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Solomon Islands - Initial reports of States parties due in 1997: Addendum [2002] UNCRCSPR 15; CRC/C/51/Add.6 (12 July 2002)
UNITED NATIONS
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|
CRC
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|
Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Distr. GENERAL
CRC/C/51/Add.6 12 July
2002
Original: ENGLISH
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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER
ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION
Initial reports of States parties due in 1997
Addendum
SOLOMON ISLANDS*
[28
February 2001]
*
This report has been issued without formal editing.
GE.02-43222 (E)
040902
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
Introduction 1 -
19 7
A. The land and the people of Solomon Islands 1 - 7 7
B. The
political system and economy 8 - 15 8
C. Situation analysis of children
16 - 19 11
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION 20 -
61 12
A. Measures taken in the past two years to harmonize
national
law and policy with the provisions of the Convention 20 -
30 12
B. Measures taken to strengthen, monitor and implement
the
Convention 31 - 34 15
C. Measures to make the principles and provisions
of the
Convention widely known to adults and children alike 35 -
43 16
D. Preparation of the initial report 44 -
55 18
E. International coordination and cooperation 56 -
57 21
F. General budgetary allocation measures for
child-related
activities 58 - 61 22
II. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD 62 -
73 23
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES 74 - 122 25
A. Non-discrimination 74
- 87 25
B. Best interest of the child 88 - 99 28
C. The rights to
life, survival and development 100 - 107 31
D. Respect for the views of
the child 108 - 122 32
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS 123 -
196 37
A. Name and nationality 123 - 134 37
B. Preservation of
identity 135 - 148 39
C. Freedom of expression 149 - 159 41
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
D. Access to appropriate
information 160 - 167 43
E. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
168 - 173 44
F. Freedom of association and of peaceful assembly 174 -
180 45
G. Protection of privacy 181 - 190 47
H. Right not to be
subject to torture or other cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment or
punishment 191 - 196 49
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE 197 -
254 50
A. Parental responsibilities 197 - 205 50
B. Recovery of
maintenance 206 - 213 51
C. Children deprived of a family environment
214 - 220 53
D. Adoption 221 - 228 54
E. Illicit transfer and
non-return 229 - 231 55
F. Abuse and neglect of children and their
physical and
psychological rehabilitation and social reintegration 232 -
248 56
G. Review of arrangements for children not living with
their
immediate family 249 - 250 60
H. Future implementation of
measures to ensure child
rights in regard to the family environment
and
alternative care 251 - 254 61
VI. BASIC HEALTH AND WELFARE 255
- 347 62
A. Survival and development 255 - 268 62
B. Safe water and
sanitation 269 - 274 67
C. Health status of children under 5 in Solomon
Islands 275 - 286 67
D. Health status of children 5 to 18 in Solomon
Islands 287 - 294 72
E. Adolescent health issues 295 - 307 74
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
F. Nutrition 308 -
315 77
G. Children with disabilities 316 - 332 78
H. Budgetary and
other provisions 333 - 339 83
I. Social security 340 86
J. Living
standards 341 - 344 86
K. Constraints on the effective protection of
children’s
health 345 - 347 87
VII. EDUCATION, LEISURE AND
CULTURAL ACTIVITIES 348 - 394 88
A. Education, including vocational
guidance 348 - 376 88
B. The aims of education 377 -
382 96
C. Children with special needs 383 - 386 98
D. Leisure,
recreation and cultural activities 387 - 394 99
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION
395 - 494 101
A. Children in situations of civil emergency 395 -
411 101
B. Children in conflict with the law 412 -
418 104
C. Children deprived of freedom 419 - 444 107
D. Exploited
children 445 - 491 111
1. Child labour 445 - 460 111
2. Sexual
exploitation and sexual abuse 461 - 471 115
3. Sale, trafficking and
abduction of children 472 - 476 116
4. Drug abuse 477 -
487 117
5. General recommendations 488 - 491 119
E. Children of a
minority or indigenous group 492 - 494 121
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Tables
1. Demographic indicators 7
2. Juvenile offenders, 1991-1995
30
3. Results of 1995 NYC survey of youth associations
46
4. Family/domestic violence, 1990-1992 57
5. Victims indicating
children present during domestic violence incident 58
6. Crimes against
children and youth, 1990-1994 58
7. Crime committed against children (as
per Criminal Code Act (Cap 18)) 59
8. Health indicators of Solomon Islands,
1986 and 1995 68
9. Causes of infant mortality (<1 year old), 1993
68
10. Causes of infant mortality (<1 year old), 1994 69
11. Causes
of childhood mortality (1-5 years), 1993 70
12. Causes of childhood
mortality (1-5 years), 1994 70
13. Paediatric patient statistics, Central
Hospital, 1995 72
14. Distribution of paediatric beds 73
15. Injury
and hospital admissions, 1996 76
16. MHMS recurrent budgets, 1990-1996 in
Solomon Islands dollars 84
17. Summary of major budgetary inputs to health,
MHMS, 1990-1995 85
18. Analysis of major donor allocation to Solomon
Islands Ministry
of Health and Medical Services, 1990-1995
86
19. Total enrolment for primary schools for period 1992-1994
89
20. Standard 6 and Form 1-7 enrolment, 1994-1996 89
21. Criminal
offences committed by juveniles, 1990-1996 105
22. Custody of children,
maintenance and separation 110
23. Adoption 110
24. Divorce
110
25. Referrals (including affiliation - single mothers) 110
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Figures
1. Ministry of Health and Medical Services functional structure
and
organization 63
2. Causes of infant mortality (<1 year old),
1993 69
3. Causes of infant mortality (<1 year old), 1994
69
4. Causes of childhood mortality (1-5 years), 1993 70
5. Causes of
childhood mortality (1-5 years), 1994 70
6. Incidence of severe ARI among
children (1-5 years), 1993-1996 71
7. Incidence of skin diseases among
children (1-5 years), 1993-1996 71
8. Malaria incidence in infants,
1994-1996 71
9. Incidence of diarrhoeal disease among children (1-5 years),
1993-1996 71
10. Leading causes of admission to Children’s Ward
Central Hospital, 1995 72
11. Leading causes of death in Children’s
Ward Central Hospital, 1995 73
12. 1994 enrolment (STD6 - Form 7), by
gender 97
13. 1995 enrolment (STD6 - Form 7), by gender 97
References
136
Annexes*
1. NACC terms of reference
2. Draft policy strategy and outline plan of
action for children
3. ILO Conventions ratified by Solomon Islands
4. JASI draft code of ethics
5. List of legal documents relevant to CRC
* The annexes are available for
consultation in the files of the secretariat.
Introduction
1. The land and the people of Solomon
Islands
- The
Solomon Islands form an archipelago in the South-West Pacific
about
1,900 kilometres north-east of Australia lying between longitudes 155 and 170
degrees east and latitudes 5 to 12 degrees south.
With terrain
ranging from ruggedly mountainous islands to low lying coral atolls, the Solomon
Islands is a 1,400-kilometre chain
from
Papua New Guinea to Vanuatu. The
capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal.
- There
are six large islands, Choiseul, New Georgia, Santa Isabel, Guadalcanal, Malaita
and Makira; about two dozen small islands and
many small islets, atolls and
reefs comprising in all 922 islands or atolls scattered over 800,000 square
kilometres of sea. The
landmass is 28,369 square kilometres,
30 per cent of which is considered potentially arable. The islands
are part of the Pacific
volcanic rim with several active and dormant volcanoes.
The islands also lie on a major earthquake belt and all islands are subject
to
earthquakes.
- The
weather is hot with daily mean temperatures between 21 and 30 degree Celsius and
very humid. Yearly rainfall averages 3,000 to
3,500 millimetres. Although
there are no clearly defined seasons, the heaviest rainfall comes from December
to March. Cyclones
also occur during this period. The worst cyclone in memory,
Cyclone Namu, in 1986 resulted in more than US$ 100 million worth of
damage
and over 100 people dead.
- At
the end of 1996 the Solomon Islands had an estimated population of 402,000 with
an annual growth rate of 3.2 per cent. Fertility
levels are high with
an estimated rate of 5.4 in 1995 but is on a decline. Similarly, crude birth
rates and crude death rates are
also declining (see
table 1). The
population is characterized by a young age structure with about
45 per cent of the population less than 15 years of
age. The infant
mortality rate was estimated to be 38 per
1,000 live births in 1995 and life
expectancy for males and females, at 65 years in 1995. The maternal mortality
rate based on the
sisterhood method was 549 per 100,000 births in 1992; it is
widely believed that the rate is an overestimate. The country is still
in the
early stages of demographic transition characterized by the decline in
population growth rates and fertility. There is evidence
of a decrease in
mortality rates from infectious diseases.
Table 1
Demographic indicators
Indicator
|
1976a
|
1986b
|
1995b
|
2000b
|
Total population
|
196.823
|
285.176
|
394.003
|
431.000
|
Population growth rate (%)
|
2.5
|
3.5
|
3.1
|
3.1
|
Total fertility rate (women 1549 years)
|
7.4
|
6.1
|
5.4
|
5.1
|
Crude death rate (per 1,000 pop.)
|
10.0
|
10.0
|
7.0
|
6.0
|
Crude birth rate (per 1,000 pop.)
|
45
|
42
|
38
|
37
|
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)
|
67
|
38
|
38
|
36
|
Average life expectancy at birth (years)
|
54
|
60
|
65
|
67
|
a From Government Census reports (1976, 1986) -
Ministry of Finance, Statistics Office.
b Estimates
from World Bank reports (World Bank (1994) Health Priorities and Options in
Pacific Member Countries).
- The
people live in over 5,000 villages, seven townships and the capital, Honiara,
with an estimated population of 63,000 persons in
1995. Only
16 per cent of the population resides in urban or peri-urban areas;
however, rural to urban migration is high (MHMS,
1996).
- Solomon Islands
is home to people of many races, cultures, languages and customs. The
predominant race is Melanesian (93.3 per cent)
followed by Polynesian
(4 per cent), Micronesian (1.5 per cent) and others
(1.2 per cent). The majority of Solomon Islanders are
Christians
(99 per cent). Although Christianity has had a profound influence,
traditional social structures and customs remain important.
Kinship, traced
patrilineally amongst some peoples but most commonly matrilineally, remains the
basis of Solomon Islands culture.
Traditionally Solomon Islanders
have lived closely within their own kin group and have been bound by group norms
and obligations
rather than individual expectations. This aspect of culture is
known as the “wantok system”. The wantok system emphasizes
the
responsibilities that group members have to care for each other and to help each
other with food, shelter, clothing, monies and
work. Family ties in
Solomon Islands are very strong. The young, sick and old always have the
care of the extended family and children
freely move and are cared for amongst
the family members including even distant relatives. The social network is an
effective safety
net for Solomon Islands’ children and continues to
protect most people from absolute poverty.
- About
87 distinct languages are spoken throughout the country. Pijin is the lingua
franca and English is the official language.
Use of Pijin generally decreases
as one leaves the town areas and Guadalcanal Province. Dissemination of
information in understandable
forms, therefore, can be a challenge in the
Solomon Islands. This also has implications for the dissemination of the
Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as well as this initial country
report.[1]
2. The political system and economy
- The
Solomon Islands, which gained independence from Great Britain on
7 July 1978, is a sovereign democratic State and has a unicameral
legislature, the National Parliament with 47 elected members. It is
administratively divided into nine provinces and a municipal
authority, each
with their own political and administrative structures, thereby resembling a
federal system of government.
- The
Parliament members are elected either on a political party basis or as
independents, for a four-year term of office. After elections
took place on 6
August 1997, the Solomon Islands Alliance for Change (SIAC), a coalition,
organized to form the present Government.
There is currently one female Member
of Parliament, although 14 women stood for election in 1997.
- Solomon Islands
is a member of the Commonwealth. The British Monarch, as Head of State, is
represented locally by a governor-general
who is recommended to the Queen by the
National Parliament. The governmental and political institutions of
Solomon Islands are firmly
established in theory and practice on principles
and systems of democratic governance. These institutions have an exemplary
record
on human rights consistent with the high ideals of the United Nations
Charter. Civil order, harmonious ethnic and religious relations
and a peaceful
social environment have characterized the Solomon Islands in its
relationships with both its
regional and global neighbours. The Papua New Guinea “Bougainville
Crisis” in the past few years has, however, had its
spillover effects,
straining the political relationship between the two countries.
Solomon Islands, in providing humanitarian services
- especially medical
care and shelter - for the women and children of Bougainville who have crossed
the border to Solomon Islands,
has been wrongly accused by Papua New Guinea
of siding with the rebels on Bougainville. Papua New Guinea has violated
international
laws by staging military
incursions into Solomon Islands
with resultant damage to properties and killing of several
Solomon Islanders in the process. The
crisis reached critical levels in
June 1996. At that time Solomon Islands presented its case before the
United Nations for resolution
in a peaceful manner. Currently, the Prime
Ministers of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea are actively involved
in seeking
a peaceful resolution in Bougainville.
[Editorial Note:
In early July 1997, Solomon Island’s Government signed a border treaty
with Papua New Guinea.[2] The
Solomon Islands Government facilitated the first round of peace talks held
5-18 July 1997 by ensuring safe passage of Bougainvillean
leaders to and from
talks held in Burnham (Christchurch) New
Zealand.[3] The talks produced
the Burnham Declaration that called for a ceasefire, withdrawal of the PNG
defence forces and acceptance of the
United Nations peacekeeping force on
the island.[4] A
Solomon Islands Government delegation participated for the first time as an
observer in the second round of peace talks in Burnham
from 110 October.
At that time it was “agreed that traditional border crossing arrangements
on the PNG an [sic] Solomon Islands
border may be set up in the same manner
as in the border agreement with Australia and
Indonesia”.[5] An
unarmed force of 150 New Zealand troops began landing on Bougainville in
December 1997. Up to 260 troops were ultimately to
be deployed there from New
Zealand, Australia and other South Pacific
countries.[6] The Prime
Ministers of both PNG and Solomon Islands spent Christmas 1997 on
Bougainville to emphasize their personal commitments
to resolution of the
crisis. There was great optimism that the truce would be a precursor to a full
cessation of violence in Bougainville.
Subsequent peace talks, facilitated by
the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, have been held in New Zealand
(January 1998)[7] and
Australia.]
- The
1978 Constitution, the supreme law of the Solomon Islands, emphasizes
fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens and conforms to all major United
Nations instruments regarding representation, customs, traditions, cultural
inheritance and land rights. Citizenship is acquired
by birth, descent, and
naturalization or by registration. The Constitution guarantees the rights of
the individual to life, security, property, expression, protection of privacy,
assembly, association and
religion.
- The
economy of Solomon Islands is dualistic with a large rural subsistence
sector and an urban monetized sector. The subsistence
agricultural sector
provides the main source of livelihood for about 86 per cent of the
population. Economic activity is dominated
by production for local consumption
and some export of primary commodities, principally of logs, fish, palm oil and
copra. Minerals
such as gold, nickel, bauxite and oil are also being explored.
Mining for gold and nickel is now underway. Per capita Gross National
Product
(GNP) was estimated at US$ 560 in 1992. During 1990-95 annual economic
growth averaged 5.4 per cent. Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) in 1995
was 7 per cent, an increase of 1.8 per cent from 1994.
Using the UNDP Human Development Index the country is ranked 125 in the Low
Human Development Category.[8]
The primary goal of the government economic policy is improvement of the welfare
of the majority of Solomon Islanders. Thus the
macroeconomic policy goals
for the period 1997 to 2001, as stipulated in the Government Statement of
Policies, are to:
Re-direct and redeploy resources from the public
sector to the private sector;
Provide a stable economy that ensures low inflation and interest rates,
increased rate of employment, stable exchange rate and reduced
balance of
payments deficit;
Re-establish confidence in the securities market by
settling outstanding securities debts;
Broaden the tax base and reduce
appropriate tax rates;
Encourage private investment, both local and foreign, through the provision
of a cohesive policy framework and consistent decision-making;
Improve
public finance and the accountability system;
Emphasize the sustainable harvesting of the country’s forest, marine,
mineral and agricultural resources that yield various
benefits to the resources
and the Government.[9]
- Despite
good economic prospects, employment opportunities increased only marginally in
the period 1993-1996. Of an estimated labour
force size of 158,310 in 1995,
only 34,211 (21.6 per cent) were in formal employment; the majority
(78.4 per cent) were in subsistence
livelihood. Between 1986 and 1996
an average of only 600 jobs were created annually in the formal sector to cater
for only 10 per
cent of the total emerging labour force. This meant
that the remaining 90 per cent would either have been absorbed into
the informal
or subsistence sector or would have joined the ranks of the
unemployed. Youth unemployment is increasing.
- The
SIAC government moved to devalue the Solomon Islands Dollar by
20 per cent on Monday, 15 December 1997. The effects of this decision
on the welfare of children remain to be seen. The intention was to stimulate
exports and decrease dependence on imports. Most Solomon
Islands exports
consist of raw products, i.e. round log timber or processed products such as
frozen, dried or tinned fish, palm oil,
kernels and copra. Many of these
markets currently suffer constraints beyond those of price; therefore, the
positive effects sought
by the devaluation are likely to be delayed. In
addition, there may be adverse consequences for some locally produced goods and
services, for example:
There is no local feed industry for chicken or other livestock production, so
local meat and egg production may be hindered by prices
of imported feed.
Certainly these protein foods will become more expensive in the short run and
reliance on more economic protein
sources should increase. Alternatively,
protein may be further eliminated from children’s diets, especially in
town areas,
which operate on a cash economy;
Solomon Islands are geographically widely dispersed; therefore, outreach
programmes are heavily reliant on imported fuel. Programmes
receiving external
donor support for transport costs may actually improve the value of their
programmes in real terms. However,
many donors view transport costs as a
maintenance expense and, therefore, expect Government to pay such costs.
Therefore, government
programmes’ outreach efforts will have to be
curtailed. It is predictable, therefore, that there are likely to be adverse
effects upon the delivery of services affecting children in many instances;
Transport operators have raised fares, which are already difficult to meet
for people with low earnings. This also affects the cost
and availability of
market produce, usually grown some distance from market centres. Bus operators
have raised fares effective March
1998. Children within Honiara town area
experienced a 100 per cent fare increase from 50 cents to $1.00.
Solomon Islands College
of Higher Education (SICHE) students’ rates
rose 200 per cent to reflect their age status as adults, from 50 cents
to $1.50.
Adult town riders’ fares increased 50 per cent, from
$1.00 to $1.50. Long distance fares went up lesser percentages in
acknowledgement
of the dependence of these riders on this means of
transport.[10]
- The
effects of the monetary devaluation upon children who live in town may be
significant, especially as some school children in town
already may suffer
nutritionally and are dependent on public transport to reach school on
time.
C. Situation analysis of children
- The
extended family system in Solomon Islands is under pressure from
socio-economic changes whereby the shift to a monetized economy
is slowly
eroding the traditional social security system, which is based on a rural
subsistence economy. Families are becoming more
dependent on cash rather than
on their land with its rich resources for their livelihood. Some members of
families are being bribed
by foreign companies for their resources such as
timber
and fish, which have been harvested at unsustainable levels.
Monies received as royalties from such business ventures often benefit
only a
few members of the family rather than being distributed on a communal interest
basis.
- Education
is neither compulsory nor free. Estimates in 1993 suggested
25 per cent of children leave school after completion of grade
six and
only 5.6 per cent of children enrolling in grade one will complete
secondary education at grade 11. The main reason for
the school dropouts is
lack of adequate schools hence the term “pushouts” has been used as
frequently the term “dropouts”.
Educational opportunity for the
girl child in a family is often subordinated to that of the boy. However, this
situation is beginning
to change toward more equal opportunities for boys and
girls. Many parents have historically been reluctant to allow girls to leave
the protection of the village. Only 37 per cent of secondary school
students in 1995 were
girls.[11] Early childhood
education has been promoted since 1986.
- There
are clearly significant social problems emerging in the country. Many of these
problems affect young people, e.g., single teenage
motherhood, sexually
transmitted disease (STD), youth delinquency, sexual and physical abuse, youth
suicide, alcohol and drug abuse
are reported to be on the
increase.[12] Rural-urban
migration, amongst the young and educated, is a growing phenomenon. Both
Honiara and the recently established Noro
Township have attracted increasing
numbers of young people and families, adding to increasing pressures on existing
infrastructure.
Those who migrate from villages have to face conflicts between
traditional and modern values. Frequently people are ill prepared
to handle
this conflict and find they begin indulging in unhealthy behaviour and
lifestyles.[13] Increasing
divorce rates indicate a weakening of traditional family unit upon which
children depend for their security. Such factors
may be giving rise to the
recent phenomenon of homeless children. There is concern now that such
phenomena may grow more serious
in the future. Youth unemployment, particularly
in town centres, is a contributing factor to the number of crimes committed by
this
age group.
- Considerable
progress has been made in improving the health status of children in the past
decade. Mortality and morbidity from infectious
diseases are decreasing.
However, acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, malaria and other infectious
diseases remain important
health problems for children in
Solomon Islands.[14]
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION
A. Measures taken in the past two years to harmonize national
law
and policy with the provisions of the Convention
- The
Cabinet of Solomon Islands formally established in August 1993 the National
Advisory Committee on Children (NACC) consisting of
representatives of
government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and church organizations. NACC
has an advisory role to the Government
on child issues and was charged with the
task of formulating a National Policy on Children and Plan of Action. To date
that policy
and plan of action has not been endorsed by
Cabinet.
- Also
in 1993, the legal representative in the NACC briefly reviewed existing national
laws as they related to the provisions of the
CRC and drafted a Child Rights
Bill. The draft Child Bill sought to ensure that the provisions of the CRC
(especially articles 6,
13, 14, 15, 16, 31, 32, 36, 37 and 40) should have the
force of law in Solomon Islands. The draft bill was kept in abeyance as
the
Law Reform Commission (LRC) appointed in 1995 was still in the process (at
the time of this report preparation) of reviewing and
recommending reforms where
required to existing laws. NACC decided that it should make a submission to the
LRC to revise relevant
existing laws taking into consideration the CRC
provisions; however, to date this has not been done.
- Existing
laws related to human rights, women and children were mainly derived from the
laws of the United Kingdom and are mostly consistent
with the provisions of the
CRC. The Solomon Islands Constitution Chapter II contains a list of
individual rights and freedoms conferred upon all citizens, which
include:
Right to life;
Right to personal
liberty;
Freedom from inhumane treatment, including inhuman or degrading
punishment;
Protection of the law;
Right to freedom of thought,
religion or belief;
Right to freedom of expression;
Right to
freedom of movement within Solomon Islands;
Protection from discrimination on the ground of colour, race, place of
origin, creed or sex or political opinion.
These rights and freedoms are
subject to exceptions especially on the grounds of public interest.
- In
1994, the Government created the Ministry for Youth, Women, Sports and
Recreation (MYWSR) and charged it with the responsibility
of dealing with
children’s issues. It was the lead ministry in Government for
children’s affairs until early 1997 when
it was
abolished.[15] Questions
concerning the present status of NACC chairmanship and of children, generally,
should been resolved by the current SIAC
government’s re-establishment of
a Ministry of Youth, Women and Sports. Although there have been efforts within
MYWSR in the
past to establish a position within the Youth Division dedicated to
children’s affairs, the close association between youth
and
children’s issues may be
problematic.[16] Issues -
excluding health - affecting children under the age of 15 have historically been
closely tied to the lead ministry for
women’s affairs. This association,
while better than nothing, has obscured the importance of issues affecting
children, who
constitute a large group of Solomon Islands’ citizenry.
School age children and their concerns are considered to come under
the auspices
of the Ministry of Education. However, a large number of the 5 to 18 year old
age group is not in school and, therefore,
overlooked by policy makers. There
has been little evidence since early 1997 to suggest that children’s
issues are of more
than peripheral interest to the Government. In January
1998, it was discovered there was no governmental portfolio for children.
The NACC continues to seek within the public sector, establishment of a
children’s affairs officer whose primary job description
would include
monitoring progress on the implementation of the CRC and a children’s
policy. This would ensure that inputs
from various sectors are shared and
coordinated. Establishment of such a position would also facilitate development
of a national
database and ensure emplacement of necessary monitoring practices
for the implementation of the CRC as well as a children’s
policy, once
adopted by Cabinet.
- According
to NACC minutes, dated 6 September 1994, a draft children’s policy
paper[17] was at that time to
have been submitted to the Minister of MYWSR. This was to have been facilitated
by the Permanent Secretary (PS)
for MYWSR who was to advise the Minister. After
the draft child policy was finalized the NACC’s policy subcommittee was to
have met with the PS of MYWSR. The PS of MYWSR was then to prepare the
necessary cabinet paper for transmission to the Cabinet for
approval/endorsement. NACC minutes, dated 2 February 1995, stated
that a policy subcommittee was then arranging to meet with a new
Minister and PS
for the MYWSR.[18]
Subsequent NACC minutes, dated 13 April 1995, stated that the PS of MYWSR had
become the chair of the NACC. The 1 June 1995 minutes
stated that the required
cabinet paper would be prepared by the
NACC.[19] Minutes dated 14
March 1996 confirm that the policy and/or cabinet paper had been presented to
the Policy and Evaluation Unit of
the Office of the Prime Minister toward the
end of 1995. As of March 1998 the policy had not emerged from the Policy and
Evaluation
Unit for presentation to Cabinet. Uncertainty about ministerial
leadership for the NACC since March 1996 has contributed to the
plan’s
failure to be presented to Cabinet for endorsement.
- A
draft National Women’s Policy was also completed in 1994 and debated in
Cabinet several times. The draft policy is currently
being revised to take into
consideration the wishes of the Cabinet. Cabinet concerns have focused on
reconciling the issue of preservation
of local culture with the roles women play
in society; especially their role as parents, while recognising the need to
raise the
status of women and promote gender equity. A working group has been
formed headed by the President of the National Council of Women
(NCW) to review
the policy and develop strategies to facilitate its passage. The other
objective of the working group is to look
at ways to strengthen the NCW. As of
February 1998, no National Women’s Policy has yet been adopted; however,
it is still
on the Government’s agenda.
