Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry says the statement by President Jioji Konrote that the Fijian Constitution “enshrines civil and political rights” is not true in practice.
The former prime minister said the recent arrests of Members of Parliament for speaking out against Bill 17 raised questions about the right to freedom of speech.
“The FijiFirst government has been lauding the Bill of Rights provisions in the imposed 2013 Constitution as being progressive,” he said.
“But the truth is that several key provisions in the Bill of Rights have been completely derogated by harsh decrees that continue in force despite the new Constitution, rendering them ‘paper’ provisions only.”
Mr Chaudhry said that key provisions of the Constitution undermined universally-accepted norms on human rights and good governance.
“There are provisions in the Constitution for good governance through the enactment of legislation for Code of Conduct, Freedom of Information and the setting up of an Accountability and Transparency Commission.
“But these turn out to be paper provisions only as in the past eight years; the FijiFirst government has failed to enact these important legislative measures.” He said the civil and political rights of citizens had been undermined by the constitutional provision that bans trade union officials from participating in politics.
“It stands in outright breach of the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
“The 2013 Constitution came under strong criticism by members of the UN Human Rights Council at its 2014 periodic review on Fiji, which called for its comprehensive review ‘to reflect the will and aspirations of the people of Fiji’.”
During the announcement of the Our Constitution Challenge on Tuesday as the nation commemorated Constitution Day, Mr Konrote said the Fijian Constitution was one of the most progressive in the world.
