Amnesty International report documents rape, beatings, torture on Fiji’s islands

IT’S home to white sandy beaches and turquoise water but this island paradise frequented by Aussie tourists is also a place of torture.

2014 ESCAPE READER COMPETITION .. and what it means to you I celebrated my 50th birthday in February with my beautiful family in Fiji. It was a week of laughter, music, and love. I will always remember the week with fondness as my two sons, aged 21 and 19, genuinely wanted to be there to help me celebrate a huge milestone with smiles and not tears. We snorkelled, we walked, we sailed, we played golf, we swam, read and relaxed. One of our treasured memories was visiting an island school and delivering much needed supplies to the welcoming children whose smiles were as bright as the sun. Louise Gardnr Email address [e-mail] Contact number 0412243388 Street Address 14 stevenson st, grange Street Address 2 Postcode 4051 State QLD

MORE than 300,000 Australians visit this island paradise each year.

They go for the white sand beaches and the turquoise water and return year after year for the hospitality. But what they don’t see is what happens behind closed doors. Beatings, rape and torture are common here. Vilikesa Soko, 30, knows that first hand. The 30-year-old father-of-three died from a blood clot in his lungs in 2014. An autopsy later found he suffered horrific injuries to his body, including to his rectum and penis. He is one of many who have suffered at the hands of a brutal regime that plays by its own rules. Amnesty International released a report on Monday into what really goes on in paradise. This is the side of Fiji you won’t see in tourism brochures and on the shores of Castaway Island and Honeymoon Beach. HOW FIJI GETS AWAY WITH TORTURE The new report is titled Beating Justice: How Fiji’s Security Forces Get Away with Torture. The 29-page report details a number of disturbing incidents since a 2006 coup left control of the country’s police force and justice system to the military. Amnesty spoke with a number of victims including Richardo Fisher, who claims he was beaten unconscious by police less than a month ago. They spoke with Rajneel Singh who claims he was assaulted three times by security forces including once in 2015 where he was picked up by a police vehicle, driven to a remote location and beaten, burned and dumped on the roadside. Another man had his leg amputated after a violent arrest left him with multiple leg fractures that lead to an infection. Amnesty International’s Pacific researcher Kate Schuetze said security forces willingly ignore international condemnation. “Torture does not just humiliate the victim,” she said. “It also debases the torturer by hollowing out their humanity. “If Fiji wants to preserve its reputation as a Pacific island nation renowned for its natural beauty, it must end the ugly practices of its security officials. “Not only do the security forces know that torture is taking place, they have stood in the way of accountability.” She said signing the UN Convention Against Torture will remain “an empty gesture” until action is taken. ‘AT THE END OF THE DAY, I WILL STICK BY MY MEN’ Two weeks ago, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama stood behind a podium and delivered a speech he hoped would make some difference. “We have long had a culture in Fiji of people resorting to violence,” he said. “Whether it is against women in the home, instilling discipline in our children or the police attempting to extract confessions from criminal suspects, the culture of what we call buturaki — the beating — is deeply ingrained in parts of the Fijian psyche.” Amnesty says Fiji’s security forces are not only violent, they’re creative. “The security forces have resorted to using excessive and unnecessary violence against suspected criminals or escaped prisoners in policing operations including beatings, rape, sexual assault, use of chillies, sticks or batons, attack by police dogs, and the use of firearms to shoot at people,” the report states. Part of the reason the violence continues is the immunity enjoyed by those responsible. Fiji’s constitution enables each new government to continue a regime cemented by those that came before. The PM has expressed support for his officers when they are criticised. After a video emerged on social media showing three officers beating suspects, Mr Bainimarama made his position crystal clear. “At the end of the day, I will stick by my men, by the police officers or anyone else that might be named in this investigation,” he said. “We cannot discard them just because they’ve done their duty in looking after the security of this nation and making sure we sleep peacefully at night.” ‘IT IS HARROWING, IT IS TORTURE’ The video, which ran for more than nine minutes, was shot by an officer. It showed men in plain clothes using sticks and truncheon. A dog drags a man in handcuffs across the ground. Amnesty New Zealand executive director Grant Bayldon said it was hard to watch. “The humiliation of the men and their injuries which are also evident in the video is very serious. Forced to undress and harassed by a dog, as men nearby laugh. The subsequent brutal beating with batons is harrowing. It is torture.” In another case, Amnesty says five men accused of robbing a shop in Nadi were captured and had crushed chillies rubbed on their bodies, water poured in their ears, large rocks dropped on their backs and were beaten until they confessed. Ms Schuetze said aside from the violence, Fiji also allows coerced confessions. She said the only way Fiji will change is if armed forces are held accountable and the justice system falls in line with international standards. “To rid Fiji of torture, the authorities should withdraw the armed forces from policing tasks and the military should not be above the law,” she said. Australians have flocked to paradise in Fiji for decades. They go for the sand and the water and most have been ignorant to the culture of violence taking place nearby.