Fiji's anti-torture ratification seen as hollow
A human rights lawyer says Fiji's ratification of an international anti-torture treaty is a hollow and meaningless gesture.
Transcript
A human rights lawyer says Fiji's ratification of an international anti-torture treaty is a hollow and meaningless gesture.
The country last week ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, but with several reservations including the definition of torture and querying the authority of the International Court of Justice.
A Lautoka-based human rights lawyer, Aman Ravindra-Singh, says the reservations water down the convention and makes it meaningless.
Mr Ravindra-Singh, who last year raised allegations about colleagues being beaten by security forces, told Jamie Tahana he still gets complaints about torture, and doesn't think Fiji's ratification will stop them.
AMAN RAVINDRA-SINGH: When you sign and ratify an international convention you have the ability and opportunity to state your reservations, thereby informing the United Nations that there are certain articles that you will not be complying with, and the reservations that Fiji has stated specifically are of deep concern. The reservations are, firstly, article one; the definition of torture. The second reservation is the right to obtain redress and to fair and adequate compensation. The third reservation is the competence of the committee against torture to conduct confidential inquiries; the next one is to receive communications by individuals alleging torture and to receive communications from states about another state's failure to fulfil its obligations under the convention; and the last one, and this is something again of great reservation, as well as recognition of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under article 30. Now the question I ask the Fiji government is: Why all these reservations which literally waters down the convention and all the actions of signing and ratification, and secondly, why these reservations if you are going to show a clear commitment to the international community that you stood against torture and that you are not in any form, or shape, or size, are going to allow the practice of torture within the jurisdiction of Fiji?
JAMIE TAHANA: And what do these reservations mean?
AR-S: Well, when a nation puts down reservations it says that 'we reserve our right and therefore we will not comply with this article or that article,' and for Fiji to do that obviously very clearly states that Fiji will not be complying [with] or respecting these articles. And, if you look at those articles, those articles are the most important articles within the Convention Against Torture, and if Fiji has placed its reservations with all these articles then, simply put, the convention is empty because we have brought the convention home minus all these articles.
JT: Okay, so basically what the Fiji government is saying here and has taken to the United Nations is that it won't comply with the fact it could be taken to the ICJ in The Hague, it does not recognise the definition of torture the United Nations gives, which I guess gives it a lot of wriggle room?
AR-S: Ah yes, for starters, if the Fiji government is putting its reservation on the definition of torture, that's alarming, in fact that's shocking. If you're not agreeing to the definition of torture in the first place, then why sign the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Punishment? Why sign it? What is your point? The only point Fiji is trying to make is that it's trying to show its international partners and to international institutions including the UN that they have a commitment that they will not be practising torture or that torture will not be used by the state security forces and the security agencies in Fiji. But, if you are questioning the definition of the very convention which you have signed, you have declared absolutely that the convention is not worth the paper it's on.
JT: Barely a couple of months ago you brought forward the allegations that some of your colleagues were in fact tortured by off duty security forces, there have been also numerous other reports of heavy-handedness by security forces, you know we've got a couple of cases before the courts now. Will this ratification make any difference to the practices of the forces?
AR-S: I doubt it, and in one sentence absolutely not. On the ground there has been no real action taken to eliminate the use of torture, there has been no signs that torture has lessened in the last few months since Fiji has been harping on about wanting to sign the Convention Against Torture. The reality on the ground remains the same and I maintain my earlier statement from a few months ago that torture is practised by the state security service in Fiji on a daily basis and I continue to maintain that and I have the proof and I'm willing to take on the government of Fiji at any time to prove my statement. Not forgetting that the attorney general himself in late November-early December had stopped the foreign affairs select committee from listening to evidence of torture which I had been invited to present before this committee.
JT: When you say it's happening on a daily basis, it's happening regularly, what kind of incidents are happening?
AR-S: If you look at the definition of torture it varies; it can be physical harm and it can be emotional harm. So when I make that very strong statement that torture is being practised on a daily basis I'm talking about all different forms of torture be it emotional torture, and be it physical torture, and be it more extreme brutality. Our citizens are put under emotional torture on a daily basis in police stations and by the security forces and certainly people are just slapped around, and others who are less fortunate are not only just slapped around but punched and kicked about and put under a lot of pressure. Since we do not have proper statistics in place I can only go by the statistics which I am personally involved with, but from what I am involved with that statistics are high and that leads me to come forward with my conclusion as to torture being practised on a daily basis by the state security service.
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