Shaista Shameem, discussant from Fiji, has a rich and varied background. Graduating with a PhD from the University of Waikato in 1990, Shaista has had extensive teaching, journalistic and legal experience. She is a trained journalist, has a Filmmakers Certificate and is a trained, and successful, barrister and solicitor. In 2009 Shaista was elected Chairperson of the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of impeding the exercise of peoples to human rights and self determination. 

She has won many prizes for her academic excellence, including the Staff Merit Award for Teaching and Research from the University of Waikato and the New Zealand Education Foundation Prize for Academic Excellence. Shaista has had extensive lecturing experience at universities such as New York University (USA), Harvard (USA), Auckland (NZ) and Oxford (UK). She teaches in the areas of Social Science, Law, Politics, Sociology, Film Studies, and Pacific Studies. She is also the Director/ Producer of several academic video documentaries. Shaista’s most recent academic appointment is as an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Fiji.

In her political, legal life, Shaista is the founder and principal Attorney of ShameemLawand was the Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission from 1997-99. She has had a great deal of court experience, working as Lead Counsel for all Human Rights Commission Cases in the Courts of Fiji since 1999, as applicant or amicus curiae, including such landmark cases as: Sailasa Naba & Others v The State (Criminal Jurisdiction No HAC0012 of 2000l) which fought for right to freedom from torture and from cruel, inhumane, degrading or disproportionately harsh treatment or punishment.

Shaista has also written several books and articles throughout her career, including:  ‘New Impulses in the Interaction of Law and Religion : The Fiji Human Rights Commission in Context’ Brigham Young University Law Review 2003. She is currently working on ‘Third Country Nationals in the Private Security and Military Sector’ IPOA Journal, which is to be published later this year.

Taking an active part in community and voluntary work, Shaista has also worked as a Human Rights defender and advisor to Muaniweni farmers at the Lutoka Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp after the George Speight coup in 2000. She also provides pro bono legal aid and advice to impoverished members of society.

Shaista is an ardent campaigner and defender of Human Rights and continues to work with the UN in her role as Chairperson for the Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries. She is currently responsible for the drafting of a new international convention on Private Security and Military Companies contracted to UN member states.

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