The Co-ordinator of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre has expressed disappointment at the inaction of the Fiji Human Rights Commission after five activists were allegedly ill-treated by the military.
Shameema Ali, who is also a Human Rights Commissioner, said she was with Virisila Buadromo, Imraz Iqbal, Jacqueline Koroi, Peter Waqavonovono and Laisa Digitaki as they were made to run from the Queen Elizabeth Barracks to Reservoir Road.
She said after she was alerted to the group's detention, she tried to find out what could be done to help them:
"I then rang the director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission to see what we as a Commission could do, only to learn from her that we had no emergency plans in place during this crisis period and that everything was ineffective until Wednesday. This was quite disappointing for me as a Commissioner - particularly when the Fiji Human Rights Commission is the chair for the Asia/Pacific Forum on Human Rights."
