Shaista Shameem

Shaista Shameem is a Fiji Indian lawyer, journalist, and academic of Pakistani and Indian descent. She is best known as Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission. On August 2004, she was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries. She is widely known throughout the Pacific as a supporter of the 2006 Fiji military coup.

Shameem holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from New Zealand's University of Waikato and an LLM from the University of Auckland.She has worked as a journalist and has practiced law in Fiji, and has lectured in sociology at the University of Waikato.

2006 coup d'état

Shameem refused to condemn the military coup which deposed the Qarase government on 5 December 2006. Early in January 2007, she sparked a storm of controversy when she released a Commission report stating that the government overthrown by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces was illegally constituted and unconstitutional, and was acting against the public interest in violation of public security and public safety protections in the Constitution [ [http://www.humanrights.org.fj/publications/2007/Investigation%20Report%20on%20Events%20of%20December%206%202006.pdf FHRC report on the December 2006 coup] ] . She also said that the 2001 elections were unlawful, and that proper procedures had not been not followed in the 2006 general elections.Richard Naidu a prominent Fiji Indian Lawyer has described the report as "mostly laughable' and 'Somewhere in her academic career, Ms Shameem apparently picked up a law degree, I don't think any real lawyer will take it (the report) very seriously." [http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=54685]

In December 2007, Dr. Shameem was criticised by the "Fiji Times" for her alleged lack of impartiality [ [http://www.humanrights.org.fj/pdf/FTeditorial11122007.pdf "Get it straight, Shaista"] , "Fiji Times" editorial, December 11, 2007] . Shameem responded [ [http://www.humanrights.org.fj/pdf/FTresponse111207.pdf Dr. Shameem's response to the "Fiji Times’" editorial] , December 11, 2007] . Shameem has also been criticized for supporting and defending the deportation of Evan Hannah the Publisher of the "Fiji Times". New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said that it is of "great concern" that hacked private emails were used by her to substantiate her claims [http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592575a12.html] . Michael Fields, a prominent journalist has described the same report as "It does not have any footnotes or appendices so, for the most part, one is obliged to guess at where she got her material. Much of it, however, is obtained from illegally intercepted emails. No evidence of interception warrants is provided so, while Shameem is also the chairman of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, it is clear she has no respect for the law." [http://www.michaelfield.org/Shameem%20report.htm]

Personal life

Shameem's father was from Pakistan, while her mother is a Fiji Indian. Shameem is the sister of Fiji's first and only female Indo-Fijian judge, Nazhat Shameem and Raffat Shameem who is a medical doctor in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Nikhat Shameem [http://www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics/staff/profile/nikhat.shameem] is the third sibling who is a lecturer in applied linguistics at Newcastle University in England. Her husband is younger than her but because they have been together for so long, people don't notice it now. "We find the age gap exciting," she says. [http://www.theindian.co.nz/testing/plugin/news/journal/plugin.asp?plugin=article_view_Unwrap.asp&abxyk945=301&InfoID=2851&iabspos=3&vjob=vsub,66]

Ombudsman

On 16 July 2007, Fiji’s Constitutional Offices Commission (COC) announced the appointment of Dr Shameem as Fiji's Ombudsman, which is an ex-officio position to the chairman of the Fiji Human Rights Commission. [ cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Dr Shameem is new Ombudsman |url=http://www.fijilive.com/news/show/news/2007/07/16/16fijilive4.html |work= |publisher=Fijilive |date=16 July 2007 |accessdate=2007-07-16 ] Her appointment to this position has been a matter of controversy with the Fiji’s Constitutional Offices Commission, Rishi Ram, offering to take an oath on the Koran, Gita, Bible or book of another other faith to proove that Shameems appointment was not politically motivated [http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=33789] . The Coordinator of Fiji's Womens Crisis Centre, Shammima Ali has said that she would not recognize Shameems' appointment citing that it was unconstitutional. [http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=33789]

References