The University of Fiji and its law students have urged the Government to abandon the Constitution Amendment Bill 2026, raising concerns about its drafting, human rights protections and the lack of a clear justification for introducing a new constitution.
Presenting a submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution Amendment Bill 2026, University of Fiji Vice Chancellor Professor Shaista Shameem says the Government must first explain why Fiji needs a new constitution before determining what it should contain.
Professor Shameem says the proposed amendments contain numerous typographical and grammatical errors, internal inconsistencies and unclear provisions that make the document difficult to understand.
She presented the submission on behalf of the university, with contributions from constitutional law students and members of its legal team.
Professor Shameem also questioned whether Fiji needs a supreme and entrenched constitution, arguing that previous constitutions had been accompanied by political instability and disagreements over their provisions.
She suggested that stronger domestic legislation, supported by international law, particularly international human rights law, could provide an alternative approach.
She also raised concerns about the drafting of the proposed Bill, saying its explanatory notes did not accurately reflect what the clauses stated.
Professor Shameem says the number of human rights provisions appears to have decreased from about 37 under the 2013 Constitution to around 30 in the proposed draft.
She further raised concerns about Clause 41C, which refers to the chastisement of children.
Professor Shameem questioned the absence of a definition of “chastisement” in the interpretation section, asking what the term would permit in practice and how the proposed reference to moderate chastisement would be interpreted.
She says the lack of clarity could lead to different interpretations of what is acceptable, with potentially harmful consequences.
Professor Shameem urged the committee to take the law students’ work seriously, stressing that Fiji must establish both why it needs a constitution and what kind of constitution would best serve all Fijians.
She says any future constitution should be built around principles that people with differing views can agree on.
