Capital : Suva

Land Area : 18,270 sq km

Head of Government : Prime Minister Hon. Laisenia Qarase (since 10 September 2000)

Population : 893,354 (July 2005 est.)

Major Languages : English (official), Fijian, Hindustani

Major Religion(s) : Christian 52% (Methodist 37%, Roman Catholic 9%), Hindu 38%, Muslim 8%, other 2%

Date of Joining : Rejoined in 1997 after leaving in 1987

Map

CHRI Submission to CMAG :
April 2004
December 2003
September 2003
September 2001
June 2000

Fact Finding Mission

Articles in CHRI Newsletter:

• Vinaka Commonwealth 7WAMM, Carol Nelson, Amnesty International, New Zealand, CHRI Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 3, Autumn 2004.

E-Magazine:

• Fijian security agencies launch Handbook on 'National Security and Human Rights', Commonwealth Police Watch E-Magazine, Vol. 1, December 2004.
• Jailed For Marital Rape, Commonwealth Police Watch E-Magazine, Vol. 1, December 2004.

Articles from RTI updates:

• E-Governance in the Pacific Islands: Entrenching Good Governance & Sustainable Development by Promoting ICT Strategies Based On The Right to Information, Paper presented by CHRI at Annual Conference of International Institute for Development Studies, 2 December 2005.
• Business Day (Johannesburg), NEWS, By Wyndham Hartley , Parliamentary Editor, Cape Town, 23 September 2004.

Bills/Laws/Acts from RTI updates:

• Freedom of Information Bill 2004, launched at a workshop hosted by the Citizens Constitutional Forum and the University of South Pacific Journalism School, 20 September 2004.
• A Freedom of Information Law for Fiji, Discussion Paper and Draft Bill, launched at a workshop hosted by the Citizens Constitutional Forum and the University of South Pacific Journalism School, March 2004.

Reports from RTI updates:

• The Open Democracy Advice Centre has just released the findings of a survey undertaken in early 2004 to test the implementation of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. Unfortunately, ODAC's report presents survey results which are disappointing. For example, despite the fact that requestors have an unqualified right to access government records, more than half of all requests made to goverment (52%) were ignored - that is there was no response at all. Even more disturbingly, all requests made by the media were ignored. Click here for more.(23/09/04)