Transcript
Fiji's parliamentary opposition has urged the UN Human Rights Commission to conduct an audit of the rights situation in the country before considering Fiji's bid for a seat on the council.
The opposition leader Ro Teimumu Kepa says that since abrogating the constitution in 2009, Fiji's government has established rule through draconian decrees that take control of people's lives, making a mockery of human rights there.
On the other side of the world, in Geneva, representatives of Fiji's government mounted a defence of its human rights record.
Penina Tuivanuayalewa from Fiji's Permanent Mission to the UN told a working group meeting on arbitrary detention and involuntary disappearances that the rights of those detained by authorities are safeguarded.
"With the assistance of Fiji's Legal Aid Commission we taken the first step in rolling out the first-hour procedure which guarantees every detained person access to competent, independent legal advice on the nature of detention, the reasons for detention, their rights while detained, and the avenues available should these rights be violated. 21 seconds."
Ms Tuivanuayalewa said this was an important step in guaranteeing that detainees were not tortured or other degrading treatment.
In the past year, several allegations of torture have been mounted against the authorities in Fiji.
Meanwhile, the treatment of West Papuans by Indonesian police and security forces remains of deep concern to Vanuatu's government.
Speaking to the meeting, Noah Kouback from Vanuatu's Permanent Mission to the UN raised concern about the enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention of West Papuans, in particular those speaking out about their claim to self-determination.
"Vanuatu condemns Indonesians' continued practice of arbitrary arrest and detention of indigenous Papuans exercising their internationally protected rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Vanuatu notes with concern raised the working group on indigenous populations failure to respond to its request for a visit, so we call on Indonesia to allow the UN special mechanism to ... and to report on the systemic ongoing problem."
Indonesia denies that police routinely abuse human rights, and has recently invited the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to send a team to visit Papua region.
Meanwhile, the new UN human rights chief is the former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
During her speech at the session she expressed concern about Australia's policy of offshore processing of asylum seekers,
Ms Bachelet said the processing centres on Nauru and Manus - and the separation and detaining of families - were an affront to protection of human rights.
"Such policies offer no long term solutions to anyone; only more hostility, misery, suffering and chaos. It is in the interests of every state to adopt migration policies that are grounded in reality, not in panic, which provide opportunities for safe regular movement, instead of forcing people to take lethal risk."
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Australia to adopt a new Global Compact which provides for regional and international cooperation to establish prompt, humane reception of all people arriving at international borders.
However Australia has suggested it may withdraw from the compact, following the United States which not only refused to sign, but withdrew from the Council itself in June.
