7 Jan 2010

Call on Fiji squatters to return to countryside

2:58 pm on 7 January 2010

The Fiji Council of Social Services says a solution to the growing population of squatters in Fiji is for people to return to the rural areas.

A four-day forum is being held in Wiloku, near Suva, in an attempt to find ways of improving the living conditions of people in squatter homes.

Representatives from squatter settlements across Fiji as well as government officials, church, youth and business representatives are expected to attend the meetings.

The Director of the Fiji Council of Social Services Hassan Khan says the number squatter homes in Fiji is growing.

He says people should return to where they came from.

"It would be better for people to return to their land in their villages and to do rural or be involved in agriculture because that is one area that keeps growing and there is no shortage of requirement in that area."

Hassan Khan says although he won't attend the forum, he hopes a decision will be made to encourage squatters to stop living on land they don't own.