I took control of Fiji to remove ethno-nationalist govt - PM

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said he assumed control of Fiji in 2006 to remove an ethno‑nationalist government that had embarked on a campaign to marginalise the country’s minorities and underprivileged.

While speaking at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Bainimarama said unlike other takeovers, Fiji’s was to assert the principle of equality in our nation once and for all.

Bainimarama said Fiji’s peaceful and orderly transition to parliamentary rule has been a national triumph and one of great credit to the Fijian people.

The Prime Minister also said that unlike some countries in the world, where the indigenous were exploited, dispossessed and marginalised, approximately 91% of the land in Fiji is owned by the i-Taukei people.

He said this makes the Fijian indigenous experience unique, if not rare, and that this has given the indigenous people of Fiji a level of security that has been noticeably absent in other countries.

Meanwhile Bainimarama said the Government has delivered the biggest human right of all - the right to equality and justice for every citizen.

He said there has been a fundamental improvement in the human rights of all Fijians arising out of the 2013 Constitution, which he said gives Fijians unprecedented protection.

Bainimarama said the rights of the Fijian people are now entrenched in a way that never occurred under any of the three previous constitutions that governed our country since we gained independence from Britain 45 years ago.