Phil Goff
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson

6 March 2013

Labour moves to condemn Fiji torture

A video that shows the brutal beating and torture of prisoners in Fiji has prompted Labour to pursue cross party support to officially condemn the action.

Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson Phil Goff will move a notice of motion in Parliament next week to condemn the violence, apparently by security forces.

“I have approached other political parties asking for their support so that our Parliament sends a unanimous message to the interim government of Fiji that it must hold the perpetrators to account. This kind of cruel brutality is deeply disturbing and completely unacceptable.

“We are told by Amnesty International that they are aware of similar incidents in Fiji in the past.

“It must send a message to the international community that it does not tolerate this kind of abuse from its security officers. It must also uphold the requirements of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

“New Zealand cannot remain silent when confronted with evidence of human rights abuses, particularly in countries which are our friends and neighbours.

“It is important that the New Zealand Parliament comes together on this issue and sends a firm and unambiguous message to Fiji’s interim government. It’s not enough just to ‘investigate’. It must take action,” said Phil Goff.

ENDS

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Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
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