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The Save the Children Fund in Fiji says the continuing political and economic instability in the country has led to a lot more children working as drug traffickers or prostitutes.
Concern over the increasing number of children involved in drug trafficking was sparked by a recent bust of three school children caught selling drugs in an amusement centre in Labasa.
Last week, the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre reported an increase in young Indo-Fijian girls working as prostitutes in urban centres.
The National Manager for Save the Children Fund in Fiji, Irshad Ali, says there is a growing trend among poor families to send their children out onto the streets.
Given the instability in Fiji, he expects a steady increase in the exploitation of children.
Ali says children from low income families are pushed into activities such as drug trafficking.
He says some children from rural areas develop an extensive knowledge of where drugs can be found while those in urban centres have a steady a network of buyers.
Tourism still down
Fiji's tourism industry is reporting continued recovery but arrival figures are still down a third on those before the coup in May last year.
The country's Reserve Bank says in a statement on Fiji's economy that there are fewer tourists than expected, but there is a possibility that hotel occupancy rates will pick up before the end of the financial year.
The Fiji Visitors Bureau says official figures for the year so far show around 10,000 fewer visitors a month than a year ago.
It says the next challenge for the industry will be the August election, which it hopes will not have a negative impact on tourist numbers and will lead to further stability.
Warning to leave politics to indigenous Fijians
The new president of Fiji's nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party has warned Indo-Fijians and other races to leave political control of the country to indigenous Fijians.
Lasarusa Sovea says otherwise there will be no peace and stability.
Sovea says the non-indigenous must respect the wish of Fijians to be in political control of the country.
He says they can then go about their business and make their money.
Sovea says they cannot have Mahendra Chaudhry in government and they don't want the old guard like Sitiveni Rabuka, Adi Kuini Speed, Dr Tupeni Baba and Poseci Bune in parliament.
Sovea was handpicked to succeed the former president of the Vanua Tako Lavo Party, Iliesa Duvuloco, who is in custody on treason charges with coup leader George Speight.
Chiefs meet as parties form
Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs will meet this week to discuss indigenous Fijian unity amid signs that yet more indigenous political parties will be formed.
In the latest move, caretaker prime minister Laisenia Qarase told Fiji TV that he may be forming his own party, which would make it the third to be set up in seven days.
Last week, he said he would be running as an independent candidate for the Lau province.
Qarase agrees that the more parties there are, the weaker is the position of indigenous Fijians. But he says there's no contradiction in his forming another party because the majority of indigenous Fijians are looking for a new party, a new beginning and a new direction.
The chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, says the chiefs want Fijians to unite under one party.
Fiji has 19 registered parties, most of them indigenous Fijian. The five mainstream Fijian parties are split into two factions each.
NGO threatened by Government
Influential Fiji non-governmental organisation, the Citizens Constitutional Forum, is under threat of de-registration by the authorities.
In a notice issued at the weekend, the registrar of charitable trusts says the CCF must justify its existence within 30 days or face being dissolved.
The move against the trust comes a week before the Suva high court is to hear a constitutional challenge against the president's decision to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections.
That legal action was initiated by the CCF.
The executive director of the CCF, the Reverend Akuila Yabaki, says the purpose of the trust is well known.
The Reverend Yabaki says his organisation enjoys the support of other NGO's and businesspeople to help Fiji out of what he calls its parlous economic state.
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