Fiji censors speakers at Pacific Youth Festival
June 30, 2009
The fight to return free speech to Fiji has suffered another setback after the government banned several critics from addressing an international youth congress in the troubled nation.
The military regime has blocked speakers at the Pacific Youth Festival on the eve of a speech by self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama on the future on the country.
Bainimarama’s announcement is expected to shed light on his plans for a new constitution to replace the charter abrogated amid political upheaval in April.Organiser of the youth festival, Jacque Koroi, said Fiji’s Ministry of Information vetted all speeches and selected “several people who will be unable to make their presentations”.
Koroi would not say who they were but it is understood most are involved in organisations that support a return to democratic rule in Fiji.Also banned is Fiji Times associate editor Sophie Foster, who last month openly criticised the government’s heavy public and media censorship.She publicly attacked the regime’s “systematic attempt to erase any trace of disaffection” by installing censors in newsrooms.
The festival, backed by UNESCO, is not the first to be scrutinised by the government.Several speakers were also banned from addressing a recent Society of Accountants meeting and another annual religious conference was cancelled altogether.The crackdown stems from Easter when the regime, which took over in a December 2006 coup, imposed a new order in a fresh grab for power.
Over three days, the constitution was abrogated, judges sacked and elections Bainimarama had promised to hold this year were pushed back to 2014.Rules ensuring all news was vetted to exclude publicity of “negative” issues have been extended indefinitely.
Bainimarama says the conditions are necessary to “minimise opposition” while his government formulates plans for future elections.
His speech tomorrow, entitled “Fiji’s strategic framework for change”, is expected to outline the new constitution and the government’s way forward.
Sydney Herald
