Document #1098327
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Please find attached two previous responses
to information requests (numbers 2650 and 3080) which contain
information on the Human Rights situation in Fiji. At your regional
Documentation Centre [telephone: (204) 983-3553] you may find a
copy of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for
1988 (Washington: U.S. Department of State, 1989) and its
corresponding Critique: Review of the Department of State's
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988,
(Washington: Human Rights Watch, July 1989), which contain chapters
on Fiji, as well as the Amnesty Report 1989 (London: Amnesty
International, 1989), which contains information on the 1988 human
rights situation in Fiji.
As is explained in the attached and
recommended sources, one of the main social problems of Fiji is its
confrontational division along ethnic lines, which has led to
military coups and the establishment of a native-Fijian government
with a reportedly discriminatory stand.
A recent development in Fiji was the return
and death of Timoci Bavadra, member of the Indo-Fijian community
and leader of the opposition who died of cancer shortly after his
return to Fiji, in the town of Viseisei. The government banned
foreign media from Bavadra's funeral. Later, Indian temples were
attacked with fire-bombs in Lautoka, Fiji's second largest city,
and other places, while the Indian ambassador to Fiji was expelled
following a speech considered controversial by the government of
Fiji. A few people were arrested in relation to the bomb attacks on
Indian temples, although details on their prosecution and current
status could not be found among the sources currently available to
the IRBDC. [ From East Asia Daily Report - Australasia,
(Washington, D.C.: Foreign Broadcast Information Service): "Deposed
leader Timoci Bavadra dies of cancer" and "Indian Ambassador
discusses expulsion", 3 November 1989, pp. 56-57, "Foreign media
banned from Bavadra's funeral", 7 November 1989, p. 75; "New Turns
in Racial Rivalry", in Asiaweek, 17 November 1989, p. 32;
"India's ambassador in Fiji expelled", The Link (Vancouver),
1-14 November 1989, p. 14.]
(FRA) France