FIJI: Children's Rights in the UN Special Procedures' Reports

Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.

The following visits were requested:

  • Special Rapporteur on torture (requested in 2006, 2007)
  • SR on the independence of judges and lawyers (requested on 18 June 2007, Reminder on 20 September 2007, 26 June 2008 and 4 May 2009 )
  • Special Rapporteur on freedom of association and assembly (requested on 6 September 2011)
  • WG on arbitrary detention (requested and reminder sent).

Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination

A/HRC/7/7/Add.3

Report published: 8 January 2008

Country visit: 14 to 18 May 2007

International legal background: Fiji is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and has signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (para 7).

 

Sexual violence: The Working Group was informed of the limited reintegration measures available to Fijians who had performed security work abroad upon the return to their communities in Fiji. Such measures are necessary to prevent domestic violence and the spread of sexually transmittable diseases.23 There appears to be no decent debriefing or process to deal with returnees, in particular sexual and other violence against women and children by those returning to Fiji. Among the repercussions when people return from security work abroad, there is violence against women in homes. NGO representatives informed the Working Group that no counselling is available and that there are no debriefings with trained psychologists (para 41).

Countries

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