Human rights abuses shatter south Pacific image

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The palm-fringed island nations of the South Pacific may have an idyllic peaceful image, but a U.S. human rights report cited unlawful killings by police and armed forces, tribal violence, corruption and media intimidation.

The U.S. State Department annual human rights report said security forces and police in Fiji, ruled by its military chief after a bloodless 2006 coup, arbitrarily detained and sometimes abused individuals, resulting in three deaths in 2007.

"There were numerous instances in which elements of the (Fiji) security forces acted independently," said the report, noting this took place despite interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who is head of the military, retaining control of the security forces.

"The government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, however, security forces were implicated in three unlawful killings," the report, released on Tuesday, said.

The military took one man from his home for "unspecified reasons" and "delivered his beaten body to a hospital" that evening. The military said his injuries were sustained before his detention, but villagers disagreed and a soldier was charged.

Army and police charged over the murders will face trial in 2008, after the government tried to send those charged in two of the murders out of the country on U.N. peacekeeping duties, the report said.

It said Bainimarama imposed a state of emergency for six months, preventing a return to democracy in Fiji, which has been hit by four coups and an army mutiny since 1987.

"During the year the interim government denied citizens the right to change their government peacefully," it said.

"A state of emergency...significantly restricted constitutional provisions for freedom of expression, movement, and assembly and subjected the right to privacy to the military's interpretation without recourse to the courts."

In one incident, a businessman suffered skull fractures after being beaten by the military during investigations into an alleged plot to assassinate the prime minister.

The report also cited attacks against religious facilities, in Fiji, particularly Hindu temples, violence against women, sexual exploitation of women and government corruption.

"Rape, domestic abuse, incest, and indecent assault were significant problems," it said.

Indigenous Fijians represent 57 percent of the 900,000 population, while Indo-Fijians 38 percent. Racial tensions have divided Fiji for decades, as Indo-Fijians gain affluence and dominate the business sector of the island chain.

BURIED ALIVE

In Papua New Guinea, a mineral rich, jungle-clad mountainous island nation, security forces and police also acted independently and were involved in unlawful killings.