A report from Fiji Women’s Rights Movement about their FLTP training held in February 2014

excerpted from:  http://www.fwrm.org.fj/content/balance/balancemarch2014.pdf

By Maraia Tabunakawai

The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Regional Rights Resource Team (SPC/RRRT), in  collaboration with Asia Pacific Forum on Women,
Law and Development (APWLD) held a Feminist Legal Theory and Practice (FLTP) training in Suva from February 3th to 7th this quarter. The five-day training brought together 26 Pacific lawyers, human rights activists, feminist and women’s rights advocates from the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New
Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu to strategise on collective ways to challenge the traditional notions of law and address the social and cultural contexts that shape the legal system and to develop a
feminist perspective into legal practice.
Specific objectives of the training was to:

1. Challenge the traditional notion that law is a neutral, objective, rational set of rules, unaffected by the perspective of those who
possess the power inherent in legal institutions;
2. Seek to address the social, cultural and political contexts that shape the legal system and try to develop a feminist perspective into
legal practice;
3. Allow for a greater understanding of gender, discrimination, law and human rights which are crucial when identifying and discussing
issues and dilemmas encountered by rights/legal advocates in their use of legal strategies to address gender issues; and
4. Provide a venue for people from around the region to share experiences in using the law when advocating for women’s human rights.
Trainers shared knowledge on feminist discourses and practical skills to effective feminist approaches on lobbying and advocating for gender and women’s rights. And in understanding the dynamics of gender inequality existing in the laws of Pacific island countries, participants were empowered and encouraged to develop advocacy
strategies aimed at promoting women’s rights, interests and issues.

…
Pacific island communities, legal practitioners, human rights and women’s human rights activists responded to practical solutions to champion their cause through robust lobbying and advocacy by
using women’s experiences and realities from their home countries. The participants were coached in all aspects of the FLTP framework and to explore  and adopt multi-disciplinary approaches using the
FLTP checklist to address the issues of gender inequality and discrimination in policy and law reform dialogue.

All FLTP facilitators are accredited trainers and are experts in human rights, advancing women’s human rights and the law in the Asia and Pacific region. The facilitators for this training were former
FWRM board chairperson and SPC/RRRT trainer Gina Houng Lee, FWRM Executive Director Virisila Buadromo, Suva-based lawyer Barbara Malimali and former SPC/RRRT trainer Seema Naidu.
The participants at the training were from the Citizens’ Constitutional Forum, Department of Women Affairs (Tuvalu), Department of  Women Affairs (Vanuatu), Drodrolagi Movement,
femLINKPACIFIC, Fiji Disabled Peoples’ Federation, Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, Haus of Khameleon (Fiji), Ministry of Internal Affairs & Women Affairs Division (Tonga), Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs (Kiribati), Samoa Law Reform (Samoa), Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Northern  Pacific Office (Federated States of Micronesia) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Regional Rights Resource Team.