Saturday 19 May 2012

Gay Rights in Fiji

 As in any other country, there is considerable number of gays and lesbians in Fiji. But it is a different issue altogether when it comes to the representation of this community. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), a group that defends the rights of women in the country, represent the Gay community as well. Another group that recently came under the spotlight, Oceania Pride is a group that many people in the country do not know of. The Facebook group page states that the group was created to “promote awareness as well as advocate for LGBTQ rights all across the Pacific”.  
 
IDAHOT panelists and moderator: From left: Noelene Nabulivou (DAWN), Reverend Akuila Yabaki (CCF), Ashwin Raj (USP academic) and Mereia Carling (moderator). Photo courtesy of USP Development, Marketing and Communications Office.

Another group that many do not know about is the Drodrolago Movement (DroMo). The group is based in Fijis University of the South Pacific, Laucala Campus. But the group has had several issues of their own. The USP Student Association is currently divided on whether to affiliate itself with the movement or not.
Fiji became the first Pacific Island country to mark International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), with a panel discussion held at the University of the South Pacific (USP), on Tuesday May 17, 2011.

DroMo members and allies organized this event. The panel discussion was organized with the support of the School of Government, Development and International Affairs and the School of Language, Arts and Media of USP and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).
Another event organized by the FWCC and Oceania Pride was cancelled by the Ministry of Defense. The groups had organized a march along Suva's main street to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on the 17th of May.

In a Fiji Sun article the Fiji Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Ioane Naivalurua said the reversed decision was only done to protect the safety of the marchers – the majority being gays and lesbians.
In the same article, Roshika Deo, a trustee of Oceania Pride, said that they were notified by Police at 9am of the cancellation, citing that the Force “did not realize that this was a march for gays and lesbians.”
“It is ironic that police had to cancel the event on the day.“They must have overlooked the application and upon realising the permit was for the  homophobia and transphobia march, they told us that we can’t march.”
The cancellation at the eleventh hour is indeed really very suspicious. Why did the Ministry of Defense take such a long time to realize the risk it would pose to the LGBTIQ community? If that was really the reason why the march was cancelled at all. This clearly shows homophobia at its best on the day of International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia by the Fiji Ministry of Defense.

Fiji was the second country in the world to explicitly protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. (South Africa was the first)  But in 2009, the Constitution was abolished. So discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is not banned by the Fiji's law.  This clearly means that in Fiji there is nothing for or against the gay and lesbian community. Thus, the question remains: why did the Defense Ministry cancel the approval to hold the march. The security of gays and lesbians during the march just seems like a lame excuse to stop the voices of the minority but a steadily growing vocal community. We all know that there is security in numbers so whose security was really the concern? Certainly not the hundreds that were meant to participate in the march. If there is security in numbers than individual gays or lesbians are a target of hate crime but there is no such reporting of such issue.
All these observations have led me to diagnose the government as homophobic.

However, the government also seems be divided on the issue of giving rights to homosexuals in the country. Since 1 February 2010, private, adult, consensual and non-commercial male and female homosexual conduct is legal under the Crimes Decree 2010. This does seem like a step in the positive direction made by the government to be tolerant and at the same time accepting of the LGBTIQ community.

Finally, I want to remind everyone of a very important court case. In 2005, Australian tourist Thomas McCosker had consensual sex with an adult named Dhirendra Nadan. The men were tried and jailed under the nation's sodomy law, but the conviction was subsequently overturned by the nation's highest court as violating the Constitution. But the same constitution does not exist anymore. Hopefully, Yash Ghai and his band come up with something that makes everyone happy.

1 comment:

  1. "But the group has had several issues of their own" should be "But the group has had several issues of its own."

    ReplyDelete