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Helen Kelly - Source: Q+A
The president of the NZ Council of Trade Unions and several other union delegates have been detained by Fijian authorities.
Helen Kelly and others from the delegation flew in from Sydney today on what was to be a three-day mission to investigate allegations of human and labour rights abuses by the Fijian government.
ONE News has learned the group were detained at Nadi Airport and that members had their SIM cards confiscated.
The group were due to be deported back to Australia this afternoon.
Fijian media yesterday reported that the delegation would be denied entry.
Kelly said in a statement yesterday the group would continue regardless, at the request of Fijian unions and civil society groups.
"This reported ban on travel into Fiji can only add to perceptions that the regime is attempting to avoid scrutiny from the rest of the world," she said.
Kelly said the Fijian regime was showing an increasingly hostile attitude to human rights, particularly labour rights.
"We have held concerns for working people on Fiji since the enactment of a series of decrees which have abolished the minimum wage, and effectively banned collective bargaining and union representation," she said.
"Senior union leaders in Fiji have been arrested and detained in recent months, in what appears to be a campaign to intimidate anyone who challenges the regime."
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