A significant number of people in Fiji are not safe from one or more actions of the government when it comes to safety from the state.
This, according to data released by New Zealand-based Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) on October 2.
The HRMI said Fiji scored 7.0 out of 10 in its right to be safe from the state, suggesting that a significant number of people were not safe from one or more of the following – arbitrary arrest, torture and illtreatment, forced disappearance, execution or extrajudicial killing. “Compared with the other countries in the Pacific, Fiji is performing close to average on the right to be safe from the state,” said HRMI.
According to HRMI, 65 per cent of its human rights experts identified people with particular political affiliations or beliefs as being “at risk of having this right violated”.
HRMI said 55 per cent of its human rights experts identified human rights advocates as being at risk of having their right violated and 52 per cent of their human rights experts identified members of labour unions/ orkers’ rights advocates as being at risk of having their right violated.”
The HRMI listed a category of people in Fiji who were vulnerable to arbitrary or political arrest and detention by government agents in 2021.
They included activists and human rights advocates.
“Members of Parliament and well-known politicians were arrested under the Public Order Act on grounds that they were encouraging unrest amongst the public.
“People who speak out against proposed amendments to the Land Bill No. 17.
“Opposition and union members were often arrested without being charged beyond the amount of time allotted by law as a means of punishment.”
• Questions sent to Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum a few weeks ago on the HRMI findings and analysis remain unanswered.
