by soldiers in vehicles.
''Some women detained for speaking out against the coup were sexually molested.''
According to the report, the number of complaints to the Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC), a constitutionally mandated statutory body, for violation of the right to freedom from cruel and degrading treatment and torture, declined over the previous four years.

Even the media was intimidated by the military, as opposed to provisions of free speech in the country's Constitution.

''Following the announcement of the military takeover, soldiers were sent to various media outlets in an attempt to censor reporting of the event. A major daily newspaper temporarily suspended publication in protest.... US report highlights Fiji human rights abuses - Fiji Times Online

Amnesty International's Pacific Researcher Apolosi Bose talks about the human rights situation in Fiji, in the launch of Amnesty's report, Fiji: Paradise Lost.
Click link to view more: YouTube - Fiji: Paradise Lost - Amnesty International's report



Amnesty International's Pacific Researcher Apolosi Bose talks about the human rights situation in Fiji, in the launch of Amnesty's report, Fiji: Paradise Lost.