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Minister of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Lynda Tabuya has called for the death penalty for drug traffickers with large quantities of drugs.
Speaking to the media, Tabua said Fiji continued to serve as a transit point to other markets and there was an urgent need to implement stronger laws to protect our borders and our people.
She expressed deep concern about the prevalence of drugs on the streets, with both adults and children taking them.
Mr Tabua said Fiji needed to have deterrence and consider the death penalty to protect people who did not understand the dangers of drugs and used them as a means to make quick money, but the harm to us was far greater than the financial benefits that could come from drug trafficking.
She said tougher measures were needed to stop drug dealers and narcotics lords from carrying out illegal activities in the country.
The Minister also noted that the implementation of harsher penalties including the death penalty could reduce the drug trade and its harmful effects on Fiji.
Background on the death penalty
In 2015, the Fiji First Government approved 98 of the 138 recommendations to ratify the UN Convention against Torture, at which time, 12 of them had been implemented – however, Fiji abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 1979 and for all crimes in 2015, with the last execution taking place in 1964.
Fiji reaffirms its commitment to the promotion and protection of the fundamental principles and values of universal human rights.
In 2013, the Fijian Constitution came into force, establishing fundamental principles and, for the first time, a comprehensive bill of rights.
The then Attorney General and Minister of Justice Aiyaz Sayyid Khayyum Khayyum said the Fijian Parliament had approved a bill to remove all references to the death penalty in military laws, thereby abolishing the death penalty from all national legislation.
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