The Minister for Women, Children, and Poverty Alleviation, Lynda Tabuya, is advocating for the death penalty for drug traffickers caught with significant amounts of narcotics.
In a recent media statement, Tabuya highlighted that Fiji has become a transit hub for drug trafficking, emphasizing the urgent need for stricter laws to safeguard the nation’s borders and its citizens. She expressed grave concerns about the accessibility of drugs in public spaces, noting that both adults and children are engaging in drug use.
Tabuya argued that the introduction of the death penalty could serve as a necessary deterrent against drug trafficking, aiming to protect those unaware of the drugs’ harmful effects. She pointed out that many individuals are resorting to drug-related activities for quick financial gain, which ultimately inflicts greater harm than any economic benefit derived from the drug trade.
She asserted that more severe measures are vital to dissuade drug traffickers and criminal masterminds from operating within Fiji. According to the Minister, implementing harsher penalties, including the death penalty, could significantly diminish the drug trade and its damaging consequences in the country.
Looking back at the context of the death penalty in Fiji, it was abolished for ordinary crimes in 1979 and for all crimes in 2015, with the last execution taking place in 1964. The FijiFirst Government, in 2015, adopted 98 out of 138 recommendations to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture, and during this period, some of these proposals had already been put into practice. The nation’s Constitution, which took effect in 2013, established fundamental principles and a comprehensive Bill of Rights.
Previously, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who served as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, stated that Parliament had approved a bill to eliminate all references to the death penalty within military laws, thereby removing it from all national legislation.