NGO Coalition Raises Concerns Over Fiji’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Process

The NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR) has raised serious concerns about the processes and outcomes unfolding under Fiji’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), warning that the current framework risks undermining justice for victims of past human rights abuses.

In a statement, NGOCHR said the TRC Act frames all parties involved in coup-related events as “survivors,” including individuals who carried out serious human rights violations.

“This approach collapses the distinction between victims who suffered egregious harm and perpetrators who orchestrated or executed violent acts, including intimidation, assault, torture, and even rape,” said NGOCHR Chair Shamima Ali.

Ms Ali said that while restorative justice has an important role, equating perpetrators with victims erases historical truth, dilutes responsibility, and denies victims the recognition and justice they deserve.

She said recent TRC hearings, including one featuring Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, highlighted weaknesses in the current process. According to NGOCHR, the strong focus on healing risks turning the hearings into symbolic exercises rather than genuine mechanisms for truth and accountability.

NGOCHR also pointed to constitutional immunities that continue to protect those responsible for coup-related abuses. Ms Ali said that even where individuals may confess to serious crimes such as rape, torture, assault, or violent intimidation during coup periods, they face no threat of prosecution.

“This structure leaves survivors without real justice and leaves perpetrators untouched,” she said, noting that some individuals implicated in past abuses continue to walk free and, in some cases, still hold high office.

Ms Ali said many victims, particularly women, young people, and rural community members, were subjected to rape, assault, humiliation, and forced detentions during the coups. She said ongoing impunity is retraumatising for survivors and sends a message that the state does not fully recognise the severity of their suffering.

NGOCHR has called on the State to use existing criminal justice mechanisms to investigate and prosecute serious crimes committed during the coup periods. The coalition said such crimes must not be shielded by the TRC process or by constitutional immunities.

Ms Ali said Fiji’s obligations under international human rights law require genuine accountability, not symbolic reconciliation.

NGOCHR is also calling for urgent action to amend or repeal legal provisions that provide blanket immunity to coup perpetrators, warning that the TRC, in its current form, risks becoming a tool of political convenience rather than a pathway to national healing.

“A true path toward reconciliation should not be ceremonial,” Ms Ali said. “It must be grounded in truth, accountability, and justice.”