NRI is pushing for customary land registration in Papua New Guinea but the federal resource owners of PNG is against it as they say customary land registration will dispose citizens off their numerous landowner claims. Instead of pushing for the registration of customary land more emphasis must be put into amending the Incorporated Land Groups legislation (ILG) as ILGs legislation seeks to extinguish customary law over registered land also the law prohibits a landowner from registering as a member of more than one ILG. PINA NEWS PNG resource owners oppose customary land law By Online Editor 09:49 am GMT+12, 26/07/2013, Papua New Guinea pina.fj/index.php?p=pacnews&m=read&o=51435335351f19d7f162ccc3e32e27 The Resource Owners Federation of Papua New Guinea is against calls made by the National Research Institute (NRI) asking Papua New Guineans to register their customary lands. Federation president Jonathan Paraia says there are significant flaws in the incorporated land groups (ILG) legislation that needed immediate amendments. He says the ILG legislation seeks to extinguish customary law over registered customary land. “The law further prohibits a landowner from registering as a member of more than one ILG. This means that a person who currently holds multiple land claims through his parents, grandparents or other sources will lose all these land claims, except one,” Paraia claimed in a statement. He said ILG system should seek to formally legalise customary law and practices and not to destroy them and dispose citizens of their numerous landownership claims and practices. The federation further noted that ILG legislation is not consistent with the 2007 UN Declaration on the rights of the indigenous people of the world. Paraia said this right seeks to protect cultural practices, traditions and ownership of lands and resources by indigenous people of member countries. “The current ILG legislation seeks to further dispose Papua New Guineans of their cultures, traditions and rights to land and natural resources in accordance with their customary laws,” he said. Paraia said there may be other flaws the federation may have not picked up on. However, he said the federation did not support the current legislation nor support the NRI in its push for customary land to be registered under legislation which he said is flawed. SOURCE: POST COURIER/PACNEWS
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 02:14:55 +0000
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