STATEMENT BY THE FIJI WOMEN’S CRISIS CENTRE CALLING FOR SPEAKER RATU NAIQAMA TO RESIGN

6 Oct, 2024

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The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre supports the statement by the NGO Coalition on Human Rights condemning the unwarranted and racially charged comments made by the Speaker of Parliament Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu towards parliamentarian, Aliki Bia.

We are strongly calling for Ratu Naiqama to resign as Speaker of Parliament. Ratu Naiqama’s way of leadership does not belong in an evolving democracy like Fiji.

Fiji is still grappling – in ways large and small – with the legacy of slavery and racism and Ratu Naiqama has no right to minimise people’s experiences.

At a time when the country is moving towards a Truth and Reconciliation process, Ratu Naiqama chose to be evil once again. He must resign because if our leaders want to help combat racism and inequity in the communities they serve, they need to lead by example.

FWCC also notes that this is not the first time, Ratu Naiqama has chosen the path of abusive politics. In 2015, he was suspended for two years from parliament for derogatory and misogynistic comments made towards the late Speaker of Parliament Doctor Jiko Luveni.

Ratu Naiqama and all our leaders must do better.

Fijians must all do better.

Change will require each of us – in our workplaces, our community spaces, our politics, our places of worship, and in our daily interactions – to understand each other’s realities, as well as our own unspoken attitudes.

So many other Fijians in this country are targeted and have a system of bias against them because of their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity. Leaders must take the lead role in calling this out every day especially those who have access to social media.

Social media platforms amplify and spread hate speech at lightning speed, which is often aimed at vulnerable groups, reinforcing discrimination, stigma, marginalization and often violence. Women and people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity are frequent targets. Our leaders and the authorities must be vigilant and active to deal with this because hate speech leads to hate crimes.

We shouldn’t only be speaking out when tragedies occur but speaking out against hate speech and other toxic outpourings and actions must be continuous.

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