15 Jul 2010

Fiji NGO welcomes interim government clarification over squatters

11:07 am on 15 July 2010

The Fiji Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy is welcoming clarification from the interim government that people won't be evicted from squatter settlements but that no more people will be allowed to build homes there.

The director says the regime has been talking about evicting squatters for the past two weeks but after ECREA issued a statement querying that stance it said there would not be evictions.

Joseph Camillo says that's what his organisation wanted to hear.

"We wanted dialogue before they would evict persons or families from the settlements. We were concerned that the access to land issues is more complex than just building homes within crown or state land, there are a lot of issues with poverty related to that."

Joseph Camillo says the Prime Minister's Office's support of the Lagilagi project is a good example of how housing and land issues in Fiji can be resolved.