The Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission has strongly condemned any act of violence inflicted by the law enforcement agencies on people during arrest or while in custody and has also welcomed the Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration’s commitment to have allegations of police brutality cases investigated and those held accountable, to face the criminal justice system.
Commission Chair, Pravesh Sharma says one of the reasons detained persons are brutalized or tortured by law enforcement agents is to obtain confessions or information from them.
He says that confession or information obtained by torture should be inadmissible in court.
Sharma says the Commission has received complaints in relation to allegations of police brutality and police misconduct from the public.
He says in a recent case, the Commission received a complaint of alleged harassment by police of a disabled woman, who was taken into custody and left unattended at a police station.
The Chair says the woman was in her diapers and was unassisted in using toilet facilities and after the Commission intervened, the woman was allowed to go home.
He says victims of brutality are entitled to lodge a complaint with the Commission.
Sharma says Section 11(1) of the Fijian Constitution states that every person has the right to freedom from torture of any kind, whether physical, mental or emotional, and from cruel, inhumane, degrading or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment.
He says Fiji has also ratified the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 2016.
The Commission will be facilitating a Torture Prevention Workshop next month in Suva in collaboration with the Association for the Prevention of Torture and the Asia Pacific Forum on National Human Rights Institutions to create, amongst law enforcement agencies, awareness on torture prevention.
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