Forging a Formula for Peaceful Co-Existence in Fiji: a case study on the Citizen's Constitutional Forum
Peter Woodrow
November 1999
A group of Fijian academics and professionals created the Citizens Constitutional Forum (CCF), with the goal of creating national consensus around progressive democratic changes to the new constitution that addressed the power imbalance between Indo-Fijians and ethnic-Fijians. They convened public meetings, attended by politicians and people of influence in Fijian society, to discuss and debate issues of constitutional change. They also sponsored foreign experts in constitutional law to share experiences from other countries. Conciliation Resources, an international NGO based in the UK, provided a variety of assistance in these efforts. At a later stage, CCF conducted a grassroots outreach campaign to explain the proposed changes to the general public.