At the conclusion of a successful Universal Periodic Review Session of the Human Rights Council, Fiji hosted a side event on the Implementation of Social and Economic Rights in a Developing Economy.
The panel discussion included the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice of Fiji, the Chief Justice of Fiji, the Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations in Geneva, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Education.
The Attorney-General, Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, spoke of the need for political will in the use of scarce resources for development and explained Fiji’s plan for the progressive realisation of economic and social rights as set out in the Fijian Constitution. He spoke of the need to implement socio-economic rights because the absence of such rights will ultimately result in the derogation of civil and political rights.
The Chief Justice Mr Anthony Gates spoke of the development of international jurisprudence in the important area of economic rights, referring in particular to cases from Guatemala, India and South Africa. He spoke of the inherent tension between judicial activism in this area of the law, and the separation of powers, and of the need to use remedies to implement such rights which allowed for a monitoring process for the progressive realisation of rights.
Ambassador Kwok Jee Foo spoke of the substantial investment made by Singapore to education, and to the national commitment to investing in a smart nation. He referred to the way in which Singapore had balanced health, education, housing and education in a country with no natural resources.
Mr Kishore Singh spoke of the right to education being central to the right to development, and of the need for countries not only to provide free education, but to ensure that the implementation of such a right was sustainable.
The floor then opened to an interactive debate about the challenges to the implementation of the right to health, to education, to social security and to housing, in countries with limited resources.
The panel was chaired by the Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations in Geneva, Nazhat Shameem Khan. This was the first side event of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, to be hosted by Fiji.