Reform of leasing regimes for customary land in Fiji

Type Thesis or Dissertation - LLB Thesis
Title Reform of leasing regimes for customary land in Fiji
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2012
URL http://www.otago.ac.nz/law/research/journals/otago041735.pdf
Abstract
In Fiji, nothing is more important than land. It is so important that conflict over proposed land law reform has been the cause of four coup d’états in Fiji since 1970. First as a colony of Britain, then as a fledgling democracy, Fiji has attempted to develop a land system that can meet the conflicting needs of a population that is ethnically divided approximately evenly between iTaukei and Indians. iTaukei hold 87% of the land in Fiji on inalienable customary title: for them, ownership of land is the core of their cultural identity and a guarantee of indigenous privilege. For Indians, the quest to obtain secure land rights is also a matter of identity: it goes to the heart of whether they belong, whether they are “Fijians” or not. The inability of successive Fijian administrations to fashion a sustainable compromise on land policy has polarised the Fijian people, perpetuated a cycle of political instability and retarded Fiji’s economic development. No one initiative would make more of a difference to the future of Fiji than successful land reform.
Because iTaukei land cannot be sold, the solution to the problem of access to land for noniTaukei has been leasing. Because control of iTaukei land is such a sensitive issue, the process for leasing it is heavily regulated. At the centre of the statutory leasing regime is the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB), which, until 2010, held a monopoly on the power to lease iTaukei land. Since the most recent 2006 coup, Commodore Bainimarama’s administration has, refreshingly, made a real effort to tackle Fiji’s bête noire of land reform by implementing substantial reforms to the TLTB and introducing a competing leasing regime called the Land Use Unit. This dissertation will closely analyse the legal features of the two regimes, evaluate their efficacy against objectives derived from customary law and forecast what these changes might mean for the future of Fiji.

The methodology is simple. Chapter One sets the context. Chapter Two builds an evaluative framework based on customary objectives for land. Chapters Three and Four describe relevant features of each regime, apply the evaluative framework and draw conclusions as to the compatibility of each regime with customary objectives. Chapter Five extrapolates the implications of those conclusions and outlines some potential solutions to the problems identified.

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