The new document has been praised, by those who say it provides a blueprint for a democratic future.

It's also been condemned by critics as being nothing more than a tool by which the current rulers can ensure their power is confirmed and extended.

The Citizens' Constitutional Forum Limited (CCF) is a non-governmental organisation based in Suva with more than 10 years' experience in community education and advocacy on Fiji's Constitution, democracy, human rights and multiculturalism.

Source

• Radio Australia
• CCF
• Image: CCF

Ces consultations se sont faites, au cours des deux derniers mois, soit à l'occasion de réunions publiques tenues par les membres de cette Commission présidée par l'universitaire Kenyan Yash Ghai, soit sous forme de soumissions écrites et quelquefois transmises par courriel.

Au total, plus de trois mille soumissions, orales ou écrites, auraient été recueillies.

Click here for English translation

S'exprimant mardi à l'occasion de la clôture de ce processus, le Professeur Ghai a livré quelques impressions concernant les grands thèmes abordés par les soumissionnaires, qu'ils soient individuels ou collectifs.

Parmi ces thèmes : la question de savoir si les auteurs du putsch du 5 décembre 2006, en l'occurrence l'armée fidjienne sous le commandement du Contre-amiral Franck Bainimarama (qui dirige depuis le gouvernement issu de ce coup d'État) doivent ou non bénéficier d'une immunité. Bon nombre de soumissions, selon lui, demandent que des dispositions soient prises dans les textes à venir, afin de faire en sorte que Fidji ne connaisse plus de coups d'État (quatre ont eu lieu depuis le premier, en 1987).
Sur ce point, M. Ghai estime que le prochain texte, que lui et ses quatre collaborateurs seront chargés de rédiger, devra certainement comporter une clause relative à l'immunité pour les auteurs du putsch.

Source

• NewsPad
• Image: The Telegraph

"I wish I had done this in 2001," he said.

Fiji, a former British colony made up of about 330 islands in the central Pacific Ocean, has been without an elected government since Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, also known as Frank Bainimarama, took power in a 2006 coup. It was the country's fourth putsch since independence in 1970, and he insisted that military rule was the only way to ensure an end to the spasms of political and ethnic violence that have so often destabilized the country. Mr. Bainimarama, who now eschews uniforms for civilian dress, carries the title prime minister and describes his tenure as a cooling-off period before an eventual return to democracy.

Mr. Bainimarama seemed to be keeping his word when, in January, he lifted the state of emergency that had been in place since he abrogated the Constitution in 2009. He then went further in March by announcing public consultations on the drafting of a new Constitution and a return to free elections by 2014, moves that were praised by Australia, the United States and other countries.

But before the ink was dry on the order lifting emergency rule, Mr. Bainimarama had issued sweeping new public order regulations, which many say contain provisions harsher than the laws they replaced. Censors may no longer stalk newsrooms to vet stories before they are published, but editors still risk heavy fines and prison terms if what they publish is deemed objectionable. Political parties and labor unions can hold meetings, but they must first secure permission from the police. Read more

Sources

• The New York Times
• Image: The Sydney Morning Herald