Junta approves new women’s group
July 6, 2009
Fiji’s leading women’s advocacy group says a new interim government endorsed womens group will not take the place of existing institutions.
In a statement, Fiji’s interim government says the new “Fiji Womens Federation” will be the advocate for, and representative of, women’s rights in the country.
The coordinator of one the longest serving women rights groups, the Fiji Womens Crisis Centre, Shamima Ali, say previous governments have tried and failed to create something similar.
“Often these things have fallen by the wayside because of lack of funding, lack of the political will in government,” she said.
The interim government says the membership of the federation will be made up of women’s non government organisations, which meet a set criteria.
But no detail of what that criteria is has been made public.
Ms Ali’s says the federation’s creation won’t mean groups like the Crisis Centre, vocal critics of the interim government, will be sidelined.
