Nazhat Shameem Khan
Nazhat Shameem Khan, Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), is a national of the Republic of Fiji. She was elected by the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC on 10 December 2021 and sworn in on 7 March 2022. Before her election to the ICC, Ms. Khan served as Fiji’s first Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva between April 2014 and 28 February 2022. On 15 January 2021, the Human Rights council elected Ambassador Khan (as she then was) to serve as its President for 2021. Fiji had only joined the Council for the first time in 2019 and Ms. Khan’s election to the Council is said to have brought renewed hope of greater representation for the Pacific on the global stage.
Ms. Khan has over 30 years’ experience as a criminal justice practitioner. She worked for 16 years as a national prosecutor in Fiji, from 1984 to 1999 and during that time became the first female to be appointed as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). She was appointed in 1994 and served in this post till 1999. Notably, Ms. Khan was the very first female to ever serve as a prosecutor in the country. During her tenure as DPP, Ms. Khan created the Sexual and Gender Based Crimes Unit within the office and led the implementation of innovative and child friendly initiatives in the criminal justice system as chair of the Children’s Coordinating Committee of Fiji. She also played a leadership role in designing and implementing sexual harassment policies for law offices and the civil service of Fiji.
In 1999, Ms. Khan was appointed as Fiji’s first woman High Court judge and served for 10 years. She subsequently went into private practice and opened her own legal firm, Nazhat Shameem Consultants. Even as a private practitioner, she continued to work towards strengthening and building the capacity of the justice system by training lawyers and judges on litigation skills, human rights law and practice, criminal law and practice, legal ethics and gender competence in the justice system.
In February 2017 Ms. Khan was appointed Chief Negotiator for Fiji's Presidency of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23). She was a member of the Advisory Board for the Centre for Multilateral Negotiations and a member of the Board of Trustees for UNITAR. She chaired the UNISDR Support Group, a Group set up to further the goals of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and of the UNISDR work, in 2018/19. She chaired the Working Group on Trafficking in Persons at UNODC in Vienna in 2019. Ms. Khan was a Vice President of the Human Rights Council and Chair of the Task Force on Accessibility of the Human Rights Council for Persons with Disabilities in 2019. She was also a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Pacific Climate Change Migration and Human Security Programme implemented by IOM ESCAP OHCHR PIFS and ILO in the Pacific and a member of the IDMC (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre) Advisory Group until 2022.
Having obtained her Bachelor of Arts in law from the University of Sussex, a Masters of Law from the University of Cambridge, and a Master of Philosophy in criminology from the University of Cambridge, Ms. Khan is admitted to practice law in the Republic of Fiji and is a barrister of Inner Temple London.
Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Khan was profiled by Dato’ Shyamala Alagendra. Read more about Shyamala’s work at the end of this profile.
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What pulled you to a career in international law, and what were your first steps?
I studied law because I believed that real and substantive social changes are enabled by legal change. I believed, and I still believe, that the law is an instrument for transforming social and institutional norms, values and structures. Lawyers who do not understand their roles in forging such change through substantive justice, lose a great opportunity to practice law in its real sense and in the context of society.
I was interested in international law as a student, and my master’s degree included the laws of war and the law of international institutions. It also included what was then called Civil Liberties. I was already interested in the relationship between rights violations and armed conflict, and between criminal law and international law. I was especially inspired by the lectures of Professor Sir Elihu Lauterpacht QC who founded the Cambridge University Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. However, it was not until I became a diplomat in 2014 that I was able to actively participate in conversations about international criminal law, and its relationship with international human rights law. I am awed by the way a country’s future can be shaped by a human rights journey guided by international human rights law, and how that then empowers ordinary citizens, the Bar, and the Bench to develop domestic law in a way which is guided by international human rights norms. I believe that the Rome Statute has the same capacity in relation to domestic criminal laws and policies.
What have been the high points of your career thus far?
When I became Fiji’s first woman prosecutor in 1994, I thought that that moment would be the highest point. But looking back, I see that it was just the beginning of what has been a challenging though rewarding career in the law and in diplomacy. One high point was being able, when I became Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions, to audit the Office’s recruitment, employment, promotion and disciplinary processes for gender bias, and to remove institutional bias against women prosecutors. Another was the planning and conducting of judicial training programmes for Fiji’s judges and magistrates, when I became a High Court judge. The introduction of a national judicial training programme in 1999, coincided with the implementation of the first Constitutional Bill of Rights in Fiji which enabled the judges to read down and strike down legislation in breach of the Bill of Rights, using whenever relevant, international human rights law. Thus, human rights law became a priority for judicial training.
Another high point was the opening of Fiji’s first Mission in Geneva in 2014, and being appointed the Permanent Representative there. The building of a team of diplomats who were trained in human rights law and in its domestic implementation, in climate change and its relationship with both disaster risk reduction and human rights, and in international trade, was a very rewarding phase in my career. When I read about the achievements of the team now, after I have left, I feel very proud to have been part of that chapter of Fiji’s history and to have taken part in building our own capacity (mine included) in foreign affairs.
And of course, my election as Deputy to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Mr. Karim Khan QC was a moment of great honour not just for me, but for the people of Fiji and the Pacific, as well as the Asia-Pacific region who can now say that they have a connection with international criminal law and the ICC and will take an even greater interest in the important work of the Court.
What are some of the challenges that you’ve faced, and how have you tackled them?
It was very difficult for women at the Bar in Fiji to work amidst both gender and cultural stereotyping when I first began my career as a prosecutor. I was the only female prosecutor at the time. I found it difficult to get employment at all, and experienced explicit racial and gender bias in both the public and private sector of the legal profession. A 22-year-old woman, beginning a career in law when she is the only woman in the workplace, does not have the bargaining power to protest, to challenge or to change. Ultimately the change agents are those who lead.
