NGO COALITION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN FIJI

15 Apr, 2024

Towards a Fiji that respects and protects human rights

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The NGO Coalition on Human Rights including LGBTQI+ community in Fiji are devastated by the news of the murder of Esther, a 19-year-old transgender woman from Ba and Lautoka. She was apparently tortured and murdered two weeks ago by a group of men and women after being taken from outside her home, as witnessed by a close associate of the 19-year-old. She died from severe internal injuries.

A statement has apparently been filed at the Lautoka Police Station but there is no public update yet on progress of investigations. We demand that the full force of the State from Home Affairs, Fiji Police Force and Ministry for Health and Medical Services are brought to bear on this horrific case. 

We demand that the human rights of this young person are clearly defined in all dealings with this case. We ask that her death becomes a vanguard moment where the people and the Government of Fiji show that we will not stand for this type of transphobic hate crime, and we call for strongest consequences for those who committed this heinous crime.

“A group of people have taken the life of a 19-year-old, subjecting them to extreme sexualised torture, violence and indignity. It is way past time we ask ourselves, just what kind of society are we, with so much violence and patriarchy in our country? Such crimes are not just heinous in and of themselves. They shame all of us in Fiji,” says Noelene Nabulivou, Executive Director of DIVA for Equality, and member of the Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights (NGOCHR).

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Members of the Fiji NGOCHR include Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (Chair), Social Empowerment and Education Program- SEEP, femLINKpacific, Citizens’ Constitutional Forum – CCF, DIVA for Equality FIJI, and Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, FWRM. Pacific Network on Globalisation and Haus of Khameleon are observers.