- The
Prime Minister signed the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and
Development of Children and the Plan of Action of
the 1990 World Summit for
Children in November 1992. Since then, the Ministry of Health and Medical
Services has incorporated in
its health policies, programmes and activities the
health sector World Summit goals as reflected in its National Health Plans
1990-1994
and its new Draft Plan 1997-2001.
- The
Ministry of Health has formulated and submitted for Cabinet endorsement the
following policies:
National Food and Nutrition Policy in
1995;
Breastfeeding Policy in 1996;
Revised Expanded Programme of Immunization Policy (that includes Hepatitis B
vaccination despite its costs) in 1995.
These policies specifically
considered and included the provisions of the CRC and the interest of the child
as related to child survival,
protection and development. Copies of the
policies have been circulated widely including amongst the private sector.
Public awareness
programmes have been conducted, especially in implementing the
provisions of the Breastfeeding Policy which encourages working women
to
continue to breastfeed by providing time throughout the day to
do
so.
- With
the goal of providing greater numbers of children access to higher levels of
education and also provide for a steady increase
in the provision of education
services, education policy recently changed. Schools that are committed to
establishing secondary
level grades are now allowed to create and add them
incrementally to existing primary schools. For example, Form 1 (Grade 7) -
added
to a school previously terminating with Grade 6 - effectively offers more
places to students who would have become “push outs”
due to lack of
sufficient school facilities into which to transfer. Under this plan additional
grade levels will be added as staff
and materials become available until a full
secondary school exists at the site in addition to the original primary
school.
- A
National Youth Policy Workshop, sponsored by the Commonwealth Youth Programme
(CYP) was conducted in Honiara 15-17 April 1997.
An eight-member task force
comprising representatives from government, young people, non-governmental
organizations and churches
was chosen to draft a national youth policy. Another
aspect of their work was to put more substance into the National Youth Policy
White Paper, drafted in the 1980s to look at the interests of the
country’s youth. By the year 2000 Solomon Islands should
have a
fully completed National Youth Policy framework that can help organizations to
develop relevant programmes and activities
for Solomon Islands’
youth.
- Plans
are currently under way via the Ministry of Police to involve youth and other
members of the unemployed in community policing
projects with the aim to help
them develop skills useful to their development. A branch of the police force
known as the Special
Constabulary could attract more young people into police
work, offering motivation and involvement in constructive programmes while
addressing the growing dissatisfaction amongst youth who are currently unable to
find employment. Another goal of community policing
is the improvement of
relations between police and the respective communities in which many young
people are unemployed.[20]
B. Measures taken to strengthen, monitor and implement the
Convention
- The
NACC is the national authority charged with the responsibility of monitoring and
reporting on the CRC implementation process.
The NACC terms of reference and
membership were revised in 1996 to include new members such as the Family
Support Centre (FSC) and
the Ministry of Justice. Steps are being considered to
make NACC an independent body with authority to influence decisions at all
levels on child issues via legal provisions in a “Child Rights Act”.
The legal representative in NACC is responsible
to pursue this
objective.
- A
training workshop on “monitoring of the CRC” was also conducted in
October 1995 for participants of various sectors
including NGO representatives.
The workshop imparted knowledge and equipped participants with necessary
information and basic monitoring
tools and processes. The expected roles of the
participants were to monitor and report on the implementation of CRC activities
in
their sectors. The NACC members’ additional roles now include the
incorporation of the CRC provisions in their respective
sectoral
plans.
- In
1995 a group of individuals representing the National Council of Women, the
police force, NGOs and the social welfare department
formed a coalition called
the Victim Support Group (VSG). Their basic task was to see how best the issues
of domestic violence and
all forms of abuse (physical, verbal, emotional and
sexual) could be addressed. In such circumstances women and children are
usually
the victims or suffer the indirect effects of living in an abusive
household. The VSG was successful in obtaining funding support
mostly from
international aid donors. A major achievement of the VSG was the establishment
in 1995 of the Family Support Centre
(FSC). The FSC aims to address the high
incidence of domestic violence, sexual abuse and child abuse via counselling for
individuals,
couples and other family members and via awareness raising
programmes and limited legal services. The Family Support Centre promotes
the
concept of violence free families and relationships through its programmes and
services.
- The
Law Reform Commission
(LRC)[21] has been set up
since accession to CRC and is currently examining marriage and divorce laws,
land tenure and other laws. Any person, organization or interested party may
make submission to the Chairman of the Law Reform Commission. Submissions
may include proposals for changes to existing laws. After consideration of
these proposals and further research, the
LRC may recommend changes to the
Minister of Justice who instructs the Attorney General’s Chambers to draft
the proposed amendment
or law. The law is then presented to Parliament in the
form of a Bill, and if passed, becomes an Act of Parliament. The potential
exists then for current legislation to be modified, especially with regard to
protecting children from current inequities in the
law or addressing directly
needs which are absent from existing laws. In this way the presence of the LRC
has the potential to facilitate
change in a very tangible way.
C. Measures to make the principles and provisions of the
Convention
widely known to adults and children alike
- The
NACC as part of its role of advocacy of the CRC has produced/published the
following information
documents:[22]
“Children First”, in 1993, where several thousand copies were
printed and distributed to all sectors including schools
and private
organizations. “Children First” outlined in simple English the
basic facts of our children’s situation
as determined by the UNICEF
sponsored “Situation Analysis of Women and Children in the
Solomon Islands” done
in 1991. This analysis stated what actions need to be taken and also
provided a brief outline of children’s rights in the
CRC. The publication
was very popular and so multifaceted that it has been used as resource material
by schools, churches and other
institutions. It has also been translated into
several local languages;
“Kids Come First” is a quarterly publication of NACC, first
published in 1994, which disseminates news and views on child
issues and the
CRC. It is distributed amongst healthcare workers and also widely to the
public. A feedback form is always attached
which recipients are asked to fill
in and return;
“Children’s Calendars for 1995, 1996 and 1997” have been
produced highlighting issues on children and women in
relation to the CRC.
Photographs of children and relevant articles of the CRC are mentioned to target
the adult audience. Unfortunately
there was no calendar produced for
1998;
Leaflets have been produced on the CRC for interested groups, e.g. the
Honiara Preschool Association, and for particular occasions,
e.g. Family Health
Week;
An updated edition of SIG/UNICEF’s Solomon Islands’
Situation Analysis of Children was due to have been published in
1997. It is
unclear when an updated version will be published.
- Soroptimists
International Solomon Islands (SISI) produced “Happy Healthy
Family” in partnership with MHMS in July 1997.
It was printed bilingually
using English and Pijin text. Using simple illustrations, its content discusses
essential child health
information, including: immunization, diarrhoea,
birth-timing, safe-motherhood, breastfeeding, child growth, managing coughs,
colds
and flu, hygiene, malaria, child development and AIDS. It specifically
relates its purpose to the goals of the CRC and is intended
for use by health
workers, adult literacy groups, teachers, teacher trainers, religious leaders,
political leaders, women’s
groups, youth groups and other community
groups. Assistance from interested community service organizations like SISI
continues
to help the Government meet its ongoing need for simple health
information.[23]
- In
cooperation with the media, especially the Solomon Islands Broadcasting
Corporation (SIBC), special radio programming on children’s
issues - with
the active participation of children themselves - was done twice, in
1995 and 1996. The Children’s Day of Broadcast
was originally envisioned
as an annual event where various activities such as stories, interviews with
children, songs etc. would
be broadcast nationwide including panel discussions
and telephone questionand-answer sessions. The focus of these activities for
the past two years has been on aspects of the CRC. As a result of this annual
day of broadcast, a daily radio programme for children
has been revived. This
includes contributions from children themselves, awareness raising on the CRC,
stories for children,
etc.[24]
- Other
radio coverage of the CRC includes a weekly spot on a programme directed to
adults. Parents are targeted and informed of their
children’s rights and
needs in order that they better understand the role of parenting in supporting
children’s needs.
Such information is valuable for parents in learning to
identify which of their actions may not be helpful to the development of
their
children. Plans include continued periodic radio spots, a regular radio
programme exclusively on children’s rights,
newspaper advertising and
leaflets on various aspects of the CRC.
- Talks
are held with church workers, health workers, nurses, etc. who have close
contacts with parents in communities and who also
have their respect. They are
informed on specific knowledge of the CRC and relate this to their work when
advising or counselling
parents and/or families. Talks are also conducted at
local schools and directed specifically to introducing aspects of the CRC to
students and staff.
- The
CRC has been copied, reproduced and circulated to all relevant sectors,
especially to the participants of the 1995 CRC reporting
workshop, for their
reference and information. It is the intention of NACC to ensure the inclusion
of the CRC provisions into the
curricula of schools, training institutions,
etc.
- The
Distance Education project with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services
(MHMS), has created a new “Paediatric Course”
component for distance
nurse training, includes a course unit which mentions the goals of the CRC. By
illustrating course assignments
utilising local situations, the concepts of the
CRC will become more concrete for the health-care workers who use this
opportunity
to update their skills. Awareness of Solomon Islands’
children’s rights and needs amongst health workers is directly
addressed
and increased through such measures. The Paediatric Course is currently being
implemented. The training programme itself
is quite popular and currently has a
significant waiting list.
- The
Family Support Centre has covered the CRC topic during several workshops. The
First Child Abuse Awareness Raising Workshop involved
20 participants, mainly
teachers and nurses and was held 27-28 May 1996. A guest speaker from NACC
spent about an hour talking about
the articles of the Convention. Each
participant received a copy of the Convention. The Second Child Abuse Awareness
Raising Workshop
was held 4-5 December 1996 and also devoted about an hour to
the CRC. There were 13 participants and each received a copy of the
Convention.
A Family Violence Workshop, held 6-9 May 1997 in Munda, Western Province, again
allocated an hour to raising awareness
of the Convention. There were 30 female
participants who learned about the Articles of the Convention and about the
rights of children.
Representatives of the Centre frequently conduct workshops,
other talks and lectures in which child abuse and rights of children
are
covered; however, time constraints have usually made detailed discussion of the
Articles impractical. The Convention on the
Rights of the Child will continue
to be included in future workshops, lectures, talks and radio programmes
conducted by the Family
Support Centre.
- There
are currently plans to improve student teachers’ understanding of the CRC
and involve non-student young people in theatre
productions devoted to
disseminating the goals of the CRC. This work is being developed through a
volunteer drama instructor placed
in the Solomon Islands College of Higher
Education in Honiara and is to be facilitated by funding from UNICEF. This
project should
commence in September 1998.
D. Preparation of the initial report
- The
process of preparing this report has been prolonged. Cabinet formally
established the National Advisory Committee on Children
in August
1993.[25] Solomon
Islands’ Government acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
in October 1994. The instrument of accession
was sent to the United Nations as
of 6 April 1995, bringing the CRC into force in Solomon Islands in early May
1995. With a view
to compiling this report, steps were taken in early 1995 by
the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth, Women, Sports and Recreation
to advocate for a full-time officer responsible for children’s affairs
within the Ministry of Youth, Women, Sports and
Recreation.[26] This
position was never established and the Ministry itself was dissolved early in
1997.[27] In October 1995 a
workshop was held in Honiara for Committee members and others considered
integral to the reporting process. Although
there was good attendance, momentum
for executing the report was not established. In May 1996 guidelines were sent
out to “responsible
people” to help them prepare component
reports.[28] In
September 1996 another workshop was to have been held in Honiara to provide
additional guidance to members of the NACC involved
in reporting; however, this
workshop did not eventuate.
- The
goal of the Committee was to involve its members in writing portions of this
report relevant to their own particular areas of
expertise.[29] As is often
the case in committees, the NACC did not enjoy full participation of its
rostered members in this
task.[30] Some active
Committee members, though taking their assignments seriously, found it quite
difficult to devote necessary time away
from their other duties towards this
project. Several others found that their particular assignments required more
research time
due to the demands of working with a relatively unfamiliar topic.
Therefore, many months passed and the two-year April 1997 reporting
deadline was
quite close before any component reports
materialized.[31]
- Once
significant numbers of component reports began to be received in early 1997 it
was apparent that not all writers had adequately
addressed the guideline
questions. This occurred either because writers were not aware of either
relevant statistics or other information
particular to a topic question, or
perhaps writers may have felt guideline questions were not relevant to Solomon
Islands’
situation. With the support of the NACC Secretariat, a volunteer
editor began working in March 1997 to edit component reports and
query various
sources for more information relevant to the guideline questions. This process
was neither efficient nor very productive.
This also resulted in significant
editing delays when information was promised, but then delayed or never
produced.
- A
skeletal first draft was distributed in June 1997 amongst the NACC Committee
members for feedback. Written comments were returned
from active members only.
No feedback was received from the inactive majority. Two working
meetings addressed some of the gaps in information in the early sections of the
first draft report. Subsequently, some
of the gaps and differences of opinion
regarding information in that draft were ameliorated. The subsequent three
drafts, however,
have not benefited from similar working group
input.[32] Omissions in
report content combined with weak Committee participation have continued to
present difficulties for the final draft
of this report. For example, without
representation from
Solomon Islands Christian Association (SICA)
there is no substantial information in the report on the efforts to meet
children’s
needs through measures implemented by churches. Many
inconsistencies in dates and data continue to be discovered. Without NACC
members’ input, careful reading and revision for inconsistencies, the
accuracy of some statements may certainly be called into
question. With the
report’s publication there is, of course, the likelihood that relevant
information previously “unavailable”
may suddenly surface. The
editor had hoped to obtain more assistance locating such information before the
report was finalized.
- Statistics
relevant to children have been consistently unavailable from different sectors.
Generally speaking, there has been no
emphasis, historically - in many
governmental ministries - to take due note of children, with the notable
exceptions of the Ministry
of Health and Medical
Services[33] (MHMS) and the
Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development (MEHRD). Non-governmental
organizations have also been very
weak in terms of internal data collection.
Many organizations do not track numbers of people reached at workshops or talks
conducted.
It is also unusual for youth organizations to keep records of
membership, e.g. Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, church youth groups, etc.
There is no
national database for collection of such information despite the existence of
the National Youth Congress and the Ministry
of Youth, Women and
Sports.
- There
are few graphs or tables shown in the report section devoted to education, while
the section on health has quite a number of
tables, graphs and figures. In the
case of governmental sectors this inconsistency has a great deal to do with the
degree to which
particular ministries participated in report writing.
Additionally, editorial requests for information have only infrequently been
made outside of the Committee
membership.[34] This has
resulted in asking the same people for more information and has meant only
limited discovery of information from outside
sources. Reliability of data
posed another problematic consideration
for the reporting process. In some cases, the raw data may have been
accessible; however, time for processing and compiling such
data into a relevant
format for this report was not available. Such data urgently needs to be
compiled and updated regularly in
an effort to establish baseline indicators for
subsequent monitoring reports.
- The
need to establish and improve mechanisms for collecting statistical data and
other information relevant to the status of children
in Solomon Islands is
paramount. There may indeed be a need for technical assistance in this
area; however, of graver concern is whether there is multisectoral governmental
and non-governmental support for collecting such data. Although the need for
broadly based, freely-shared data is necessary for
continued monitoring and
reporting on the CRC (and this may be cited as reason enough for initiating such
processes) a deeper commitment
from Government itself must be shown. To date
efforts to institutionalize mechanisms necessary for monitoring and reporting on
the
CRC have failed.[35] It
is unclear how a cross-sectoral database would be supported or maintained
amongst current government ministries and other organizations
serving on the
NACC.
- It
is especially desirable that an established reporting mechanism be protected as
much as possible from the constraints brought about
by struggles to balance
budgets and implement austerity measures. Rather than creating just another
competing interest to drain
resources from government budgets, such a reporting
mechanism must be seen as a programme essential for the continued progress of
the country. Whether this need is meaningfully answered will indicate the
presence of commitment to children’s issues of present
and future
governments.
- The
last governmental census was taken in 1986. The European Union has approved a
grant of SI$ 9.8 million to conduct the next census
in November 1998 and plans
are going ahead.[36]
However, it is unclear what precisely what information will be collected and at
what point information may become available to policy
makers, planners or the
general public. Population projections based on an average growth rate of 3.5
per cent calculated from previous
censuses estimated the total population at the
end of 1997 to be 400,000. This compares to
the 1986 actual census
population figure of 285,176. Such large discrepancies call into question the
adequacy of such projections
for effectively determining current planning needs.
The NACC has corresponded with the Statistics Division of the Ministry of
Finance
requesting that certain types of information could be included in the
upcoming census process. Such information could provide helpful
indicators for
the status of children in the country. No official response was received to
that query. However, this initiative
once again highlights the vital need for
the NACC to maintain a proactive orientation in discovering new avenues for
collection of
data relevant to monitoring the situation of children in Solomon
Islands.[37]
- The
NACC has not sought the input of children for the writing of this report. This
could be due to editorial lack of imagination
and also to being early on the
learning curve for involving children and young people on the NACC. It is hoped
that in the immediate
future monitoring reports will lend themselves readily to
input from children and young people, especially as children and others
now
become monitors of improvements or degradations in conditions for Solomon
Islands’ children. A corresponding recommendation
of this report is that
a mechanism for monitoring be developed that is protected both from swings of
uninformed popular opinion
and from the constraints of shifting governmental priorities. Such a
mechanism should be a transparent one that accepts and reflects
input from many
voices, not just adult ones, however well intentioned they may be on behalf of
children.
- In
order for Solomon Islands’ children to become more involved in expressing
their views, their own awareness of the CRC needs
to be developed. There has
been a gradual upswing in frequency in disseminating the goals of the
Convention. A systematic and determined
effort on the part of the NACC and NGOs
like SCFA to reach as many children as possible in their talks and broadcasts is
needed.
Data collection in this regard would also be useful to determine
numbers of people who have been exposed to the ideas of the CRC.
Helping
children and young people in this country understand how the Convention can
affect them and their peers personally is of
great importance. Parents and
teachers also benefit from more understandable information. This report or a
summary must be disseminated
countrywide.
- The
print and broadcast media need to continue to develop in their understanding and
awareness of the CRC, becoming more active partners
with the NACC and others for
improved public knowledge of the Convention. The media are also important
monitoring agents for measuring
progress toward the goals of the Convention. In
recent years there have been many newspaper and broadcast reports relevant to
areas
addressed by the CRC. Updated information on the Convention for members
of the media, combined with recognition and encouragement
by the NACC is needed.
This will emphasize the invaluable service media coverage provides the town-area
communities and the nation
as a whole whenever attention is focused on news
items relevant to the Convention.
E. International coordination and cooperation
- Solomon
Islands has shown its willingness to promote the interests of the child and the
welfare of women at both the international
and regional levels by its agreement
to and endorsement of:
The Port Vila Declaration on Population and Development, September 1993;
The Pacific Region Platform of Action and the Noumea Declaration on Women,
1994;
The International Conference on Population and Development Programme of
Action, 1994;
The Suva Declaration on Sustainable Human Development in the Pacific,
1995.
- Solomon
Islands has also signed the World Summit Declaration on Children in 1992 and
hosted the 23rd South Pacific Forum meetings
of Heads of Governments in 1993,
which endorsed the need for according priority to Pacific children. Solomon
Islands was also a
party to the 33rd South Pacific Conference Resolution on the
State of Pacific Children entitled, “First Call For Children -
An Agenda
for Action”.
F. General budgetary allocation measures for child-related
activities
- Education
and health services continue to receive the first and second largest proportions
of the government budget allocations, respectively,
for the past five years.
The government budgetary allocations to the social sectors such as education,
health, agriculture and fisheries
for the past five years varies between 12 and
15 per cent (12%-15%) of the total national budget for each of the education and
health
sectors, and 7 per cent (7%) for agriculture and fisheries.
About 57 per cent of the health programme funds were for child health
activities.
- External
donor support has also been focused on the education and health sectors, with
about 70 per cent of donor support for the
period 1990 to 1996. The World Bank
is sponsoring its Third Education and Training Project (US$ 16.5 million) during
the period
1993-1998, which targets seven components of
education.[38] The European
Union Rural Health Services Project of ECU 5 million was to improve the rural
health facilities, train health workers
and establish a nationwide health
information system. The UNFPA Family Health Project of US$ 3.5 million was
earmarked for use in
improving Reproductive Health and Maternal and Child Health
(MCH) services. The AusAid/UNICEF support of US$ 2.8 million was directed
to
MCH services, the Family Planning Project, Expanded Programme of Immunization
(EPI) and other child-related activities. AusAid
support of A$ 0.56 million was
directed toward MCH activities funded either on a bilateral basis or through
NGOs such as SCFA. In
the case of SCFA, funding amounted to approximately SI$
1.5 million, three quarters coming from AusAid and a quarter directly from
the
Australian public.
- Financial
input from regional organizations and NGOs through the Red Cross Society of
Solomon Islands - both for child-related activities
and for Children in
Especially Difficult Circumstances (CEDC) - for each of the past five years has
exceeded those in previous years.
Establishment of organizations such as the
FSC, numerous church-supported women’s groups and other groups whose main
focus
is women and children’s affairs is encouraging. Due to the good
relationships the NGO networks have with Government - especially
in the
education and health sectors - funds can be channelled directly to specific
areas of need via these NGOs from external sources.
These
include:
JICA - Japan International Cooperation Agency;
WHO - World Health Organization;
SIPPA - Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association;
NZODA - New Zealand Overseas Development Assistance;
EU - European Union;
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme;
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization;
UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund;
Other bilateral aid donors such as Republic of China (National Hospital
and
experimental farm).
- Recent
difficulties in acquitting funding supplied to the national treasury for
specific projects has caused delays in further funding
from some
donors.
II. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD
Legal context
- The
Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that States parties define
childhood as the period prior to attaining the age of
18 years, for all
legislation. Within the laws and ordinances of Solomon Islands there is great
variation and perhaps inconsistency
in how the child is defined for purposes of
health care, imprisonment or legal protection.
- The
Solomon Islands Constitution of 1978, section 55 (1) (a), has set the minimum
voting age of 18 years. In this regard the Definition of the Child in article 1
of the CRC is consistent
with the national Constitution. The Juvenile Offenders
Act 1972 defines a “child”, in terms of age, as one under the age of
14 years. The Act defines
“young person” as one who has reached 14
years of age or more and is under the age of 18 years.
- Under
the Penal Code, section 14, a person under the age of 8 years is not criminally
responsible for any act or omission; therefore
no child under the age of 8 years
can be guilty of an offence. A child between the age of 8 and 12 years can be
found guilty only
if it can be proved that the child knows that what is
committed is a crime. Children under the age of 14 years cannot be placed
in prison except when they have become serious repeated offenders. As there are
currently no juvenile detention facilities in Solomon
Islands, children and
young persons are not placed in prison to serve their sentences unless they are
apprehended along with a group
which includes adults, tried as a group and
convicted of committing a grave crime.
- The
Penal Code (Cap 5) section 201 states a child is deemed to be a person when the
child has completely proceeded in a living state
from the body of his/her
mother. The Penal Code also stipulates as crimes infanticide and abortions,
abduction of children, sexual
defilement of children under 15 years of age,
rape, child trafficking, and disposing of minors under the age of 15 years for
immoral
purposes. Section 204 of the Penal Code states that it is the duty of
the head of family or tenants of a house to provide for the
necessaries of life
for any child
under 15 years under their
care.[39]
- The
Islanders’ Marriage Act (Cap 47) states that no marriage shall be
celebrated unless each of the parties has attained 15
years of age. Also no
Islander under the age of 18 (who is not a widow or widower) may be married
without written consent of the
father or, in his absence, the mother or, in her
absence, the guardian. This and other laws have recently been reviewed and are
in the process of revision by the Law Reform Commission.
Implementation
- In
terms of consent for medical counselling and operations, the minimum age is 18
years. Health practices are flexible whereby children
in Grade 6 (12 years and
over) may access reproductive health services without the need for consent of
parents or guardians.
- The
Labour Act (Cap 75) (sects. 84 to 87, inclusive) sets out the circumstances in
which employment of children at ages below 18 but
above 12, 15, 16 years is
allowed or prohibited. Employment of children under 12 years of age is
prohibited with the exception of
light agricultural or domestic work done in the
company of one or both of the child’s parents. Minimum age for
recruitment
into the disciplined force is 18 years.
- Under
the Liquor Act (Cap 33), section 74 - as amended in 1988 - it is illegal to sell
or supply alcohol to people under the age of 21
years.[40]
Constraints and recommendations
- Some
laws treat boys differently from girls, e.g. in the Labour Act listed above
wherein females between 16 and 18 are not given the
opportunity to seek work
underground in mines or at night with permission of the Labour Commissioner, but
males are. Also there
are various sections of the Penal Code wherein boys are
not specifically protected from various forms of sexual abuse, e.g. boys
are
mentioned specifically only in section 153 on male buggery while females are
specifically protected throughout sections 128 through
144, inclusive. This is
probably due to the antiquated nature of the British law that formed the basis
for
Solomon Islands’ law at the time of independence. There
are also various traditions/cultures where preference is given to boys
(patrilineal society) or girls (matrilineal
society).[41] In terms
of education, there is a tendency in some families to put priority on the
boy’s education. This is slowly changing.
- For
purposes of organizing youth groups, youth in the Solomon Islands include
unmarried persons 15 years of age and older extending
to age 30. This is
particularly problematic for reporting the status of children as many programmes
organized for “youth”
involve participation of young adults either
at the age of majority or well beyond. Children may then be defined as those
from birth
to 15 years of age, but may then also include those in the youth
category between 15 and 18 years of age. At present, younger children’s
affairs have been tied to women’s affairs for governmental organizational
purposes.
