Mitigating for threats
SINCE Fiji is part of a globalised world, threats overseas can have a ripple effect here so the country must be prepared to deal with any threat on our doorstep.
Permanent secretary for Home Affairs Mason Smith believes we all “must be realistic” when it comes to transnational and evolving crime trends.
“We live in a globalised world, what happens overseas can affect not only our service personnel that are deployed there; we have the Fijian diaspora that are all over the globe at the moment,” he said.
“We have our representatives at the UN who constantly deal with these issues and anything that happens overseas can affect us, either it’ll affect us overseas or it can have a homegrown effect and we have to be realistic with the chances of it happening in Fiji.
“What we don’t want to see happen is to let our guard down and if something happens, we have to pick up the pieces.
“It’s better to start preparing, try and prevent it and should, God forbid, something happens, we are able to respond and respond very quickly and then recover.”
He said in this day and age there were complex non-traditional threats and transnational crimes, including terrorism,
“That’s why it is important for Fiji to have a Bill that is the overarching umbrella legislation that will define Fiji’s policy on terrorism, and it will provide the policy directive to a whole-of-Government effort in dealing with terrorist activities,” Mr Mason said.
“In the Bill, we hope to see the direction where Fiji hopes to go in regards to its terrorism efforts. As I mentioned, this is the revival of our efforts that has been ongoing for a number of years and what is required now is a Bill that will be tabled to Cabinet and it’ll be taken to Parliament.
“That will then give us direction as civil servants to undertake a whole of Government effort on the issue of terrorism.”
He said different stakeholders would be involved in the preparation of awareness, education, prevention, and response efforts in any case of a terrorist threat.
Mr Smith added it was vital for Fiji to cultivate regional and international partnerships to deal with these threats.
“We have colleagues from the UN, Australia, New Zealand, the US, we have assistance being offered by France, Japan and other countries so it is a global issue,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it is our responsibility to prepare Fiji for such an occasion and we would be failing in that effort if we did not prepare properly so for us it is all about preparation, responding and rehabilitating.”
He said they hoped to get the Bill to Cabinet by November.