Understanding discrimination means developing a knowledge of the way racial, religious, gender and other factors undermine equality in human relations. Women of colour for instance will experience a different type of stereotyping, leading to institutional forms of inequality, harassment, unfair and inequitable distribution of legal briefs, disadvantages as a result of maternity leave, and inflexible work hours. Dealing with racial and gender discrimination was a challenge at first, but as I became more senior and ultimately became the Director myself, this challenge became my greatest strength and my purpose.
I realised then that a person who knows what discrimination is, because she has lived that experience, is best equipped to make changes in the workplace. She understands how the system fails for those who are least empowered and sets in place new institutional measures to combat such inequality. Those challenges teach us to be vigilant about practices which promote bullying, patronage, nepotism and elitism. If I had not made it my purpose to bring about positive change to each workplace I was honoured and fortunate to became a part of in the course of my career, I would have been an ineffective manager.
Being Fiji’s first woman judge, I was fortunate to serve as a judge under a Chief Justice who already recognised the need for change in the judiciary. I found that it is not always easy to change a judicial working environment. It needs much collegiality, many opportunities for the judges to meet in the midst of what can be a very lonely work culture, judicial training and retreats and a recognition that the burden of being Caesar’s wives must be shared amongst judicial colleagues. I was proud to be part of the changes in Fiji’s judiciary including through training, and proud that Fiji’s judiciary to the present day continues the practice of regular training and judicial capacity building. This month for instance, Fiji’s judges and magistrates are participating in a workshop on vulnerable court users, organised by the UNDP and by the Asian Development Banks’ judicial reform programme.
Finally, it was a challenge to leave the law to become a diplomat. I had much to learn. Having a social life again and learning the value of networking and friendships had to be a new acquired skill. As was international trade, health and multilateralism at the World Health Organisation, intellectual property rights at WIPO, and climate change at the UNFCCC. In relation to the last, when I was appointed Chief Negotiator of the Conference of the Parties when Fiji had the Presidency in 2017, I had to embark on a steep and very sudden learning curve on climate change negotiations. And, of course, serving as the President of the Human Rights Council in 2021, amidst COVID restrictions, was challenging. However, the strong network of ambassadors in Geneva, in particular of woman ambassadors, the support of Fijian colleagues in Suva and Geneva, and the vibrant Pacific community in Switzerland, made these challenges relatively painless to overcome.
Asia-Pacific is significantly underrepresented in international criminal law - why do you think this is the case and what can we do to change this?
Speaking for the Pacific, our relatively small size means that the pool of diplomats and lawyers who can participate in international criminal law fora is a limited one. Often the lawyers in a prosecution office are unable to find the time to develop expertise on the international criminal statutes and jurisprudence. The lawyers in Attorney-Generals’ Offices often multitask, with those who are responsible for international human rights obligations such as the universal periodic review or reporting to the CEDAW Committee, given the extra responsibility of “keeping an eye on the International Criminal Court”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be able to keep up with sending a diplomat to the Assembly of State Parties from Brussels or Geneva, but such interest is unlikely to be sustained throughout the year. It is ultimately a question of national priorities and limited resources.
I believe that Pacific Island countries need to be targeted and courted for greater interest in international criminal law. In the context of the ICC, the Court is strengthened by greater diversity. The small number of Pacific Islanders in the Hague is evidence of a lack of relevance of the Court to the region. Asia is similarly underrepresented, but this is partly because of the smaller numbers of non-State parties in the region. I know that the Court is currently working on strategies for greater ratification and/or cooperation. There is much need, in my view, for better engagement with Asia.
At the OTP, it is indeed one of the priorities of Chief Prosecutor Khan, Deputy Prosecutor Niang and myself to have greater diversity at all levels. I am also aware that the International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA) has been active in the past and continues to work towards ensuring greater diversity amongst Defence and Victims’ counsel including from States which are not parties to the Rome Statute. I take this opportunity to call out to and encourage women lawyers from the Asia-Pacific bloc to seriously consider a career in international criminal law. I assure you there is ample space and there is a real need for your presence and active involvement.
What is your advice for people, particularly women, who are embarking on a career in international criminal law?
There are now many opportunities to improve skills and knowledge in international criminal law, and that these should be pursued in a sustained way. I would say that an opportunity to work with teams in an institution dedicated to implementing international criminal law to correct violations and injustices internationally, is a great privilege. Such a privilege must not be wasted.
I would also say that justice and law institutions, even those which have a mandate to deliver international justice are not immune from inequality and privileged work environments. Those who experience unfriendly work environments are often not aware that they are experiencing discrimination and stereotyping. It is important that they should learn how workplace hostility on prohibited grounds of discrimination manifest themselves, so they feel less alone or incompetent when they experience such hostility. As lawyers committed to enabling the delivery of international justice, we have a particular responsibility to not only listen to but to also learn to hear and understand the voices of victims and survivors, with empathy, intelligence and understanding. These victims and survivors often have no other recourse but to trust in our processes which in turn depends on each and every one of us.
Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Khan was profiled by Dato’ Shyamala Alagendra, a Malaysian lawyer. She is presently serving as gender advisor in the UN and previously served as the Gender and Child Rights Advisor to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). She has worked as a Prosecution lawyer at the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in Timor-Leste, Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court (ICC). She also served as Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions of Fiji between 2018-2019. Shyamala has acted as Defence Counsel before the ICC and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). She also served as an investigations team leader with the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). You can read Shyamala’s ATLAS profile here.