Fijileaks
  • Home
  • Archive Home
  • In-depth Analysis
    • BOI Report into George Speight and others beatings
  • Documents
  • Opinion
  • CRC Submissions
  • Features
  • Archive

An Analysis: 2013 Fiji Government Draft Constitution: CCF Document

27/3/2013

1 Comment

 
1 Comment

Dr Shaista Shameem's initial comments on the Draft Constitution 2013 released by Frank Bainimarama

24/3/2013

3 Comments

 
The draft 2013 Fiji Constitution released yesterday (March 21) by the Prime Minister is, undoubtedly, marginally an improvement on the Yash Ghai draft constitution. The Yash Ghai constitution had proposed an election of the Head of State by an undemocratic body, the National People’s Assembly – a body which would have become more significant than even the elected parliament in Fiji. However, to its credit, the government’s draft constitution 2013 retains the solid Bill of Rights chapter from the 1997 Constitution and adds other protections now reflected in international law such as children’s rights, rights of people with disabilities, and economic and social rights which are all justiciable (this means an application can be made directly to the High Court or to the Human Rights and Anti-discrimination Commission for redress in case of any breach).   I also approve of the election of the President by a Parliamentary College as being consistent with my views and submissions made to the Yash Ghai commission that the President of Fiji should  be elected.   But there are also some significant changes in this new draft, which, due to the demise of the plan to put before a Constituent Assembly as promised, will not now properly be aired in public discussion and debate which is itself part of the process of ‘we the people adopting this constitution as our own’.   The changes are as follows:   (i) The President’s power has been whittled down to next to nothing. The current President has effectively been given his letter of termination since section 84 of the draft states not only that a President will have, at the most, a 6-year term, but that any period of occupying that office prior to the commencement of the new Constitution will be taken into consideration in the next appointment.   (ii) The President has no power now over the military; the Prime Minister will be Commander-in-Chief of the RFMF. This is inconsistent with section 130 of the Constitution which gives the military the righ to look after all the people of Fiji. This has implications for security and safety of the people (for example) if an event like that of 2000, when the Prime Minister and his government were held hostage by Speight, take place again. The Commander of the RFMF in the government’s draft constitution has no power other than to appoint and remove persons from the RFMF, and for discipline. So what does section 130 (2) actually mean? That section is a dead letter.   (iii) The President cannot refuse his or her assent to any bill; if a bill is presented to the President by parliament, he or she must assent to it within 7 days. Otherwise the bill becomes law anyway.   (iv) The chapter on the Judiciary has a number of clauses that do not fit correctly in that chapter- for example the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption appears in that chapter, through it is an investigative body and not a judicial one. Clearly the drafters do not understand the principle of separation of powers which is the heart of constitutional law.   (v) There are no independent commissions in the draft constitution. The Human Rights and Anti-discrimination Commission is one of the few commissions specifically mentioned but how the appointment of persons to the Human Rights Commission or other commissions will be made is a big gap in the draft constitution- where are the checks and balances in the appointment of persons to public office?   (vi) As for the chapter on Parliament; the question is, if there are no political parties registered so far, is parliament going to be just a group of independents? The Prime Minister should come clean on how many political parties were properly registered at the deadline.   The draft constitution of the government was clearly done in a rush.     Dr Shaista Shameem is a constitutional and human rights lawyer. She represented David Burness and others in the human rights case of Burness v the State and the Fiji National Provident Fund in 2011.
3 Comments

The Pacific's peak geoscience advisory body SOPAC has been accused of assisting United States aerospace giant Lockheed Martin in negotiations for Fiji's new draft decree on seafloor mining

18/3/2013

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

By Jill Cottrell Ghai and Christina Murray: Companion to the Yash Ghai chaired Draft Constitution: Additional Analysis

16/3/2013

0 Comments

 
About this document The purpose of this document is mainly to explain the Draft Constitution for those who feel they need to have a more detailed understanding of the Draft than available from reading Commission’s Explanatory Report.  However, it is recommended that the Explanatory Report is read first. The reader is referred, especially, to the section in that Report on the Commission’s approach (Part 1 Section 4). The current document is designed to be read with the Draft Constitution. There are constant cross references to the actual text, and the reader would get most out of this document by having the two documents side by side. Download FULL DOCUMENT HERE

0 Comments

CCF strongly recommends that for its own measures, the government needs to adopt the recommendations of the HR Council and allow the UN Special Rapporteur’s to assess the situation and provide an Independent evaluation of government’s performance

11/3/2013

0 Comments

 
0 Comments

PRISONER BRUTALITY: THE VIDEO PROOF

4/3/2013

0 Comments

 

BAINIMARAMA-NAIVALURUA-KHAIYUM'S BEASTLY ARMY, POLICE & CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS
Video strips brutal Fiji regime lies about escaped prisoners - they are captured, police dogs unleashed, brutally beaten up, stripped naked, humiliated, and filmed on mobile phones

0 Comments
    Contact Email
    ​[email protected]
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012