Biography 
For a true end to the cycle of coups that has plagued Fiji and to move forward with reconciliation, inclusion of the nation’s women is critical. Following the coup and subsequent political crises of May 2000, Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls and others founded fem’LINKpacific, a women’s media NGO, established to increase the visibility of gender issues and women’s stories within the context of the crisis and to ensure conflict prevention. The organization developed, produced, and distributed community media initiatives at the local, national, and regional levels, including documentation initiatives in Bougainville and the Solomon Islands supported by UNIFEM Pacific. Since October 2000, Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls has been a strong Pacific-based advocate for the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 and in June 2006 was a co-facilitator of the first regional workshop addressing 1325 by the Pacific islands forum secretariat. As secretary of Fiji’s Women, Peace, and Security Coordinating Committee and the National Council of Women in Fiji, Ms. Bhagwan-Rolls strengthens women’s participation in decision-making structures that have too long excluded them. She was the youth and media representative on Fiji’s government delegation to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. Ms. Bhagwan-Rolls was appointed by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women to the expert group meeting on women and media in November 2002. (09.2008)