“Justice delayed for a child survivor is justice denied.”
This is the message from Save the Children Fiji CEO Shairana Ali, following reports that a child survivor of an alleged attempted rape, who is now 13 years old, chose to walk away from the case because the system failed her.
She says the case is a national shame, adding that the child waited six years for justice and ultimately gave up because the system failed to act with urgency, compassion, and accountability.
Ali says we cannot continue to speak about child protection while institutions allow children to suffer in silence and trauma for years.
She further says the judiciary and responsible ministries must stop treating these cases as routine files and start treating them as emergencies involving the lives and futures of vulnerable children.
Ali adds that Fiji urgently needs fast-tracked child protection courts, stronger survivor support services, mandatory timelines for sexual offence cases involving children, and greater accountability across all institutions handling child abuse matters.
Save the Children Fiji says it is outraged and deeply disturbed by the reports, stating this is not justice but an institutional failure.
The organisation says child survivors should never be forced to carry trauma for six years while courts delay proceedings, files gather dust, and government systems move at a painfully slow pace.
They say every adjournment, postponement, and administrative delay sends a cruel message to child victims — that their pain is not urgent, their safety is not a priority, and their voices can wait.
Save the Children Fiji condemns the unacceptable backlog and systemic inaction within the judiciary and relevant government agencies responsible for child protection and access to justice.
They say the failure to resolve a serious sexual offence case involving a child for six years is disgraceful and indefensible.
The organisation is demanding immediate action from the Judiciary, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Fiji Police Force, and the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection to address the catastrophic delays affecting child abuse and sexual violence cases.
They say child survivors are being retraumatised by the very systems meant to protect them, and the State has a duty to protect children, not exhaust them into silence.
The organisation is calling on Government to immediately commission an urgent review of all pending child sexual offence cases currently before the courts and publicly outline measures to prevent further failures of justice.
They say no child in Fiji should ever be forced to abandon their pursuit of justice because the system moved too slowly to protect them.
The Office of the DPP confirms 16 sexual offence cases were withdrawn due to various reasons in 2025, a total of 59 cases were withdrawn in 2024 and 47 cases in 2023.
We have sent questions to Chief Justice Salesi Temo on what is being done regarding the backlog of cases.
