Do Transitional Justice Strategies address Small Island Developing States niche conflicts? Preventing the recurrence of Coups d’état: Study of Fiji Natasha Khan PhD University of York Law April 2015 ABSTRACT This research, affirms that some mechanisms of the transitional justice approaches can be applicable to SIDS conflict; particularly structural conflicts. The fourth principle of the Joinet/Orentlicher Principles of ‘Dealing with the Past’; the right to non-occurrence of conflict, was utilised as a conceptual framework to research the case of Fiji, as it addresses military and institution reforms; both of which are problematic area in Fiji. Focus groups interviews, semi-structured questionnaires and key informant interviews were used to collect data. The overall research question was: ‘How can transitional justice strategies address conflicts that are distinctive to Small Island developing states?’, and the more specific questions related to amnesty, military reform and prevention of coup d’états in the future. The thesis confirms that many respondents and key informants regard amnesty for coups d’état negatively and unjust. A number of key informants also think that amnesty is bad as it sends the wrong signals to the coup perpetrators and to future generations. Respondents felt strongly (78%) that the coup perpetrators should be held accountable as coups are illegal, but they also acknowledged that the military is too strong and praetorian at this stage in Fiji to be held accountable. Findings also indicate that there were mixed views on military reform. A number of other important reforms were also suggested by the respondents to prevent the reoccurrence of coups in Fiji. These include; education to foster a national identity, and reforms to the rule of law as well as to the judiciary. This thesis concludes that transitional justice mechanisms would be applicable to small island developing states but it would need to be tailored to the country’s specific needs. Additionally, if we are to ensure that another coup does not occur in the future, Fiji has to carry out military reform and revive discussions on amnesty, or such discussions will be driven underground and may fester into future conflicts. Page 2 of 373 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 LIST OF FIGURES 6 LIST OF TABLES 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION 8 INTRODUCTION 9 ARGUMENT 14 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS 21 CONCLUSION 23 CHAPTER ONE: FIJI’S POLITICAL HISTORY 25 THE COLONIAL LEGACY 27 BACKGROUND ON FIJI MILITARY FORCES 32 FIRST COUP 35 SECOND COUP 37 THIRD COUP 39 FOURTH COUP 44 CONCLUSION 48 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 50 FOCUS GROUP 53 SEMI-STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRES 55 KEY INFORMANTS 57 ETHICS 61 CONCLUSION 62 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 64 THEORIES OF COUPS D’ÉTAT 64 STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE 77 SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES (SIDS) 83 CONCLUSION 86 Page 3 of 373 CHAPTER FOUR: AMNESTY AND ITS LINKAGE WITH COUPS D’ÉTAT 90 TERMINOLOGIES DEFINED 94 INTERNATIONAL LAW’S STANCE ON AMNESTY 102 POLITICAL CRIMES: A PRECURSOR TO GROSS VIOLATIONS? 109 AMNESTY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH COUPS D’ÉTAT 117 CONCLUSION 119 CHAPTER FIVE: SECURITY SECTOR REFORM 121 CONVERGENCE OF SECURITY SECTOR REFORM & TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE 126 STRENGTHENING THE RULE OF LAW 130 VETTING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY 137 VETTING TO PREVENT RECURRENCE OF CONFLICT 137 VETTING TO INDUCE TRUST 141 MULTIETHNIC MILITARY 143 RETHINKING SECURITY SECTOR REFORM & TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE 146 SURVIVAL OF DEMOCRACY VERSUS PRAETORIAN MILITARY 147 PARADIGM SHIFT ON HOW MILITARY IS PERCEIVED IN THE SOCIETY 150 CHALLENGES IN SSR PROGRAMMES 153 SSR CHALLENGES FOR COUNTRIES COMING OUT OF VIOLENT CONFLICT 154 SSR CHALLENGES IN PLACES OF STRUCTURAL CONFLICT. 159 CONCLUSION 162 CHAPTER 6: SHIFTING PERCEPTIONS OF COUPS 164 PERCEPTION OF COUPS: THE TRIGGERS IN FIJI’S CONFLICT 165 GOOD, BAD AND ‘GREY AREA’ COUPS 169 REASONS WHY COUPS ARE GOOD, BAD OR IN BETWEEN 171 DISCUSSION 181 CONCLUSION 186 CHAPTER 7:WEAK DEMOCRACY AND STRONG MILITARY: A COCKTAIL FOR CONFLICT 189 DEMOCRACY 190 DEMOCRACY A ‘FOREIGN FLOWER’ 190 MATURITY OF DEMOCRACY 194 UNDERSTANDING OF DEMOCRACY 195 UNDEMOCRATIC BAINIMARAMA GOVERNMENT UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY 200 DISCUSSION 207 THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY 218 DISCUSSION 227 CHAPTER 8: DISMANTLING SEGREGATED STRUCTURES AND POLICIES IN FIJI 235 COLONIAL LEGACY 235 DISCUSSION 239 LAND SECURITY AND LINKS WITH CITIZENSHIP 241 DISCUSSION 249 POLITICIZED TRADITIONAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS 253 DISCUSSION 259 PARTISAN VOTING 262 Page 4 of 373 DISCUSSION 266 CONCLUSION 269 CHAPTER 9: PREVENTING THE RECURRENCE OF COUPS IN FIJI 271 EDUCATION 271 FOSTERING NATIONAL IDENTITY THROUGH EDUCATION 272 REFORMS IN THE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 274 DISCUSSION 276 HOLDING COUP PERPETRATORS ACCOUNTABLE 278 AMNESTY 282 DISCUSSION 285 MILITARY REFORM 287 DISCUSSION 294 RULE OF LAW AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY 296 DISCUSSION 302 CONCLUSION 303 CHAPTER 10: OVERALL CONCLUSIONS 305 RECOMMENDATIONS 314 LIST OF APPENDICES Annex 1: Country by Successful and Attempted Coups D’état, by Decade .................................... 