Groups criticise Fiji's draft constitution

FIJI'S military government will hand the new constitution to President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau for ratification.

FIJI'S military government will hand the new constitution to President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau for ratification, framing the election that the government has vowed to hold by next September.

The constitution will become Fiji's fourth since the country became independent from Britain in 1970. It replaces the 1997 constitution, which was abrogated in 2009 by Frank Bainimarama, whose coup had removed the government in December 2006.

An earlier document drafted by a commission chaired by constitutional expert Yash Ghai following nationwide consultations was discarded by the government this year.

Under the new constitution, a parliament of 50 members will be elected every four years for a single constituency covering the whole country. The former ethnic seats, reserved for Fijians, Indians and "general electors" -- those of other racial groups -- will be abolished.

The new constitution guarantees that all the 270 decrees promulgated by the military government will remain in place.

It assures immunity against prosecution for anyone, up to and including Commodore Bainimarama, for their part in the 2006 coup and the rule since then. It also elevates the role of the Fiji Military Forces, the ruler of the country, as being "to ensure at all times the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians".

The Australian government issued a statement welcoming the draft constitution produced by the commission chaired by Professor Ghai as "a substantial document, and another step along the path towards Fiji's return to democracy".

Leading non-government organisation the Citizens' Constitutional Forum said the new document "cannot be considered a constitution by the people of Fiji" but by the government alone. Forum director Akuila Yabaki was recently sentenced to a three-month jail term for contempt of court and fined $11,600 for reprinting an article critical of the Fiji judiciary from the publication of the Law Society of England and Wales.

Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the draft "represents a major step backwards for human rights from the constitution thrown out by Fiji's military in April 2009".

He said the new draft "would allow the government to interfere with key rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association".

Limitations to such rights are permissible "in the interests of national security, public safety, public order, public morality, public health or the orderly conduct of elections".

Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty International's deputy Asia-Pacific director, said "the new constitution not only erodes basic human rights for the people of Fiji but grants military, police and government officials absolute immunity for past, present and future human rights violations".