PEOPLE MORE AWARE OF THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMISSION HAS BEEN UNFAIRLY ATTACKED IN THE PAST OVER ITS WORK DESPITE ITS SUCCESS IN CREATING MORE PUBLIC AWARENESS It plays a key role in promoting the protection, observance and respect for human rights in both public and private institutions
The Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission does a lot of work to educate people on human rights.
As a result more people now are talking about their rights.
The Commission’s records show that it received and independently investigated a total of 477 complaints between 2016 and 2018 over a wide range of cases.
They include allegations of violations comprising right to life, right to personal liberty, rights of arrested and detained persons, freedom from cruel and degrading treatment, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
The list also includes rights of accused persons, access to courts or tribunals, freedom of association, freedom of religion, conscience and belief, right to executive and administrative justice, freedom of movement and residence, right to equality and freedom from discrimination, employment relations, rights of children, right to privacy, access to information, right to education, right to health, rights of ownership and protection of iTaukei, Rotuman and Banaban lands, right to economic participation, right to housing and sanitation, right to adequate food and water, right to social security schemes, freedom from arbitrary evictions and rights of persons with disabilities.
Complaints received are also intersectional in nature such as the deprivation of shelter for women with mental illness, human trafficking, domestic violence, denial of access to justice for foreign nationals in detention, sexual assault of children and denial of prompt medical examination and treatment in such cases referred to the Commission by NGOs such as the Fiji Women’s Crisis Center.
The nature of complaints to the Commission shows that the Commission does not privilege one set of rights over another whether they are civil or political or social, economic and cultural rights. The complaints demonstrate the interrelated, interdependent and indivisibility of human rights.
Examples of alleged human rights abuses investigated by the Commission:
Human rights violations concerning women
• Strip search of a female in a public place and in the presence of a male police officer
• Female kept in a cell with a drunk male suspect who allegedly molested her
• Female kept in police custody without supervision of female officers
• Domestic violence, marital rape, child sexual abuse and refusal by Police to facilitate medical examination. The Commission also assisted aggrieved families with the filing of a Domestic Violence Restraining Order (DVRO)
• Eviction notice to vacate marital home served to a complainant whose divorce case was pending in court
• Alleged workplace discrimination based on pregnancy status
Human rights violations in places of detention
• Death in custody
• Police brutality and misconduct
• Sexual assault of prisoners
• Strip searches conducted by Police
• Hunger strike at a Corrections facility
• Deprivation of rights of arrested and detained person
• Detained for more than 48 hours
• Over-crowded cell blocks at Police stations
• Denial of visitation rights to prisoners
• Infliction of torture and solitary confinements