Legal
Q-NOTES • APRIL 23
UNC
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
DLHARIMEM Of MEDICINE
Alf )S Reswith .liK I Treatment Unit
HIV Research Volunteers
MAKH A Dirf
Cinical Mat tmiutilBefs madte it possSite for
peepfo wRh HIV to liw tongea; taoMier fives.
For More Information:
Call: 919-843-2506
Vbtt: WWW.ID.UNC.EDU/ACnj
HELP US TO LiARK tfiiRE. IflV RESEARCH
Thinking about Buying
or Selling a Home
the Charlotte Area?
Make tlif prtH fss easy nii
u>iirs{'!t In hinnp' a
pia>k’ssional tn walk ynii
throupli e\x'n step ot the \\:n .
Maiu A. W.iStM',. Kc.ilttn '
Otikc 701/'J:* t
MoluU- e-t fwi-zAi*'' ]jjjT
I'ax 7U • ' v.'. i
aA x'***
03
Fiji: Sodomy low convictions
violate Constitution
Repeal colonial-era law criminalizing
homosexual conduct activists demand
by Donald Miller
SURA, Figi — Criminal convictions in
Fiji of two men for homosexual conduct
violate international human rights prin
ciples and the country’s own constitu
tion, Human Rights Watch announced
April 6.
On April 5, a Fijian court sentenced an
Australian and a Fijian to two years in
prison for offenses “against the order of
nature” and “gross indecency." .
Thomas Maxwell McCoskar, a 55-year-
old Australian, and Dhirendra Nandan, a
23-year-old Fijian, had allegedly had sex
and taken nude pictures of one another in
an apartment in the town of Nadi between
March 24 and April 3. Human Rights
Watch urged the Fijian government to drop
the charges against the two men and order
their release from prison immediately.
Fiji’s Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase,
says foreign gays and international human
rights groups should keep their noses out
of the country’s affairs.
Qarase said April 13 that he has no
intention of repealing a law that provides
for sentences up to 14 years in prison for
anyone convicted of committing homosex
ual acts.
The Fijian government has been under
intense pressure to get rid of the law since
the two men were sentenced. The pair
were released on bail Apil 11 as they await
an appeal. While they wait McCoskar and
Nadan have been ordered not to leave the
country. McCoskar, a retired Australian
university professor, was ordered to sur
render his passport. »
History
in 1997, Fiji joined South Africa as one
of the first countries in the world to
enshrine protections against sexual-orien-
tation-based discrimination in its constitu
tion.
“Fiji should respect its own constitu
tional ban on discrimination against gays
and lesbians,” said Scott Long, director of
Human Rights Watch’s Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and TVansgender Rights Project.
“These harsh sentences are a reminder
that Fiji must repeal its colonial-era
sodomy laws, which threaten individuals’
dignity, equality and privacy.”
The judge in the case, Syed Mokhtar
Shah, reportedly called the men’s acts
“something so disgusting that it would
make any decent person vomit.”
Article 175 of Fiji’s Penal Code provides
for up to 14 years’ imprisonment, “with or.
without corporal punishment,” for “any
person who has carnal knowledge of any
person against the order of nature.” Article
177 allows up to five years’ imprisonment
for “any male person who, whether in
public or private, commits any act of gross
indecency with another male person.”
Both are borrowed from Victorian-era
British laws against homosexual conduct.
Fiji was a British colony from 1874 until
independence in 1970.
These penal laws are contrary to Fiji’s
1997 constitution. Article 38 of the constitu
tion bars discrimination based on any
“actual or supposed personal characteris
tics or circumstances, including ... sexual
orientation.” Article 37 of the constitution
also protects the “right to personal privacy.”
The 1997 constitution has been con
troversial in the ethnically divided coun
try since its passage, both because of its
protections for sexual orientation and
because it granted equal political rights
to Fiji’s Indian population.
On gays: Syed Mokhtar Shah — 'so dis
gusting that it would make any decent
person vomit.'
Existing legislation has never been
revised to implement or conform with the
sexual-orientation article. In 1999 and
2000, the Methodist Church — the domi
nant denomination among largely
Christian ethnic Fijians pressed strong
ly for Parliament to amend the constitu
tion and remove the sexual-orientation
provision. After an abortive coup by ethnic
Fijian forces in 2000, the constitution was
suspended. However, it W3s reinstated by
Fiji’s Court of Appeal in 2001.
Earlier this year, the Fiji Law Reform
Commission declared that it would
review the current Penal Code this year.
Its chair, Alipate Qetaki, said the com
mission would “consider the present
laws governing homosexual conduct in
Fiji and the need to change or retain the
same.”
The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which reflects customary interna
tional law, prohibits interference with the
right to privacy, as well as arbitrary arrest
and unfair trials. The United Nations
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has
held that arrests for consensual homosex
ual conduct are by definition human rights
violations.
"Fiji’s international obligations and the
mandate of its constitution are clear,” Long
said. “These archaic laws enforce inequal
ity and must be struck from the books. And
the two latest victims of the law must be
immediately freed.”