The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum is today calling for clarity with regards to data on ethnicity from the 2017 Census.
CCF’s Chief Executive Officer Bulutani Mataitawakilai made the call after Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed‑Khaiyum informed parliament that data on ethnicity was not collected in the 2017 Census.
However, CCF says the Census Commissioner Epeli Waqavonovono has publicly said in January this year that data on ethnicity were collected and the Fiji Bureau of Statistics was waiting on a directive from a higher authority to release the information.
Mataitawakilai said the contradicting statements were concerning to organisations like the CCF, who had legitimate use for data on ethnicity and had communicated their desire to access this data to the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.
He stated that data on ethnicity was a valuable resource used to inform the development programs of Civil Society Organisations, Government and international NGOs.
Mataitawakilai says the Citizen’s Constitutional Forum believes the data would have assisted them in developing activities and programs that accurately targeted the needs of different ethnic communities.
He says furthermore as the secretariat for coordinating the Convention on Eliminating Racial Discrimination alternative report for submission to the UN Committee in Geneva, having data on ethnicity is a very helpful reference point for the CCF.
The CCF acknowledges that there are those who would seek to misuse data on ethnicity however they reiterate that there are organisations who would have genuine uses for the statistics.
We have sent questions to Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
