Fiji has zero tolerance on human trafficking especially when it deals with children.
That is what the participants at the Save the Children Workshop on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children were informed by the office of the Director of Public Prosecution.
DPP officer, Seini Puamau revealed that since February this year, Government through the New Crimes Decree has ensured that stricter penalties are in place for any person found to be facilitating the trafficking of anyone with penalties ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.
Puamau said since Fiji is a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Protection of Children, these laws have been implemented in such as a way that it even if a person assaults or annoys a female or a child, hefty penalties are in place.
Puamau also reveals that from 2005 to 2009 a total of 239 cases of abduction were handled by DPP with 17 cases for this year alone. She stressed that apart from what the DPP is handling, Police have to deal with thousands of allegations of abduction.
So far, cases of people smuggling and making false travel documents have been successfully handled by the DPP.
She added that another new feature of the Crimes Decree is that trafficking, assault and even the intent to assault and rape is now indictable which means that it automatically gets transferred to the High Court so that the accused faces stricter penalties.
Story by: Paradise Tabucala
