An indigenous rights group in Fiji has expressed concern that the enactment of the government's controversial Qoliqoli Bill will make the indigenous owners of the country's foreshores owners in name only.
The Fiji Sun reports that this submission has been made by the Fiji Indigenous Rights Ownership Association to the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Bill.
Its secretary, Francis Waqa Sokonibogi, says having had the experience of landowners being rendered landless by the Native Lands Trust Board, they are concerned that indigenous qoliqoli owners will be owners in name only and not in essence.
Mr Sokonibogi says their group believes it is necessary to return qoliqoli ownership to its traditional owners or their accredited representatives.
He says the association has based its claims and submission on the relevant sections of the International Labour Organisation Convention governing Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries.
