John Maurice Scott

Who was John Maurice Scott?

John Maurice Scott was the Director General 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.

Scott was educated in Fiji and New Zealand and held a number of prominent public positions for various national, regional and international councils and programmes. He was a fourth generation European Fijian and his father, Sir Maurice Scott was the first European Speaker in the Parliament of Fiji.

Scott joined the Red Cross in 1994 and played a key mediation role after George Speight seized parliament on 19 May 2000 and took Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry 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 that put forward submissions to keep the constitution because it protected LGBT rights.