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10 St. Thomas L. Rev. 197 (1997-1998)
Status of Indigenous Rights in Fiji

handle is hein.journals/stlr10 and id is 205 raw text is: STATUS OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN FIJI NEHLA BASAWAIYA Fiji is an island group located in the southwest Pacific with some 320 islands (106 are inhabited) totaling a land area of over 18,330 sq. km. (7,075 sq. mi.).' Fiji has a population of 772,6552 of which 394,999 (51.1%) are indigenous Fijians,3 the i'Taukee4-while the Indo-Fijians comprise 336,579 (43.6%)' with Chinese, Solomon Islanders, Rotumans, Europeans, and people of mixed race making up the balance. It has been estimated that there are some 15 million indigenous people in the Pacific.7 By comparison, in Australia 250,000 out of a population of approximately 18 million are indigenous8 and in New Zealand, 350,000 out of a popula- tion of approximately 3.3 million are indigenous.9 I. BRIEF HISTORY Fiji has been inhabited by the indigenous population for approxi- mately 2,000 to 2,500 years.' Although based on continuing archaeologi- cal studies, speculation is mounting that it could have been earlier. Life in Fiji was, and still is, communal with a set hierarchy and defined roles in * Legal Officer, Attorney General's Chambers, Suva, Fiji; B. Corn, University of Auck- land; LL.B. University of Tazmania. This paper was delivered at the UN/UNITAR Fellowship Programme in International Law (Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands) on July 31, 1997. The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Graham Leung in providing resource materials for this Article. Mr. Leung was Fiji's representative to the sessions of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations held in Geneva, Switzerland. 1. WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF FACTS 763 (Robert Farmighetti ed., 1996) [hereinafter ALMANAC]. 2. Bureau of Statistics, Census 1996-Provisional Results, STATISTICAL NEWS, No. 8, 1997, 1 [hereinafter Census Results]; see also 4 NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA: MI- CROPEDIA 773 (15th ed. 1993) [hereinafter 4 MICROPkDIA]. 3. Census Results, supra note 2; ALMANAC, supra note 1. 4. RONALD WRIGHT, ON Fin ISLANDS 229 (1996) (defming i'Taukei as Native; land- owner; Fijian. Taukei expresses both belonging to, and ownership of, a place, in a communal sense). 5. Census Results, supra note 2; ALMANAC, supra note 1. 6. Census Results, supra note 2. In comparison, in 1986: Fijians, 329,305; Indians, 348,704; and others 37,366 amounting to a total of 715,375. Id. at 2. 7. IWGIA, THE INDIGENOUs WORLD: 1995-1996, 4-5 (1996). 8. See I NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA: MICROPXDIA 712 (15th ed. 1993); 14 NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA: MACROPEDIA 426 (15th ed. 1993). 9. 8 NEW ENCYCLOPDIA BRrrANNICA: MACROhEDiA 649 (15th ed. 1993). 10. 4 MACROPEDIA, supra note 2, at 774.

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