John Maurice Scott (1948 – 1 July 2001) was the

Director General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive (government), executive officer, often the chief executive offi ...

of the Fiji Red Cross and received a Red Cross award for his role in the hostage crisis during the

2000 Fijian coup d'état The Fiji coup d'état of 2000 was a civilian coup d'état by hardline i-Taukei (ethnic Fijian) nationalists against the elected government of an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry on 19 May 2000. This was followed by an attempt on ...

Biography

Scott was born in

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

, Fiji, and educated in Fiji and New Zealand. He held a number of prominent public positions for various national, regional and international councils and programmes. He was a fourth generation

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

Fijian and his father, Sir

Maurice Scott Sir Henry Maurice Scott (23 July 1910 – 5 June 1976) was a Fijian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Council between 1947 and 1966, serving as Speaker between 1958 and 1966. Biography Born in 1910, Scott was the son of ...

was the first European Speaker in the

Parliament of Fiji The Parliament of the Republic of Fiji is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Fiji. It consists of 55 members elected every 4 years using open list proportional representation in one multi-member nationwide constituency. History ...

. Scott joined the Red Cross in 1994 and played a key mediation role after

George Speight George Speight (born 1957) is a Fijian businessman and politician who was the leader of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état, in which he and rebel soldiers from Fiji's Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit seized the Fijian Parliament and held Prime Ministe ...

seized parliament on 19 May 2000 and took Prime Minister

Mahendra Chaudhry Mahendra Pal Chaudhry ( hif, महेन्द्र पाल चौधरी; born 9 February 1942) is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former lead ...

and his government hostage for 56 days. Scott was initially the only outsider allowed to see the hostages and eventually oversaw their release. He declined to testify in Speight's trial because he did not want to compromise the neutrality of the Red Cross. Scott was involved in trying to restore Fiji's overthrown 1997 constitution and was among the members of the

gay community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social ...

that put forward submissions to keep the constitution because it protected LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights. Scott was murdered on 1 July 2001 in Suva along with his partner, Gregory Scrivener, in an apparent

homophobic attack Gay bashing is an attack, abuse, or assault committed against a person who is perceived by the aggressor to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). It includes both violence against LGBT people and LGBT bullying. The term covers vio ...

with a possible political motive. Scott's story became the subject of a New Zealand documentary, ''An Island Calling''. which is based on the book ''Deep Beyond The Reef'', written by his brother Owen Scott.

Biography

References

Further reading