317 Annex 2: Country by Coups D’état, Years under Military rule and Grant of Amnesty...................... 320 Annex 3: Timeline of tension and conflicts in Fiji; 1970 – 2010 ....................................................... 327 Annex 4: Small Island Developing States by Population, Number of Active Military, Military Expenditure and Number of Coups D’état ....................................................................................... 331 Annex 5: Fiji Military Forces Command Structure ........................................................................... 335 Annex 6: Semi-structured Questionnaire ........................................................................................ 336 Annex 7: Security Sector Reform - Key Functions of Groups & Institutions .................................... 338 Annex 8: Obstacles to Security Sector Reform Approaches ........................................................... 339 Annex 9: Structural Approaches to achieve a Multi-ethnic Military .................................................. 340 Annex 10: Speech by Commander Bainimarama on 4 January 2007 ............................................. 341 Annex 11: 2013 Fiji Constitution - Chapter 10: Immunity ................................................................ 344 Annex 12: Human Rights Watch Letter to Commodore Bainimarama ............................................ 345 Annex 13: Culture of Impunity ......................................................................................................... 350 BIBLIOGRAPHY 351 Page 5 of 373 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for Dealing with the Past .............................................................. 18 Figure 2: Map of Fiji Islands .............................................................................................................. 26 Figure 3: Number of Successful and Attempted Coups D’état, 1950-2010 ....................................... 66 Figure 4: Galtung's Conflict Triangle ................................................................................................. 77 Figure 5: Economic Institutions of Fiji; Divided along Ethnicity ......................................................... 81 Figure 6: Amnesty by Categories of Crimes .................................................................................... 108 Figure 7: Political Terror Scale for Fiji, 1986 – 2008 ....................................................................... 112 Figure 8: Grant of Amnesty for Coup related offences, by Decade ................................................. 118 Figure 9: Perceptions of coups by Ethnicity .................................................................................... 170 Figure 10: Reasons coups are bad by Ethnicity .............................................................................. 177 Figure 11: ‘Is democracy important for Fiji’ by Ethnicity .................................................................. 191 Figure 12: Why is democracy important for Fiji? ............................................................................. 192 Figure 13: Perception of democracy by perception of coups .......................................................... 194 Figure 14: What does the term democracy mean to you? ............................................................... 197 Figure 15: Reasons for Trusting the Interim Government ............................................................... 202 Figure 16: Role of Military in Fiji ...................................................................................................... 220 Figure 17: Ministries with Military Personnel in Senior Positions (31/12/2010) ............................... 232 Figure 18: Amnesty for Coup Perpetrators ...................................................................................... 283 Figure 19: Opinion on Amnesty for military coup perpetrators ........................................................ 285 Figure 20: How to address fears of military personnel for any disband/downsize reforms? ............ 291 Figure 21: Would Fijians resist to Military reform by Ethnicity ......................................................... 292 Figure 22: Why should Indo-Fijians be recruited in the military? ..................................................... 293 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Changing Composition of Fiji's Legislature to Senate, 1875–2006 ....................................