BILL NO. 2 OF 2015
A BILL
FOR AN ACT TO AMEND THE REPUBLIC OF FIJI MILITARY FORCES ACT
(CAP. 81)
ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of Fiji—
Short title and commencement
1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (Amendment)
Act 2015 and shall come into force on the date of its publication in the Gazette.
(2) The Republic of Fiji Military Forces Act (Cap. 81) shall be referred to as the
“Principal Act”.
Section 23 amended
2. Section 23(2) of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following new
paragraph after paragraph (b)—
“(bb) a court martial shall not have the power to impose a sentence of death
and any reference to a sentence of death shall be read or construed as life
imprisonment;”
2
Republic of Fiji Military Forces (Amendment)— of 2015
Section 31 amended
3. Section 31(4) of the Principal Act is amended by deleting “Except in the case of a
conviction involving sentence of death,”.
Section 38 deleted
4. The Principal Act is amended by deleting section 38.
3
Office of the Attorney-General
Suvavou House
Suva
February 2015
REPUBLIC OF FIJI MILITARY FORCES (AMENDMENT) BILL 2015
________
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Bill and is intended only to indicate its general effect)
1.0BACKGROUND
1.1
This Bill seeks to amend the Republic of Fiji Military Forces Act (Cap. 81)
(‘RFMF Act’).
1.2
Section 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji (‘Constitution’) states that
every person has the right to life and a person must not be arbitrarily deprived
of life.
However the RFMF Act provides for the applicability of the United Kingdom
Army Act of 1955 (‘UK Army Act 1955’) to Fiji which allows a death sentence
to be passed on an officer or soldier under court martial.
In this regard the RFMF Act is in contravention of section 8 of the Constitution
and those provisions providing for the death sentence must be amended to ensure
conformity with the Constitution and that the right to life remains absolute so
that a person cannot be arbitrarily deprived of life even by way of a court martial.
Although the United Kingdom has made amendments to the UK Army Act
1955, for the avoidance of doubt, it is prudent through this Bill to amend the
RFMF Act to remove all references to the death sentence.
Additionally, the amendment to the RFMF Act will also fulfil our commitment
to the United Nations Human Rights Council made at the last reporting cycle
of 2014 in Geneva to remove all references to the death sentence in Fiji’s laws.
2.0CLAUSES
Clause 1
Provides for the short title and the commencement provision.
Clause 2
Section 23 of the RFMF Act states that the UK Army Act 1955
applies to Fiji including the power to pass a death sentence on a
soldier or officer convicted under court martial.
4
It is proposed that Section 23 of the RFMF Act be amended in
subsection (2) so that—
(a) a court martial in Fiji shall not have the power to sentence
a person to the death sentence; and
(b) any reference in the UK Army Act 1955 to the death sentence
shall now be construed as a penalty of life imprisonment
in Fiji’s RFMF Act.
Clause 3
Section 31(4) of the RFMF Act states that except in the case of a
conviction involving a death sentence, the Court of Appeal may
extend the period within which an application for leave to appeal
the sentence shall be lodged.
Given that the intention of this Bill and of Government is to
remove the death sentence altogether, it is proposed that section
31(4) of the RFMF Act be amended to remove the exception
involving the death sentence to allow the Court of Appeal to
extend the period to lodge an application to appeal a sentence
passed in a court martial in any case it deems appropriate.
Section 38 of the RFMF Act states that a death sentence passed
in a court martial may be executed only after the expiration of
the period within which an application for leave of appeal to the
Court of Appeal must be lodged and where an appeal is lodged,
until it is refused by the Court of Appeal or withdrawn by the
appellant.
Clause 4 It is proposed that the RFMF Act be amended by deleting section
38 in light of the fact that a death sentence can no longer be passed
on a soldier or officer under court martial.
3.0
MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY
3.1
The Act comes under the responsibility of the Minister responsible for Defence,
National Security and Immigration.
A. SAYED-KHAIYUM
Attorney-General
Price: 35c
S. NAVUNILAWA, Government Printer, Suva, Fiji – 2015
Official Printer Since 1883
2/A/15—900