Fiji 2016 Country Review http://www.countrywatch.com Table of Contents Chapter 1 1 Country Overview 1 Country Overview 2 Key Data 4 Fiji 5 Pacific Islands 6 Chapter 2 8 Political Overview 8 History 9 Political Conditions 10 Political Risk Index 42 Political Stability 57 Freedom Rankings 72 Human Rights 84 Government Functions 87 Government Structure 92 Principal Government Officials 100 Leader Biography 101 Leader Biography 101 Foreign Relations 104 National Security 109 Defense Forces 111 Chapter 3 114 Economic Overview 114 Economic Overview 115 Nominal GDP and Components 117 Population and GDP Per Capita 118 Real GDP and Inflation 119 Government Spending and Taxation 120 Money Supply, Interest Rates and Unemployment 121 Foreign Trade and the Exchange Rate 122 Data in US Dollars 123 Energy Consumption and Production Standard Units 124 Energy Consumption and Production QUADS 125 World Energy Price Summary 126 CO2 Emissions 127 Agriculture Consumption and Production 128 World Agriculture Pricing Summary 130 Metals Consumption and Production 131 World Metals Pricing Summary 133 Economic Performance Index 134 Chapter 4 146 Investment Overview 146 Foreign Investment Climate 147 Foreign Investment Index 151 Corruption Perceptions Index 164 Competitiveness Ranking 175 Taxation 184 Stock Market 184 Partner Links 185 Chapter 5 186 Social Overview 186 People 187 Human Development Index 188 Life Satisfaction Index 192 Happy Planet Index 203 Status of Women 213 Global Gender Gap Index 215 Culture and Arts 225 Etiquette 227 Travel Information 228 Diseases/Health Data 237 Chapter 6 243 Environmental Overview 243 Environmental Issues 244 Environmental Policy 252 Greenhouse Gas Ranking 253 Global Environmental Snapshot 264 Global Environmental Concepts 275 International Environmental Agreements and Associations 289 Appendices 314 Bibliography 315 Fiji Chapter 1 Country Overview Fiji Review 2016 Page 1 of 327 pages Fiji Country Overview FIJI Fiji became independent in 1970 after nearly a century as a British colony. For its first 17 years after independence, the country was a parliamentary democracy. However, democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987 by indigenous Fijians who overthrew the government perceived as dominated by the Indian community (descendants of contract laborers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century). The coups and a 1990 constitution cemented native Melanesian control of Fiji. Free and peaceful elections in 1999 based on the new constitution in 1997 resulted in a government led by an Indo-Fijian, but a civilian-led coup in May 2000 ushered in a prolonged period of political turmoil. Parliamentary elections held in August 2001 provided Fiji with a democratically-elected government under Prime Minister Qarase, but he was ousted in a December 2006 military coup led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama who became interim prime minister in January 2007. Bainimarama promised to restore democracy, but refused to hold elections. A move by Fiji's Appeal Court in April 2009 to declare the military government illegal prompted President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to suspend the constitution and reappoint Commodore Bainimarama as interim prime minister for an additional five years, leaving the military chief's grip on power apparently stronger than ever. Elections in 2014 returned the country to democratic order. Endowed with mineral, forest, and marine resources, Fiji is the largest, and one of the most developed, of the Pacific island economies. However, its economic prospects remain uncertain with the reinstatement of the military government. Note -- On Dec. 5, 2006, Fiji's military launched a bloodless coup, overthrowing the government. The country's military chief, Commodore Bainimarama, said during a media conference that he had taken over executive power from deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, who was internationally recognized as the legal leader of Fiji. For his part, Bainimarama said that he was acting to bridge the ethnic divide that had poisoned the political climate in Fiji between ethnic Fijians and the Indian population; however, his refusal to set the country back on the path towards democracy and constitutional order raised the ire of critics at home and abroad. In fact, relations with neighboring countries were deleteriously affected and Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth. Fiji Review 2016 Page 2 of 327 pages Fiji The announcements in late 2011 that democratic elections might be held as soon as 2013 or 2014, along with the announcement at the start of 2012 regarding the lifting of martial law, constitutional consultations, and open eligibility for office, were applauded by observers at home and abroad. However, the 2013 announcement that the draft constitution written by a constitutional commission would be scrapped in favor of a document of the government's own creation was regarded with dismay by local politicians and the international community. By March 2013, work was completed on the new draft constitution with an eye on ratification later in the year. Assent by the president