Transcript
SHAMIMA ALI: I don't believe there's any need for that, I don't even think there should be a discussion around that, particularly in light of the fact that Fiji has ratified the Convention Against Torture, Fiji is making a bid to be a member of the Human Rights Council, and our constitution respects human rights and we already have a few torture cases in court, or with the DPP's office, and basically for me the bottom line is that there should not be any discussion around this.
ALEX PERROTTET: Just the timing of these comments is interesting because just this week we've got policemen and a military officer on trial for the rape of a civilian who subsequently died, Vilikesa Soko, and we've had the deputy police commissioner Ilikesi Lagairi in front of the United Nations saying that the force will no longer tolerate police brutality, I mean is there some sort of communications issue there with the head of corrections himself, with his own history of violence, let's face it, coming out and calling for this sort of discussion, I mean surely there need to be more voices in positions of power in Fiji coming out condemning this.
SA: Definitely there should be. There seems to be a total lack of communication and also awareness for what is going on around one. And particularly for someone in the position of commissioner of prisons and so on, so you're right there seems to be the lack of that, and awareness. So it's quite shocking, Alex, to hear these comments coming from someone like that.
AP: I mean when we talk about changing a culture, sometimes these things do take years but to me what this says is that the thinking is still very old fashioned, that we need violence as a way to deter potential violent criminals or people who have committed crimes. In the past we've spoken to you about, even long ago corporal punishment has been phased out in schools but we've still had instances of teachers getting away with it. Is there something more, where police and the corrections need to open themselves up to more training and public dialogue about how they could do their job better in a modern world?
SA: Yes I think there is a lot of space for that, for more education for our prison officers, and keeping up with international standards, and more progressive ways of dealing with these things and not even talking about taking such a regressive step.
