The Constitution Review Commission has identified the Bill of Rights as the toughest and most contentious part of its work, warning that several public submissions seeking changes risk clashing with the 2013 Constitution’s entrenched protections. Chairperson Sevuloni Valenitabua told this newspaper the “strength and scope” of the rights already enshrined — “spelled out in black and white” — means any proposed reforms must be handled with exceptional care.
Valenitabua said the commission has received suggestions that could effectively scale back some constitutional protections, and that those proposals were likely to provoke heated debate. He singled out core guarantees such as the right to life and freedoms of religion and belief, noting that altering such provisions would not be straightforward. Tensions, he said, are most acute where submissions appear to collide with the Constitution’s guarantee of equality before the law — including calls that frame “Fijians should be paramount,” which would sit uneasily alongside an equality clause.
Among the most sensitive proposals, Valenitabua said, are moves to redefine Fiji as a Christian State. He warned that such a fundamental shift would not be isolated to a single clause but would require a cascade of changes across other constitutional provisions that currently reflect a secular framework. “If we are to put these in, or we are to change them, then we’ve got to change all other aspects, or some other aspects of the Constitution which tie in with them,” he said, stressing the commission’s duty to preserve the Constitution’s continuity and balance.
The review is also being shaped by a surge of submissions from government ministries and statutory agencies, CRC member Dr John Fatiaki said. Many of those submissions, he explained, aim to resolve perceived inconsistencies between ordinary legislation and the Constitution by proposing constitutional amendments — and in some cases by asking that elements of existing Acts be incorporated into the Constitution itself.
Dr Fatiaki cautioned the commission against becoming a repository for detailed statutory provisions better handled in ordinary legislation. “Because the supreme law is the supreme law, it’s not the sort of thing that you want every aspect of an Act inserted into it,” he said, adding that keeping the Constitution “as short and narrow as possible” helps preserve its authority and flexibility. He warned that frequent amendments would erode the document’s intent: “The Constitution is not the sort of thing that should be amended on a monthly or annual basis.”
Both Valenitabua and Dr Fatiaki said the CRC has taken note of these submissions and will weigh them in its final report. The remarks come as part of the commission’s wider task of reviewing the 2013 Constitution and balancing calls for reform against the desire for legal certainty and continuity. How the commission responds to proposals that touch on equality, secularism and the basic structure of the Constitution will shape the next phase of public and political debate on constitutional reform.
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