Fiji Human Rights Commission - The 1997 Commission

The 1997 Commission

The Constitution defined the Commission's purpose as to protect and promote human rights for the people of Fiji and to help build and strengthen a culture of human rights in Fiji.

The mandate of the Commission, set out in the Human Rights Commission Act 1999, was to educate the general public about human rights and to make recommendations to the government about matters affecting human rights. The Commission's complaints and legal divisions were empowered to receive complaints of alleged violations of human rights, investigate them, and seek to resolve the issues by conciliation or by referral to the Commission's legal division for court action. The Commission could refer complaints to the relevant ministry or department if the matter was not within the Commission's jurisdiction.

In 2007, the Fiji Human Rights Commission created controversy when its chairwoman Dr Shaista Shameem expressed support for the 2006 coup. Consequently, the FHRC was suspended from (and later resigned from) the regional network of human rights bodies, the Asia Pacific Forum, and from the International Co-ordinating Committee, the co-ordinating and accreditation body for national human rights institutions (NHRIs). A review by the ICC stated that the FHRC "lacked both credibility and independence". The interim Prime minister Frank Bainimarama issued an assurance that his government was committed to upholding the law and protecting human rights as in the constitution.

The FHRC later commissioned an inquiry into the 2006 general election which had brought the subsequently deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to power. The Commission of Inquiry delivered a report which "identifie deficiencies and anomalies at every stage of the election process", maintaining that the democratic legitimacy of Prime Minister Qarase's deposed government had been questionable.

In October 2007, Dr Shameen criticised United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour for allegedly "only hearing one side of the story regarding what was happening in Fiji" - that is, for criticising Commodore Bainimarama's interim government.

During the 2009 Fijian constitutional crisis, the Fiji Human Rights Commission supported the then President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, stating that "the President had no choice but to abrogate the 1997 Constitution after the Fiji Court of Appeal ruled that the interim government was illegal." However, Shameen also stated that the Commission would act as if the Bill of Rights part of the Constitution was still legally in effect. The Commission was closed by police for one day but then allowed to reopen.