Press statement on Rabuka’s shameful comments towards Kanaky Independence Movement

25 Oct, 2024

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The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre is calling for Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to be removed from the Pacific Islands Forum fact-finding mission to Kanaky (New Caledonia).

His comments reported today by Radio New Zealand — clearly show his bias and inability to truly represent the voices of an Indigenous population struggling with oppression from the French Government.

The Prime Minister said, “I’m hoping that they will be very, very reasonable about what they’re asking for.”

He further said “when the Kanaky movement started during my time as Prime Minister. I told them, ‘Look, don’t slap the hand that has fed you’.

Why must the Kanaks who do not have the same rights and freedoms as anyone else be reasonable to the French Government that has been oppressing them for 171 years?

“The Kanak people are the experts in their own lives and struggle, and they must be listened to on their own terms at this critical moment,” said Human Rights Activist Shamima Ali. “How can Rabuka as a leader in the Pacific be so ignorant of the suffering of Pacific people in Kanaky and West Papua?”

It is unbelievable that the Prime Minister claims to be “a serious student of colonisation and decolonisation” while leading a Government that has been blatantly complicit in the genocide of innocent Palestinians.

No amount of public statements and explanations will save this Coalition Government from the mess it has created on the international stage, especially at the United Nations. We are ashamed of having a government that supports an occupation, votes against a ceasefire and does not want decolonisation in the world. Trust between the Fijian people and their government is being eroded, especially on matters of global significance that reflect on the entire nation.

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