Snippets: Police Brutality; ACP and Vanuatu Support; Fiji Live; Corruption Comment; I Sometimes Get it Wrong; My Biases

(o) Brutal Assault on Fellow Police Officer
In what looks like an initial revenge assault followed up by sheer police brutality, Police Officer Raj Shavendra Prasad was so badly beaten up by assailants, including senior police officers, during the weekend of 16-17 May, that he spent six days in hospital. Coupfourpointfive understands that he has received a letter terminating his police appointment and, despite a magistrate ordering the assault be investigated, no investigation has yet been made by the police. For a full account and disturbing photos of Prasad's injuries, click here.

The incident has nothing to do with the political situation or with race (both Fijian and Indo-Fijian officers were involved in the assault) but in not insisting the incident be made public and in abolishing the Fiji Human Rights Commission, Government must assume some responsibility. The abolition of the FHRC means there is now no avenue for complaint against government servants unless a complainant can afford to take his or her case to court. Government can ill afford such a situation to continue if if wishes to "win the hearts and minds." In this case, Prasad should be granted leave on full pay and the senior officers allegedly involved should be suspended until the case is fully investigated. If found guilty, they should be dishonourably dismissed from the service as an example to others -- and as evidence that this Government means business when it talks about justice. P.S. June 10 2009. Coupfourpointfive reports the officer has been reinstated. No explanation was given.

(o+) Bainimarama at ACP Meeting, Appeal Supported by Vanuatu
Radio Fiji reports that PM Bainimarama addressed the 89th ACP Council of Ministers on Thursday. He told the Council of the necessity of Abrogating the 1997 Constitution following the Appeal Court ruling on April 9th. There was no other way of continuing the reforms "supported by a maajority of Fiji's population" encapsulated in the People's Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. He again called on ACP and the EU to assist Fiji "to bring about a lasting resolution to the political situation in Fiji and support the implementation of the necessary reforms for the welfare and economic wellbeing of the people." [See "Background Material", left column, for his full address.]

The PM's statement was supported at the Council by the Foreign Minister for Vanuatu, Bakoa Kaltongga, further demonstrating that not all members of the PI Forum support the inflexible "do this or else" approach of Australia and New Zealand in dealing with the Fiji situation. PI Forum countries who have called, or who more recently have called, for dialogue with Fiji include PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tonga.

(-) Fiji Live Off- and On-line
This on-line news service mysteriously went off-line yesterday, to resume today with no explanation offered. Bloggers think the situation was caused by Government censors who objected to photos Fiji Live had published of an incident involving a bomb scare hoax in Suva. Fiji Live is the one service that has continued to supply some news of politically-related incidents since the mainstream media, and particularly the Fiji Times, objected to censorship as authorised under the Emergency Regulations.

My own view is that Government is exceedingly unwise to persist with tactics that can only encourage the spread of rumours to which it cannot respond. Some accommodation with the media is urgently needed.

(o-)My Recent Posting on Corruption
Readers are urged to read comments to postings by clicking the very small "comment" at the bottom of each posting. Special attention is drawn to Jon's valuable comment on my recent corruption posting.

... and I Sometimes Get it Wrong, and I'm Baised
Readers are also reminded that the symbols (+, -, o, etc., see Notices at the bottom of the page) indicate pro-, anti-, neutral positions towards the Interim Government. This is the only blog to signal likely bias, and one of the few to publish informative, reasoned commentary, on the Fiji political situation. But, of course, I don't always get it right, and I'm limited in my ability to check the validity of all sources.

I also have my own biases. I sometimes give the Bainimarama team the benefit of too many doubts. I think NZers, our politicians and media, have too little knowledge of the Pacific. And I think NZ's policy is misguided and unhelpful, because it is too inflexible; it gives succour to the Fiji Government opponents, driving Bainimarama even deeper into a corner, and its influence internationally has helped cause a worsening of the situation in Fiji.

(o-) NGOs Concerned About Presidential Appeal Limitations on Abuses of Human Rights

Several Presidential decrees gazetted since the Abrogation of the 1997 Constitution are causing concern to human rights organizations in Fiji.

The decrees include the assumption of Executive Authority by the President in which he appointed himself Head of State until a Parliament is elected in accordance with a Constitution yet to be adopted (by the people of Fiji in such manner as the Government of Fiji may in the future determine); his powers to appoint a Prime Minister by decree, appoint other ministers on the advice of the Prime Minister, make laws “for the peace, order and good government of Fiji by decree in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; the Emergency Regulations, and the revocation of all appointments to the country’s judiciary.

The most recent decree is on the Fiji Human Rights Commission.Under this decree the commission is to educate the public about human rights, but is not to receive complaints to investigate or question the legality of the abrogation of the 1997 constitution or other presidential decrees. This latter provision is in line with similar limitations placed on earlier decrees.

Tupou Vere, Director of the Pacific Resource Concerns Centre, "question[s] what’s the point of having a human rights commission in the country when any semblance of human rights is virtually nil. At the moment in Fiji when we have decrees such as this one, we don’t see any relevance of having any mechanism, a human rights institution in the country.”

Akuila Yabaki, CEO of the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (photo), describes the curtailment of its status and powers as "unfortunate," but reminds citizens the international human rights mechanisms can still be utilised under the various human rights declarations and conventions. Yabaki called on the Caretaker Government to restore the 1997 Constitution and>the judiciary, so that those arrested or detained under the State of Emergency regulations have a chance of fair treatment from the law.

“The decree prevents the FHRC from receiving complaints against, investigating, questioning or challenging the legality or validity of any Decrees made by the President. It is interfering with the independence of the FHRC,” he said. “The FHRC will now be unable to perform the key role of acting as a watchdog of the government as it is no longer allowed to make recommendations on the implications of any proposed law or policy that may affect human rights. However, Fiji’s government is still accountable to the international human rights bodies and has obligations to protect and respect core human rights and provide progress reports to the international community represented by the various treaty bodies. Fiji, as a member of the international community and a recipient of aid money, has obligations to uphold core human rights. Concerned citizens can still utilise the international mechanisms available – such as the reporting and complaints procedures available through the Optional Protocols and the UN Committees for human rights conventions and declarations.”

Rather less moderately, long-standing Government opponent Attar Singh, did not think the statement strong enough: "Is this all that can be said about it particularly by an organisation funded by foreign funds? I would rather keep shut than to make such feeble attempt just to go on record."God save us! Thanks anyway and have a nice day. Attar."[Hmm!]
--Sources: FijiLive; CCF; Pacfemlinks.

(+) US Human Rights Report Unfair and Unbalanced

The 2008 Human Rights report released by the US Department of State is not fair or balanced, says FHRC Chairperson, Shaista Shameem. She said it was a picture of what some people have told the Americans. The FHRC was not consulted. Dr Shameem noted that that the USA report did not deal with Israel's war on Gaza -- another gap for political expediency. "Human rights reports done by the USA are not known for their fairness or balance," she said. "Hopefully under Obama's administration this state of affairs will change."

(+) US Human Rights Report Unfair and Unbalanced

The 2008 Human Rights report released by the US Department of State is not fair or balanced, says FHRC Chairperson, Shaista Shameem. She said it was a picture of what some people have told the Americans.
The FHRC was not consulted. Dr Shameem noted that that the USA report did not deal with Israel's war on Gaza -- another gap for
political expediency. "Human rights reports done by the USA are not known for their fairness or balance," she said. "Hopefully under
Obama's administration this state of affairs will change."