The Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission is urging relevant stakeholders to take collective action to address cyberbullying, harassment, and hate speech on social media platforms.
This plea follows reports that a member of the LGBTI community, who was also a social media influencer, allegedly took their own life on Tuesday night after being subjected to bullying and incessant harassment on a public chat forum on Facebook.
It is reported that the deceased faced humiliation, threats, and abuse on this popular public chat forum, with some of the abusive comments coming from anonymous account holders.
Commission Chair Pravesh Sharma stated that cyberbullying infringes upon several human rights, including the right to life, the right to privacy, and the right to live with dignity.
Sharma expressed concern that administrators of public chat forums on social media are not adequately moderating and controlling hate comments on their pages.
“The responsibility lies with the administrators of these public chat-forum Facebook pages and those commenting, and they must face the full force of the law,” Sharma said.
He emphasized that freedom of speech comes with “responsibility” and has limitations. According to Section 17 (3)(b)(i) of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji, a law may limit, or authorize the limitation of free speech to protect the reputation, privacy, dignity, rights, or freedoms of other persons, including the right to be free from hate speech, whether directed against individuals or groups. Social media users must respect this.
Additionally, Section 26 (3)(a) of the Constitution states that a person must not be unfairly discriminated against, directly or indirectly, based on their actual or supposed personal characteristics or circumstances, including gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression.
Sharma added that the Commission has filed a complaint with both the Fiji Police Force and the Online Safety Commission to investigate this reported death and hold those responsible accountable. There is a need to create a safer online environment in Fiji.