Stopping pension an abuse of power and violation of ILO Conventions
Postdate: 13/ 01/ 2010
The Interim Government will be committing acts of abuse of power and misuse of funds, as well as violating International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions if it passes a decree to stop pension payments to its critics, says the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF).
Interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama revealed in the daily news today, that this decree was passed last week, however, the decree has not yet become available to the public, and rumours are it is yet to be created.
Such a decree will be detrimental to national dialogue and will hamper attempts to move the country forward. CCF calls on the Interim Government to respect human rights and refrain from implementing any discriminatory laws such as this decree.
“A pension is the rightful entitlement of public servants, who earn this through their long civil service career,” CCF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rev Akuila Yabaki said. “Once a person retires from public service, they are entitled to their pensions, regardless of their opinions or beliefs. Even if convicted of a crime, a pensioner is still entitled to receive the pension which they earned.”
“Not only is the Bainimarama government following bad governance practices amounting to misuse of taxpayers’ money, abuse of power and corruption, they are also violating workers rights,” Rev Yabaki said.
The following basic human rights are being violated by this decree:-
- Freedom from Discrimination
- Right to Life, Liberty and Personal Security
- Freedom of Opinion and Information
- Right to Social Security and Desirable Work
- Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights.
For further information, contact CCF on ph: 3308379 or fax: 3308380.
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Rev Akuila Yabaki
Chief Executive Officer