State Of Human Rights In Fiji Up For Review Tonight

22/01/2025

Tonight at 8pm (Fiji Time), the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) will coordinate an online live broadcast on the review of Fiji’s Human Rights progress and challenges under the Universal Periodical Review mechanism. This will provide key insights and reflect on Fiji’s commitments to human rights progress.

The UPR is a distinctive process whereby every UN Member state undergoes a peer review of its human rights record every 4.5 years. Fiji was last reviewed by the UPR Working Group in November 2019. The fourth review of Fiji under the UPR mechanism is taking place during the 48th session of the UPR Working Group this month.

Last year, a joint submission was put in by the Fiji UPR Civil Society Organisation Working Group noting significant progress in human rights - including the review of the Mining Act, endorsement of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, and initiatives like the Fiji National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls.

However, the Working Group also reported high rates of domestic violence, weak law enforcement responses, restricted freedom of expression, police brutality, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and rising teenage pregnancies. Marginalised groups, including women, LGBTQI+ individuals, and persons with disabilities, face systemic discrimination and limited access to justice, services, and opportunities. The report emphasised the urgent need for policy reforms, capacity building, and increased resource allocation to address these gaps.

A separate Gender Working Group headed by the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement also submitted a snapshot of the status of women’s human rights in Fiji and reported issues faced by all women and girls in Fiji since the last review. Fiji faces persistent gender inequality, with 72% of women experiencing gender-based violence and critical gaps in legal protections. Women are underrepresented in leadership, holding only 9% of parliamentary seats and 21% of board positions, while economic disparities are marked by low labour force participation (39%) and workplace harassment. Health challenges include an 800-nurse shortage, rising HIV cases, and inadequate maternal care, with a maternal mortality ratio of 86 per 100,000 births. Additionally, 12% of girls in some regions face forced marriages, and technology-facilitated violence targets women activists, journalists, and politicians, underscoring the urgent need for systemic reform. One recommendation by the Group is for the state to take immediate steps to advance women’s status by holding leadership roles at various types of enterprises, with quotas for women to be equally represented in these leadership spaces

The Live broadcast of the UPR session is available here:

https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1y7ctv8pk

The links to the two submissions are below:

UPR CSO Gender Submission https://fwrm.org.fj/images/PDFs/submissions/GenderUPR.pdf

UPR CSO Submission https://fwrm.org.fj/images/PDFs/submissions/UPRSubmission.pdf

Documents are available here:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/fj-index

The Fiji UPR Civil Society Organisations Working Group consisted of the following member organisations: Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF), Fiji Disabled People’s Federation (FDPF), Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM), Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), femLINK, Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding (PCP), Rainbow Pride Foundation (RPF), Trans Affirmative Action Guild (TAAG), Spinal Injury Association Fiji, Reproductive and Family Health Association of Fiji (RFHAF), HEIR Defenders Network of Fiji, Social Empowerment and Education Program (SEEP) and Grace Trifam Ministry.

The Joint CSO UPR Gender Working Group includes the following organisations: Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) as coordinator of this process, Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), femLINKpacific, Reproductive & Family Health Association of Fiji (RFHAF), Medical Services Pacific (MSP), Citizens Constitutional Forum (CCF), Trans Affirmative Action Guild (TAAG) and Fiji Disabled People’s Federation (FDPF).

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