- When
drafting a Solomon Islands’ Child Bill, it is imperative to unify these
varying interpretations of the child so that its
statutes protect all people
under the age of 18 years. The articles of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child apply human rights
protection to all under the age of 18
years.[42] Solomon Islands
has acceded to the CRC and having done so is bound to its terms as an
international treaty. However, there is also
a practice in Solomon Islands of
drafting compatible legislation locally to ensure particular Convention
components become part of
the law of the land.
- The
legal age to purchase and consume alcohol was increased to 21 years of age in
1988. There is significant doubt as to whether
this age limit is enforceable,
e.g. please note an article in a local newspaper in January 1998, addressing the
issue of persons
under the age of 18 being present in
nightclubs.[43] The article
highlights the lack of legislative protection governing the presence of children
in licensed clubs. Indeed, there appears
to be no prohibition against the
presence of under-age persons in licensed clubs as long as they are not buying
or consuming alcoholic
beverages or as long as they are not intoxicated upon
arriving at the club. This omission needs to be addressed promptly. Equally
surprising is the apparent assumption amongst those interviewed for the article
that those persons who had attained the age of 18
years might be legally served
alcohol. If enforcement of legislation is to be realized, public awareness of
the law must be raised
to a significant degree.
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
A. Non-discrimination
1. Legal context
- The
Solomon Islands Constitution 1978 by implication accords children the same
rights and protection as all adults except the right
to vote. These rights
include the right to life, security, liberty, and protection of the law; the
freedoms of expression, movement,
thought, religion or belief, assembly and
association; protection from discrimination on the grounds of colour, race,
place of origin,
creed or gender.
2. Implementation
- Health
and medical services are accessible to every citizen of Solomon Islands free of
charge or for minimum charges. All maternal
and child health services of the
Government are free of charge and treatment of infectious diseases such as
malaria, TB, leprosy
and diarrhoea are not to be charged for. Immunization
services (including vaccines) in the public sector are freely available as
well.
This policy also extends to the private sector (MHMS, 1996). However, in
Honiara, private clinics do indeed charge for these
services. The private
sector practitioners request that Government reimburse their costs or supply
funds to cover provision of their
services. However, inherent to arrangements
for transfers of funds between Government and private sectors, are many
questions of
accountability. In addition, due to current governmental budgetary
constraints, Government cannot comply. Therefore this health
policy is not
currently enforceable in the private sector.
- Certain
large employers in rural areas are required to provide health and medical
services to residents in the surrounding area even
though those persons may not
be employed by the company, e.g. Solomon Islands Plantations Limited and Lever
Brothers Plantations.
In return for providing these services, MHMS subsidizes
the companies’ total costs of pharmaceuticals by one third and
includes
their health-care staff in periodic training and seminars sponsored by
the Government.
- The
Government has accorded the same accessibility to basic health care and primary
education services for Bougainvillean refugees
as provided for Solomon Islands
citizens on humanitarian grounds. Immigrants are not discriminated against in
their access to and
utilization of social services.
- In
terms of disparities between rural versus urban service areas, it is difficult
to attain a balance in relation to the quality of
services provided. Better
schools and higher standards of education are more frequently available to urban
residents. Church and
private schools - both primary and secondary - appear to
offer higher standards than government schools. As for health services,
there
is an excellent structure in place throughout the country where health
facilities, staff and services are fairly accessible
to rural populations and of
similar quality to those found in urban
areas.[44]
3. Constraints and recommendations
- The
Constitution prohibits discrimination. It also recognizes the need to preserve
indigenous cultures and traditions. But any “kastom”
(customary)
law or tradition that is in conflict with the Constitution is null and void
since the Constitution is the supreme law
of the land. Thus customs which
discriminate against people based on gender, ability, ethnicity, or religious
affiliation are theoretically
unconstitutional and illegal. Most Solomon
Islands cultures have well-defined roles for men and women. These roles may
include
institutionalized discriminatory practices, e.g. transfer of
“ownership” of women and their offspring via payment of
bride price.
The argument has been made that, historically, bride price protected women from
mistreatment by ensuring the family
into which she married valued her
sufficiently to make the payment. In more recent times, large cash payments may
have modified
the interpretation of bride price to more closely resemble
“ownership” or “purchase” than had been the case
previously. This example of conflict between traditional and modern values is
typical of the issues facing women and children in
Solomon
Islands.
- The
Situation Analysis of Women and Children notes:
Women in traditional Melanesian culture were the child educators, food
producers and resource managers. The current transition from
subsistence to
cash economy is exerting pressure on women, changing and undermining their roles
as well as increasing their
workload[45] ... Wage
labour, migration and the growing demand for cash have tended to increase
women’s role in both food and cash crop
production ... Heavy workloads
and high fertility often mean that women pass work on to their young
daughters.[46]
- In
formal employment women comprised 21 per cent of the 1993 workforce statistics.
Their limited access to education and training
greatly disadvantage them in the
labour market. For example, clerical and sales work comprise more than 60 per
cent of female labour
participation in Honiara. Only a few women hold senior
management
positions.[47]
- In
many matrilineal societies where women own the land, their influence may be
exerted through a male member of the clan. Payment
of “bride
price”, still widely practised in areas such as Malaita and parts of
Guadalcanal, signifies the economic and
social value attached to women’s
reproductive roles, but may also signify the oppression of women.
“Generally a woman
is subordinate to her husband and is expected to obey
him. She is at the mercy of her husband who has already paid for her
price.”[48]
- Migration
and mobility also lead to the rising trend of inter-island or cross-cultural
marriages, which can place enormous stress
on women and girls. Cultural
practices, religion and language vary greatly amongst cultural groups and the
onus most frequently
falls on the woman to make the adaptation in her
marriage.
- Females
are greatly underrepresented in secondary schools; teenage pregnancies are as
high as 20 per cent of all recorded deliveries
in some provinces; only a quarter
of women eat balanced
meals[49] and the female
literacy rate is only 17 per cent. Measures to redress the imbalance in access
to education are urgently needed.
Failure to undertake such measures is tacitly
endorsing inequality as well as limiting development at both the individual and
national
levels. The fact that many women are left outside of the mainstream is
reflected in the educational status of the nation’s
children. In
practice, therefore, the constitutional requirement for non-discrimination
appears to be ignored.
- Solomon
Islands has yet to sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women. Some feel there is
no institutionalization of
discrimination in this country. They assert that everyone is accorded equal
rights and freedoms despite
the fact that some people are disadvantaged with
regard to equal access to resources and as a result of development. Solomon
Islands
is still a traditional society thus “kastom” practices and
“tambu” still play an influential part in the
way its people do
things and behave. This is very much the case in the roles women and men are
expected to perform in society.
- Differences
in the ways boys and girls are seen under the Penal Code seem to derive from the
present-day use of antiquated British
laws, e.g. the age of consent for sexual
intercourse for girls is 15, but there appears to be no stated age of consent
for boys.
Many such inequities exist throughout the rules and laws of the
country. It is the role of the public as well as the Government
with the NACC
and other advocacy groups to discover these areas of weakness in the law and
refer them for consideration and review
to the Law Reform
Commission.
- The
assumption has been made above (see paragraph 74), that there are implicit
protections accorded to children under the Solomon
Islands Constitution.
However, it was pointed out to the NACC in 1997 that actual protection of
children’s rights is not realized
strictly by implication within the
Constitution. There is a need, therefore, for particular legislative protection
for children
within the framework of the laws of the Solomon Islands. Explicit
legislative acknowledgement of children’s particular rights
or needs will
provide timely and necessary protection to Solomon Islands’ children while
ensuring penalties for those who deny
them those rights.
B. Best interest of the child
1. Legal context
- The
Juvenile Offenders Act, the Adoption Act and the Affiliation, Separation and
Maintenance Acts are structured in such a way as
to consider the best interests
of the child in their proceedings and judgements. The terminology, “best
interest of the child”,
is not legally defined in these various laws,
however. It is used in custody hearings and is derived from family law. Some
crimes
committed under the Penal Code against the best interest of children
attract varying penalties including life imprisonment in some
cases.[50] In court,
juvenile proceedings are always held “in camera” and access of the
public is restricted, thereby maintaining
the best interests of the child. A
full report must be submitted to the court by the probation officer on every
case or circumstance
where the child is in conflict with the law or is the
object of a custody dispute.
- The
Juvenile Offenders Act, section 9 (6) states the duty of the court to put
questions to witnesses “as appear necessary and
proper in the interests of
the child or young person”. Section 9 (8) states that before
deciding how to deal with the child
or young person, the court must obtain
information of his general conduct, home surroundings, school record and medical
history in
order to enable it to make its decision. To this end, a probation
officer must submit a report.
- Under
the UK Adoption Act 1958, the High Court must be satisfied that the child is
going to be cared for properly before granting
an adoption order thus protecting
the welfare and best interest of the child. The same is true for the
Magistrate’s Court
before deciding on custody of children in cases of
family or parental separations.
- The
Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act has been interpreted to mean that if
parents have legally separated and have asked
the courts to decide who should
have custody of the child, the court before granting custody should consider
what is in the best
interests of the child. This may also include objecting to
a previously agreed upon custody arrangement if the court does not think
the
agreement is in the best interests of the child. Normally, if the child is very
young the court will say it is in the child’s
best interest to stay with
the mother, especially if the child is still
feeding.[51]
- Section
204 of the Penal Code states that it is the duty of the head of family or
tenants of a house to provide for the necessaries
of life for any child under 15
years under their care. Section 225 make a person liable for imprisonment for
three years if, having
been charged with the duty of providing for another, that
person fails to do so and endangers or permanently injures the other person.
Section 226 makes cruelty to children, committed by anyone over 15 years that is
charged with their care, punishable by imprisonment
for five
years.
2. Implementation
- Adoption
laws constitute the formal system of protection of a child’s best interest
in Solomon Islands. Formal procedures include
the
following:
Parents seeking to adopt must first obtain the
services of a solicitor;
The solicitor then makes application to the
High Court for the necessary adoption papers;
Notice is to be published
and publicly displayed for 90 days with town clerk;
Prospective parents and adoptive child must undergo medical examinations
proving fitness;
The High Court then requests a Social Enquiry Report
from the Social Welfare Office;
Usually the court appoints the Social Welfare Officer as the interim guardian
of the child during the adoption procedure;
There is a 90-day period before the adoption is finalized. During this time
the birth mother is entitled to change her mind and nullifies
the
adoption;
Legal adoptions also require that the child continues to be a ward of the
High Court until he or she reaches the age of 18 years;
therefore, any change in
residency must be done with the permission of the Court.
- Among
the issues considered for granting of formal adoption rights
are:
Domicility - the parents are asked if they intend to continue living in this
country. Adoption with intent to leave shortly thereafter
is not permitted
although there have been violations of this requirement;
Best interests of the child - questions asked of the prospective parents
include whether they are capable of providing for the child
and caring for it so
that the child benefits from the adoption;
There is no law prohibiting contact of the child with the birth mother. If
the families are on good terms there is no reason to prohibit
contact.
Generally, however, the child is expected not to maintain contact with the birth
mother following the adoption.
- As
shown in table 2, approximately 50 per cent or more of juvenile offenders were
counselled or pardoned and not brought to the courts.
In these cases, the best
interests of the children were taken into consideration. Between 1991 and 1995
the number of cases of
juvenile offenders was decreasing or reduced by 47 per
cent. In 1995, out of a total of 60 cases reported, only 14 (23 per
cent)
received some form of reprimand or sentence, the rest were dismissed as
“no case”.
Table 2
Juvenile offenders, 1991-1995
Sentences
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
Exempted from court
|
33
|
30
|
41
|
31
|
36
|
Probation
|
23
|
7
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
Discharged
|
23
|
11
|
20
|
22
|
8
|
Bound over
|
7
|
9
|
14
|
20
|
8
|
Fined
|
13
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Imprisoned
|
8
|
5
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
Dismissed
|
5
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
Total in court
|
79
|
38
|
41
|
51
|
24
|
Total cases
|
112
|
68
|
82
|
82
|
60
|
Source: Social Welfare Division, MHMS, 1996.
- The
Social Welfare Office (MHMS) only handles cases referred to it by the police,
courts or lawyers. Once a case is dismissed in
court, no further action is
taken. Counselling is done when the court orders it. Social Welfare casework
follow-up in most cases
is required when a juvenile offender is put on
probation, i.e., serving his/her sentence outside of prison. Counselling is
important
for periodical reports that a probation officer needs to make to the
Probation Committee or the court should there be a need for
it.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- One
of the difficulties of the Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act is that
the court cannot make an order for custody or access
under the Act unless one
parent can prove fault against the other parent. Therefore, situations arise
where it may be in a child’s
best interest for an Order to be made, but
the court cannot do so because one parent cannot prove a fault against the
other. If
a provision was included in the Act that the child’s best
interest should be paramount when the court is making a decision
under the Act,
and if the Act were amended to abolish the need for one parent to prove a fault
against the other, then this problem
would not
arise.[52]
- Questions
arise in interpretations of the child’s best interest when considering a
court decision as recently as 1991 (Joyce Tonawane v. Kelly Wanefiolo, cc
247-91) in which an appeal to the High Court against the previous decision of
the Magistrate’s Court was denied. The case
decided that monies spent
later by the father for the child’s elaborate birthday party constituted
payment of maintenance for
which he had been in arrears. The case illuminates
the question of whether Solomon Islands’ courts have upheld the intent
of
the Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act in these
decisions.
- Many
adoptions amongst Solomon Islanders are arranged informally and those children
often remain within their extended family. The
adoptions that are arranged
between young unmarried mothers and nurses via Central Hospital are also
informal ones. In these cases
there is significant concern that Solomon Islands
laws be interpreted to also protect the best interest of the child who has been
adopted in the informal manner. There is hope that the legal system will also
recognize informal adoption as a contract that allows
for enforcement of laws
protecting children who live with others who have been charged with their
care.[53]
C. The rights to life, survival and development
1. Legal context
- The
Constitution, chapter II, paragraph 4, offers protection of the right to
life.
- The
Penal Code disallows abortion on demand (sects. 150 and 151) while offering
protection for physicians and others acting to preserve
the life of the mother
(sects. 214 and 227).
- Infanticide
is prohibited by section 199 of the Penal Code. Part XVI defines a number of
offences against morality in an effort to
safeguard and protect children. The
Penal Code section 226 stipulates that it is an offence to assault,
ill-treat, neglect, abandon
or expose a child to suffering and injury to health.
2. Implementation
- The
health services observe strictly the Penal Code provisions on abortion.
Abortion can only be performed where it is essential
to safeguard or save the
life of the mother and this has to be recommended by two independent medical
experts.
- To
ensure that newborns have the opportunity to survive, the health services have
given funding priority to maternal and child health
services and established
programmes that include:
Safe motherhood
initiatives;
Deliveries in health facilities or attended by health
workers;
Exclusive breastfeeding and child spacing;
The use of low cost, high impact health technologies such as EPI, oral
dehydration therapy and growth monitoring;
Active case management of common childhood diseases such as diarrhoea,
respiratory infections and malaria;
Basic sanitation and safe water
supplies;
Nutrition;
Control of other communicable diseases and
intestinal parasites.
- Education
plays an important role in child development and survival. Early childhood
education programmes for young children and
for illiterate women were initiated
in 1992 with UNICEF support. The project titled “Basic Education and
Literacy Skills”
(BELS) aims to provide pre-school learning for young
children and basic reading and writing skills for women who have not attended
any formal education. These classes are often held on church premises during
the day when children are in school.
- Both
the health and education sectors are constrained by inadequate facilities and
resources to meet the needs of a fast growing population.
Church organizations
and the private sector are being encouraged to run education and health services
with government support.
- The
Rotary International Literacy Project commenced in Solomon Islands in late
1995.[54] This project
targets demonstration programmes in schools in Honiara and Guadalcanal Province
to improve literacy training skills
amongst primary school teachers. This
project has also facilitated development of locally produced books using local
kastom stories
and other materials which will benefit children well into the
future. The 1995-96 evaluation visit reported that despite limited
physical
conditions of the classrooms, teachers in the pilot programmes had worked hard
to develop the learners knowledge and skills
in literacy and language learning.
If the project achieves full funding, then during 2000 and 2001 provincial
trainers from most
provinces - amounting to over 450 teachers - will have
completed training in literacy skills for class 4 level.
D. Respect for the views of the child
1. Legal context
- In
Juvenile Court a child is entitled to give an opinion or evidence; such evidence
must be corroborated. Also in custody disputes,
children have the right to
express their opinions and preferences for custodians; however, the courts are
always relied upon to decide
in the best interest of the child. Most courts
consider children of 12 years and above to be competent in giving evidence. The
court making the decisions may take a child’s views into
account.
- The
accession of the Solomon Islands to the CRC strengthens the legal context for
the rights of children to air their views. The
Constitution also upholds the
freedom of children to express their views.
- The
Solomon Islands National Youth Congress was established following the passage of
the Solomon Islands Youth Policy White Paper
in Parliament in 1980. The purpose
stated at that time for introducing a National Youth Policy for the Solomon
Islands was “to
define the position of young people in National
Development, and clarify their roles and responsibilities and also to integrate
their
activities with those of other groups towards the overall aims of
developing the Solomon Islands Nation”. The stated aims
of the white
paper were:
To recognize the potential aspirations and
expectations of all sections of young people;
To define goals and set priorities for all categories of young people in line
with the National Development Policies;
To ensure that young people can and will take an active and positive part in
all the National Affairs;
To recognize the roles and functions of church
and voluntary youth organizations;
To encourage young people to participate fully with members of their
community in the social, economic, cultural, political and spiritual
development of
the country;
To provide relevant training for youths and other members of the community in
skills needed for living in their own environment;
To ensure that
economic development reaches out into the rural areas;
To ensure that mutual understanding for purpose of good relationship in
developing the rural areas is established between young and
other people in the
community;
To encourage young people to offer valuable service to their immediate and
respective communities;
To provide proper instructions and facilities for those young people who have
come before the courts or are in conflict with the society.
- The
principle methods of implementation put forth in the 1980 White Paper
were:
To establish a Solomon Islands National Youth Congress, Provincial Youth
Councils, Area Youth Committees and Village Youth Associations;
To embark on a Training Programme for Youths, Youth Leaders and other
members of the community at the National Youth Training Centre - Aruligo
[Guadalcanal];
To examine ways of providing financial assistance for groups and individual
youths who need such assistance for development purposes;
To set up an information bureau for collection and disseminating information,
ideas, and view points of young people regarding the
social, economic, cultural
and political development in the country, and also to collect and disseminate
information on new ideas
regarding youth development and activities both locally
and from outside;
To provide financial assistance by way of an annual grant to the Solomon
Islands National Youth Congress to employ field workers to
work with, help,
advise and encourage existing and future youth organizations and groups, in
working together with other members
of the community towards achieving their
goals, both at local, provincial and at national levels;
To provide opportunities for further training and travelling fellowships for
youth workers overseas, to gather information, learn,
and gain experience from
overseas, to gather information, learn and gain experience from youth
organizations;
To provide opportunities for exchanges between provinces, of young people to
do community service voluntarily by establishing a National
Youth service
scheme.
2. Implementation
- Four
Solomon Islands
“youth”[55] - two
young women and two young men - are members of a task force, appointed in April
1997,[56] to put together a
National Youth Policy (NYC). This policy will replace the current White Paper
passed by Parliament in 1980. In
the continuing process of developing the
National Youth Policy, a Conference on Strategy Planning was conducted in late
February
1998[57]. During
the conference students from 13 to 18 years of age were asked questions
regarding social issues/needs of young people in
Solomon Islands. More
opportunities for youth forums focused upon the development of youth policy are
planned.
- The
National Youth Congress representative attending the NGO Youth Conference on
Strategy Planning, held in February 1998, restated
the NYC’s vision to
formulate/implement relevant schemes and programmes,
e.g.:
Affiliation/membership programme;
National youth
entrepreneurship award;
National youth volunteer service;
Skills
development training programme;
Promotion of local arts and
music;
Employment opportunity scheme.
- Institutional
strengths of the National Youth Congress were listed as
follows:
The Congress is Solomon Islands Government (SIG) supported, as evidenced by
the passage of the White Paper in 1980;
NYC is financed by SIG through grants;
As a quasi-government organization, NYC has use of both Government and NGO
networks;
NYC is able to seek/secure other resources apart from the SIG
assistance;
NYC has access to Ministry facilities and
equipment;
NYC also has access to other Ministries’ programmes and
resources.
- Over
the past decades, children have begun to air their views freely without being
subjected to any form of fear or suppression.
In schools, student bodies so
formed express the views of students to education authorities. Parents are now
letting students/children
express their preferences (e.g. which schools to
attend) more freely.
- Schoolchildren
are also encouraged to debate in public forums on topics of interest such as the
government systems, etc. Interviews
with children over the radio either on the
Children’s Day of Broadcast or on other programmes are beginning to happen
more
than previously.
- Students
at the government national secondary school in Honiara complained to Solomon
Star newspaper about conditions at their school,
prompting public awareness of
problems there.[58] Their
success undoubtedly encouraged other students to become activists on their own
behalf, e.g. later that year a group of students
from south Guadalcanal trekked
for two days across the mountains to meet with provincial education authorities
about the lack of
teachers at the
school.[59]
- The
Solomon Star newspaper has regularly conducted public opinion polls and printed
young people’s and others’ photos
with their remarks for
publication. In August 1996 the Star printed a large double-paged feature item
entitled, “Drop out
children: the nation’s rising problem.”
The article included many opinions from children and others. It highlighted
the
problems inherent to establishment of compulsory primary education in the face
of inadequate school capacity for qualified secondary
students.
“Compulsory education is not an already accepted policy. ‘Had it
been so’, said one education expert
quoted in the article, ‘we would
have been faced with bigger education problem
[sic]’.”[60]
Subsequent articles included one asking secondary school students about their
knowledge of the issue of human
rights.[61] Significantly,
most students interviewed said they had heard of the topic but knew very little
about it. The article mentioned
the Harare (Zimbabwe) Declaration of 1991 in
which Commonwealth member countries - including Solomon Islands - agreed to
promote
effective education on human rights in the curricula of both primary and
secondary schools. Publication of articles such as this
one stimulates local
awareness of these global issues and encourages discussion.
- The
printed media continues to be very receptive to young people’s problems
and viewpoints. News articles have been useful
sources of information for this
document. NACC and others should continue to encourage both print and broadcast
media in their support
of children’s issues. With their continued
assistance, children, young people, and their adult advocates in the community
may continue to exercise their freedom of expression.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- At
the NGO Youth Conference on Strategy Planning, mentioned above, the following
weaknesses of the current National Youth Congress
were
noted:
NYC is dependent upon the Government of the day for its
ability to function effectively;
As a quasi-governmental organization its workers do not enjoy other publish
service benefits, e.g. membership in unions, etc;
NYC had found it is not in the Ministry’s priority agenda for office
accommodation, transport, etc.;
NYC has experienced delays in securing
funds, which affects its plans and programmes;
Provinces and Churches
have been slow to respond to the NYC.
It might be added here that
although the National Youth Congress has been organized to facilitate, advocate
and support youth activities
in the country, there has been little direct
participation by youth in the undertakings of the NYC to date.
- There
is not enough being done yet for views of children or young people to be
incorporated in national policies and decision making.
In early 1997, however,
the school children voiced their concerns of how they had been unfairly treated
by most public transport
operators in the capital, Honiara. Transport operators
were accused of discriminating against school children in various ways such
as
failing to stop to pick them up, charging an adult equivalent fare, making
abusive remarks, etc. Public transport operators took
the matter seriously and
the practice seems to have been
minimized.[62] The print and
broadcast media remain reliable means of expression for children and young
people at present.
- The
primary constraint facing the implementation of respect for the views of
Solomon Islands’ children and young people is the
current
Government’s lack of a children’s portfolio. This has essentially
removed from the Government its responsibility
for chairing the National
Advisory Committee on Children (NACC). In turn this has jeopardized the
expeditious delivery of this report
to Foreign Affairs and has left the needs of
children to be decided by Ministries who variously preside over children’s
education,
health, the concerns of youth or the concerns of women. This
circumstance has created an undesirable situation for the children
of
Solomon Islands, a country which has acceded to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child. There is an urgent need for a comprehensive
Child Bill to
be passed by Parliament in order to implement the terms of the Convention as the
Solomon Islands nation sees fit.
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
A. Name and nationality
1. Legal context
- The
Solomon Islands Constitution guarantees all the people of the country
citizenship. Under the Citizenship Act (1992), female Solomon
Islanders who
marry non-Solomon Islanders are disadvantaged in that their husbands cannot
become citizens until after 10 years.
NonSolomon Islands’ women married
to Solomon Islands’ men can become citizens after
two
years.[63]
- Persons
under 18 years of age who have at least one Solomon Islander parent can be
nationals of more than one country but when they
become 18 they must choose to
renounce one. Solomon Islands’ Constitution disallows dual
nationality.
- According
to the Penal Code, false statements regarding marriage (sect. 98), birth or
death (sect. 99) is a misdemeanour, liable to
imprisonment for seven
years.
- The
Births And Deaths (Registration) Act 1988 compels the registration of births,
marriages and deaths. This is to be done by a “responsible
person”
e.g. member of the clergy, health worker, teacher or parent. However it has not
been implemented effectively due to
lack of manpower and equipment such as
computers.
- The
Act also states that fraudulent reporting, non-reporting, wilfully destroying or
damaging reports or registers of births or deaths
is considered an offence
liable to a fine of $100 or to imprisonment for six months or to both the fine
and imprisonment.
- Solomon
Islands does not class its people into different ethnic groups, all are
considered Solomon
Islanders.[64]
2. Implementation
- Parliament
is currently discussing citizenship issues, and members have pointed out that
the nature of the current law (Citizenship
Act 1992) is discriminatory and thus
unconstitutional. It is recommended that persons of both genders who have
married Solomon Islands
citizens be obliged to wait 10 years before being
allowed to apply for citizenship.
