Now that the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) has made known its intention to sell 1000 acres of its freehold land, I call upon the Government to intervene, and to return ownership of all such FSC freehold lands to the original iTaukei landowners [and not TLTB, unless agreed to by the landowners themselves.
These land should have been, by right, returned to the original iTaukei landowners when the Government, through the FSC, took over from the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) in 1973.
All these lands were alienated from their original iTaukei landowners by various reasons and methods, and this is the opportunity to put them right once and for all.
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The rights of the iTaukei landowners at issue here is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Rights (UNDRIP).
The Government, through its relevant agencies such as the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, Ministry of Sugar and Ministry of Lands, should take necessary action now.
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