Human Rights Comm files complaints as LGBTIQ+ community member allegedly driven to suicide following cyberbullying

Following allegations that a member of the LGBTIQ+ community was driven to take their own life after getting cyberbullied, the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission has filed a complaint with both the Fiji Police Force and the Online Safety Commission to investigate this reported death and hold the perpetrators accountable.

It is alleged that the deceased was humiliated, threatened and abused on a popular public chat forum by those commenting, some of who were anonymous account holders.

Commission Chair Pravesh Sharma says they are calling for collective action from relevant stakeholders to address cyberbullying, harassment and hate speech on social media platforms.

He says cyberbullying violates a number of human rights, including the right to life, the right to privacy and the right to live with dignity.

Sharma says they are concerned that those managing public chat forums on social media are failing to moderate and control hate comments on their pages.

He says the culpability lies with the administrators of the public chat forum facebook pages and those commenting, and they must face the full brunt of the law.

The Chair says freedom of speech carries “responsibility” and has limitations.

Section 17 (3)(b) (i) of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji states that a law may limit or may authorize the limitation of free speech to protect the reputation, privacy, dignity, rights or freedoms of other persons, including— the right to be free from hate speech, whether directed against individuals or groups.

Sharma says social media users must respect this.

Section 26 (3) (a) of the Constitution further states that a person must not be unfairly discriminated against, directly or indirectly on the grounds of his or her actual or supposed personal characteristics or circumstances, including gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

He adds Fiji needs to create a safer online environment.

Questions have been sent to the Police and the Online Safety Commission.