During the last few weeks, the Fiji military interim administration has banned several NGO workers and human rights activists from leaving Fiji in the course of their normal duties as representatives of their organisations and networks.
The latest victim of these travel bans is the Coordinator of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre (FWCC) Shamima Ali (press release here).
The FWCC was recently appointed the deputy chair of the advisory committee to the Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence Program, which is an initiative between NZAid and the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP).
Details of this story can be found in the FWCC's June newsletter.
The FWCC is regarded as one of the most successful AusAID-Pacific NGO partnerships. Shamima Ali is a remarkable woman, being the founding member of the Fiji NGO Coalition on Human Rights and is the first Pacific Islander appointed by the United Nations as a member of the Expert Group on the Rights of the Girl-Child. Ms Ali was a Pacific representative on the Commonwealth Foundation Civil Society Advisory Council , and was appointed a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group for the Nigerian Elections (April 2003) and appointed Fiji Human Rights Commissioner (February 2004) with a reappointed in February 2006.
The Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission (an independent statutory authority), Shaista Shameem, has said that she has advised the interim government to lift the travel bans (audio comments here).
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