This issue of the Alternative Law Journal is dedicated to Human Rights Issues and Associate Professor Corrin Care's Article is the South Pacific contribution. Below is an abstract and details of where to obtain further information on, or to order, this issue.
By Jennifer Corrin Care
The Constitution of the Republic of Fiji Islands 1997 was hailed as the flagship of human rights in Fiji. The culmination of an extensive constitution review carried out under the Chairmanship of Sir Paul Reeves (“the Reeves Commission”) it replaced the 1990 Constitution of Fiji with a document designed to balance indigenous rights with the rights of ‘subsequent settlers’. Yet, less than one year later, George Speight staged an attempted coup. This crisis reopened the fundamental rights debate, discussed in the Reeves Report. In particular, it has reopened the debate on how to balance indigenous rights, on the one hand, and the right to equality for all members of society, on the other. In a wider context, it highlighted important questions regarding the nature of human rights themselves. Are human rights truly universal or are they relative to the culture in which they are placed. Can a Bill of Rights effect cultural change or is the expression of such ideals worthless if they are not anchored to contemporary realities? With those questions in mind, this article looks at the Bill of Rights chapter in the 1997 Constitution of Fiji Islands and the Human Rights Commission Act passed pursuant to it. It also examines the Fundamental Rights and Duties Decree made by the Interim Military Government and other related issues.
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