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 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 virtually 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 or remov" workers' rights.
Read more about this topic: Shaista Shameem