- Hospital
birth registers are incomplete. Many adults have no record of their birth,
especially those born in remote rural clinics
or at home in rural villages.
Foreign diplomatic missions do not accept a passport as evidence of identity for
the purposes of residency
abroad, but insist on a birth certificate - often
impossible to produce. Since 1994, the Ministry of Health has strengthened its
birth registration information system and it is currently being computerized.
However, as cited in the MCH/FP review (Mitchell, 1997), Health
Information Statistics (HIS)
continues to be far from a trouble-free source of data. MHMS believes from
about 1970 onwards, 80-90 per cent of all births in the
country have been
registered. They stated for a UNICEF Progress of Nations survey in early 1998
that about 100 per cent of rural
births are now registered due to the following
factors:
Mothers who give birth at home take their children for immunization at a
later date and the child is then registered;
Mothers who are aware of the health implications of delivery for themselves,
therefore arrive at clinics or hospitals of their provincial
centres before they
are due to give birth;
Nurses who visit health clinics in rural areas to hold health talks or check
on people’s general health, register those children
who were born after
their last visit;
Teachers and clergymen are expected to record births (and deaths) and report
the information to the health officers when they come
around.
- There
are two systems for birth registration in Solomon Islands. In 1982 MHMS
initiated the “Baby Book” which allows
for entry of birth date and
facts along with immunization records and any description of medical visits for
illness, etc. If health
workers know of a birth, even outside of the health
service network, they are bound by law to report the birth. There is a category
entitled “Born Before Arrival” initiated by the MCH unit which
allows a health worker to easily document the existence
of a child born outside
the medical system upon their first contact with the health-care system.
Although it is possible for a child
to grow up without coming into contact with
health authorities, it is relatively unlikely, given the relative accessibility
to the
health-care system here. These births are recorded into registers and
are being transferred with some effort into a centralized
computer database
within MHMS. A second system of records was to be developed as a consequence of
passage of the Births and Deaths
Registration Act (1989). The Ministry of Home
Affairs is charged with the obligation of keeping records of all births and
deaths. This was to have
been facilitated by taking registers from MHMS and
transferring them to the Home Affairs system. To date this has not eventuated
and records continue to be kept by MHMS exclusively.
- A
birth certificate is required for enrolment in primary school and to obtain a
passport. It is not required for immunization or
other health services. A
birth certificate is not required for marriage in Solomon Islands. There is a
legal age when one is allowed
to be married without parental consent. The
system in the Solomon Islands is based upon trust and visual presumption of
applicants’
ages. Should an expatriate wish to marry a Solomon Islander,
a passport is considered sufficient because of the belief that to obtain
a
passport a birth certificate must be produced
first.[65]
- The
Progress of Nations 1998 survey component for Solomon Islands stated that birth
certificates are not considered essential documents
by most families within
rural areas. Most children and adults do not know their exact birth dates and
relate their births instead
to major events, e.g. stating: “I was born
two years before cyclone Namu.” Birth certificates can be
reissued for a fee when necessary. Anecdotal evidence suggests that if
someone has a relative idea of their birth date, they may
achieve a required
birth certificate through appropriate channels. This is possible because of the
destruction of MHMS books containing
birth certificate information during
cyclone Namu (1986). Also, not everyone was registered before the system was
started.
- In
querying the current government official in charge of the Home Affairs
recordkeeping system, it was discovered that there is essentially
no
registration of deaths done by the Government and that death records are kept
almost exclusively by
churches.[66] This raises
the question of whether MHMS also maintains death records and what percentages
of adult and child deaths are tracked,
either by MHMS and/or various churches.
The question persists as to why the Ministry of Home Affairs is not executing
its mandate
in the Births and Deaths Registration Act.
B. Preservation of identity
1. Legal context
- The
Constitution of Solomon Islands recognizes the importance of preservation of its
cultures. The fourth pledge to the Constitution
states that the peoples of
Solomon Islands shall cherish and promote the different cultural traditions
within Solomon Islands.
- The
third pledge in the Preamble to the Constitution also states that all people of
Solomon Islands shall respect and enhance human
dignity. The Constitution also
provides for the protection of cultural identity of all disadvantaged groups by
allowing for the
enactment of laws or the promotion of programmes to address
such disadvantages. Section 15 (1) generally states that no law shall
make any
provision that is discriminatory either of itself or in its
effect.
- The
Constitution of Solomon Islands also recognizes customary law as part of the
legal system of Solomon Islands. Customary law is
not applicable where it in
application offends any provision of the Constitution. If customary law is
inconsistent with the Constitution,
it is, to the extent of the inconsistency,
void.[67]
- The
Education Act 1978, section 24, empowers the Minister responsible for education
to prescribe the language or languages to be used
as the medium of instruction.
It could empower the Minister to discriminate, but has never been interpreted in
such a manner.
- Most
societies in Solomon Islands follow the patrilineal system, where land ownership
and identification of children into clans follow
the father’s line. For
customary marriages, indigenous Solomon Islands children in a patrilineal system
are identified as
members of the father’s clan. Some societies in Solomon
Islands follow the matrilineal system where land ownership and identification
of
children into clans follow the mother’s line. Children in matrilineal
societies are associated with the mother’s
line. Identification of
children is especially important for purposes of inheritance of property and
land ownership. An illegitimate
child (born outside of a customary or statutory
or celebrated marriage) is usually identified with the mother’s
clan.
- A
serious identity issue presents itself in some cultures where bride price
symbolizes ownership of the wife by the husband. In cases
where the couple has
children and the husband dies while the children are still dependent, it is
possible under customary practices
for the wife to lose her claim to keep the
children. In such cases, the children may be taken to live with the deceased
husband’s
relatives. Solomon Islands’ statutory law should protect
families from this sort of trauma by overriding customary law; however,
there
are few cases documented as having been contested in
court.[68]
- Children
who have only one Solomon Islands’ citizen as a parent have to choose at
age 18 if they want to be Solomon Islands citizens. If they do,
they must relinquish the other half of their identity, since dual
citizenship is
disallowed by the Constitution, chapter III,
section 23.
- Citizens
of Solomon Islands who are not indigenous do not have customary land rights,
which are a crucial foundation of the power,
identity, culture and security of
indigenous citizens.
- Destruction
of any ethnic or racial group by killing, harming, preventing births among,
imposing destructive conditions upon or forcibly
transferring children from is
guilty of genocide under section 47A of the Penal Code, which is punishable by
14 years’ imprisonment
(or life imprisonment in the case of
killing).
2. Implementation
- The
preservation of cultural identity is encouraged both in the formal education
system in Solomon Islands and also in the non-formal
(village) system. Primary
and secondary schools normally hold cultural events in their respective schools.
In villages, children
are encouraged to participate in traditional dances and
other forms of cultural activities.
- Students
of the same ethnic or religious background often constitute particular school
populations in Solomon Islands. Schools run
by the Government tend to take
students from the province in which that school is situated, and - in the case
of church-run schools
- because members of particular religious denominations
often prefer their children to attend church schools of their own denomination.
Church-run schools do not exclude children of other denominations, however, and
do not force them to attend church services that
are not their own religion.
Non-boarding village schools (which are usually primary schools) take their
students from the surrounding
geographical area, which normally means they share
the same ethnic, language and religious background.
- Languages
taught in rural schools are mainly - but not exclusively - the spoken local
language and written English during the first
two or three years of primary
school, moving towards more use of spoken Pijin and written English in late
primary school. Local
language is used almost as a last resort to achieve
understanding in young children who have not been exposed to any other language.
Most early primary school teachers teach in their own language area, whereas
senior primary school teachers are often posted around
the country and therefore
have to use Pijin as a lingua franca.
- In
secondary schools, the formal language of tuition for all subjects is English,
but informally Solomon Islands Pijin is used. In
Honiara, local languages are
hardly used at all in primary schools - Pijin is used verbally and English for
writing and reading.
The richness of local languages is dissipating for this
reason. Pijin is becoming more widely used as a first language because
of the
increasing number of mixed marriages in which each partner speaks a different
local language. There are now many children
- even of non-mixed marriages - for
whom Pijin is the first language. Pijin is, however, rarely used for written
communication
except by adult literacy teachers. Major Christian texts have
been translated into many of the more widely spoken local languages,
and this is
often the only source of language literacy available. Skills in writing and
reading English are excellent in people
who have been lucky enough to gain
sufficient formal education, but many speakers of English frequently lack
confidence in their
abilities due to lack of practice.
- Indigenous
female citizens should be protected from discrimination in customary land
ownership by the non-discrimination section of
the Constitution (sect. 15), but
in fact certain cultures in Solomon Islands (e.g., Malaita) exclude females from
land ownership.
There, female rights to use (but not to own or make decisions
about) land rest exclusively upon their blood or marital relations
with males.
Even in matrilineal cultures, where land ownership passes down through the
female line, the right to make decisions
about that land is vested in that
woman’s uncle, her brother or son. This has obvious repercussions in
areas where large-scale
“development” is happening such as in Gold
Ridge (Guadalcanal) and Vangunu (Marovo, Western Province) where mining and
logging activities, respectively, are permitted against the express wishes of a
significant number of women landowners.
C. Freedom of expression
1. Legal context
- Under
the Constitution (Cap II), along with all other citizens of Solomon Islands,
children are accorded freedom of thought, conscience
and religion, unless this
individual right interferes with the rights of others or with the public
interest.
- According
to court practices in Solomon Islands, which stem from British Common Law,
children may be asked to express their opinions
and preferences for custodians
in custody disputes; however, the courts are always relied upon to decide in the
best interest of
the child. Most courts consider children of 12 years and above
to be competent in giving evidence. In Juvenile Court a child is
entitled to
give an opinion or evidence, but such evidence must be corroborated. The court
making the decisions may take a child’s
views into
account.
- The
accession of the Solomon Islands to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
strengthens the legal context for the rights of
children to air their views.
However, without the passage of a companion statutory Child Bill, the Convention
may not be entrenched
into domestic law in Solomon
Islands.[69] It is
important, therefore, to revive efforts to review and draft such legislation as
appropriately reflects the full complement
of goals noted in the
Convention.
2. Implementation
- In
1996 a schoolboy won damages in court after he brought a case against the school
which expelled him. Although he was expelled
on grounds that he had broken a
school rule, he was not allowed to express his side of the story in proceedings.
Therefore, the court
found he was expelled unjustly.
- Availability
of beneficial information to children is limited by financial and infrastructure
constraints. Many schools have no money
to provide even sanitation, let alone
books. Schools in many rural areas are so isolated they are difficult to serve.
- A
basic education and literacy project (BELS, sponsored by UNDP) has in 1997
attempted to address the problem of access to reading
materials. Literacy
training for teachers
in 50 low-performing primary schools in
Solomon Islands is also addressed by this project. In addition, a grant has
been established
through Rotary Clubs, International to carry on supplemental
primary school teacher training in literacy in 11 schools on Guadalcanal.
It is
hoped that these two programmes will be able to complement each other’s
strengths in the future.
- The
Curriculum Centre of the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education publishes
children’s books geared to various reading
levels, concentrating on
Solomon Islands literature, but in insufficient quantities to cater for the
school population.
- Although
there is no longer a Ministry of Education sponsored newsletter disseminated to
students and staff members of all government
schools, each secondary school
still generally attempts to publish its own school magazine annually or
biannually as resources permit.
Copies of these have been collected by the
Ministry and are available for reference from the MEHRD librarian.
- The
National Art Gallery and Cultural Centre, which reopened in 1997 after being
closed for extensive renovations, encourages children
and young people as well
as adults to express themselves artistically by participating in school art
exhibitions, dance productions,
“kastom” story
exhibitions/competitions and other dramatic productions at the Centre. The
presence of such a venue for
artistic expression offers important motivation and
encouragement to aspiring young artists of Solomon Islands.
- Various
dance, dramatic and cultural groups from the provinces periodically visit
Honiara and provincial centres for fundraising in
the interest of preserving
cultural traditions. These tours provide opportunities for young people and
others to participate in
learning cultural traditions that would otherwise be
lost to future generations.
- Plans
are developing to involve children in future undertakings on behalf of the CRC.
Dramatic instruction via a UNICEF sponsored
project at SICHE will enable young
people who make up the current unemployed to tour on a limited basis and promote
public awareness
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
D. Access to appropriate information
1. Legal context
- Section
12 (1) of the Constitution of Solomon Islands provides that no person shall be
hindered in the enjoyment of “his”
freedom of expression. Such
freedom includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to
receive ideas and information
without interference, freedom to communicate ideas
and information without interference and freedom from interference with
“his”
correspondence.
- Generally,
the press in Solomon Islands is free. That freedom is limited by provisions in
the Penal Code on obscenity, and the general
law on defamation of character.
Section 184 of the Penal Code states that any person who, by print, writing,
painting, effigy, or
by any means otherwise than solely by gestures, spoken
words or other sounds, unlawfully publishes any defamatory matter concerning
another person, is guilty of the offence of libel. The Media Association of
Solomon Islands (MASI) and the newly organized Journalists’
Association of
Solomon Islands (JASI) are in the process of drafting codes of ethics governing
their members’ news reporting
and publication practices (see annex 4).
The dissemination of news is primarily controlled by each institution’s
own editorial
practices.
- Section
25 of the Education Act gives power to the Minister of Education to declare, by
notice in the gazette any book or publication
to be unsuitable for use in
Solomon Islands’ schools and to also prohibit its use. The limitations,
therefore, partly protect
children from exposure to inappropriate information,
sexual explicitness and violence. It is not clear to what degree the Curriculum
Committee is involved in such decisions or whether books are frequently examined
with this statute in mind.
- Section
92 of the Constitution of Solomon Islands provides for the establishment of a
Public Solicitors’ Office, where functions
are to provide legal aid,
advice and assistance to persons in need, including children. Legal aid as
defined under the Public Solicitors
Act not only entails legal representation of
a person in court proceedings, it also includes providing advice and any other
assistance.
Section 5 (3) of the Act provides that if the person in need is a
child, “his” guardian shall make any application for
legal aid. A
child is defined under that Act as a person under the age of 18
years.
2. Implementation
- Solomon
Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) runs a daily half-hour programme for
children consisting of a mix of children’s
stories and songs, some of them
of local origin. This programme also sometimes broadcasts information about the
CRC. SIBC also
runs an annual Children’s Day of Broadcast (since 1995)
which mainly consists of Solomon children performing songs and reading
stories.
- There
is no television, per se, in Solomon Islands, although steps have recently been
taken to investigate the feasibility of providing
a national television service.
It is currently possible, however, for affluent Solomon Islanders, to purchase
and operate various
forms of satellite receiving equipment, which enables local
viewing of “EM-TV” and Australian programming via neighbouring
Papua
New Guinea.
- Videotaped
programmes are widely watched, especially in the capital, Honiara, and in
provincial centres which have electricity. In
addition, many rural villages
also have generators that are used to operate video equipment. The quality of
films available is quite
variable. The National Censorship Board concerns
itself mainly with censoring hard pornography, leaving soft porn and very
violent
films to circulate
freely.[70] Many people
attribute rising crime and sexual violence to the influence of such movies.
There is no doubt that children in households
with video machines are likely to
be exposed to inappropriate content of a violent and/or sexually explicit
nature. The ease with
which filming technology is available certainly makes it
possible for “home videos” of a pornographic nature to be made
and
circulated locally and, therefore, totally escape detection by regulatory
authorities. Therefore, there is a need for the Censorship
Board to improve its
capacity to rate movies for circulation in Solomon Islands. Many films are
pirated copies and there is very
little information beyond the title available
for parents and others choosing videos to take home to view with their
families.
- Other
media - two radio stations and an increasing number of specialty
newspapers[71] - do not
intentionally expose children to violence and harmful influences. Exceptions
include publicizing the increasing availability
of home-grown marijuana, for
example. Advertisements for violent video programmes have been aired
periodically on radio stations
during times when children were also likely to be
listening. There was a great public outcry in 1996 over front-page publication
in a leading newspaper of the dead body of a local infant.
E. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
1. Legal context
- Section
II (1) of the Constitution provides that all citizens including children are
accorded freedom of thought conscience and religion.
The enjoyment of such
freedoms must not interfere with the rights of others or offend the public
interest.
- No
person attending learning institutions is compulsorily required to receive
religious instructions other than his/her own. Any
one who is under 18 years of
age is required to have the consent of his/her guardian before he/she can
receive religious instruction.
- The
Solomon Islands Constitution provides that no person, including children, shall
be treated in any discriminatory manner by any
person acting under any written
law or in the performance of any public office or public authority. No child
can be excluded from
enrolling at a school because of race, place of origin,
political opinion, creed, gender or religious belief.
2. Implementation
- Ninety
percent of the population in Solomon Islands professes affiliation amongst five
main Christian denominations (Church of Melanesia,
Roman Catholic, South Seas
Evangelical Church, United Church and Seventh Day Adventist). Other religions
are represented here, but
references to Christian beliefs are often made at
public gatherings, in Parliament, etc.
- Some
of the primary and secondary schools in Solomon Islands are operated by the five
main Christian denominations, namely the Roman
Catholic, Anglican, South Seas
Evangelical Church, the Seventh Day Adventists and the United Church. Such
schools conduct religious
instruction according to their particular affiliation.
Most schools operated by the churches in Solomon Islands prefer accepting
students who are members of their particular faith. There are also
church-operated schools that accept students from other faiths.
- In
secondary schools operated by the churches, religious instruction is compulsory
as this is taught as a subject that must be passed.
In Government run secondary
schools, Bible Studies is also a compulsory subject for Forms 1-3. During the
third form year, students
then choose whether or not to pursue Bible Studies in
fourth and fifth Form as an optional subject.
F. Freedom of association and of peaceful assembly
1. Legal context
- The
Constitution (Cap II) accords children and all Solomon Islands citizens freedom
of association and peaceful assembly unless this
individual right interferes
with the rights of others or with the public interest.
2. Implementation
- Types
of activities sponsored by youth associations throughout the country
include:
Sports related activities;
Church related activities, including choirs, Bible studies and other
activities of a
religious nature;
Assisting older people in housing, gardening needs, etc.;
Assisting in development of rural infrastructure, e.g. schools, churches,
clinics, roads, community needs;
Raising funds through hires, e.g. permitting youth members to work at
particular tasks for donations, including copra cutting, gardening,
making house
posts, rafters, etc.;
Social activities, e.g. custom dances fun nights, rock and roll nights,
hula, etc.
Some of the programmes mentioned above are continuous and some are
seasonal, coinciding especially with long holiday breaks at Easter,
Christmas,
Second Appointed Day, etc. in
villages.[72]
- A
nationwide survey of youth associations was conducted in 1995 through the
affiliation and membership scheme of the National Youth
Congress. The results
were disappointingly incomplete. Survey respondents were as
follows:
Table 3
Results of 1995 NYC survey of youth associations
Types of
youth associations
|
Number of youth associations
|
Catholic Archdiocese, Honiara
|
8
|
Rhema Family Church, Honiara
|
1
|
Rennell Bellona Christian Youth Association (South Seas Evangelical
Church)
|
5
|
Makira Ulawa Province
|
1
|
Ysabel Province (COM)
|
5
|
Malaita Province
|
74
|
Guadalcana Province
|
95
|
Music groups
|
15
|
Source: National Youth Congress.
This information
was supplied to the NYC through the youth associations’ respective
authorities, especially the provinces, churches
and uniform youth organizations.
The survey was carried out by provincial church and uniform youth
coordinators.
- The
actual numbers of young people participating in youth associations is incomplete
and has not been quantified for statistical purposes.
There is difficulty in
knowing what portion of youth group participants are under 18 due to the broad
definition of “youth”
(ages 15-30, inclusive). Therefore the data
presented above has no reliable significance as an indicator of participation
for children/young
people. However, it is included because it is the only
statistical information found to date on numbers of organizations for young
people in Solomon Islands.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- Despite
the existence of the table listed in 176, above, information on organized
activities available to children and youth throughout
the country is remarkably
scant. Even the data mentioned above is considered to be
incomplete.[73] Sports
activities are heavily emphasized throughout the country, with most other
organized activities for children or young people
sponsored by churches,
provinces or a small number of uniform associations.
- The
decentralized nature of youth activities probably accounts for the lack of
reliable centralized data available for this report.
Certainly the compilation
of this document raises the question of data availability in many areas
pertaining to children and young
people. Therefore, it seems appropriate to
recommend that the Ministry of Youth, Women and Sports take steps to address the
lack
of data with a renewed emphasis on communication between the Ministry and
the many and varied participatory organizations devoted
to young people in
Solomon Islands.
- There
is a need for routine communication from every locality to a provincial or
national database regarding both the nature and scope
of organized activities
devoted to the development of children and youth. Certainly, there are cultural
constraints to the types
of activities which children or youth are encouraged to
participate in Solomon Islands. It is not the purpose of the reporting process
to dictate the types of activities needed throughout different regions of
Solomon Islands. However, there remains the need to understand
the extent of
young people’s participation within such organized groups. Such an
understanding may prove useful in developing
ways to address needs and further
develop opportunities for Solomon Islands’ children and young people.
Once again a national
database appears to be needed for the purpose of continued
reporting and monitoring of the implementation of the Convention on the
Rights
of the Child.
G. Protection of privacy
1. Legal context
- The
Constitution (Cap II) section 9 states that no person shall be subjected to the
search of his person or his property except in
circumstances where the intrusion
of such privacy is in the interest of defence, public safety, public order or
where another person’s
enjoyment of freedom is threatened or infringed
upon.
- Section
4 (4) of the Juvenile Offenders Act states that no persons other than the
members and the Officers of the Court, and the parties
to the case, their
advocates or authorized representatives and other persons directly concerned
with the case are allowed to attend
proceedings where a child is being
prosecuted.
- Under
section 4 (4) (b) of the Juvenile Offenders Act, where a child is suspected of
committing an offence, and the child is before
the juvenile court, no person
shall publish the name, address, school, photograph or anything likely to lead
to the identification
of the child or young person before the court. A person
acting in contravention of that provision attracts a punishment of three
months’ imprisonment or a fine of fifty dollars or both.
- Section
184 of the Penal Code prohibits the publication of any defamatory matter
concerning another (including children), with intent
to defame that person.
Defamatory matter includes publication of matters capable of injuring the
reputation of a child by exposing
“him” to hatred, contempt or
ridicule.
2. Implementation
- Court
sessions in which children are called as witnesses and juvenile court sessions
are held in camera. Children under the age of
8 are presumed to be not
criminally responsible. Those under 12, also, are presumed not criminally
responsible unless proven that
they knew they were doing something
wrong.
- Courts
require that the names of child victims of sexual abuse and other crimes are not
revealed in the media. This practice has
been extended to include child
witnesses, demonstrated in one instance in early
1998.[74] Unfortunately, in
1996, a newspaper story revealed the identities of some “street
children” by publishing their pictures
against the expressed wishes of the
person working to reunite them with their families. This had adverse
consequences for the children,
those people who were giving them shelter and the
surrounding neighbours in their community.
- There
is flexibility within the court system to extend juvenile offenders’
protection procedures mentioned above to children
and young people who are
called to be witnesses in court. In civil court cases, sessions held in camera
have often been away from
the courtroom in the chambers of the presiding judge.
In cases involving criminal prosecution, where judges’ chambers are
considered inadequate to the requirements of the court, innovative procedures
have been used to improve the physical layout of the
courtroom environment for
the benefit of the child
witness.[75] The public is
not allowed inside the courtroom. Nevertheless, the witness may still be
required to identify the accused and at
that point must face the accused. An
interpreter is appointed by the court to facilitate the questioning of the child
witness, especially
in cases where the child’s knowledge of English or
Pijin is limited. The child, however, receives no court appointed counselling
following their court appearance.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- There
are currently no formal counselling procedures in place for child victims of
crimes or child witnesses who participate in court
proceedings. This is an area
where there is a great need for specialized training of persons who could fulfil
such counselling roles
in future. Volunteers could be screened-and-trained
members of the public, professional clergy, staff of the court, the Family
Support
Centre, judges, lawyers, or police. Obviously, the difficulties posed
by young children’s limited ability to use their particular
language often
combines with natural reticence. These constraints effectively limit the
volunteers to those with specialized training
and language knowledge. The
court, however, already uses interpreters to assist in questioning of children;
therefore, once such
a person is identified, they could be of further service in
a formal counselling situation.
- At
present there is no regulating body that governs what goes out in the press or
receives press complaints. It has been the practice
that each media
organization, whether private or public, manages its own stories according to
its own editorial policies. Thus only
the courts are able to regulate what is
published, especially as regards court reporting in juvenile court cases. The
court can
exercise its control by applying contempt of court procedures if
reporters break any rules in this area.
- The
Journalists’ Association of Solomon Islands (JASI) was formed with the
intention to use the body as a monitoring or regulating
body for working
journalists in Solomon Islands. Its mandate was to set guidelines and a code of
ethics for journalists to abide
by (see annex 4). However it still remains to
be seen if this body will be able to carry out this function. Certainly
children
and others will benefit from positive developments in journalistic
procedures.
H. Right not to be subject to torture or other cruel,
inhuman
and degrading treatment or punishment
1. Legal context
- The
Constitution (Cap II) section 6 provides for the protection of individuals from
Slavery and Forced Labour. Section 7 provides
for the protection of individuals
from inhumane treatment.
- Corporal
punishment is not allowed in schools (legal precedent: Baddeley/Chung Wah) but
it still occurs.
2. Implementation
- Churches
and the Red Cross Handicapped Centre are the only organizations that have taken
concrete steps to investigate cases of ill-treatment
of children. Other persons
such as medical health directors, Family Support Centre staff and Save the
Children Fund staff have received
periodic reports of such ill-treatment but
have little power to protect children or to prevent the occurrence of abuse.
Such cases
include child victims of violence, children with STDs, pregnant
children, children with disabilities who are abused and others who
are neglected
or subjected to cruelty. There are no obligatory reporting procedures in place,
and no services for child victims
of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse apart
from within the extended family.
