A-G Turaga calls for collaboration against drugs
TRADITIONAL leaders, inter-faith organisation leaders and community leaders have been urged to work hand in hand with the Coalition Government to fight against drugs.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Siromi Turaga, made this call while officiating at the opening of a new Fiji Human
Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission office in Lautoka this week.
“I would like to use this opportunity to once again appeal to our traditional leaders, our community leaders and our inter-faith-based organisations to join the Government efforts in its war against drugs. We have to save our children from this problem.”
“We cannot ignore the fact that we are living in a highly competitive world, today, with extraordinary technological progress, globalisation, which have contributed to growing social injustices and economic inequalities amongst our people, particularly, putting our island nation at high risk.
“Just recently, we have unveiled one of the biggest drug seizures ever, which is becoming widespread and affecting many families and sadly, our children.”
“While Government is focused on ensuring that our children, the women, the elderly and the diverse vulnerable groups which includes persons with disabilities, have access to basic social protection and are safe in their homes, schools and at workplace, I call on our key stakeholders – the community leaders to assist us in identifying the most vulnerable who may be experiencing human rights violations in their homes, schools or any other place – to report those violations to the right agency so help can be afforded to the victims and the perpetrators brought to justice.”
The A-G emphasised that drugs and substance abuse lead to the violation of a childs rights.
“The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) stands alone among the core UN human rights treaties in setting out a human right to protection from drugs.”
Meanwhile, Article 33 of the CRC stipulates that, “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislative, administrative, social and educational measures, to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as defined in the relevant international treaties, and to prevent the use of children in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances”.