KEY POINTS:
AUCKLAND - Fiji's military takeover last year was not a coup, and Australian history proves it, claims a Fiji human rights group.
Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC) Dr Shaista Shameem claims in a report to the United Nations that the military takeover on December 5 last year was not a coup because the "essence of state power" was not removed.
The document was prepared for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as part of a report into alleged abuses of international law during the events of December last year.
Dr Shameem, in the past accused of being a strong supporter of military leader and self-appointed prime minister Frank Bainimarama, says in the report that the president of Fiji is the country's head of state, and since he remained in power during the takeover, the coup did not occur.
The FHRC is a statutory body in Fiji that is supposed to independently protect and promote human rights in the country.
The report says there has only been one coup in Fiji during the past 20 years - in September 1987.
As evidence of her assertion, Dr Shameem points to the removal of Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam by Governor-General John Kerr in 1975, which was not considered a coup.
"In fact, over the years, various governors and governors-general of Australia have removed (elected) ministers and dissolved parliament rather more frequently than is commonly known.
"If a 'coup' is merely a dismissal of a government by a head of state, we could then, with some confidence, assert the proposition that Australia has experienced at least eight 'coups' since 1907 - a surprising record," the report says.
In what most commentators and political leaders have described as a military coup, Commander Frank Bainimarama forced out the elected government of Laisenia Qarase last year.
The move sparked trade sanctions from Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
"Legally and constitutionally, the events of December 5th 2006 cannot be defined as a coup," the report says.
A United States Department of State report in March said the human rights situation in Fiji "deteriorated greatly" following the events of last year.
"The military government arbitrarily detained, and sometimes abused, coup opponents; conducted searches without warrants; engaged in intimidation of the media; and restricted the right to assemble peacefully," the US said.
Dr Shameem's report also says the human rights of ousted prime minister Laisenia Qarase were not violated on December 5.
Mr Qarase told AAP he was unable to comment on the report because a court case underway in Fiji's High Court dealt with matters included in the document.
- AAP