- Most
cases of cruelty and abuse - if they are discovered at all - are resolved by
utilizing a combination of resources from within
the community, i.e. custom law,
church and extended family. “Western” laws, i.e. the Constitution
and Penal Code, are
rarely invoked.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- Anecdotal
evidence suggests that police officers have treated juvenile offenders in such
ways as to violate their human rights during
apprehension and arrest. This
probably derives from the traditionally paternalistic manner in which police
officers view young criminals.
Certainly traditional disciplinary habits have
not prohibited violence in the interest of changing future behaviour. Indeed
this
attitude by law enforcement towards known criminals is quite widespread
throughout the world. It is necessary, therefore, to educate
police officers
about human rights and help them modify their behaviour during arrests. More
training such as that done by Family
Support Centre in January 1998 is required
to further effect positive change in pursuit of human rights for children and
others.
- Please
refer to section devoted to children deprived of freedom (chap. VIII, sect. C)
below.
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
A. Parental responsibilities
1. Legal context
- Most
parents are conscious of their responsibility towards their children. Rights
and responsibilities of parents and extended family
to provide guidance and care
for the child and others are an inherent part of Solomon Islands society or
“kastom”. A
child is seen not only as a member of his/her nuclear
family but also as a member of the extended family or “line”.
As a
result, children have a collective as well as an individual
identity.
- Solomon
Islands’ Penal Code, chapter 5, sections 203 and 204 recognize the link
between a child and a person who is charged
with his/her care. Section 203
assigns legally binding responsibility to the duty of caring for a child so that
if any adverse consequences
to the child’s health or life eventuate as a
result of omission to perform that duty, cause may be attributed that person.
Section 204 applies the same accountability for care to anyone considered to be
“head of family” when a child is under
the age of 15 years, whether
the child is helpless or not.
- The
Islanders Marriage Act provides that marriage of a child under 18 years of age
cannot take place unless either the father or mother
or guardian has given
written consent.[76]
- The
Magistrate’s Courts Act S. 22 (c) assigns the Magistrate’s
Court jurisdiction to make orders for the custody of infants.
It has become a
practice amongst lawyers to use S. 22 (c) as authority to enable them to bring
urgent ex parte domestic matters
before the court. Ex parte applications are
usually made in order to obtain temporary injunctions against one party to a
marriage
or to obtain interim custody of children pending a full hearing of the
case.
- The
Magistrate’s Court also retains jurisdiction to make orders for the
guardianship of minors under S. 22 (c) of the Magistrate’s
Courts Act and
the Guardianship of Infants Acts 1886 and 1925 (UK).
2. Implementation
- The
Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act provides some framework to protect
the rights of a child living with one parent, and/or
a child born out of
wedlock. However, informal agreements are also made. Children are seen to be
the responsibility of the extended
family. Generally, the mother’s family
will provide for the mother and child in the absence of the
father.
- The
laws relating to custody and access and guardianship of an infant permit
recognition of the rights of parents and child to maintain
contact with each
other, i.e. parents to child and child to parents. There is nothing, however,
in the Affiliation, Maintenance
and Separation Act that actually says that
parents and children have a right to maintain contact with each other. Further,
unmarried
fathers have no legal rights in respect of their children. Custody
gives parents the right to look after and bring up the child;
to decide
everything about the child’s life before he or she becomes an adult, e.g.
choice of school for the child.
- If
parents have legally separated and have asked a court, e.g. the
magistrate’s court, to decide who should have custody of
the child, the
magistrate, before granting custody to either parent, must consider “the
best interests of the child”.
If the parties agree on a custody
arrangement and the magistrate does not concur that the arrangement is in the
child’s best
interest, the magistrate will not accept the proposed
arrangement.
- Granting
custody of a child to one party does not stop the other party from having access
to the child nor the child from visiting
the other parent. Custody arrangements
may also be changed if circumstances change. Under the same law, the court
gives reasonable
access to the child to the respondent (other party). Making
reports and recommendations about custody and access is the work of
a Social
Welfare officer in the area. In some cases Social Welfare officers also arrange
and supervise access.
B. Recovery of maintenance
1. Legal context
- The
Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act provides that, in terms of support,
the putative father of a child is responsible
for maintaining the child until
“he” is 16 years of age or until capable of earning enough to
support “himself”
or if “he” continues in tertiary
education after that age. In terms of separation and maintenance, the husband
is usually
required to pay to his wife and children a sum of money to maintain
them.
- The
same Act states that single mothers are entitled to claim maintenance for their
illegitimate children from the children’s
father. If they wish to claim
they must do so before the child is 3 years old. Or mothers of illegitimate
children can claim maintenance
at any time if the putative father has before or
within three years of the child’s birth paid money or otherwise made
provisions
for its maintenance. Or they can claim at any time within one year
after the return to Solomon Islands of the putative father, upon
proof that he
ceased to reside in Solomon Islands within three years after the birth of the
child. The High Court may at any time
for good cause enlarge the period within
which an application may be made under this section.
2. Implementation
- In
the formal system, mothers are often awarded custody of very young children in
divorce cases and the father is ordered to pay maintenance
if he is working or
not.[77] Maintenance is paid
to the custodial parent until the child is 16 years of age. The minimum
maintenance applied for through the
court system is $30 a month. This figure
has been adjusted from considerations of the cost of living increases and
determined by
court practice, not by statute. If there is a breach of the court
order, a prison sentence is imposed in some cases for the non-payment
of
maintenance.
- The
Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act appears to ignore financial
responsibilities of the mother towards the children.
One reason for this
omission may be that the Act was passed at a time (1971) when most paid
employees in the country were males.
Now that
many mothers are working and earning salaries like their male counterparts,
there is a need to amend section 12 (c) and (d). The
Public Solicitors’
office has encountered a case, however, in which a man applied for maintenance
from his wife, and there
was no objection raised by the court that it could not
be done under the Act.
- Although
men who have not paid maintenance for their families may be pursued through the
avenue of legal prosecution, the circumstances
of most Solomon Islander parents
is that money is generally not considered an individual’s property. Those
who are seeking
to hide their financial ability to pay maintenance may cite
their financial obligations to many other family members. On the other
hand,
those who may appear to have means to meet such obligations may actually have
very few unallocated resources due to the same
system of ownership. Generally
speaking, many cases seeking maintenance go back to court in order that wages
are garnered. However
there are certainly cases where fathers and mothers
voluntarily comply with maintenance orders.
- In
most rural areas the recovery of money for child maintenance is relatively
insignificant compared to the issue of land inheritance
for a child of divorced
or separated parents. Most people in rural areas have had little access to
cash; therefore, maintenance
has not been seen as an issue. Access to land on
which to live and grow food is important. Land inheritance varies from
matrilineal
to patrilineal amongst the Solomon Islands. In situations of
parental separation, the side of the family that will pass land down
to the
children most often provides for the child. Although such matters are probably
beyond the scope of the CRC, the fact remains
that in the Solomon Islands, as
elsewhere; many such children’s economic opportunities are determined by
familial contacts.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- The
1992 Amendment to the Act, paragraph 5, extends the situations in which men can
make applications under the Act. The applications
referred to are for
separations, custody, access and maintenance. However an element of confusion
comes in under section 10 of the
Act in which reference to maintenance does talk
about “husbands paying to wives”. This is countered by section 16
of
the Act which refers to interim maintenance orders and talks about
“respondents paying to applicants”, which could be
for husbands or
wives. The Act, therefore, could be improved by clarifying this
wording.
- It
is worthy of note that under the terms of a normal business contract, e.g.
entering into an agreement with another person to provide
a service, the statute
of limitations for appealing a grievance against one of the contractual partners
is six years. However, in
cases of maintenance of illegitimate children, the
statute of limitations is only three years. Perhaps this apparent inequity
could
be addressed through a modification of the current law via a
recommendation to the Law Reform Commission to extend the period during
which a
parent can seek maintenance for a child born out of wedlock.
C. Children deprived of a family environment
1. Legal context
- There
are no laws in Solomon Islands relating to establishment of orphanages as this
has historically been considered to be in direct
conflict with the Solomon
Islands institution of the extended family. The extended family continues to
function well and is considered
an essential part of the culture of the country.
The Preamble of the Constitution (d) states the pledge to “cherish and
promote
the different cultural traditions within the Solomon Islands”.
According to Schedule 3 to the Constitution, in the absence
of UK legislation
(in this case, establishing orphanages), then the principles and rules of the
common law and equity shall have
effect as part of the law of the land with
particular exceptions (paras. 1 and 2).
2. Implementation
- There
is no government provision for children living outside the home. Solomon
Islands does not have an orphanage. Implicitly, governments
in the past and
today have been relying on the traditional system such as the extended family
network, which is believed to be very
strong in rural communities. It is
expected that the extended family will provide for children not living with
their parents. The
churches provide some temporary facilities. However, only
one church (Church of Melanesia) appears to have a particular mission
with
regard to caring for those with no others to look after them.
- As
is the case with orphanages, Solomon Islands does not have an alternative home
for delinquent children or juvenile offenders.
The Central Prison at Rove
accommodates both adult and minor prisoners. The current construction and
renovation work at the prison
includes plans for a juvenile section, which will
separate minors from mixing with hardened criminals. However, that renovation
has been significantly delayed to date.
- As
there are no institutions for alternative care per se there is no governmental
monitoring of services or statistical data maintained.
- There
are many issues to be discussed on the question of creating an alternative home
or care for abandoned or delinquent children.
Government has historically
objected to institutionalization of minors even for the purposes of
rehabilitation.
- Some
juvenile offenders (primarily “pickpockets”), caught more than once
in urban areas, may be sent back to their villages
in order to deny them access
to their habitual environment. This policy appears to have deterred some
juveniles from continuing
their criminal lifestyles. This practice is
facilitated by the Social Welfare officer who asks for a “residential
order”
after gaining the consent of a relative in the village that they
will live with and look out for the juvenile. The Social Welfare
officer seeks
reports on the status of the affected child as frequently as possible, varying
from once a month, if the village is
relatively close, to three months if the
village is quite distant.
- In
the capital, Honiara, the presence of a population of “street kids”
has prompted a number of concerned individuals
to organize a committee to
address their needs. This effort has brought together lawyers; representatives
of NGOs; church members
and other concerned citizens to advocate for protection
of these children.
D. Adoption
1. Legal context
- The
UK Adoption Act 1958 protects the welfare or interest of the child so that the
High Court must first be satisfied that the child
will be cared for properly
before it grants an adoption order.
- Any
adoption, to be legally recognized, must follow or adhere to the Adoption Act.
Any ad hoc or custom adoption is not legally recognized.
2. Implementation
- In
legal adoption proceedings the mother must consent to the adoption and the
matter is heard in the High Court.
- The
laws covering adoption, custody, access and guardianship also require Social
Welfare to make a social welfare enquiry background
report on applicants and
parties concerned. As a practice, the courts write to the Social Welfare Office
to request such reports.
These reports help the courts to make decisions, and
paramount consideration is given to the best interests of the
child.
- Systems
of informal adoption are widespread amongst different cultural groups in Solomon
Islands. These practices are often circumscribed
and consistent within each
particular culture, but vary widely across the country. Some practices are
clearly to benefit the clan,
e.g. the Bellonese custom of ensuring a male
heir for the first son. In Temotu, a couple’s unborn children may
traditionally
have been assigned to particular relatives at the time of the
betrothal or marriage. In such a culture, it is common that several
children
may be born to the mother, and given into other families, before she is allowed
to “keep” one. Other practices
benefit the child; e.g. a decision
by grandparents to adopt a child to ensure the child is properly cared for.
Although it is difficult
to make generalizations, agreements for informal
adoptions within families are usually intended to benefit the child. Despite
this,
however, attention must also be directed to the situation facing a child
who becomes victimized by mistreatment, servitude or enslavement
as a result of
informal adoption. Children at particular risk are those who are split up
amongst their deceased father’s relatives
and separated from their mother,
e.g. within certain cultures payment of bride price has ensured that such
children stay in the father’s
clan. In Bellona and some parts of Malaita,
parents of girls may agree to let them be adopted expressly because a sister or
brother
lacks enough girl children to help the mother do the work required.
Families in town areas where both parents work often require
a young female
relative to come live and care for children and do housework. Some of these
girls have no rights to pursue their
own education nor opportunities to seek
paid employment elsewhere, effectively they have become enslaved. In areas
where families
and communities are healthy and functional, the victimized child
may be identified and “rescued” from a poor living situation.
In
situations of ill will between families or physical isolation, there is
essentially no protection for such children.
- According
to the participants’ wishes informal adoptions may become formalized at
any time as the child encounters the legal
system by entering the school system,
obtaining a passport or applying for residency outside of the Solomon’s,
etc. There
are cases where informally adopted children have been issued
passports without going through legal adoption proceedings. However,
in these
cases the parent, during application procedures, has probably not mentioned the
status of the informally adopted child nor
would the issuing official have
questioned the child’s status.
- Intercountry
adoptions do not involve Solomon Islands’ children being sent abroad for
adoption as is done periodically by certain
other countries. A very strong
indicator of the high value placed on children by Solomon Islanders is the
ability to find homes
for most children within or amongst their own communities
and cultural groups. The lack of orphanages and other care facilities
in
Solomon Islands attests to the strength of traditional society in this area.
Foreigners who wish to adopt a Solomon Islands child
must adhere to the terms
stated in the UK Adoption Act 1958.
- As
required by law, Solomon Islands monitor pending intercountry adoptions
involving residents who adopt children from other countries.
Adopting a child
from another country must follow the appropriate laws and procedures belonging
to that country. Social Welfare
(MHMS) coordinates or liaises with the Social
Welfare office of that country to ensure necessary reports pertaining to
applicants,
children or legal parents are made.
E. Illicit transfer and nonreturn
1. Legal context
- The
Penal Code, Part XXVI, “Offences Against Liberty”, refers to
sanctions prohibiting kidnapping, abduction, concealing
abducted persons, etc.
Section 246 specifically deals with child stealing.
2. Implementation
- Protection
provided by the Penal Code has only recently been tested in court. In at least
two informal adoption cases the help of
the public solicitor has been sought in
instances of birth parents charged with child stealing, kidnapping or abduction
of children.
In the older case the public solicitor discouraged the adoptive
family against pursuing the case in court due to the difficulty
in proving that
there had been an informal agreement to adopt the child who had subsequently
been abducted by the birth family.
However, in the second more recent case, the
public solicitor was willing to pursue the case in court on the grounds that the
birth
mother that had abducted the child might be unfit. Informal adoption
amongst certain cultural groups may also result in abduction
of the child by the
birth family after a period in the care of another family. This practice varies
amongst cultural groups. Anecdotal
information suggests that abduction may also
be common in custodial disputes between families in cases of separation or
divorce.
- The
local radio recently reported a case of a boy being returned to his parents in
the Solomon Islands after enduring sexual abuse
at the hands of two adult
Australian males in the Riverland district of South Australia:
“... The prosecutor told the court the men procured the 13yearold boy
from the Islands last year after gaining the confidence
of his family. She said
he was taken away from the people who could protect him to the remote community
of Morgan where he had no
one to turn to. He had a limited grasp of English.
She said it was fortuitous police visited the men’s home and discovered
the boy. She said the boy’s parents lived in poverty and believed the men
were giving their son a great
opportunity.”[78]
This case illustrates the ease with which those who misrepresent
themselves to trusting parents may take advantage of children. The
modern
climate of international cooperation amongst police is crucial to stopping these
activities. In a country like Solomon Islands
where education is difficult to
obtain and therefore highly sought after, opportunities for these sorts of
criminals are plentiful.
F. Abuse and neglect of children and their physical
and
psychological rehabilitation and social
reintegration
1. Legal context
- Under
section 14 of the Penal Code, a male person under the age of 12 years is
presumed to be incapable of having sexual intercourse.
- According
to section 38 of the Penal Code, a court may order that in the case of a person
under the age of 16 who is found guilty
of a crime, the parents or guardians of
that person may be ordered to pay fine, costs or compensation.
- Part
XVI of the Penal Code (Offences Against Morality) contains many provisions
protecting children against rape and attempted rape,
abduction, abduction of a
girl under 18 years with intent to have sexual intercourse, indecent
assault on females, defilement of
a girl under 13, defilement of a girl between
13 and 15 years of age, or of an “idiot or imbecile”, procuration,
procuring
defilement of a woman by threats or fraud or administering drugs,
permitting defilement in householder’s premises (of girls
under 13 and
under 15), detention with intent or in a brothel, disposing of minors under 15
for immoral purposes, obtaining minors
for immoral purposes, custody of girl
victims away from offenders within the family, living on earnings of
prostitution, conspiracy
to defile, “unnatural offences” (buggery
etc.), incest. However, very few cases of sexual assault/abuse/incest are
pursued
by police or brought to court. This is probably due to unwillingness to
prosecute within the extended family.
- It
is a defence to claim that an accused did not know or did not believe a girl was
under the age of 15 for the offence of defilement
of a girl between 13 and 15
(sect. 135, Penal Code). The same defence holds for a householder permitting
defilement (sect. 138,
Penal Code).
- Part
XXI of the Penal Code, entitled “Duties Relating to the Preservation of
Life and Health”, and section 225 specify
that it is the duty of any
person having charge of a child under 15 years to provide the “necessaries
of life” to such
a child. Section 226 of the Penal Code provides
penalties for any person over 15 having charge of any person under that age who
wilfully assaults, neglects, abandons, or exposes him, or causes or procures him
to be assaulted, illtreated, neglected, abandoned,
or exposed in a manner likely
to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health.
- Some
protection from sexual abuse, especially of girls, is provided for in the Penal
Code under “Offences Against Morality”,
sections 128161.
2. Implementation
- In
most cases of family violence women and children are victims. Women are
frequently beaten, kicked, punched and verbally or sexually
abused by their
husbands or male relatives at home. Children who witness these acts in the home
become victims themselves, either
physically or psychologically. For the period
19901992, police authorities recorded these figures for family/domestic violence
in
table 4, below:
Table 4
Family/domestic violence, 19901992
|
Reported violence
|
Alcohol-related violence
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
ACABHa
|
135
|
147
|
137
|
18
|
98
|
91
|
Affray
|
59
|
20
|
9
|
39
|
13
|
11
|
Rape
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Drunk/disorderly
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Indecency
|
19
|
11
|
69
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Total
|
217
|
182
|
218
|
57
|
111
|
102
|
Source: Criminal Records Unit,
RSIPF.[79]
a
Assaults causing actual bodily harm.
- In
October 1994 a survey sample of 1,000 people, evenly divided between urban males
and females and rural males and females, provided
valuable baseline data in the
first known research study conducted in the area of domestic violence in Solomon
Islands. The survey
was restricted to Guadalcanal Province and Honiara Town and
did not address child abuse directly. However one aspect of the study
quantified the presence of children during incidents of domestic violence.
“Of the 303 people who indicated they were victims
of domestic violence,
210 (69 per cent) indicated that there were children present. These
findings have implications for the welfare
of [Solomon Islands] children as
research from other countries suggests that children who witness domestic
violence suffer from a
range of behavioural, emotional and cognitive
problems.”[80] See
table 5, below:
Table 5
Victims indicating children present during domestic violence
incident
|
|
Urban female (149)
|
Rural male (10)
|
Rural female (127)
|
Total (303)
|
No.
|
%
|
No.
|
%
|
No.
|
%
|
No.
|
%
|
No.
|
%
|
Children present
|
11
|
5.2
|
87
|
41.4
|
10
|
4.7
|
103
|
49
|
210
|
69
|
Source: Poerio (1995).
- The
same report mentioned above states:
“Police training in how to deal with domestic violence cases was
completed for all provinces in Solomon Islands in September
1995. This training
is the first of its kind and represents acknowledgement by the police that
domestic violence is no longer considered
a ‘private family matter’
but a crime.”[81]
If improved awareness by police through training results in increased
responsiveness by police officers to crimes of domestic violence,
the current
repetitive and pervasive incidence of domestic violence may be reduced. In
January 1998 Family Support Centre staff
conducted an 11day
training/awareness-raising course for all Solomon Islands’ police women to
assist with this very
issue.[82]
- Data
has also been published on crimes against young people for the first half of the
decade. What percentage of these are cases
of crimes within the family are not
clear (See tables 6 and 7):
Table 6
Crimes against children and youth, 19901994
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
Rape
|
11
|
4
|
6
|
10
|
14
|
Attempted rape
|
0
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
1
|
Indecent assault
|
13
|
13
|
14
|
17
|
16
|
Abduction of girl/female
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
Incest by male
|
5
|
2
|
0
|
7
|
1
|
Incest by female
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
Total
|
32
|
20
|
33
|
37
|
33
|
Source: Ministry of Police Annual Report 1994.
Table 7
Crime committed against children (as per Criminal
Code Act (Cap 18))
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
Carnal knowledge of child under 12 years
|
4
|
4
|
9
|
4
|
3
|
Attempted carnal knowledge of child under 12 years
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
Cruelty to child
|
2
|
9
|
7
|
9
|
2
|
Taking away of child
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
Total
|
8
|
17
|
17
|
16
|
6
|
Source: Ministry of Police Annual Report
1994.[83]
- A
community policing unit comprised of police and social welfare officers in the
capital district visits schools and conducts talks
raising awareness among
school children of what constitutes child abuse. Sometimes police will initiate
an investigation based on
interactions with children after these
talks.
- The
Family Support Centre in Honiara has conducted several Child Abuse Awareness and
Legal Rights workshops for members of the community
who have contact with
children, e.g. church leaders, teachers, nurses, women’s group
members, etc. There is concern that there
will be an increased need for
counselling services for children as people become aware of their needs and
begin to pursue options
available to them through the courts.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- There
is a need for continued development of positive working relationships amongst
police and others that might advocate for children
in the community. There have
been complaints of punitive behaviour of police toward street children, in
particular. However, generally
speaking, the police are wellknown to have taken
punitive roles when encountering juveniles in the act of criminal activity.
This
is a worldwide phenomenon and a human rights issue for Solomon Islands as
everywhere. Juveniles should be protected from such violence
despite the
intentions of those who “discipline” them to exact instantaneous
juvenile reform by hitting them or with
public humiliation.
- There
is a need for increased awareness and understanding of what actions constitute
child abuse (physical, sexual, verbal, emotional)
and neglect in relation to
disciplinary measures imposed by parents upon their own children. Some feel that
CRC’s definition
of child abuse or exploitation needs discussion. They
feel Solomon Islands cannot, as a result of acceding to the CRC, accept all
provisions of the Convention without questioning each one. Each provision must,
therefore, be compared and weighed against traditional
Solomon Islands family
values and norms with respect to traditional disciplinary mechanisms. The
family is certainly an institution
wherein each member contributes to its
various functions and equilibrium. Parents play the important role of being
head of the family.
The rights and responsibilities of parents and
guardians to control and discipline their children must be considered. Lack
of control or discipline can lead to disharmony and disequilibrium.
Solomon
Islands is one society with its own sets of values and western values are those
of another society, which are sometimes
seen to be in conflict with ours. What
is good for western society is not necessarily good for
Solomon Islands.
- It
is said that in rural areas, a child who is encountering trouble at home may
leave his or her own home and seek refuge in another
home, either of extended
family members or others within the community. If this practice does exist in
the village, it is certainly
an avenue for children who suffer abuse. In the
towns, however, especially Honiara, this traditional safety net is probably not
available to children of troubled households. Without a shelter or method of
intervening protectively on behalf of children who
have been abused,
intervention by authorities is likely to backfire into punitive repercussions
for the child who “caused trouble”.
The Family Support Centre
recently mentioned in the media the pressing need for a specialized centre for
child
protection.[84]
- Presently
there are no facilities for protecting abused children or meeting their needs
for counselling and support in Solomon Islands.
Unless there are members of the
family who are knowledgeable and capable of intervening, there is no system in
place to meet the
needs such children encounter as victims of abuse. These
needs are occasionally addressed by church leaders and other individuals
if not
by NGOs and government agencies. The plight of the informally adopted child
continues to be even more worrisome than that
of the natural child who is
abused.
- In
April and May 1997 the World Health Organization sponsored an Adolescent Health
mission to Honiara. Interviews were held with
28 relevant professionals and
focus groups were conducted with young people and parents to investigate the
health issues of young
people. One of the resulting recommendations highlighted
the need to investigate the nature and extent of child sexual abuse and
explore
the development of child protection legislation. These recommendations followed
the reasoning that some cases of girls and
young women who have sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs) are evidence of child sexual abuse. Thus the nature
and extent of child
sexual abuse, currently unknown, should be studied. It was
also recommended that a legal mandate be developed and action taken to
protect
children from child sexual abuse, especially with regard to mandated reporting
of child sexual abuse by health workers.
G. Review of arrangements for children not living with their
immediate family
1. Legal context
- The
Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act states (under the Affiliation
Section) that a Social Welfare officer may make the
appointment of a custodian
for a child upon application.
2. Implementation
- There
are currently no legal protective powers to be exercised by any organizations on
behalf of an endangered child when faced with
the prospect of remedying a
dangerous living situation. In cases where well meaning intervention by an
outside person may well result
in more bodily harm to the child, there is an
intolerable dilemma for the person who can do nothing to protect the
child.
H. Future implementation of measures to ensure child
rights
in regard to the family environment and alternative
care
- The
Social Welfare Division of MHMS has a Legal Rights Programme addressing rights
of women and children in Solomon Islands. The
first workshop, held 1013 June
1996 stated its aims to include:
Improving Social Welfare Officers’ knowledge and understanding of
“core” Solomon Islands laws dealing with legal
rights and
responsibilities of citizens in relation to women and children; and
Introduction of women leaders and workshop participants to Human Rights
Education (legal literacy), the laws of Solomon Islands and
laws specifically
relating to women and children.
- The
Workshop was attended by 31 representatives from Government, NGOs and churches.
