23/05/2026
๐ฃ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ช๐ฎ๐พ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐๐ถ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ท๐ถ ๐ง๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด
A youth advocate and survivor of abuse during Fijiโs 2006 political upheaval has called for sweeping constitutional, institutional, and cultural reforms, saying true reconciliation can only be achieved through truth, accountability, justice, and national healing.
Peter Waqavonovono, 42, from Tubou Village in Lakeba, Lau, shared his story during a Fiji Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing in Suva on Wednesday in the presence of the Chairperson Joaquim Fonseca, Commissioners Ana Laqeretabua and Rachna Nath.
Mr Waqavonovono, who serves as a ministry coordinator for the Archdiocese of Suva under the Catholic Church, has worked extensively in advocacy relating to human rights, dignity, and youth development. He said his experiences during the 2006 political upheaval highlighted the urgent need for national reflection and reform.
According to his account, he was detained multiple times by members of the disciplined forces under directives of the then interim military government.
He recalled being unlawfully taken on Christmas Eve in 2006 to the military barracks in Suva, where he reported being physically assaulted, threatened, and intimidated while in custody.
โBefore the coup of 2006, I was known in my community simply as someone who would not stay silent in the face of injustice.โ
Speaking of his experience during the events of 2006, he recalled: โI have been arrested, placed on travel bans, blacklisted from national and regional events, and have had to face brutality at the hand of military officers โ people who were sworn to protect me.
โThe media have covered my beatings, my detainments, andโperhaps more difficult for some to understandโmy forgiveness of those who acted to hurt me.
โWith the rules held against me, the system not in my favour, and an institution meant to protect me used instead to silence me, forgiveness and truth became my only weapons.
โI have since welcomed those who sought to silence me, not because I have forgotten, but because I refuse to become what they were.โ
Mr Waqavonovono said the experiences left lasting physical, emotional, and psychological impacts, including ongoing pain, nightmares, anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal.
Despite these challenges, he credited his family, faith, church community, and pro-democracy supporters for helping him recover and rebuild his life.
๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ
Nearly two decades later, in November 2025, a significant moment of reconciliation took place when former senior military officers Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara and Pita Driti apologised to Mr Waqavonovono and other victims of abuse during the events of Christmas Eve 2006.
He described the apology as having taken place during a private matanigasau (traditional reconciliation ceremony), attended by several individuals who suffered at the hands of the armed forces in the aftermath of the 2006 coup, including members of the so-called โDemocracy Five.โ
โI attended that matanigasau totally embarrassed. They had their feelings; mine was total embarrassment.
โIn the case of Ratu Tevita Mara, I did not see him as a soldierโI saw him as my chief: the Turaga na Tui Nayau, Sau ni Vanua, and Tui Lau. He is the highest-ranking member of our Mataqali.
โThen I saw my Vasu, Pita Dritiโwe share the same ancestral lineages to Yavu, Batiki, in Lomaiviti. I no longer saw their uniforms or military titles. I also did not see them for their past, although they sought to reform. That was when I realised: I had forgiven them.
โIn our culture as Indigenous Fijians, the act of kere veivosoti or matanigasauโ the expression of remorse through oral discussionsโ is central to how the iTaukei maintain social harmony and mend broken relationships.
โIt is not justice. I want to be clear on that point. No traditional ceremony can replace the rule of law, nor should it be used to bypass accountability. But it means a great deal.
โTheir seeking forgiveness meant something, even to those who did not have to seek it, because constitutionally they are forgivenโit showed me that my culture is alive, and that the immunity clause that protects perpetrators does not help them spiritually or psychologically.โ
He stressed that a perpetrator who never has to face what he has done remains trapped in his own wrongdoing.
โA chief who cannot apologise ceases to be a chief.
โI do not offer this testimony to undo that reconciliation.
โI offer it because truth and reconciliation are two sides of the same coin. Without truth, reconciliation is just performance.
"Without reconciliation, truth becomes only bitterness. But neither should be used to excuse impunity.
โThe men who apologised to me in November 2025 did so voluntarily, in a cultural framework. That is honourable. Yet the state must still answer for the system that made their actions possible โ and for the many perpetrators who have apologised, and never will, unless the law compels them,โ Mr Waqavonovono said.
During the hearing, he said he appeared before the Commission not for revenge but to tell his truth.
"I am not here for revenge. I am here because the truth must be written down while we who lived it are still alive.
"I am here because carols should never again be sung over the sound of beating.
โI am here because no one should ever have to wonder, as I did, whether saying, Merry Christmas to a soldier would be their last words.โ
He added that truth alone is not enough.
โI therefore humbly submit the following practical means by which Fiji can end impunity and torture.
โThese are not academic ideas. They are born from the ground where I was kicked, and from the road where I was thrown like rubbish.โ
As part of his recommendations, he called for the establishment of a permanent, independent accountability mechanism.
Further to his recommendations, Mr Waqavonovono called for reforms within military training and culture, including the introduction of human rights, democracy, and anti-torture education, alongside rehabilitation and re-education programmes aimed at preventing future abuses.
To protect whistleblowers and victims who speak out, he said: โFiji needs a Witness Protection Act with real resources.โ
On ending torture, he added: โRatify and domesticate the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) fully. Fiji has signed but has not fully incorporated CATโs provisions into domestic law. Make torture a distinct, non-bailable offence with mandatory minimum sentences.
โMandatory human rights and anti-torture training for all security personnel. Training must be repeated annually, with testing. But more than training, there must be consequences: the first soldier who puts a boot on a prisonerโs head must know he will go to jail, not receive a promotion.โ
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