Shaista Shameem is a Fijian lawyer.[1] She was 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, she holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Waikato[2] and a Masters in Law from the University of Auckland. She also holds a Doctorate in Juridical Science.[3]
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. 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.[4] In 2005 Shameem was invited to assist a UN assessment of the courts in Timor-Leste, but was prevented from visiting the territory. In 2009 she was elected chair of the Working Group.[5] She was a member of the advisory board of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT). Currently she is Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Fiji and is Dean of the JDP School of Law.
- ^ "Love the law". Fiji Times. 5 February 2010. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
- ^ Shameem, Shaista (1990). Sugar and spice: Wealth accumulation and the labour of Indian women in Fiji, 1879-1930 (Doctoral thesis). Waikato Research Commons, University of Waikato. hdl:10289/12119.
- ^ Shameem, Shaista (2019). What makes constitutions legitimate? A legal analysis of constitutions and legitimacy: The example of Fiji (Doctoral thesis). Waikato Research Commons, University of Waikato. hdl:10289/12636.
- ^ "List of Current Mandates". Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010. Working Group mandate
- ^ "Fiji's Shaista Shameem new head of UN working group on mercenaries". Radio New Zealand International. 1 April 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2011.