Awareness and advocacy priority, Raj highlights in submission
The Human Rights and AntiDiscrimination Commission has made four recommendations in its submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law, and Human Rights on the Cybercrime Bill (2020).
Commission Director Ashwin Raj said the moral and legal imperatives of the legislation should be balanced with the States human rights obligations under the Fijian Constitution and its obligations under international law.
Secondly, that Fiji considers ratification of the Convention on Cybercrime or the Budapest Convention to ensure compliance with normative instruments.
Even though Fiji has not ratified the Budapest Convention, Mr Raj noted that the proposed Cybercrime Bill includes the most salient features of the Budapest Convention and aligns to the requirements of the Convention on Cybercrime.
The Budapest Convention is the sole legally binding international multilateral treaty that addresses internet and computer related crime including infringements of copyright, computer-related fraud, child pornography and violations of network security.
Mr Raj also emphasised that awareness and advocacy was a priority given the legal and human rights ramifications of the proposed Bill.
His final recommendation was to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies and the private sector in addressing the issue of intermediary liability.
In a separate submission on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Commission recommended that Fiji ratify the Optional Protocol without reservations.
The Optional Protocol serves to strengthen the legal safeguards against the exposure of children to protracted violence and, in particular, the manipulation and recruitment of children below the age of eighteen as soldiers in areas of armed conflicts either by state or non-state armed forces.
The Optional Protocol raises the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities to 18 years from the initial minimum age of 15 specified in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Commission also recommended that Fiji review to strengthen existing national legislation and recruitment practices to ensure consistency with the Optional Protocol including the criminalisation of voluntary and forcible recruitment of children below eighteen by state and non-state armed groups.
The third point was to promote education and advocacy on the rights and obligations under the Optional Protocol by the state, civil society and national human rights institution including awareness in schools through human rights education.
Mr Raj said it was vital that the State and national human rights institution develops its capacity in this area to enable effecting monitoring and reporting.
The submission was made to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.