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Thank you Mr. President.
New Zealand thanks all three Special Rapporteurs for their reports. For reasons of time, we limit ourselves here to asking questions of the Special Rapporteurs on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers and the Freedom of Expression in relation to the situation in Fiji.
The domestic situation in Fiji has been of concern to many in the international community, including New Zealand, for some time now. Since New Zealand last brought Fiji to the Council’s attention in June 2008, the political, legal, and human rights situation of the people of Fiji has unfortunately deteriorated markedly. As Mr Despouy has noted, following the Fiji Court of Appeal decision in April, which ruled that the actions of Fiji’s military in December 2006 were unlawful and unconstitutional, the illegal Fiji interim regime has abrogated the 1997 Constitution; declared a State of Emergency; sacked Fiji’s judiciary; imposed severe restrictions on local and international media; curtailed freedom of expression and opinion; and arbitrarily detained people. Most recently, as the Special Rapporteur has noted, the right to issue legal practising certificates has been taken away from the independent Fiji Law Society and placed directly under the military regime’s control.
Fiji’s military regime has now been suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum, with the unanimous agreement of Pacific Forum Leaders. As noted by the Forum Chair: “A regime which displays such a total disregard for basic human rights, democracy and freedom has no place in the Pacific Islands Forum. Nevertheless, we look forward with great hope to Fiji’s earliest possible return to constitutional democracy, through free and fair elections”.
Mr President
As noted in paragraph 11 (page 5) of report of the Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers, New Zealand would be interested to receive from the Special Rapporteur an update on the latest developments regarding his proposed visit to Fiji and his recent exchanges with Fiji’s military regime.
In addition, we note in paragraph 32 (page 10) of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression, his emphasis on the importance of country visits to the mandate. We would be interested to know whether he is contemplating a country visit to Fiji in light of the recent severe restrictions on media activity there. We would also like to hear his views on how he might investigate allegations of human rights violations in respect of the freedom of opinion and expression in Fiji.
Thank you very much President.
