Fiji
S v. Bechu, (December 2, 1999)
Magistrate's Court
Keywords: Discrimination-Gender/Sex; Sexual Violence
Brief Summary: Bechu was charged with rape of his former girlfriend contrary to ss 149 and 150 of the Fijian Penal Code. He admitted in a police interview that he had committed the offence and that he had done so because he was drunk. He pleaded not guilty on the grounds that he believed that the victim had consented to sexual intercourse.
CEDAW: The Court declared that women, being equal to men, must not be discriminated on the basis of gender. The holding chastised the lower Court, announcing: "Men should be aware of the provision of 'Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women' (CEDAW), which our country had ratified in 1981. Under the Convention the State shall ensure that all forms of 'discrimination against women' must be eliminated at all costs. The Courts shall be the watchdog with this obligation. The old school of thoughts, that women were inferior to men; or part of your personal property, that can be discarded or treated unfairly at will, is now obsolete and no longer accepted by our society."