The Fiji authorities must respect the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for university staff and
students and immediately cease intimidation tactics.
Around 200 university staff and students at University of the South Pacific (USP) campus in Fiji held peaceful protests
from 8 June 2020, to show support for the Vice Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia who was suspended later that day. The Vice
Chancellor appears to have been suspended because of his role in exposing mismanagement of funds and cronyism at the
university.
On 9 June, police entered the USP campus to shut down the protest, stating that any continuation of the protest would
require a permit. Following the peaceful protests, the police obtained photos of protesters from journalists. The police
also confiscated some of the photos from the office of Fiji Times newspaper on 12 June, using a search warrant.
On 16 June 2020, the police questioned staff from the university, focusing on possible breaches of COVID-19 rules by
participating in the peaceful protests.
Since March 2020, the Fiji government has prohibited all gatherings of over 20 people as part of its COVID-19 response.
On 5 June 2020, the Prime Minister announced that all 18 persons who had confirmed cases of COVID-19 nationally had
recovered, and that there had not been a new positive test result in over 45 days.
Under international human rights law, the right to peaceful assembly may be limited in a public health emergency, but
such restrictions must be reasonable, necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim. Given Fiji’s effective response
in containing cases of COVID-19 in the country, continuing restrictions on gatherings need to be specifically justified
and may amount to a violation of human rights.
Preventing people from protesting collectively in public as a result of COVID-19 measures must be a last resort based on
compelling needs, and due weight must be given to the importance of the right to peaceful assembly and the need of
people to jointly raise their voices.
There have been a number of instances over the last few years where peaceful protests have been arbitrarily restricted
in Fiji, under the Public Order (Amendment) Act 2014, particularly protests organised by trade unions. Authorization
under national laws to hold protests have been denied without any valid reasons and often at the last minute.
The governments of Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and Nauru have issued statements expressing varying degrees of concern
about the leadership issues at the University.University of the South Pacific (USP) Background
Established in 1968, USP is jointly owned by governments of the 12 member countries – Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati,
Marshall Islands, Nauru, Nuie, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Other international partners
including Australia, New Zealand, the European Union and Japan are key donors to the university.