Fiji had inherited laws and systems that were at odds with human dignity - Bainimarama

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says Fiji had previously inherited laws and systems that were at odds with the human dignity of thousands of our rightful citizens, including an electoral system that determined the weight of votes based on ethnicity.

While addressing the United Nations 40th Session of Human Rights Council in Geneva this morning, Bainimarama says Fiji’s economy was rigged in favour of a societal elite, while the socio-economic rights of the people remained an afterthought.

He says the basic building blocks necessary to foster a culture that promoted human rights were weak and crumbling under the strain of socio‑political and economic upheaval, which, amongst other things, manifested in communal divisions.

Bainimarama told the high level delegation that there was no building a new and better Fiji on such a foundation adding Fiji needed a dramatic re‑thinking of who we were as a country, and a bold new vision for what Fiji could become.

He says that dream, that ambition and that commitment gave birth to the 2013 Fijian Constitution, which established a common national identity among the people and enshrined a vast array of rights guaranteed to all Fijians, for all time.

Bainimarama says the Constitution guarantees equal citizenry and it has removed the communal based electoral system.