Shaista Shameem, a Fijian lawyer,
the director of the
Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC) from 2002 to 2007, and its director and chairperson from 2007 to 2009. A graduate of the
University of the South Pacific
The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the go ...
, she holds a PhD in Sociology from the
University of Waikato
, mottoeng = For The People
, established = 1964; years ago
, endowment = (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $263.6 million (31 December 2020)
, chancellor = Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO, KStJ
, vice_chancellor = Neil Quigley
, cit ...
and a Masters in Law from the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
. She also holds a Doctorate in Juridical Science.
After working in the media and as a sociology lecturer in New Zealand, Shameem returned to Fiji and was involved in the constitutional case of ''Chandrika Prasad v the State'' which reinstated the 1997 Constitution following the
coup d'état of 2000 led by
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 Minister ...
. She served in 2004-05 as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Use of Mercenaries and has since 2005 been a member of the UN Working Group on Mercenaries. In 2005 Shameem was invited to assist a UN assessment of the courts in
Timor-Leste
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
, but was prevented from visiting the territory. In 2009 she was elected chair of the Working Group.
She was a member of the Advisory Board of the
Association for the Prevention of Torture
The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) is an international non-governmental organization focused on preventing of torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The organization was founded in 1977 by Jean-Jacques Ga ...
br>
(APT) Currently she is Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Fiji and is Dean of the JDP School of Law.
Personal life
Shaista's sister
Nazhat Shameem
Nazhat Shameem Khan (born 1960) is a Fijian diplomat and former judge who served as the Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations from 2014 to 2022. She was also the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2021. S ...
is a judge. Their father hailed from
Multan
Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the old ...
, in present-day Pakistan, while their mother was born in Fiji.
2006 coup
On 5 January 2007 Shameem published a report defending the
December 2006 military coup, alleging that the previous government of
Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase (pronounced ; 4 February 1941 – 21 April 2020) was a Fijian politician. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase ...
had committed human rights violations and crimes against humanity. She maintained that the
2006 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2006.
* Elections in 2006
* Electoral calendar 2006
* 2006 Acehnese regional election
* 2006 American Samoan legislative election
* 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election
* 2006 Costa Rican president ...
were unlawful, and supported claims that Australia had intended to invade Fiji. Shameem acted as amicus curiae in the case of ''Qarase v the State'' where she submitted that the President of Fiji acted lawfully in dismissing the Prime Minister on 5 December 2006 and installing the military commander as Interim Prime Minister on 5 January 2007. While the High Court upheld this claim, in 2009 the Appeal Court overturned the decision and ruled that the 2006 coup and the President's action were unlawful.
Ombudsman
On 16 July 2007, Fiji’s Constitutional Offices Commission (COC) announced the appointment of Dr Shameem as Ombudsman, designated as an ''ex officio'' position to the chairperson of the Fiji Human Rights Commission. The international human rights NGO
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
described her appointment as unlawful, and was highly critical of the FHRC's endorsement of the coup.
Shameen ceased to lead the FHRC in 2009 when it was reconstituted under new legislation.
In 2011, she strongly criticised the military-led government's
Essential National Industries Employment decree, which "takes away nearly all collective bargaining rights in essential companies
ndvirtually abolishes the right to strike". Shameem said the decree showed the government had abandoned its "previous consensus building approach", and adopted an autocratic mode of government, "diminish
ngor remov
ng workers' rights.
"11 companies declared essential by Fiji military regime"
ABC Radio Australia, 13 September 2011
References
External links
Fiji Human Rights Commission
Timor Leste
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shameem, Shaista
University of the South Pacific alumni
Fijian civil servants
Fijian Ahmadis
Living people
Harvard University alumni
United Nations special rapporteurs
University of Auckland alumni
University of Waikato alumni
Fijian women lawyers
Ombudsmen in Fiji
Fijian people of Pakistani descent
Fijian people of Punjabi descent
21st-century Fijian lawyers
Fijian officials of the United Nations
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century women lawyers