Qarase’s bills would have divided country-3 NGO’s
The report endorsed by the Citizens Constitutional Forum, Women's Action for Change and ECREA states that the Qarase government was embarking on new land bills that would have had a devastating effect on Indo Fijians and other ethnic minority groups in Fiji, such as the descendents of Solomon Islanders, Rabi, Kioa, Chinese, Europeans, Part-Europeans and others.
CCF Chief Executive, Reverand Akuila Yabaki said the Qoliqoli and Indigenous Land Claims Tribunal bills would have placed greater restrictions on non-indigenous people over the ownership and use of the lands and the sea in Fiji.
The three NGOs say in the report to Geneva that the Qoliqoli Bill was one of the stated reasons given by the military for their overthrow of the Qarase government.
They go on to say that in 2005, the Qarase led government started the process of passing the Reconciliation Bill, which would have had the power to grant amnesty to the perpetrators of the 2000 coup. The three NGOs say the bill's sole purpose appeared to be to compensate and free coup perpetrators, with negligible attention given to the sufferings and losses of the main victims of the coup, majority of whom are Indo Fijians.
The report submitted by the three NGO's in Fiji to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also highlights the race-based voting and lack of national identity as major problems of racial discrimination in Fiji.
In the report Reverand Yabaki is calling for unity amongst all the races.
Meanwhile, he said the most disturbing feature of racism in Fiji is the communal voting system inherited from the Colonial Government.
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