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Fiji hits back over human rights report
A senior Fijian official has hit back at a United States report into the South Pacific country, saying America cannot be trusted to be the world’s guardian of human rights.
The U.S. criticised Fiji’s post-coup governance in its annual human rights report on the country last week, citing widespread abuses, judicial and media interference, and corruption.
It said there were numerous reports of abuse by the military, which has run Fiji since the December 2006 military coup ousted the elected government.
In the U.S. Department of State report, the Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC) came in for special scrutiny.
“During the year, the FHRC director repeatedly failed to publicly object to significant allegations of human rights abuses by the military and police, including three incidents that resulted in the deaths of uncharged detainees,” the U.S. report said.
But Dr. Shaista Shameem, chair of Fiji’s Human Rights Commission (FHRC) said the U.S. had its own problems.
“USA should tell Fiji how it intends to deal with gross human rights violations committed by itself in Iraq, while it destroys that country.
“And please, let Fiji people know whether any weapons of mass destruction have been found,” Shameem said.
“As for Guantanamo Bay — when is that house of horrors going to be closed down and every inmate get due process?
“No one wants the USA to be the guardian of human rights for the rest of the world — it’s like asking Dracula to guard the blood bank,” she said.
The U.S. bought off non-government groups with “tin badges and a handshake,” Shameem said.
The FHRC has come under increasing international criticism amid claims the organisation is strongly supporting Fiji’s coup-installed government, making it unlikely for people abused by soldiers to come forward.
Last year, the FHRC published a report denying the take-over of the government by the military in 2006 was a coup, and defended a government crackdown on internet bloggers.
When Australia and New Zealand called for a United Nations review of judicial independence in Fiji, Shameem accused the countries of making “statements of aggression.”
In a media release earlier this week, the U.N. Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination questioned whether the FHRC was sufficiently independent.
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