Background
In August, the attorney general launched the National Mechanism for Implementation, Reporting and Follow-Up to support Fiji’s reporting to UN human rights bodies.
Right to a healthy environment
In September, Fiji, together with Samoa and Vanuatu, proposed an amendment to the Rome Statute of the ICC to recognize the international crime of “ecocide”. If adopted, it would enable the prosecution by the ICC of individuals responsible for severe environmental damage.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
Provisions under the Public Order Act requiring permits to convene a meeting in a public park or road remained in place and the police continued to take an overly restrictive approach against protests.1 In May, at a vigil at the premises of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Center (FWCC) to protest against the human rights situation in Gaza and Papua, Indonesia, police intimidated demonstrators including by photographing and videoing participants. In July, police banned demonstrators from carrying either the Israeli or Palestinian flags at a rally for justice and “decolonization” of New Caledonia and Papua.
Torture and other ill-treatment
In February, a Fijian military officer, Colonel Ben Naliva, was appointed as a deputy commander in the Australian Defence Force, but was removed in April after Australian media reports about allegations of torture committed by him in Fiji. The Fijian government had not investigated reports that he was responsible for the torture of government opponents after the 2006 coup, or concerns documented by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture that he participated in the assault of a Fijian businessman in 2011.
Gender-based violence
LGBTI people faced various forms of violence. Human rights groups criticized the police for failing to adequately investigate the murder in April of a 19-year-old transgender sex worker Setariki Ravato, known as “Esther”, who died a few weeks after she was kidnapped and assaulted. Despite her serious injuries, the police initially claimed that she had died of a pre-existing medical condition. Police investigations were ongoing at year’s end. The minister for women, children and social protection, Lynda Tabuya, was dismissed in late December after an explicit video of her was leaked online in an alleged act of technology facilitated gender-based violence.
Migrants’ rights
Six South Korean nationals accused of mistreatment and other abuses of migrants employed by the Grace Road company challenged proceedings – first initiated in 2023 – to deport them to South Korea. The leadership of the company, which operates a church and owns restaurants and other businesses in Fiji, faced charges of exploitation and physical abuse of its employees and supporters in both Fiji and South Korea.
