‘Lost in Translation’: Gender Violence, Human Rights and Women’s Capabilities in Fiji

Abstract

Gender advocates working to eliminate gender violence in Fiji navigate a difficult path. They regularly decry the pernicious presence of this violence as a violation of women’s internationally recognised right to physical security. Yet they do so in an environment constrained by state authoritarianism, militarism, and communal division.¹ This requires them to adopt a cautious political stand. Processes of ‘human rights translation’ have taken on a profound importance in these circumstances. Much of this work is framed by the idea that Fiji’s women are the twin victims of violenceanda culture that ordains this violence. Activists confront the allegation