INL Feb 15 2019 Digital Edition

08
FEBRUARY15, 2019
Fijilink
Fiji prohibits torture, upholds human dignity: Bainimarama
Venkat Raman
Torture and any other form
of abuse is banned in Fiji
which values dignity of the
human race, Fiji’s Prime
Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama
has said.
“Our Constitution explicitly
prohibits torture in its Bill of
Rights. Every person has the right
to freedom from torture of any
kind, physical, mental and emotional;
and from cruel, inhumane,
degrading or disproportionately
severe treatment or punishment,”
he said, speaking at the High-Level
Regional Seminar on the UN Convention
Against Torture (UNCAT)
in the Pacific on Wednesday,
February 6, 2019 in Natadola.
Every person has the right to
security of the person, which
includes the right to be free from
any form of violence from any
source, at home, school, work or
in any other place, he said.
His views were later reinforced
by Attorney General Aiyaz
Sayed-Khaiyum during his address
to the delegates.
Manifestation everywhere
“All too often, we see violence
rear its ugly head in the places
where we are meant to feel most
safe: Our homes, our workplaces,
and our schools. The fact that this
type of behaviour is manifest at
all levels of our society indicates
a larger problem –– a culture of
violence, and a passive acceptance
Speeches of Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum
Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama with Morten Jespersen, Denmark’s Permanent Representative to the
UN based in Geneva
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum Speaking at the
Seminar
of it that needs to be uprooted,” Mr
Bainimarama said.
Stating that his government has
taken a hard stance against any
form of violence or corporal punishment
in Fiji, he said that there will
always be resistance to change.
“We received a great deal of pushback
when we banned corporal
punishment in Fijian schools, and
there is often an outcry to justify
Dr Alice Edwards outlines the efforts of her
Secretariat
the behaviour of teachers who have
inflicted harm on their students. But
doing what is right does not always
come easy. And breaking this
cycle to foster a more peaceful and
harmonious society for future generations;
that is worth any political
cost,” Mr Bainimarama said.
“We must take a stand and stay
firm, because in a culture where
violence may be ingrained in
our subconscious, it’s not always
politically popular to change,” he
added.
First Hour Procedure
Since ratifying UNCAT in 2016,
Mr Bainimarama’s government
embarked on a pilot project called
the ‘First Hour Procedure,’ which
ensures provision of legal counsel
to every suspect at the police station,
within one hour of arrest, with
a protocol guiding the conduct of
both police and lawyers in relation
to the implementation of this right.
The programme has seen a sharp
decrease in the number of allegations
of brutality being levelled
against police officers.
Robust Human Rights
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said that the
Bill of Rights is comprehensive and
robust in Fiji.
“For the first time in Fijian
history, the Constitution actually
facilitates the concomitant application
of civil and political rights,
and social and economic rights.
It obligates the State, by law, to
advance, protect and progressively
realise these fundamental rights
for all Fijians. These rights of
course are enforceable through
an independent judiciary, which
continues to develop human
rights jurisprudence under the
Fijian Constitution. Of course the
development of human rights
jurisprudence is subject to the
number of cases brought before the
courts, which is why you need an
active bar,” he said.
The solutions we have identified
are reforms in three critical areas:
Firstly, we are working in
collaboration with the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC), following our ratification
of the United Nations Convention
on Transnational Organised Crime
in 2017, to help our prisons adopt
the requirements under the Nelson
Mandela Rules and promote humane
conditions for imprisonment.
Secondly, we are also providing
an avenue for alternate and effective
sentencing options, Finally, the
Fiji Corrections Service has been
given funding under the 2018-2019
National Budget to continue
with the construction of remand
centres in major population centres
throughout the country and to address
various issues that may arise
from a growing prison population.
Among those who attended the
event hosted by the Fijian Government
were Head of the Convention
Against Torture Initiative Secretariat
Dr Alice Edwards, Attorney Generals,
Justice Ministers, Judges of
Fiji and the South Pacific, diplomats
and officials of governments.
The core of UNCAT is to support
States in their efforts to curb and
prevent torture and other ill-treatment.
Here in Fiji, joining on to the
treaty was a natural extension of
progress we’ve made on our own in
recent years.
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