in September 2013 set the path for elections to be held in 2014. Bainimarama, the coup leader, has said that he would form a political party and contest the 2014 parliamentary elections. Those long-awaited elections were held in Fiji in September 2014 and won by Bainimarama and his Fiji First party. With the 2014 polls completed, a government headed by a Prime Minister Bainimarama would be formed. Typically, the prime minister is the head of the majority party of bloc in parliament and is appointed by the president from among the members of parliament. The prime minister is responsible to parliament and must maintain the support of a majority of the parliament to remain in office. The successful 2014 elections marked the return of Fiji's constitutional good standing in the community of democratic nation states. Fiji Review 2016 Page 3 of 327 pages Fiji Key Data Key Data Region: Pacific Islands Population: 909389 Climate: Tropical marine; only slight seasonal temperature variation. English (official) Languages: Fijian Hindustani Currency: 1 Fijian dollar (F$) = 100 cents Holiday: Independence Day, 10 October (1970) Area Total: 18270 Area Land: 18270 Coast Line: 1129 Fiji Review 2016 Page 4 of 327 pages Fiji Fiji Country Map Fiji Review 2016 Page 5 of 327 pages Fiji Pacific Islands Regional Map Fiji Review 2016 Page 6 of 327 pages Fiji Fiji Review 2016 Page 7 of 327 pages Fiji Chapter 2 Political Overview Fiji Review 2016 Page 8 of 327 pages Fiji History Despite evidence that Fiji has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years, little is known of its history before Europeans arrived. The first known European to sight the Fiji islands was the Dutchman Abel Tasman in 1643. European missionaries, whalers, merchants, and deserters settled during the first half of the 19th century. The islands attracted traders, and subsequently agricultural producers, profiting from a succession of commodities. The first was sandalwood, which was over cut and depleted within a decade early in the nineteenth century, followed by the sea cucumber (or "bêche de mer"), an edible marine invertebrate. During the United States civil war, when cotton prices soared, plantations of that fiber were established. Large-scale sugar cane cultivation began during the last few decades of the 1800s. The introduction of firearms exacerbated pre-existing rivalries among native groups and compounded tensions between indigenous inhabitants and Europeans. Transplanted inter-European conflicts took root in the islands as well. By the mid-1800s, increasingly serious wars flared up among the native Fijian confederacies. In 1871, the Europeans in Fiji (about 2,000) established an administration under Ratu Seru Cakobau, who had become paramount chief of eastern Viti Levu some years before. However, conditions remained chaotic until a convention of chiefs ceded Fiji unconditionally to the United Kingdom on Oct. 10, 1874. The pattern of colonialism in Fiji during the century preceding Fiji's independence in 1970 was similar to that in other British possessions: the pacification of the countryside, the spread of plantation agriculture, and the introduction of Indian indentured labor. Many traditional institutions, including the system of communal land ownership, were maintained. Fiji's revered chief, Ratu Sukuna, fought in the French Foreign Legion during the First World War and was highly decorated. Fiji units aided British forces in non-combatant roles. Fiji soldiers fought alongside the Allies in the Second World War, gaining a fine reputation in the Fiji Review 2016 Page 9 of 327 pages Fiji tough Solomon Islands campaign. The United States and other Allied countries maintained military installations in Fiji during that war, but the Japanese did not attack Fiji. East Indian Fijians refused to enlist in the Allied war effort, because authorities insisted on paying them on a lower scale than their indigenous counterparts; the Indo-Fijians also withheld their cane from the market during the war because of the low prices offered. Fiji's army has remained almost exclusively indigenous in terms of its ethnic composition through the independence period and up to the present, a divide that has contributed to communal tensions in the islands. In April 1970, a constitutional conference in London agreed that Fiji should become a fully sovereign and independent nation within the British Commonwealth. Formal transition to self-rule took place on Oct. 10, 1970. Note on History: In certain entries, open source content from the State Department Background Notes and Country Guides have been used. A full listing of sources is available in the Bibliography. Political Conditions Political Chronology For Fiji's first 17 years after independence (1970-1987), the country was a parliamentary democracy. During that time, Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and the Alliance Party dominated political life by administering the traditional Fijian chiefly system in a way that also accommodated leading elements of the European, part-European, and Indian communities. The main parliamentary opposition, the National Federation Party, represented mainly rural Indians.