It was the first in a series of three workshops,
which Social Welfare is to
conduct in collaboration with the Pacific Regional Human Rights Education
Resource Team (RRRT), based
in Suva, Fiji. Core topics covered were criminal
offences, the constitution and fundamental rights and freedoms, the relationship
between international conventions e.g. CRC, the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Solomon
Islands Constitution
and customary law.
- The
NACC Draft Policy, Strategy and Outline Plan of Action for Children (March
1996), still not formally adopted by Cabinet, outlines
in “Activities to
upgrade social services” the following goals to be met in this
area:
Develop legislation on social development and welfare;
Secure more public participation in the development and delivery of social
welfare programmes through the support of local governments,
NGOs, women’s
organizations and the churches;
Establish daycare facilities available to working parents;
Secure financial and technical assistance from bilateral and multilateral
agencies;
Establish training programmes in counselling of children and their families
for nurses, social welfare workers, teachers, church ministers
and NGO
workers;
Establish women’s and children’s crisis centre/counselling
facility;
Establish family courts for child victims and offenders;
Establish rehabilitation facilities for juvenile offenders.
- Also
included in the Draft Policy and Outline Plan of Action for Children are
“Activities to support urban families”:
Develop an urban service network to support low income groups in urban and
periurban areas;
Develop community programmes which promote greater selfsufficiency of
families in order to secure basic food, income and housing;
Provide viable programmes of employment or other productive activities
especially to women and unemployed youth;
Encourage communities to establish youth recreational facilities;
Encourage employers to offer incentives for their employees’ children
to be educated.[85]
VI. BASIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
A. Survival and development
1. Legal context
- The
Constitution stipulates that all citizens have the right to health services.
The goal of the national health services of Solomon
Islands is to promote,
protect, maintain, restore and improve the health and wellbeing of its people so
to achieve a better quality
of life. This is being fostered through primary
health care, health promotion, health protection and disease prevention and
control
programmes of the country. Solomon Islands is also party to the
“1978 Alma Ata Declaration Of Health For All By The Year
2000”.
2. Organizational network
- The
organizational network of the Child Health Services of the Ministry of Health
and Medical Services is comprised of one national
referral hospital, seven (7)
provincial hospitals, fourteen (14) area health centres, 123 health clinics, 61
nurse aide posts and
128 village health worker posts. Both health care and
health improvement services are being addressed through
these
health facilities into the communities through primary healthcare initiatives.
The maternal
and child health division of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services
(MHMS) coordinates, monitors, implements and develops national
programme
policies and guidelines for child health improvement programmes in coordination
with the provincial health authorities
and specialists in the various fields.
The organizational structure of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services is
illustrated
in the following chart:
Figure 1
Ministry of Health and Medical Services functional structure
and organization
MINISTER
PERMANENT SECRETARY
FIRST ASSISTANT SECRETARY
UNDERSECRETARY
HEALTH IMPROVEMENT
UNDERSECRETARY
HEALTH CARE
- Health Research/
Traditional Medicine
- Maternal and
Child Health, Family Planning, Reproductive Health
- Environmental
Health
- Health Promotion
and Education
- Disease
Prevention and Control
- Social
Welfare
- Health
Information and Statistics
- Administration
- Accounts
- Personnel
- Curative
Services (hospitals and clinics)
- Provincial
Health Services
- Nursing
Services
- Health Planning
and Human Resources Development
- Paramedical and
Support Services
- Health
Facilities, Equipment and Infrastructure
- Pharmacy
- Dental
- Rehabilitation
- Source:
MHMS.
- Churches,
nongovernmental organizations and the private sector contribute in providing
health services to the communities governed
by policies and guidelines set by
the Ministry of Health and Medical Services. These organizations work closely
with the Ministry
of Health. The Government provides financial grants to church
organizations and other assistance in forms of drugs, supplies, vaccines
and
staff training.
- The
health services in the Solomon Islands promote primary healthcare concepts and
encourage parents and caretakers of children to
be responsible for their own and
their children’s health. These goals are implemented by the Maternal and
Child Health Division
of MHMS and are being fostered through such programmes
as:
Child Immunization;
Nutrition and Growth Monitoring;
Control and reduction of childhood diseases diarrhoea, acute respiratory
infections, EPI (Expanded Programme of Immunization) diseases,
malaria;
Promotion, Support and Protection of Breastfeeding Practice including Baby
Friendly Hospital Initiatives;
Promotion of local foods rich in Vitamin A and Vitamin A Supplements for
“at risk” children;
Safe Motherhood including family planning, and antenatal care;
Safe water and excreta disposal and vector control, especially as relates to
malaria.
3. Implementation
- Current
programmes under way to improve children’s health
include:
Family Health Programme that caters for the strengthening of maternal child
health services throughout the country, including reproductive
health
services;
Strengthening the national immunization programme and especially support of
Hepatitis B vaccine procurement;
Breastfeeding support, promotion and protection and the Baby Friendly
Hospital Initiative;
Strengthening the development of IEC materials for MCH/FP programmes
e.g. prevention of child abuse, prevention of domestic violence,
prevention
of diseases which are leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality etc.
through SCFA, UNICEF and UNFPA support.
Maternal child health services are
provided free at the point of delivery by the Government;
Nutrition and growth monitoring by UNICEF.
- Between
8086 per cent of deliveries take place in health facilities attended
by trained health workers. The other 1420 per cent of
births takes
place at home by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), mainly within three
provinces, Central Island Province, Malaita
and Guadalcanal. Because of this,
TBA training has been conducted in these three provinces over the past threefour
years. The Safe
Motherhood programme encourages women to receive antenatal care
and to deliver in a health facility. Approximately 79 per cent of
pregnant women attend antenatal clinics. Health awareness campaigns are of
paramount importance to inform communities and pregnant
women of the benefits of
antenatal care, choosing to deliver at health facilities and protecting their
own health while pregnant
and lactating. These consist primarily of healthcare
workers talking with pregnant mothers while they are waiting at the clinic
for
their antenatal checks. Videos are also shown and nurses freely dispense advice
on these topics.
- In
the last five years family planning services have been expanded and developed
into the national Family Planning and Population
Awareness/Education Programme.
The Ministry of Health and Medical Services emphasizes the health benefits of
both mother and child
through spacing of births. Modern methods of family
planning are still not widely used due to lack of correct information and
misconceptions.
The contraceptive prevalence rate was approximately
11 per cent in 1995. This is probably an
underreporting.[86]
However, Ministry of Health and Medical Services, with assistance from its
partners (NGOs, churches and donors), has embarked on
population and family
planning awareness education from the national to the village level. This has
been done in the hope that people
will have the chance to make informed choices
over their fertility for the benefit of the health of women and children. In
recent
years, the reasons people give for increased use of family planning seem
to stem from economics rather than consideration for the
health of women and
children. Contraceptive Technology Update is an ongoing programme directing
resources and information to all
health workers as well as making modern
contraceptives available and accessible to the rural people.
- Estimating
child immunization coverage rates in the Solomons is difficult. This is largely
due to the fact that the numbers of estimated
births given for each province
based on the 1986 National Census seem to be overestimated compared to the
numbers of actual births
recorded by each province in 1996. When per cent
coverage is calculated according to the actual births recorded, the immunization
coverage is all above 90 per
cent.[87] The Expanded
Programme of Immunization (EPI) covers BCG, Diphtheria, Polio, Tetanus,
Pertussis, Measles, Hepatitis B and Tetanus
Toxoid for pregnant women. National
Disease surveillance and catchup campaigns have prevented major epidemics of
measles, whooping
cough and other immunizable disease outbreaks over the last
seven years. There are still sporadic cases of neonatal tetanus but
the
incidence has been reduced markedly over the past years. It is the aim of the
programme to eliminate neonatal tetanus by the
year 2000. There have not been
any cases of polio and diphtheria reported for some decades.
- The
Growth Monitoring and Nutrition Programme, which entails regular monitoring of
growth of children 0-5 years, is an important aspect
of the Maternal, and Child
Health Programme of the country. An “At risk” registry for home
visits and follow-up of malnourished
children as well as children needing
special care and attention has been developed and is
effective in some provinces and in the capital of Honiara. National
programmes promoting local foods rich in vitamins and minerals
have been
extended throughout the country. A National Vitamin A guideline has been
implemented for two years now. A National Food
and Nutrition Policy and the
Breastfeeding Policy were passed in Cabinet in 1995 and 1996, respectively. A
National Nutrition Plan
of Action is soon to be completed, however,
implementation of certain aspects of this plan have already been carried out by
responsible
parties in government, nongovernmental organizations and church
organizations. These activities are coordinated by the National
Food and
Nutrition Committee, which is approved by cabinet and draws its members from
appropriate government ministries, NGOs and
churches. A developmental checklist
is attached to the Baby Health Book and health workers have been trained and are
now using the
checklist throughout the country.
- Control
of infectious diseases entails intense training of health workers and ongoing
support and supervision, especially for acute
respiratory infection and
diarrhoeal diseases. These are ongoing activities of the Maternal and Child
Health Unit. Other infectious
diseases such as measles are controlled through
immunization and promotion of clean/safe environment and sanitation
programmes.
- Emergency
services are provided through 24-hour emergency services in all clinics, area
health centres and hospitals. Doctors are
on-call 24 hours at all hospitals,
while nurses are oncall at all area health centres and clinics. Emergency
evacuations by plane,
boat or helicopter are the usual ways emergency patients
are evacuated from remote areas.
4. Future implementation
- The
major goals of Maternal and Child Health Programmes are:
To reduce the major causes of childhood morbidity and mortality, e.g. acute
respiratory infection, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria, perinatal
and neonatal
infections by at least 25 per cent of the 1990 level by the year
2000;
To improve and protect the health of mothers and children;
To educate communities on the important role they can play in assisting to
achieve the major MCH goals.
- The
Ministry of Health and Medical Services is being supported by local, regional
and international agencies in its effort to improve
the health of
children.
- As
part of its endeavour to achieve its goal, the Ministry of Health and Medical
Services is looking at expanding its community education
and awareness
programmes, through NGO and church networks and especially through women’s
groups. It plans to expand the use
of these networks in future. The Ministry
of Health is also expanding its Reproductive Health programmes to include such
activities
as Cancer screening, strengthening STD programmes especially STD
screening during antenatal care and adolescent health. Also the
existing and
ongoing programmes such as family planning, immunization, growth monitoring
and nutrition, intrapartum care and postnatal care, school
health services,
acute respiratory infection programme, control of diarrhoeal diseases, malaria
etc. will require further expansion,
improvement and strengthening. Specific
objectives, strategies, and activities are included in the National Health Plans
1997-2001.
B. Safe water and sanitation
- Most
urban and peri-urban households have access to chlorinated water supply through
metered pipes.[88] Besides
the chlorinated water supply, many urban households have tank water as well.
- Sixty
per cent of the rural population has access to clean water. This is in the form
of “gravity feed” supply and there
is no form of chemical treatment.
Protection of water sources from animals, people and land “run-off”
is all that is
feasible to do at present. In the atolls and outlying islands,
the main source of water is from wells and water tanks.
- Most
urban households have access to toilet facilities, either septic systems, or
pour flush. In peripheral urban areas septic system,
pour flush, squatting or
VIP (ventilated improved pit latrine) are available but may not be installed or
in use.
- Only
19 per cent of the rural population have access to proper toilet facilities,
which include either pour flush, squatting or VIP
latrines and very few septic
systems.
- Every
effort is being made by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project to provide
safe drinking water to children and to dispose
excreta by sanitary means. A
special school water and sanitation project is also being implemented to improve
these items for school
children.
- The
Government of Solomon Islands recognizes the close link between good water
supply and good public health. This is demonstrated
by the expansion and
development of a national water and sanitation project in the country, supported
by AusAid, which is being implemented
right now and includes training for women
in water and sanitation. The UNICEF primary schools water and sanitation
programmes have
installed systems in 25 schools
since 1995.
C. Health status of children under 5 in Solomon
Islands
- The
infant mortality rate has declined from 67/1,000 in 1976 to an estimate of
38/1,000 in 1995. The maternal mortality rate - based
on the sisterhood
method - was 549/100,000 live births in 1992. However, it is generally felt
that the rate expressed is an overestimate.
The current situation is more
likely to be around 356/100,000 live births, still unacceptably
high.
Table 8
Health indicators of Solomon Islands, 1986 and
1995
|
|
1995b
|
Population
|
285 176
|
393 759
|
Women (15-49 years)
|
59 887
|
83 752
|
Total live births
|
?
|
17 350
|
Crude birth rate (per 1,000 population)
|
42
|
38
|
Crude death rate (per 1,000 population)
|
10
|
7
|
Population growth rate
|
3.4%
|
2.8%
|
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)
|
40
|
38
|
1-4 years Child mortality rate (per 1,000 population)
|
N/A
|
7.1%
|
Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 births)
|
N/A
|
549
|
Total fertility rate
|
6.1
|
5.4
|
Low birth weight babies (less than 2500g)
|
N/A
|
11%
|
Underweight children (under 5 years)
|
N/A
|
23%
|
Births attended by a health worker
|
N/A
|
86%
|
Life expectancy at birth (years) - male
|
59.9
|
63
|
Life expectancy at birth (years) - female
|
62
|
65
|
Sources: a National Census, 1986;
b Ministry of Health and Medical Services, 1997.
- The
main causes of death in infants in Solomon Islands in 1993 and 1994 are shown
both in tabular form and as column charts following:
Table 9
Causes of infant mortality (<1 year old),
1993
Causes
of infant mortality (<1 year old) 1993
|
Percentage
|
Pneumonia
|
27.3
|
Bacterial infections (meningitis/septicaemia etc.)
|
21.2
|
Complications of delivery including: prematurity and low birth
weight and aspiration
|
21.2
|
Malaria
|
7.6
|
Diarrhoea
|
6.1
|
Accidents (drowning, poisoning)
|
6.1
|
Congenital abnormalities
|
4.5
|
Others
|
6.1
|
Source: MHMS, 1995.
Figure 2
Causes of infant mortality (<1 year old),
1993
[Figure
not attached]
Table 10
Causes of infant mortality (< 1 year old),
1994
Causes
of infant mortality (<1 year old) 1994
|
Percentage
|
Complications of delivery
|
32.6
|
Malaria
|
13
|
Meningitis
|
4.3
|
Diarrhoea
|
13
|
Pneumonia
|
8.7
|
Others
|
23.9
|
Source: Ministry of Health and Medical Services, 1995.
Figure 3
Causes of infant mortality (<1 year old),
1994
[Figure
not attached]
- The
Comprehensive Health Review stated the following 1995 Neonatal Unit data
relevant to Central Hospital:
“There were a total of 431 neonatal admissions over the same period
with total inpatient days of 2,540 and an average length
of stay of 5.9 days.
The most common causes for admissions were: small for dates, 33 per cent;
Caesarean section babies, 16 per
cent; prematurity, 9 per cent, multiple births,
7 per cent and born before arrival (BBA) at 6 per cent. There were a
total of 29
neonatal deaths with 24 or 83 per cent of them occurring in the
first 48 hours.”
- This
is a great cause for concern as neonatal deaths within the first 48 hours is a
reflection of poor Antenatal and/or Intrapartum
Care and this is where
efforts must now be directed to reduce the death rate. Prematurity,
Meconium Aspiration, Birth Asphyxia, Birth defects and low birth weights were
the leading causes of
death.[89]
- Diarrhoea,
malaria and pneumonia and other infectious diseases were still the major cause
of death in children between 1 and 5 years
of age in the Solomon Islands in
1993.
Table 11
Causes of childhood mortality (1-5 years),
1993
Causes
of childhood mortality (1-5 years) 1993
|
Percentage
|
Diarrhoea
|
27.2
|
Malaria
|
22.2
|
Pneumonia
|
11.1
|
Meningitis
|
11.1
|
Cancer
|
11.1
|
Others
|
16.7
|
Source: Ministry of Health and Medical Services,
1995.
Figure 4
Causes of childhood mortality (1-5 years),
1993
[Figure
not attached]
- Malaria
was the dominant cause of death in children between 1 and 5 years of age
in 1994, followed by pneumonia, diarrhoea, accidents and
meningitis.
Table 12
Causes of childhood mortality (1-5 years),
1994
Causes
of childhood mortality (1-5 years) 1994
|
Percentage
|
Malaria
|
41.7
|
Pneumonia
|
16.7
|
Diarrhoea
|
16.7
|
Accidents
|
8.3
|
Meningitis
|
8.3
|
Others
|
8.3
|
Source: Ministry of Health and Medical Services,
1995.
Figure 5
Causes of childhood mortality (1-5 years),
1994
[Figure
not attached]
- There
has been considerable reduction in the prevalence of immunizable diseases over
the past seven years. There have been no cases
of polio and diphtheria reported
since the early 1950s and the last major outbreak of measles was in 1989. A
minor measles outbreak
occurred in 1994. A major measles elimination campaign
was conducted in 1997 fearing that a New Zealand epidemic would spread
here.
- There
has been a gradual reduction in the infectious disease patterns of children in
the Solomon Islands over the past few years.
- Figure
6 shows the incidence of severe pneumonia or acute respiratory infection (ARI)
among children less than 5 years old in Solomon
Islands from 1993-1996, which
demonstrates gradual reduction from 24/1,000 in 1993 to 12/1,000 in
1996.
Figure 6
Incidence of severe ARI among children (1-5 years),
1993-1996
[Figure
not attached]
- The
incidence of skin diseases 1993-1996 was also reduced as shown in figure
7:
Figure 7
Incidence of skin diseases among children (1-5
years), 1993-1996
[Figure
not attached]
- The
incidence of malaria in infants (< 1 year old) was reduced 1994-1996 as shown
in figure 8, below.
Figure 8
Malaria incidence in infants, 1994-1996
[Figure
not attached]
- Diarrhoeal
diseases, however, did not show a similar gradual reduction. Instead the
incidence increased from 1994 and peaked in 1995,
which coincided with a major
outbreak of diarrhoea caused by Rotaviruses shown in figure 9, below:
Figure 9
Incidence of diarrhoeal disease among children (1-5
years), 1993-1996
[Figure
not attached]
D. Health status of children 5 to 18 in Solomon
Islands
- In
discussing the issues of basic child health in section 3 above, attention has
been given to mortality and disease patterns for
infants and children under 5
years of age. This reflects a traditional MCH/FP perspective. However, it is
significant that data
indicating health patterns for children 5 to 18 years of
age appears not to be routinely collected or analysed. There is a need,
therefore, to monitor incidence rates of illnesses and disease (including
non-communicable disease, e.g. cancer or diabetes), incidence
of accidents,
injury or death, rates of suicide and/or suicide attempts affecting children and
young people who make up the portion
of the population traditionally regarded to
be of school age, specifically 5 to 18 year olds.
- The
MHMS Comprehensive Review contains a significant amount of information regarding
Paediatric Services; however, this data was not
disaggregated by
age.[90] Therefore this
information serves to give a general picture only for that age
group:
Table 13
Paediatric patient statistics, Central Hospital,
1995
Paediatric
patient statistics Central Hospital
|
1995
|
Admissions
|
1 278
|
Average length of stay
|
5.3 days
|
Average bed occupancy rate
|
77%
|
Mortality (number of
deaths) [91]
|
38
|
Source: MHMS, Comprehensive Health Review, 1996.
- Contrary
to popular belief, respiratory diseases (34 per cent, comprised of:
pneumonia 24 per cent, asthma/bronchiolitis 7 per cent and TB
3 per cent) appear to cause
higher numbers of children to be admitted to
hospital than malaria (14 per cent) and meningitis (6 per cent). This is also
reflective
of improvement in the relative success of recent antimalarial
programmes. The second placed gastroenteritis (24 per cent) is predominantly
due to a rotavirus diarrhoeal outbreak in October
1995.[92]
Figure 10
Leading causes of admission to Children’s
Ward Central Hospital, 1995
[Figure
not attached]
- The
four leading causes of death in 1995 were: respiratory diseases (26 per cent);
meningitis (16 per cent); malaria (10.5 per cent)
and cardiac diseases (5.3 per
cent).[93]
Figure 11
Leading causes of death in Children’s Ward,
Central Hospital, 1995
[Figure
not attached]
- The
Comprehensive Health Review stated that in paediatrics, Central Hospital does
not function as a national referral hospital (NRH).
It is more a base hospital
for Guadalcanal and Honiara. Of the 1466 patients admitted to both the Medical
and Surgical paediatric
ward in 1995, 49 per cent (719) were from Guadalcanal
Province; 38.8 per cent (569) from Honiara and only 12.2 per cent (178) from
all
other provinces, primarily Central Islands Province, Rennell and Bellona, both
geographically accessible to Honiara.
- The
distribution of paediatric beds in the various hospitals in the country are
shown in the following table:
Table 14
Distribution of paediatric beds
|
NRH Surgical
|
NRH Medical
|
Kilu’uti
|
Gizo
|
Kirakira
|
Lata
|
Isabel
|
Helena Goldie
|
Atoifi
|
Total
|
Number of beds
|
13
|
24
|
22
|
10
|
16
|
9
|
8
|
12
|
18
|
132
|
Against this scenario is the fact that only Central Hospital, with 24
(medical) paediatric beds had three specialist paediatricians
and a trainee
registrar in 1995 whilst all other hospitals including Malaita (with a 22-bed
paediatric ward and catering for almost
one third of the population) had no
trained paediatrician.[94]
These deficiencies may soon be addressed by the recent decision to recruit
foreign doctors to fill specialized posts in Central
Hospital and provincial
hospitals.[95] Of equal
significance, however, is the unwillingness of highly trained national doctors
to leave the urban centres to work in remote
areas of the country. As this
phenomenon is not unique to Solomon Islands, incentives must be developed to
encourage local physicians
to accept postings to more isolated areas.
- If
paediatric data were disaggregated by age where it is available and if it
included information on young people up to 17 years old,
more light would be
shed on the health and welfare of the older child and young person in Solomon
Islands. In this regard deaths
of children and young persons and the physical
causes of those deaths need to be recorded, briefly
investigated[96] and reported
to a central database for use as a monitoring tool.
- Health
information records and data on cause of death could be especially useful for
developing monitoring tools for measuring children’s
welfare in other
sectors, too. A health-care worker may be the first to observe injuries
attributable to some form of child abuse
or to a workplace accident. In the
first instance, STD symptoms in a young child could provide an unequivocal
indicator of abuse
and could enable the legal system to be activated to protect
the child. In the second instance, young people in the 5 to 18 year
age range
who are not attending
schools are then more likely to work, either formally or informally.
Precisely for this reason they are also more likely to engage
in types of work
that may expose them to greater risks of compromised health via accidents or
exhaustion as they work to accomplish
set tasks. If data on health problems
related to young people who work is shared in a confidential but useable form,
there is a
possibility of gauging and addressing needs that are currently
unaddressed.
E. Adolescent health issues
1. Reproductive health
- Adolescence
presents young people with the choice of whether or not to participate in sexual
activity - whether they live in town
or village areas. One study indicates that
adolescents in town encounter difficulties in getting good reproductive health
information.
A survey of 266 high school students, boys and girls, carried out
by Masters of Tropical Health candidates from University of Queensland,
Australia, January to March 1997, highlights issues of knowledge, access to
information and access to birth control methods. In
addition to the survey,
interviews were conducted with officials, health service providers, church
leaders, schoolgirls and their
mothers about health policies, concerns,
viewpoints, expectations, sex education, family planning and relationships. The
following
points were made in their summary, “Feedback Paper to
Participants”:
- Reasons
why teenaged girls have a high level of risk of pregnancy and STD in
Honiara:
Knowledge amongst teenagers about contraception, sex
and STD is poor;
Secret relationships amongst teenagers increase
risks;
Most girls having sex do not use anything to prevent STD or
pregnancy;
Teenagers think they have a low risk of STD, even if they are
having sex.
- Recommendations
and discussion highlighted the following:
The problem needs to be recognized. It is too late to stop premarital sexual
activity. Churches and service providers must acknowledge
what is happening and
participate in finding answers.
Many mistakenly believe reproductive health education increases sexual
activity and leads to teen pregnancy and STD. Information
from videos and
magazines is not the right sort of information. Teenagers need to be given
interesting and understandable information.
Education can increase use of safer practices and encourage girls to think
about all their choices, including saying no. Education
in schools should be
given before the end of Standard 6, when two thirds of students drop out.
Teachers need to be trained and comfortable
teaching these issues.
Teenaged girls, especially unmarried ones, do not get contraceptives from
health clinics. This means they take risks. Reasons young
girls have cited for
not attending clinics include the following: (a) they don’t know if
services are available to them, (b)
they are worried about being judged and (c)
they are worried that information will not be private. It is important to
address these
concerns to reduce their risks.
Ways need to be found to influence attitudes and make condoms acceptable to
boys. Because of risk of pregnancy and STD, and especially
the growing risk of
HIV/AIDS, young people need to use condoms. Prevention messages should be on
video screens at night-clubs, posters
on the plaza, even in schools. Youths
should design them. There should be clear messages and current images and
language of youth
culture.
All teenagers who took part in the study were thirsty for information. This
area of their lives is not spoken about and their opinions
are not heard.
Dialogue is needed to find ways of reducing their risks. Now is the time to
act.[97]
- The
Comprehensive Health Review of 1996 mentions that cases of sexually transmitted
disease (STD), although certainly underreported,
had increased over the previous
years, with about 1,200 cases in 1993. The most common of these is gonorrhoea
with about 40 per
cent of cases resistant to penicillin. No AIDS
cases had been diagnosed at the time; however,
one HIV-positive
case was diagnosed late in
1994.[98]
- The
Comprehensive Health Review summarized: “no comprehensive STD programme
exists as it is integrated into the general health
services. STD management
guidelines had been completed but not yet been implemented in 1996.
