Human rights activist 'ashamed' of Fiji's vote on Gaza: 'It's genocide'

A Fijian human rights activist has described as shameful a vote by Fiji against a resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Fiji was one of fourteen countries to vote against the resolution - six of those votes were from Pacific nations.

Shamima Ali told Pacific Mornings the vote was shameful and genocidal.

"When this war started and Israel retaliated our Prime Minister [Rabuka] said that we will call to peace and an end to the war - a ceasefire... Then the very next day he stood up and supported Isarel," said Ali.

"We in the Pacific, we in Fiji, we are Christian countries mostly and known for our kindness, love and compassion. We are calling it genocide in fact the world are calling it genocide. The good folks in the world are calling it for what it is."

Ali is a leading humanitarian and feminist activist in Fiji where she has long championed for human rights from her own lived experience of a violent childhood.

In 2009 Ali was awarded Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand's inaugural Human Rights Defender award.

Last year she was awarded Vanuatu's 40th anniversary medal (2022) for her work in eliminating violence against women and children.

Ali is the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Coordinator.

Watch the Pacific Mornings interview with Dr Shamima Ali: