CORONAVIRUS NO JOKE
most of institutions are there. There were some criticism about how many times Mr Raj travels to Geneva.
“This is what we do. When we go there, we don’t go there to pick up per diems and hang around in shopping malls. We actually we put in the hours at Human Rights Council, we talk to these Institutions and talk about what are the best practice we can bring back and implement.
“This is why the experts from the UNODC, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes came and trained our Corrections officials on the Nelson Mandela Rule.”
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 17, 2015 after a fiveyear revision process. They are known as the Mandela Rules, in honour of the former South African President, Nelson Mandela. “I know some of the Committee members have asked me that Corrections facility seems to be an issue in your reports, what are you doing about it. That’s what the Commission and the Fiji Corrections Services are doing- working on implementation of Mandela Rule,” Mr Raj said.
“This kind of international engagement is important, we also brought the Association for the Prevention of Torture to work with our Police force in ensuring that our standard operating procedures are consistent with minimum human rights standards that internationally recognized and accepted.”
Bulitavu’s Commission
praise
for
the
SODELPA Opposition Member of Parliament Mosese Bulitavu has applauded the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission Director and staff for working towards promoting human rights in Fiji.
In his concluding remarks at the parliamentary standing committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights hearing , Mr Bulitavu who is a committee member, thanked the Director and staff of the Commission for their hard work.
“On behalf of the chair and members of the committee, I would like to thank you for accepting our invitation for presenting on the three annual reports to the Justice, Law and Human Rights Committee. We are happy that you have presented very clearly and have reached a consensus in terms of the way forward for our country, in terms of human rights in this country, in terms of those grey areas. And also those areas, many times, are misquoted and misrepresented by people,” Mr Bulitavu told the Committee.
“We thank the Commission. You will continue the hard work that the Constitution calls you to do. Best wishes for the Commission’s accreditation in March. Everything that you do, I think you are doing a good job. It’s for us to support each other as you said so that every human being’s rights are protected in this country.”
Some people still think that the coronavirus threat to this country is something to joke about – like this fellow who presented himself at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva.
He is now in trouble for allegedly making up a story.
The Fiji Police Force is looking at charging the man for falsifying information about the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
His prank has now backfired.
This case is the first of its kind since the outbreak in China and now it’s spreading to the rest of the world.
Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete confirmed that a man had falsified information at the CWM Hospital. The man had allegedly presented a false travel history to health professionals at the hospital and claimed that he had symptoms of the virus.
“I can ascertain that there was a gentleman that came to CWM Hospital on Thursday to present history of having travelled overseas and developing COVID-19 symptoms,” Dr Waqainabete said.
“After further investigations we have gathered that all information he presented was false,” he said. He said there were no cases of COVID-19 in Fiji.
“It is a waste of our resources and also we had to work with other stakeholders to be able to identify him. It is an unwanted distraction from our focus and attention on our resources at this important time.
“Having said that our due diligence and attention to detail does not stop, even though he came in with falsified information we tracked him down, looked through his travel history and then we ascertained it was false in which he confessed later that it was.”
He added that they worked with Police and other stakeholders to look into such issues.
Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said: “We are investigating and pleading with the public to refrain from such actions.
“It is an unnecessary drain on resources that could be put to better use. We are looking at relevant charges for the alleged irresponsible actions of the person.”