Jale Daucakacaka 
A group of NGOs are calling for an increase in women’s participation in local government elections.
In a joint statement, NGOs such as the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, Diverse Voices for Action for Equality, Citizen’s Constitutional Forum, Social Education and Empowerment Programme and Strumphet Alliance Network say the government must enforce provisions for temporary special measures for women in political party representation.
The statement says government must ensure that reserved seats are secured for women in all town and city councils and committees.
The NGOs say that after three national elections under electoral laws, there has been a drastic decline in women’s representation from contesting national elections to being elected to parliament.
The statement says that cultural, social, economic, and political factors have often stood in the way of women’s political empowerment.
The group of NGOs say the government must remember its commitments to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ratified in 1995, in particular Article 4, which recognizes that temporary special measures may need to be implemented in the short term to advance women’s equality.
Meanwhile, public consultations for municipal council elections are still underway, with the elections set for the first quarter of the next fiscal year.
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