The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence is actively seeking the voices of young Fijians in its public consultations on the recently concluded Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Treaty.
The BBNJ Treaty is a secondary agreement to the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, and focuses on establishing a collective global framework for the monitoring, trade regulation and sustainable exploration of resources in the high seas areas beyond national exclusive economic zones.
Committee deputy chair Rinesh Sharma stressed Parliament’s commitment to civic engagement, noting that while the committee had invited stakeholders to attend in person, many had opted to provide input through written submissions.
“Part of Parliament’s civic engagement involves bringing stakeholders in,” Mr Sharma said.
“However, looking at the scheduling and understanding that many have prior commitments, we are balancing this by strongly encouraging written submissions. This allows us to gather a wide range of perspectives effectively.”
Mr Sharma said there was a particular drive to incorporate the perspectives of youth organisations, who initially found their input into the treaty process to be limited.
“In fact, with the number of youth organisations who found out in a very short time that we could have our voice towards this treaty, because that came out when OPEC was asked what part of youth voices were in this treaty process and they notified us, it’s very limited and it was not mandatory.
“So, from youth to three stakeholders today, they notified us that we would like to have written submissions because now they are notifying as many people in their network that we could have a better report submitted to Parliament.”
Mr Sharma highlighted the treaty’s potential benefits for Fiji, particularly in addressing critical environmental concerns.