Comprehensive screening of all blood
products for HIV and STD before transfusion
is not possible; the priority intervention activities to prevent the spread of
STD/HIV
are to ensure all blood products are screened before use, promote the
use of condoms and other safe sex practices and public
education.”[99]
3. Substance abuse and accompanying health-care issues
- Experimentation
with abuse of harmful substances is commonly associated with the period of
adolescence. However, in Solomon Islands,
even very young children may be
encouraged to chew betelnut. Therefore health issues arise for even the
youngest children. Certainly,
use of tobacco and alcohol as well as illegal
drugs like marijuana or cocaine may become associated with health problems in
people
of all ages. However, the unique pressures of adolescence and young
adulthood often combine to make the adolescent age group particularly
susceptible to substance abuse. In mid-1997, in a settlement area of Honiara, a
group of
13 young men between the ages of 16 and 24 were found
experimenting with consumption of methanol, wherein one person
died.[100]
- If
someone is suffering the harmful effects of a drug or alcohol overdose, it is
not clear that they will receive prompt emergency
treatment at Central Hospital.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that such patients may be left outside, untreated
until the police arrive.
At that point it is unclear whether the individual
would then receive appropriate medical treatment for their health condition or
proceed instead to be arrested, interrogated and jailed.
- Binge-drinking
has been noted to have become a cultural norm in some situations. This
behaviour during times of holiday celebrations
and sports events, etc.
predisposes the drinker to impaired judgement, precipitating criminal behaviour,
especially, family violence,
assaults and property damage. (See table 15,
below.) The health consequences may be immediate, e.g., in the case of death
from
overdose or from accidents resulting in injury or death.
Table 15
Injury and hospital admissions, 1996
|
No. of patients
|
No. alcohol related
|
Percentage
|
General injuries
|
537
|
87
|
16
|
Domestic violence
|
33
|
26
|
78
|
Non-domestic violence (assault?)
|
42
|
24
|
57
|
Road/traffic
|
97
|
42
|
44
|
Male over 18 years
|
232
|
58
|
25
|
Source: Oberli, H. Central Hospital Records, 1996.
- A
survey of 1,000 people, equally divided between urban and rural males and
females, found that the most common perceived cause of
domestic violence overall
was “alcohol”. Victims and non-victims of domestic violence did not
differ in rating this
as the first
cause.[101]
3. Suicide
- In
Solomon Islands there has been a reported epidemic of attempted suicides which
occurred primarily among young women, ages 20-30
years.[102] Attempted
suicide cases more than doubled from 18 recorded attempts in 1992, to 46 in
1993. In 1994, the number jumped to 81 attempted
cases. Seventeen of these
1994 cases were under the age of 20 years old. The primary method, reported by
Dr. Jim Mielke, 1996,
used in these cases was swallowing chloroquine, followed
by aspirin and
paracetamol.[103] The
availability of chloroquine without prescription for malaria treatment
throughout the country means it is a very accessible
tool for teenage suicide.
4. Recommendations
- Data
disaggregated from general health recording data is needed to develop health
indicators for adolescents. Such data must give
a clear picture of the actual
health and mortality situation for adolescents below the age of 18 years.
Teenage health and social
problems now will precipitate immediate problems in
future if desired changes in behaviour are not realised.
- The
most child relevant hospital data (from table 15, above) estimated that 25 per
cent of injured men under the age of 25 years admitted
to hospital were
suffering the effects of
alcohol.[104] These
figures probably have limited relevance for this report, which is devoted to
young people below the age of 18 years, but the
data as presented is not
disaggregated by age.
Undoubtedly the general admission number for injuries also included children.
In future more statistics targeted to reveal child and
adolescent health
information will facilitate subsequent monitoring reports. Nurses and doctors
who work in the clinics and hospitals
probably also have some idea of how many
times injuries in children are precipitated by abuse of alcohol or another
substance. It
is important, however, for others outside the health-care system
to also have access to such data, categorized and quantified by
age. This would
enable a more holistic approach to children’s health issues as they relate
to substance abuse.
- The
long-term health consequences of substance abuse generally would not be
experienced by young people who are establishing early
patterns of abuse. This
fact may interfere with the ability of young people to believe public health
messages about cirrhosis of
the liver, cancer, etc. preferring instead to
believe in their own immortality. Any health oriented campaign would be most
effectively
combined with the message not to drink and drive and emotional
appeals to avoid the tragic consequences of alcohol abuse, rather
than focusing
upon the long-term physiological effects of over-consumption. Campaigns of
particular usefulness might also inform
the habitual binge drinker of the
likelihood of developing chemical dependence, either physically or emotionally,
on alcohol.
F. Nutrition
- Malnutrition
in children under 5 years of age is an increasing concern for the Ministry of
Health and Medical Services. The National
Nutrition Survey (1990) indicated
that:
There was a high prevalence of moderate under nutrition among children 0-4
years. About 23 per cent were underweight.
The prevalence of under nutrition was highest between 9 and 24 months.
Growth faltering commenced at 4-5 months and continued thereafter.
- This
finding indicates either there exists a poor quality of weaning diet (due to
inadequate knowledge of mothers and caregivers on
appropriate weaning foods -
rather than lack of food availability) or infants themselves are at higher risks
of contracting infectious
diseases such as diarrhoea, and respiratory infections
during the weaning period.
- Breastfeeding
patterns were good, with 77 per cent of mothers giving
colostrum,
100 per cent of children breastfeeding from 0-3 months and 50 per cent
maintaining breastfeeding until 18-21 months. Most
children had started weaning
by 4-6 months;
however, 11 per cent of children were fed using feeding
bottles, mostly for non-milk drinks.
- Promoting
and protecting breastfeeding is a priority for the Government as breast milk
provides some protection from infectious diseases
that are major causes of
deaths among infants in Solomon Islands.
- The
current estimated incidence of low birth weight babies in the country was
about 11 per cent in 1995. The most likely contributing
factors are
anaemia and malaria in pregnancy, poor eating habits and low socio-economic
status of women. The Ministry of Health
and Medical Services through the
Maternal and Child Health Unit endeavours to address this problem by
implementing the following
measures:
Expand its reproductive health education awareness programme through a wider
network, utilizing its NGO partners in health, particularly
church women’s
groups to educate communities, especially women, on the importance of early
attendance to antenatal clinics;
Prevent and treat anaemia and malaria in pregnancies;
Improve antenatal services including dietary advice, malaria
prophylaxis;
Promote good maternal nutrition during pregnancy;
Promote birth spacing.
- The
1990 National Nutrition Survey found 7 per cent of pregnant women were severely
anaemic and 23 per cent were moderately anaemic.
This is iron-deficiency
anaemia. Overall 16 per cent of pregnant women had positive malaria
slides. Unfortunately there is no record
of prevalence of anaemia in
children,[105] however,
anaemia in children is a common problem, seen and treated at all health
facilities.[106]
- Vitamin
A deficiency is sporadically seen in the Solomon Islands. It is especially
apparent during severe measles outbreaks where
corneal ulceration has occurred.
Night blindness in a few children had been documented in some parts of the
country. A National
Vitamin A protocol has been implemented since 1995 where
Vitamin A supplements are given to “at risk” children and local
vegetables rich in Vitamin A are also being promoted. A National Vitamin A
survey will soon be conducted and better information
on the situation will be
obtained.
- Iodine
deficiency is not an apparent problem in the Solomon Islands at present.
G. Children with disabilities
1. General situation
- A
study conducted by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) and Save
the Children Fund Australia (SCFA) in 1991 stated
that Solomon Islands has had
one of the highest growth rates in the world, with an average annual increase of
3.5 per cent from 1976-86.
This growth rate, however, diminished to 3.1 per cent in
1995.[107] The 1991 report
also correlated factors contributing to high rates of infant mortality to
incidence of disability amongst Solomon
Islands’ children:
There is a neonatal infection rate estimated to be 3 to 30 times higher than
is found in industrial countries (MHMS, 1996). Additionally,
a home birth
delivery rate of 13.7 per cent (higher in some provinces);
prevalence of moderate under nutrition in 23 per cent of
children
under five (1989 National Nutrition Survey); high rates of endemic malaria; and
a rate of immunization of 75 per cent (below
WHO target rate of 80 per cent
set in 1990)[108] means
there is a moderately high rate of infant mortality (43/1,000) and an expected
high rate of childhood
disability.[109]
- The
study cited above estimated the overall disability rate to be 3.2 per cent in
Solomon Islands. This is consistent with the prevalence
rate found in
developing countries and indicates that throughout Solomon Islands, there are
perhaps as many as 10,000 people who
have disabilities. Approximately one third
of this number have disabled limbs, one third have visual disabilities, one
fifth have
speech or hearing disabilities, and one tenth have mental
disabilities, with other disabilities accounting for the remainder of cases.
About 80-90 per cent of persons with disabilities live in rural areas and
receive little or no rehabilitation services. Disability
disaggregated data on
children are not available.
- In
addition to governmental entities listed below, several non-governmental
organizations exist to address the needs of disabled people,
notably the Solomon
Islands Red Cross which operates the Handicapped Children’s Centre in
Honiara, the Disabled Persons’
Rehabilitation Association, the Crippled
Society, as well as other private organizations and churches.
2. Health-care services for disabled children
- Governmental
health-care divisions who serve people with disabilities
include:
Rehabilitation Division of the MHMS, located in the capital, Honiara, which
provides physiotherapy, orthotic and prosthetic devices
and other adaptive
equipment. The Division helps operate a 12-bed rehabilitation unit,
participates in public education, teaching
and consultative touring;
Central Hospital, fully staffed acute care hospital which also includes a
dental clinic and eye clinic;
Health Education Division disseminates information regarding prevention of
disability via occasional features on radio programmes
and community
meetings;
Environmental Health constructs sanitation and water supply systems with
minimal contribution from communities towards construction
costs for disabled
persons;
TB/Leprosy Unit provides diagnosis, treatment compliance and follow-up
services to approximately 260 leprosy patients, including yearly
tours to every
province;
Maternal Child Health Unit engages in prevention of disability through
immunization campaigns, policy formulation and training in
antenatal and child
health, public education about childcare and nutrition. At present there is no
specific attention paid to the
needs of disabled children;
School of Nursing (SICHE) provides a small rehabilitation component within
its training curriculum with assistance from staff of the
Rehabilitation
Division who give lectures on physiotherapy for specific conditions such as
spinal cord injury, neurological conditions
and orthopaedics. The paediatric
training module covers childhood development but there is no specific
orientation to
disabilities.[110]
Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), started in 1993, is a joint effort
between Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS), the
Disabled
Persons’ Rehabilitation Association (DPRA) and Save the Children Australia
(SCFA) to train and place rehabilitation
aides in rural locations throughout the
Solomon’s to help disabled persons in their communities. The aides are
to conduct
rehabilitation assessment, lead family and community planning
meetings to help the disabled person, and to make referrals on complex
cases
that need specialized attention. Fourteen rehabilitation aides have been
trained with 19 more completing training at the end
of 1997.
- Government
policy attempts to continue to support, rather than interfere with the strong
and important custom of care-giving provided
at the family and village level.
Relatives are the main source of social and material support for everyone,
including people with
disabilities. There is no social assistance programme or
government-operated home-care facility in
Solomon
Islands.[111]
- Disabled
people need access to rehabilitation services to improve their quality of life.
Apart from limited services offered in the
emerging Community Based
Rehabilitation Program (CBR), all rehabilitation services in the Solomon Islands
are based in Honiara.
In the majority of cases services are not available due
to limited trained personnel, inadequate financial resources, lack of transport
facilities and the geographical situation of the country. In some cases, the
interests and special needs of people with disabilities
are not provided for due
to negative attitudes on the part of community or the family. Additionally,
adequate structure must be
developed within the Disabled Persons Rehabilitation
Association (DPRA) and the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) to
coordinate CBR activities in the provinces. Lack of structure has contributed
to aides primarily functioning in their capacity of
referral rather than
implementation of rehabilitation.
- Progress
was noted toward attaining the target of identification, registration and
management of all mentally and physically handicapped
children in the country in
the Comprehensive Health Review in 1996. This included establishment of a
national disability register
in February 1995. A functional classification of
disability had been established, as had touring and home
visits.[112]
3. Training and employment
- The
Education Act does not speak directly to provision of education for people with
disabilities. However, the provisions of the
Education Act would also apply to
any school for those with disabilities that also meets the stated criteria of
secular instruction
given to 10 or more students outside their own homes,
whether children or adults.
- The
Solomon Islands Red Cross Centre for Handicapped Children has provided life
skills and employment preparation training for children
for 19 years in the
capital, Honiara. They have served 500 disabled children during that time. The
average number of students varies
from year to year. These children currently
range in age from 3 months and 21 years. There are six staff persons. The
aim of the
Centre is to give children the tools to become more independent,
contributing members of their communities. The Centre also manufactures
and
distributes smallwheeled chairs for use by disabled persons throughout the
country.
- Access
to the Handicapped Centre in Honiara is effectively limited to those who can
reach the location. Classes at the Centre are
offered during the day and follow
the government school calendar. There must be a family in the Honiara area for
the child to live
with. The Centre does community awareness tours once or twice
each year into rural areas, conducting workshops for a two-week period
in
different villages in Guadalcanal, Malaita and Western Provinces to
increase knowledge of the Centre and its programmes. Usually
demand exceeds
their resources as they average 60 students served a year and have sometimes
allowed as many as 79 to participate.
- Although
there is no monetary governmental support for the training of disabled children,
there is support for mainstreaming individuals
into government schools from the
Handicapped Centre. Children are followed-up by Centre staff after they enter
school or employment
until they are capable of being independent. Employers in
the Honiara area have been willing to employ certain young people with
disabilities (mostly in industrial jobs) and there have been many success
stories. Concern exists, however, that the current economic
situation of high
unemployment in the youth sector will put disabled young people at an
increasingly significant disadvantage when
seeking work
placements.[113]
4. Attitudes
- There
is no specific governmental policy for disabled children; however, please refer
to annex 2, the Draft Policy, Strategy and Outline Plan of Action
developed by the NACC, but yet to be approved by Cabinet.
- Workshops
conducted by the Cumberland College Foundation (Australia) over a
four-year period (1988-91) focused on attitudes and attitude change
toward disabled persons. Participants included health workers,
educators,
community leaders, family members, and disabled people themselves. The
following main themes reflected people’s
attitudes to disabilities.
Disabled people were thought to be:
Dependent on the family for self-care, support, mobility, feeding;
Neglected and have lack of nursing care;
Rejected, lack of inclusion in the community, unwanted by others, lack of
respect and care from the community, limited chances for
marriage and having
children, less communication with the community, less chance of becoming
leaders;
Poor, lacking financial independence, money, equipment (crutches,
wheelchairs, eyeglasses, false legs) and proper facilities;
Excluded from education, little or no chance of learning, poor educational
background, unable to attend school, unable to read well;
Feeling bad, underestimate themselves, feel shy; limited productivity in
which they can contribute to their community, difficulty
carrying out work
properly, unable to speak well, unable to attend regular
meetings.[114]
- Although
traditional views toward disabilities vary widely amongst cultural groups and
individual families, they frequently embody
a sense of sorrow and shame that
extends to the community’s self-perception. In a rural subsistence
lifestyle, where everyone
contributes to work, a disabled person is often
perceived to be non-productive and totally dependent on others. Despite such
perceptions,
people seem to be quite willing to help improve circumstances for
the disabled person if enabled to do
so.[115]
5. Constraints and recommendations
- The
education system is not able to contribute to early identification of
disability. Disabled children are more disadvantaged than
others in an education
system where only a small portion of primary school leavers can be accommodated
in secondary schools or vocational
training centres. Many children with
disabilities such as blindness, major limb disability or cerebral palsy will not
be sent to
school either because the school cannot cope with the
disability or the family is ashamed and does not consider it
worthwhile. Children with special needs who do go to school pose great
difficulties for teachers who are neither specifically
trained nor have the
time to give special attention to their needs. Children with learning
disabilities usually drop out because
they fall too far
behind.[116] When a child
is identified by a teacher, an integrated referral system would be highly
desirable to enable educators to quantify
numbers of affected children and
address their needs, perhaps via non-formal education alternatives.
- A
feasibility study for community-based rehabilitation (CBR), conducted in 1991,
states:
There are no standard procedures for early identification of disabilities in
children. Child Welfare clinics are an established part
of maternal and child
health services and are the normal place where a disability might be detected
early in life. However, once
a child’s
immunizations are completed, ideally in the first year of life but often
delayed until the second year, most children do not come
to the clinic unless
the child is sick. There are no developmental checklists used and training of
nurses in developmental assessment
has not yet been introduced. Gross or
obvious disability will be detected by clinics but referral services do not
exist outside
of Honiara. The Paediatric Department of Central Hospital is the
only facility for proper assessment of development or
disability.[117]
- The
Draft Policy, Strategy and Outline Plan of Action for Children - not yet adopted
by Cabinet - states, “Disabled children
have very little service
provision.”[118] The
same document recommends that Government embrace the following objective:
“To prevent infections, diseases and accidents
which cause death and
disability.” It further delineates measures to facilitate early detection
of disability and prevention
of accidents and poisoning that contribute to onset
of disability:
Promote early detection of childhood disability through education and
training of health workers;
Develop community disability awareness and education programmes;
Provide educational opportunities to children with disabilities;
Decrease the incidence of birth asphyxia by training birth attendants and
providing appropriate technology;
Provide educational materials on accident prevention to schools and
communities;
Promote road safety and enforce traffic laws to prevent accidents;
Create awareness on the consequences of alcohol abuse;
Enforce labelling regulations on dangerous substance containers to prevent
poisoning;
Enforce proper drug prescription and safe storage of drugs, especially at
home.[119]
H. Budgetary and other provisions
1. Total health financing
- Total
financing in Solomon Islands could only be approximated, as accounting
figures could not reflect total financing for government and
private sectors. The analysis is based mainly on government budgets.
The
financing of health by the Government is shown below:
Table 16
MHMS recurrent budgets 1990-1996 in Solomon Islands
dollars
|
1990 ($)
|
1991 ($)
|
1992 ($)
|
1993 ($)
|
1994 ($)
|
1995 ($)
|
1996 ($)
|
National Health budget totals
|
16 303 200
|
18 533 100
|
22 307 200
|
24 939 300
|
34 560 300
|
38 705 100
|
43 390 000
|
Provincial health budget totals
|
6 006 100
|
6 632 400
|
6 399 400
|
8 180 400
|
10 044 200
|
14 928 300
|
17 378 712
|
Central admin. and hospital budget totals
|
10 297 100
|
11 901 100
|
15 907 800
|
16 758 900
|
24 525 100
|
23 776 800
|
26 011 288
|
Total national government budget - all sectors
|
146 600 000
|
162 800 000
|
208 800 000
|
231 000 000
|
255 657 563
|
325 079 576
|
364 222 007
|
Provincial health budget as % of national health budget
|
32.8%
|
35.8%
|
28.7%
|
32.8%
|
29.1%
|
39.6%
|
40.1%
|
Central health budget as % of national health budget
|
56.2%
|
64.2%
|
71.3%
|
67.2%
|
70.9%
|
60.4%
|
59.9%
|
Total health budget as % of total national budget
|
11.1%
|
11.4%
|
10.7%
|
10.8%
|
13.5%
|
11.9%
|
11.9%
|
Source: EU report as reported in the Comprehensive Health Review
Report 1996 and SIG recurrent estimates 1996.
- Between
1990 and 1996, the health services budget averaged 11.6 per cent of the total
government recurrent budget. This means that
the Government has always rated
health amongst the top priorities in its budget. In comparison to other Pacific
and international
standards, where only about 5-6 per cent is allocated for
health, this is a high proportion, particularly for a developing country
like
Solomon Islands with its level of performance in economic development. The
health care cost per head was approximately SI$
35.00 in the 1996 recurrent
health budget.
- Health
services are the second highest allocation after the education sector in the
government budget. This reflects its priority
to the Government. The total
expenditure on health, however, is difficult to accurately estimate, as
inadequate information is available
on the private sector. Church institutions
providing health services are also subsidized by Government. Financial
resources, whilst
a major resource for improvement of the health systems and
delivery of services and thus health status of the population, is a crude
indicator and approach in the case of Solomon Islands. It is estimated,
however, that the private sector provides up to 5 per cent
of the total health
services.
- Health
services in Solomon Islands are free to the consumer at the point of delivery
especially for MCH/FP services. However, availability
of financial resources
for financing of health activities is a major concern for health services in
Solomon Islands. This is so
despite the efforts of consecutive governments to
try to improve health services delivery. This affects not only the availability
of health services, but also constrains efforts to make services accessible.
The question of cost recovery is an option being considered.
Factors include
the mandate of the Government to provide health services, affordability by the
populace, accessibility of services
and availability. A service can be
available but inaccessible due to affordability. It therefore creates a
barrier. In town areas,
where private sector services are available, people are
willing to pay for quicker and more personal service in the private sector.
Any
form of cost recovery must not impact negatively on MCH/FP
service.
2. Donor financing for health
- The
sources of financing for health in Solomon Islands are shown in table 17
below:
Table 17
Summary of major budgetary inputs to health, MHMS,
1990-1995
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
TOTALS
|
AusAid
|
275 000
|
1 180 000
|
2 385 000
|
1 890 000
|
1 447 000
|
1 863 000
|
10 458 000
|
WHO
|
3 294 000
|
3 548 000
|
3 838 000
|
4 171 000
|
5 413 000
|
5 627 000
|
25 891 000
|
NZODA
|
117 000
|
762 000
|
570 000
|
445 000
|
1 088 000
|
658 000
|
3 620 000
|
UK
|
2 420 000
|
2 524 000
|
3 298 000
|
5 106 000
|
6 273 000
|
3 299 000
|
22 920 000
|
ROC
|
3 775 000
|
4 077 000
|
4 398 000
|
4 780 000
|
658 000
|
3 996 000
|
21 684 000
|
JICA
|
|
886 000
|
1 558 000
|
2 421 000
|
2 067 000
|
1 527 000
|
8 459 000
|
EDF
|
|
|
2 345 000
|
1 246 000
|
3 467 000
|
3 400 000
|
10 458 000
|
UNICEF
|
63 000
|
38 000
|
20 000
|
23 000
|
64 000
|
-
|
208 000
|
UNFPA
|
390 000
|
243 000
|
182 000
|
125 000
|
193 000
|
334 000
|
1 467 000
|
CANADA
|
115 000
|
|
|
|
|
|
115 000
|
ROTARY
|
|
|
8 000
|
|
|
|
8 000
|
SPC
|
|
|
16 000
|
|
|
|
16 000
|
OTHERS
|
205 000
|
224 000
|
1 670 000
|
1 969 000
|
1 260 000
|
1 349 000
|
6 677 000
|
DONOR TOTALS
|
10 654 000
|
13 482 000
|
20 288 000
|
22 176 000
|
21 930 000
|
22 034 000
|
110 564 000
|
Source: World Bank (WB) Report, EU report as reported in the
Comprehensive Review Report 1996.
- Donor
inputs into the health sector in terms of resources for the period 1990-1995
were between 36 per cent and 48 per cent of total
resources provided to the
Government by donors during the period. 20 per cent of donor funds have been
injected into recurrent budget
activities. This means that the other 80 per
cent were for health development project and programme activities. The areas of
inputs
are as in table 18 below:
Table 18
Analysis of major donor allocation to Ministry of
Health and Medical
Services, 1990-1995 (thousands of Solomon Islands
Dollars)
|
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
% TOTAL 1990-1995
|
Total hospitals
|
4 890
|
5 138
|
6 650
|
7 550
|
5 517
|
5 148
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
32%
|
Capital portion
|
3 875
|
4 478
|
4 398
|
4 282
|
5 517
|
3 996
|
|
Total R/Clinics
|
2 090
|
4 328
|
9 300
|
8 101
|
7 149
|
5 552
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
33%
|
Capital portion
|
1 500
|
4 000
|
6 650
|
3 800
|
4 300
|
5 552
|
|
Rural support
|
520
|
788
|
1 193
|
2 085
|
3 107
|
3 435
|
10%
|
Total training
|
870
|
998
|
925
|
1 375
|
1 838
|
3 047
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8%
|
In-country portion
|
280
|
460
|
425
|
525
|
678
|
1 160
|
|
Malaria
|
1 004
|
930
|
1 300
|
875
|
1 521
|
2 093
|
7%
|
Water’s sanitation
|
1 200
|
1 180
|
900
|
1 890
|
1 967
|
2 137
|
8%
|
Women in development
|
80
|
120
|
20
|
300
|
280
|
622
|
1%
|
Population policy development
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
551
|
0
|
1%
|
Donor total
|
10 654
|
13 482
|
20 288
|
22 176
|
21 930
|
22 034
|
42%
|
Solomon Islands Government total
|
16 303
|
18 533
|
22 305
|
24 939
|
34 569
|
38 705
|
58%
|
Grand totals
|
26 957
|
32 015
|
43 593
|
47 115
|
56 499
|
60 739
|
100%
|
Source: World Bank (WB) Report, EU Report, and SIG development
budgets as reported in the Comprehensive Health Review Report 1996.
- In
terms of sustainability of health financing, at least for the period 1997-2001,
the external support from international organizations
such as WHO, UNFPA and
UNICEF is almost guaranteed, as Solomon Islands is a priority country for
support. Assistance from the Governments
of Australia (AusAid), Japan (JICA),
New Zealand (NZODA) and Republic of China (ROC) should be forthcoming, and from
international
agencies as well. The Government is also exploring cost recovery
measures to sustain programmes.
I. Social security
- Only
a small proportion of economically active people is eligible for the National
Provident Fund. The majority of people have no
formal provision for social
security.
J. Living standards
- Children
have the right to a basic standard of living that meets their need for physical,
mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
This is an important
responsibility of their family and of the Government.
- Housing
is becoming a problem in urban and peri-urban areas. The Home Financing
Authority was established to try and help families
in urban areas to build
private houses. The National Provident Fund has also operated a housing loan
scheme for its members since
1990 for urban housing and 1995/1996 for rural
housing.
