FIJI: Human Rights Commission chairwoman speaks
Updated
A report for the Fiji Human Rights Commission report recommends the establishment of a Media Tribunal and Media Development Authority. It strongly recommends that the government not renew all existing permits in the media industry. It further recommends a seven percent tax on all revenues generated from licence and monthly fees to pay for the media watchdogs.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speakers: Chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission and Ombudsman, Dr Shaista Shameem
SHAMEEM: I've actually passed the entire report to government. It's been in my office for some time because we were verifying a couple of other things that needed some further enquiry, so we were working with Dr Anthony with respect to that. But certainly those are the recommendations that he made and they were based on recommendations made to him in the public submissions that he conducted, or the public hearing that he conducted and the submissions that were made to him from members of the public. And also actually from media personnel as well as something that was recommended to him and it must have been recommended strongly enough because that came up in the recommendations to me and I've just passed them on to the government.
COUTTS: Having read the report myself, it's not exactly clear why he arrived at that decision that foreign journalists I supposed in particular were targeted. I mean there were a couple of examples that he gave where some local journalists who weren't identified said that they didn't like journalists parachuting in, I think was the expression, but outside that I wasn't really clear on why this was such a strong recommendation?
SHAMEEM: Yes well I think you have to ask him that Geraldine because I actually haven't seen any of the evidence of course because it was a confidential enquiry and he's done his own research outside of our office. All I did was receive the report, but you need to ask him whether you know just how many people actually made that particular recommendation, where they came from, because they're not identified as you say, and I think he'd be really the best person to answer it.
COUTTS: And it's coincidental then that Russell Hunter has exited the country around the release time of the report?
SHAMEEM: Well yes it's a strange coincidence that one because I was actually finalising the report at the time when he was removed, so I added that as a postscript. Obviously we couldn't analyse that very much because we had a deadline for the report, so I've added that as a postscript to my preface in the report.
COUTTS: Now the Fiji Human Rights Commission from your perspective, what could be gained from not having foreign journalists getting further permits and working in the country?
SHAMEEM: Well look it's not a matter of what we think about what would be the advantages or disadvantages. I think that Dr Anthony has actually specifically gone into the history of media ownership in Fiji and I think there are issues not just for Fiji, I believe they're issues also for the wider Pacific. And I also think that if you look at the laws about who's allowed to work in Australia and New Zealand and what capacity, I mean even in our own region, I'm reminded of the fact of Rupert Murdoch who actually owns the Fiji Times here was unable to buy a large portion of the American media market unless he became an American citizen. So these are issues that are not specifically for Fiji, I think these are issues generally for the region, and possibly also much wider than that. I mean I think the people forget sometimes that the media is part of a business, you know their companies and it's a big industry, probably the biggest in the world. And I actually mentioned that in my preface that it's about the whole globalisation of communications as well. So those are the issues I think we need to kind of look beyond the issue of freedom of the media, but see the freedom of the media and independence of the media as part of a general globalisation of communications and networks and entertainment, infotainment as well. So it's a much more sort of sociological analysis of what's actually going on.
COUTTS: So the distinction is being made between owners and proprietors of media outlets rather than journalists specifically?
SHAMEEM: In terms of?
COUTTS: The work permits not being renewed?
SHAMEEM: I can't recall exactly the words he used but I think he says that work permits in the media industry should not be renewed; I think it must have been, I can't remember what he said.
COUTTS: Yes that's right, it says in the media industry.
SHAMEEM: Yes so I think he means like much more broadly in terms of ownership, it's about sovereignty and it's about nationality. So these are issues that obviously are important to the people who raised them with Dr Anthony and he's therefore made those recommendations which we've then passed onto government. Now as I said they're our recommendations only, the government hasn't have to do anything about it if it doesn't want to. And we're not in any position to impose anything from the Human Rights Commission's perspective.
COUTTS: Dr Shameem so essentially from the Fiji Human Rights Commission's perspective you don't see it as an attack on media freedom or independence?
SHAMEEM: No the very opposite Geraldine, in fact I think that what is happening now is that people are becoming a little bit more conscious about broader issues that underpin media freedom and independence. And I think it's also about, the reason why it's focused on things like ownership issues, which the media in Fiji were not very happy about initially when the questions were put to them, is because I don't think that one can separate issues like control and ownership from the actual human rights protection that is required in freedom and independence of the media.
