Media Release

Nauru Opposition members hopeful of meeting with

head of Pacific Islands Forum
For Immediate Release
24th July, 2015.
One of the five Nauru opposition members suspended from attending
parliament for more than a year is hoping he and his colleagues will be
given the opportunity to meet with the Secretary-General of the Pacific
Islands Forum when she visits Nauru next week.
MP Roland Kun, who remains stranded on Nauru after having his
passport confiscated a month ago is still fighting a court battle to have
his immigration documents returned so he can rejoin his wife and family
in New Zealand. His wife, Katy Le Roy was banned from returning to
Nauru in January 2014, after the birth of the couples third child in
Australia.
The continuing abuse of our democratic and human rights, as well as
the appalling breakdown of rule of law in our courts should sound alarm
bells right around our region and other countries that cherish a
democratic way of life, Mr Kun said
He welcomed news that Forum Secretary-General Dame Meg Taylor is
to visit Nauru next week, apparently at the request of New Zealand,
where that countrys foreign minister, Murray McCully has also
expressed concern over the worsening situation on the island nation.
It would be a travesty if the Secretary-General of the Forum is
prevented from speaking with our group and hearing our side of this
tragic state of affairs thrust upon our country by the current president
and minister for justice, Mr Kun said.
The government can bleat all it likes through its public relations outfit
that its restoring rule of law and democracy, yet here on the island we
see that is a blatant lie each and every day of the week.
We note the recent talks between the president of Nauru and the
foreign ministers of New Zealand and Australia over the situation here,

but from what weve seen, nothing has changed. Our legal and human
rights are still being abused.
He said that even the most basic right of having legal representation of
choice is being denied his colleagues, with several lawyers from
Australia being denied entry to Nauru, or refusal for them to be admitted
to the Court.
Dame Meg Taylor has to hear how democratically elected members of
parliament have been stripped of their wages and entitlements and
prevented from representing their people in parliament simply because
they were critical of the government. She must hear from those
members themselves how they were arrested and thrown into jail and
denied bail for weeks because they took part in a peaceful protest.
Hopefully she will have to opportunity to speak with those communities
whose members have been suspended.
And she has to hear from members of the public here who have lost
their jobs and been vilified by the government because they dared to
speak out against its unlawful and unconstitutional practices over the
past two years or more.
Only then will she get the full picture of whats been going on here for
far too long. Hopefully Dame Meg wont simply settle for a sanitised, selfserving version the government will no doubt present, Mr Kun
concluded,
ENDS/////
For further information:
Roland Kun MP.
Email: roland_kun@rocketmail.com
Tel: +674 558 4990