- Rural
housing is the responsibility of families in villages. Most houses there are
made of local bush materials; however, in many
rural villages more and more
often permanent and semipermanent houses are being constructed.
- Water
and sanitation conditions were previously discussed in section 2,
above.
K. Constraints on the effective protection of children’s
health
- The
following major constraints were noted in the Comprehensive Health Care Review
of 1996:
The geographic realities of small islands scattered over vast seas, often
with mountainous terrain, makes logistics such as transport
and communication
very complex. Outreach health activities and distribution of medical supplies
becomes difficult and costly;
Limited trained manpower is available at provincial and national levels,
especially in rural clinics;
Inadequate knowledge at the community level in prevention of preventable
conditions affecting children’s health. Traditional
practices also exist
that are not conducive for the development and wellbeing of children, e.g.
certain food taboos, etc.;
Inadequate management skills of child survival programme managers.
Inadequate knowledge of important childhood diseases’ care
and treatment
on the part of
caregivers.[120]
Future
activities (1997-2001) on child health are also aimed at overcoming these
constraints where possible.
- In
1997, SCFA and UNICEF commissioned the first review of the MCH Unit with the
support of the MHMS administration. In an effort
to assist MCH in its programme
development, the review highlighted those constraints mentioned and focused on
recommendations to
improve MCH/FP strategies and systemic accountability. Other
constraints cited therein include:
Lack of available data as an important impediment to monitoring or gauging
impact of MCH/FP
services;[121]
Difficulty in using indicators, e.g. reductions in mortality and fertility
rates, to measure the effectiveness of health programmes;
specifically, the
difficulty in distinguishing health programme effects from other background
influences of socio-economic and cultural
change;
Inequities in access and quality of health care amongst the provinces and
between town and rural
areas;[122]
Many clinics emphasize curative health-care practices rather than
preventative ones;[123]
Lack of understanding and linkages between the formal health-care system and
kastom practices at the home and community level may
contribute to significant
delays in delivery of emergency health
care.[124]
- Both
the MCH Review and the Comprehensive Health
Review[125] cite
recommendations, strategies, or future directions for addressing some of these
constraints, including:
Improvement of documentation
practices[126] to include
routing of information directly to a central location, i.e., MCH Division, where
case studies can be developed and a database
maintained and shared. Investigate
all maternal deaths and institute appropriate intervention programme;
Re-establish a more reliable system of national health data-collection for
tracking health indicators that engender attitudes of accountability
for
effective service delivery;
Deploy health-care staff away from hospitals and urban centres to reflect the
importance of equity in health-care service delivery
amongst the provinces and
rural areas. Encourage supervisory touring to balance the need for expertise
and exposure to problems
facing health-care outposts. Support village health
workers to optimize their work at the community level more uniformly amongst
provinces;
Improve training and outreach to health workers in upgrading their education.
Train adequate numbers of midwives locally and deploy
them to labour wards and
busy area health centres in the country.
VII. EDUCATION, LEISURE AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
A. Education, including vocational guidance
1. Legal context
- The
provision of education in Solomon Islands is a partnership involving the
Government and other education authorities including
the churches, the private
sector and communities. The Education Act provides that the responsibility for
the establishment and maintenance
of schools rests with the education
authorities. Of the total 539 primary schools, 471 schools are government run
while 68 schools
are privately run. Of the total 54 secondary schools, 2 are
government run national secondary schools, 6 are church run secondary
schools,
17 are provincial government run secondary schools and 29 are community run
secondary schools.
- The
Education Act defines the regulatory powers, policy implementation and planning
functions as well as administration and coordination
responsibilities of the
Ministry of Education to improve the delivery of education services throughout
the country particularly in
regard to access, equity, quality, quantity,
efficiency and coordination.
2. Implementation
- Education
is neither universal nor compulsory in the Solomon Islands. The cost of
providing education for all children is constrained
by geographic, demographic
and economic factors. The current policy, therefore, is to simply provide
greater opportunity for access
at all levels of education and to provide for a
steady increase in the provision of education services.
Table 19
Total enrolment for primary schools for period
1992-1994
|
Total enrolment
|
Government aided
|
Church and private schools
|
1992
|
66 025
|
59 793
|
6 232
|
1993
|
70 103
|
62 953
|
7 150
|
1994
|
73 120
|
66 156
|
6 964
|
Source: SIG Statistical Bulletin (No. 26/94).
- Additional
information from MEHRD
headquarters[127] shows
continuing increases in student enrolment for 1995 and 1996, giving a total of
77,432 and 79,661 students, respectively.
Table 20
Standard 6 and form 1-7 enrolment,
1994-1996
|
Standard 6
|
Form 1
|
Forms 2-7 (combined)
|
1994
|
8 646
|
2 072
|
5 739
|
1995
|
8 966
|
2 545
|
5 965
|
1996
|
9 594
|
3 638
|
6 831
|
Sources: SIG Statistical Bulletin (No. 26/94), MEHRD: Data on
Primary School and Secondary School Intake (cited in MHMS, Social Welfare
Report, 1997).
- Figures
given above for enrolments for Standard 6 and secondary school show increases in
numbers of students each year. There are
several cut-off points in the
education system. These occur at the end of Standard 6, Forms 3, 5 and 6. The
number of students
that are able to continue beyond a cut-off point depends on
availability of facilities, e.g. classrooms, dormitories, teachers and
places.
There are fewer facilities available in secondary schools for females. The
number of children who did not continue at the
end of Standard 6 each year is
also high. In 1995 a total of 6,421 students were not able to go on to Form 1,
while in 1996 the
number who could not find a place in secondary school was
5,946.[128]
- The
national and provincial governments in partnership operate most schools in the
Solomon Islands with other education authorities
such as churches and local
communities. The Ministry of Education assumes responsibility for provision of
grants to education authorities
except for the Seventh Day Adventist Church, for
part-cost of education supplies, particularly textbooks and curriculum
materials.
Primary school grants are provided annually on a per capita basis
which is SI$ 15 per student plus SI$ 100 per teacher. At the
secondary level
there are disparities between government grants to schools. Government national
secondary schools (NSS) receive
SI$ 750 per pupil, church NSS SI$ 350 and
provincial and community secondary schools SI$ 345. Church NSS receive annual
grants of
SI$ 130,000 while provincial and the newly introduced community
secondary schools receive annual grants of SI$
50,000.[129]
- In
many respects most primary and secondary school teachers are civil servants and
the Ministry of Education pays their salaries.
Some private schools, however,
supplement their teachers’ salaries as a form of incentive. There are
2,761 teachers throughout
Solomon Islands of which 2,228 are primary school
teachers while 533 are secondary school teachers. Seventyone (71) secondary
school
teachers are
expatriates.[130] The
current primary school staffing ratio is 35 while the staff ratio at secondary
school is 17. Of the total primary school teachers
589 are untrained while
1,592 are trained.
- The
Ministry of Education is improving the quality of primary and secondary
education through teacher upgrading and in-service training.
Untrained teachers
are being trained at the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE)
each year for upgrading to trained
teacher status. At the same time Form 5
students are being encouraged to take up teaching and pursue teacher-training
programmes
at SICHE. A Literacy Programme for primary schools is also being
conducted jointly by the Ministry of Education, University of the
South Pacific
and the Rotary Club.[131]
The Ministry of Education also offers in-service courses for head teachers and
class teachers particularly on school management
and teaching
skills.
- Although
the current education policy provides for tuition-fee-free education for
children in primary school, it allows for some financial
contribution from the
parents. The policy also allows for levying of tuition fees upon application to
and approval of the Minister
of Education. In Honiara, primary schools are now
allowed to charge fees up to SI$ 200 per annum. Tuition fees are levied for
children
in secondary schools. The Minister of Education approves these to be
within the range of SI$ 500-800 per annum. The level of school
fees therefore
varies widely by school, partly because of the equally wide variation in
government support for schools. Presently
only the Seventh Day Adventist Church
and privately run schools in urban areas levy tuition fees above the approved
range at primary
level.[132] At the
secondary level the SDA Church also levies tuition fees above the approved range
made by the Minister of
Education.[133]
- In
addition to the requirement for financial contribution from parents for school
fees, parents also bear other costs. At primary
level, parents “top
up” supplies and cover maintenance and other operating costs with funds
generated from fund-raising,
special donations and indirect fees. At the
secondary schools, boarding-related costs including travel between home and
subsistence
costs are borne by parents.
- A
few religious organizations, private companies and communities help employees
and resource owners meet their children’s school
costs. In some instances
children of church employees attending a church secondary school do not pay
tuition. A few foreign companies
meet school costs for several students
originating from the provinces in which they are operating. Some communities
establish primary
school trust funds derived from logging and fishing revenues
and kinship/clan donations to meet school costs for their children.
The
Constituency Development Fund of SI$ 200,000 provided annually to each Member of
Parliament is also being used to assist families
meet school
costs.[134]
- Early
childhood education does not form a part of the formal education system. There
are, however, growing numbers of kindergartens
and pre-schools providing early
childhood education mainly for 3-5-year-olds. These are organized and run
mainly by churches, communities
and private individuals particularly in the
urban areas. All expenses including teachers’ salaries, equipment and
running
costs are borne by the operator. The kindergartens and pre-schools do
not have a standard curriculum. Nevertheless the Ministry
of Education assists
by providing training in early childhood education strategies. Some teachers
also undertake the Pre-school Certificate
Programme offered at the University of
the South Pacific (USP) Centre in Honiara.
- An
additional preparatory year added in 1991 to primary school for children
between 56 years now forms part of the formal primary
education
system. This Preparatory Education Programme has a standard curriculum and is
conducted by primary teachers trained in
early childhood strategies in all
primary schools. With the assistance of UNICEF a series of training workshops
and in-service training
courses are conducted for preparatory teachers by early
childhood education trainers throughout the provinces.
- Secondary
education consists of provincial and community secondary schools emphasizing
vocational education and national secondary
schools emphasizing academic
education. Selection for the two secondary education routes is based upon the
Solomon Islands Secondary
Entrance (SISE) examination. Limited transfer from
provincial to national secondary schools (NSS) and to higher forms in provincial
secondary schools (PSS) takes place after Form 3 via another selection
test. A review of the secondary curriculum is being conducted
by MEHRD with the
aim of adopting a mixed mode curriculum, which calls for all secondary schools
to adopt a single curriculum that
mixes academic and vocational
subjects.
- Church
organizations and provinces also operate rural training centres, which enrol
youths that do not attain mainstream academic
standards. These centres,
coordinated through an Association, provide a vocationally oriented secondary
school curriculum, with
strong emphasis on numerical and language skills.
Students are attached to business for work experience. Some centres run
businesses
such as furniture workshops to finance centre operation. Students
are charged fees of SI$ 100-150 per annum. The Government provides
a grant of
SI$ 500 to each of these centres to assist in their operation as well as
training for teaching staff and teaching materials.
- Head
teachers and senior teachers appointed as career masters normally provide
vocational guidance in schools. Each year the Ministry
of Education arranges a
“Careers Week” in Honiara to give students an opportunity to visit
businesses, workplaces and
institutions, listen to speakers on career prospects,
and discuss career paths. A few students find attachments with private sector
business during school holidays.
- Post-secondary
education has three main avenues. Firstly, there is Solomon Islands College of
Higher Education (SICHE) which offers
diverse technical and vocational
programmes. A second route is through the USP Centre which offers part-time
extension programmes
at diploma, certificate and degree levels through distance
education and self-study modes. Thirdly, there is an overseas programme
for
post-secondary and university training for secondary school leavers who satisfy
academic entry requirements. The National Training
Unit of the Ministry of
Education administers government scholarships and donor funded scholarships for
higher education institutions.
Scholarships are for placements mainly at SICHE,
USP, the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) and other overseas universities
and institutions. Some scholarships funded by donor organizations place
emphasis on specific disciplines and professions as well
as gender
balance.
- Professional
courses in teaching, nursing and other certificate level courses are provided at
SICHE. The Seventh Day Adventist Church
also provides nurse training at Atoifi
Hospital. All degree programmes are offered at tertiary institutions overseas
including USP,
UPNG and metropolitan universities in Australia, New Zealand and
the United Kingdom.
3. Future implementation
- In
keeping with the Government’s overall goals and development objectives,
the education sector will promote improvements in
the planning and delivery of
services having particular regard to equity, access, quality, quantity,
efficiency and coordination.
- The
Government will initiate a programme to provide for the progressive qualitative
improvement of primary education through:
The progressive phasing out of untrained teachers;
Improving the quality of trained teachers through retraining and in-service
training;[135]
The review and improvement of curriculum and associated materials across all
levels;
The improvement of the quality and performance of inspectors and personnel in
management positions;
The development of strategies to achieve universal primary education through
an increase in enrolment and retention rates;
The introduction within the medium-term basic education that provides nine
years of schooling or grades 1-9.
- The
Government will initiate a coordinated expansion and upgrading programme to
effect both qualitative and quantitative improvements
in secondary education
involving:
The development of a national Form 7 education programme;
The increase of intake into Form 6 and progressively link Forms 6 and 7 into
a two-year programme;
The increase of access to Forms 4 and 5 by significantly increasing places at
the senior secondary level;
The qualitative improvement of existing provincial secondary schools (PSS) to
facilitate their transition to the status of national
secondary schools
(NSS);
The establishment of junior secondary classes on top of existing primary
schools where practical and possible;
The systematic introduction of science as a separate subject area in all
secondary schools;
The extension of school library services;
The continuation of support for the upgrading of teacher
qualifications.
- The
Government is firmly committed to steadily increasing the size and diversity of
the skilled workforce to meet emerging manpower
needs and technological
changes.
- The
Government will promote the further development of SICHE
through:
The overall upgrading and expansion of SICHE to a university status;
Gradual expansion of places consistent with the emerging needs for a highly
skilled and diversified workforce;
The upgrading of existing courses and the introduction of new courses
designed to provide greater opportunity for tertiary studies
to be undertaken
within the
Solomon Islands;
The pre-service and in-service training of additional teachers to cater for
planned developments of that sector;
The phased introduction of a distance education capability to service Solomon
Islands, particularly in teacher training, adult education,
literacy and
numeracy;
The planned upgrading of necessary facilities and resources;
The continuation of support for staff development programmes which aim at
improving the qualifications and expertise of SICHE staff;
The facilitation of the College’s progressive development to
incorporate degree and postgraduate studies and research.
- The
Literacy Programme, which involves a survey of community attitudes towards
indigenous languages, including Solomon Pijin and English
will enable the
Government to formulate a language and literacy policy for the Solomon Islands.
The Non-Formal Education (NFE) unit
of the Ministry of Education and Human
Resources Development (MEHRD) will foster the development of literacy in Solomon
Islands in
collaboration with its partners:
Papua New Guinea,
Vanuatu, Fiji, its local agencies - NGOs, churches, Provincial NFE, other
governmental organizations and other NFE
agencies. Through the improvement of
vernacular language programmes and second language programmes and the creation
of and access
to good literature, children will be enabled to develop values,
knowledge and skills.
- The
Government has a strong commitment to expanding opportunities for community
education programmes, particularly in rural areas.
Further, the initiatives at
SICHE in distance education and the use of radio have the potential, over time,
to contribute to community
education. Equipping Solomon Islands citizens with
skills needed for rural sector employment and improved quality of rural life
will result in personal benefits but also increased capacity to contribute to
local and national economic and subsistence development
needs of this country.
The MEHRD through its Non-Formal Education (NFE) Division will continue to
promote the further development
of non-formal education through implementation
of the following programmes and goals:
General or Basic Education consisting of literacy, numeracy, elementary
understanding of science and one’s environment, i.e.,
what primary and
general secondary schools seek to achieve;
Community Improvement Education designed to strengthen local and national
institutions and processes through instruction in such matters
as national and
local government, cooperatives and community projects;
Occupational Education designed to develop particular knowledge and skills
associated with economic activities useful for making a
living. This would be
accomplished by creating and utilizing:
(a) Vocational rural training centres, which offer long-term
residential programmes lasting one to three years in course subjects including
Agriculture, Business, Accounting,
Woodwork, Building, Carpentry, Mechanics,
Sewing, Typing, Plumbing, Health, Home Economics, Religious Education and
Leadership Training;
and
(b) Community-based training centres, which offer short-term block
courses of one to three weeks’ duration for a period of one to two months
depending on the need
of the programme and participants required. Villages
identify their training needs and request trainers or resource people to
undertake
and assist. Financial assistance from MEHRD and other non-formal
education agencies is sought here;
Family Improvement Education designed to impart knowledge, skills and
attitudes useful for improving the quality of family life, on
such subjects as
health and nutrition, homemaking and childcare, home repairs, etc.;
Establish Senior Vocational Schools in Honiara and provinces which run
parallel and equivalent to existing Academic Senior High Schools
(Form 4-5/6)
level with the aim of preparing students for the workforce, self-employment and
further studies in their respective
vocational/technical fields. This will mean
revamping and utilizing the existing and very active Rural Training Centres;
Rationalize the trade courses currently offered at SICHE with the view of
offering them at the newly established Senior Vocational
Schools and Rural
Training Centres;
Develop a new Vocational Technical Curriculum and Trade Courses to be offered
in Senior Vocational Schools in the areas of food processing,
gardening or
landscaping, design, interior decoration, catering, etc.
- Other
initiatives, which the Government will take to improve the quality of education,
will include:
A review of the curriculum development process;
A review of selection and guidance services;
A review of the efficiency and effectiveness of management structures and
systems for service delivery at national, provincial and
institutional
levels;
A review of strategies to ensure coordinated planning within the education
sector;
A review of strategies to facilitate coordinated planning between the
education sector and other relevant sectors and to ensure that
developments and
programmes are more directly related to national goals and priorities.
4. Constraints
- The
implementation of these policy and planning statements is hampered by a number
of major issues and constraints. Access to education
continues to be limited,
the physical condition of the schools is generally below desirable standards,
there is a chronic shortage
of qualified teachers, trained leaders and
specialists, and facilities and resource provisions are limited at all
levels within the education sector. This would indicate that a major effort
is required and many more resources necessary to widen
access, improve quality
and reduce inequities among and within provinces. Under the tight government
budget the Ministry of Education
is one of very few ministries that has had
progressive budget increases annually. Education accounts for
about 12 per
cent of government expenditures.
- The
single most important constraint on the planned quantitative and qualitative
development of the education sector is the shortage
of trained teachers at both
primary and secondary levels. Unless and until there is a significant increase
in the number of suitably
trained teachers there can be no further comprehensive
and systematic development of either primary or secondary education or the
trained workforce. Other constraints stem from the rapid population growth of
3.5 per cent per
annum,[136] the
geographical nature and wide separation of the population centres, limited
communication and transport infrastructure, a limited
economic base, the high
level of unemployment among youth and a general lack of education in the rural
communities. The competing
demands generated by the need to address such a wide
range of issues simultaneously are a dilemma in the Solomon
Islands.
- The
motivation and morale of teachers is adversely affected by poor working and
living conditions such as limited promotion opportunities,
poor pay, poor
housing, shortage of teaching materials and lack of community support in some
areas. As a result highly qualified
and experienced teachers are abandoning the
teaching service as quickly as new ones can be trained.
B. The aims of education
1. Legal context
- The
Minister of Education directs the administration of the education system which
aims to educate and train school-age children attain
basic education necessary
for a responsible life in society and labour market requirements. The current
age of entry into primary
school is 69 years.
- The
key policy principles on which current development and management of the
education system in Solomon Islands are based include:
Provide greater opportunity for access at all levels of education such that
in time, the longer term goal of education for the majority,
if not all, can be
achieved;
Provide for a speedy increase in the provision of education services at all
levels and in all areas;
Provide for the continuous improvement in the standard of education
services;
Progressively remove differences in education access and provision among the
provinces and gender;
Systematically review and improve policies and procedures to achieve greater
efficiency within the sector;
Continually monitor strategies which affect the coordination of planning and
delivery of services within the sector and among agencies
which contribute to
the provision of or are directly dependent upon education.
2. Implementation
- Access
to primary education has been growing at a steady pace of about 4 per cent a
year reaching a gross enrolment of about 80 per
cent of the primary school age
cohorts. At this pace universal primary education could possibly be achieved.
However the attrition
rate of children completing the final grade at primary
remains at about 20 per cent. The attendance of girls in primary schools
has
been improving steadily with about 45 per cent of the total primary school
enrolment now being girls.
- Secondary
education, though less accessible than primary education, has increased
enrolment by 55 per cent in the last four years.
This has been attributed
mainly to the establishment of community high schools attached to local primary
schools. Females as a
percentage of total secondary students increased slightly
from 36 to 38 per cent in the last three years.
Figure 12
1994 enrolment (Standard 6-Form 7), by
gender
[Figure
not attached][137]
Figure 13
1995 enrolment (Standard 6-Form 7), by
gender
[Figure
not attached]
- Different
reasons are often cited for the patterns of female school enrolment and
retention noted above. These include reluctance
of parents to allow their
female children to leave the protection of the village, lack of secondary school
dormitory facilities for
female secondary students, family work requirements for
the female young person, e.g., either caring for younger siblings while her
mother works or seeking paid employment. There is continued priority given
educational needs of male children in the family over
those of female children.
The Situation Analysis of Women and Children in Solomon Islands cited
1986 census figures stating the underrepresentation of females in all levels of
teaching as an additional impediment to female
students who need role models and
support to achieve their educational
goals.[138]
- About
100 untrained primary teachers are being trained at SICHE each year for
upgrading to trained teacher status while another 100
Form 5 students are being
sponsored to undertake certificate courses in teaching primary each year at
SICHE. The number of secondary
teachers with at least a diploma qualification
has increased to 94 per cent. Meanwhile a total of about 125 Ministry of
Education
staff (excluding teachers) received training in management. In
addition the provision of a substantial quantity of project funded
textbooks in
1997 should have an impact on the quality of education.
C. Children with special needs
1. Legal context
- There
is no legal requirement or youth policy addressing the educational or
recreational needs per se of children with special needs
or disabilities.
Although it is possible to infer that there is no intentional discrimination
against such children, written goals
or policies specific to the special needs
of disabled children would help to identify ways to include rather than exclude
them from
opportunities available to children in
general.[139]
2. Implementation
- The
draft Policy, Strategy and Outline Plan of Action for Children mentions in its
section on Community Education the goals to:
“Integrate information on the prevention and early detection of
childhood disabilities into community
education”;[140]
“Include youth with disabilities in community education and vocational
training
programmes”.[141]
- Currently
there is a shortage of organized recreational opportunities for handicapped
youngsters. However, in October 1997, the Red
Cross Handicapped Centre
organized a Special Mini-Games event in Honiara attracting disabled children and
adults from throughout
the provinces. This sort of event could become a regular
opportunity for children from around the country to encourage them in their
personal development. The new Red Cross Handicapped Centre, currently under
construction in West Honiara, is expected to offer more
space for activities
suited to education of disabled children, perhaps to include facilities
encouraging participation in sports,
etc.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- Despite
encouraging developments in Honiara, children outside of the capital area have
very few opportunities for education. The
impediments to disabled
children’s education are as diverse as their abilities:
Attitudes - The way their own families view children’s abilities
influence the way disabled children see their own potential.
The view held by
the world outside the family is influential, but perhaps not of primary
importance. In learning to view such children
as “differently
able”, parents and others give them their greatest gift, a sense of
self-worth.
Logistics - Even with helpful attitudes, a family of limited financial means
is likely to choose a path for its disabled child that
minimizes the
difficulties faced by the family. For this child, as for any other in Solomon
Islands, education is costly. Therefore,
even the offer of a tuition-free
education, may also present the insurmountable obstacle of daily transport
costs. These issues
effectively constrain the education of children in many
families. Until there is success in decentralizing educational services
for
disabled children, these obstacles will remain.
Physical v. Mental Disabilities - Some disabilities, such as physical
limitations, require physical means of compensation. It is
a very different
prospect to attempt to help children compensate for learning disabilities. If a
child is perceived as unable to
learn, the family may devalue the child. Such
children may be more likely to be victimized by others, e.g., a child may be
sexually,
physically or emotionally abused. Contact and assistance from health
authorities can help families better understand and value the
child.
D. Leisure, recreation and cultural activities
1. Legal context
- All
children in Solomon Islands have the right to leisure and to enjoy cultural,
sporting and recreational activities. They are also
entitled to equal
opportunity to participate in cultural, sporting and recreational activities
regardless of ethnic origin, religion,
gender, or socioeconomic
background.
2. Implementation
- Children
are encouraged to practise their own religion and thus provisions are made in
the curriculum for church representatives to
give religious instruction in
schools. English is the medium of instruction in all schools and at all levels
and is also taught
as a core subject. Consideration is being given to encourage
the development and use of vernacular and appropriate languages of
instruction
at the early childhood programme level, as young children can better grasp the
concepts and express themselves in their
first language.
- Children
attending school receive training in all aspects of sports and physical
education as part of a complete education programme.
Physical education and
sports form part of the primary and secondary school curricula. Sports
competitions are held among primary
schools in various localities within the
provinces. An inter-secondary schools sports carnival is held annually in the
national
capital for all secondary schools. There is no racial or gender
discrimination in sports and children are free to play the sports
of their
choice. Nevertheless, there are sports normally played primarily by girls,
e.g., netball, or primarily by boys, such as
rugby and soccer. Many secondary
students are selected for national representation in international competitions
such as the South
Pacific Games held every four years and other regional as well
as international
games.[142]
- Crafts
do of course provide a source of revenue to artistic members of communities or
simply provide individuals there an avenue of
recreational expression. To what
extent children or young people are involved in this process is undocumented.
Whether such activities
are viewed to be primarily work, recreation or education
is also unknown.
3. Constraints and recommendations
- Innovative
programmes such as the introduction of the Mini-Tennis Programme by Solomon
Islands Tennis Association continue to benefit
Honiara or town area
schools.[143] Sports have
a great and enthusiastic following everywhere in Solomon Islands. Desire to
give as many young people as possible opportunities
to pursue organized sport,
may at times result in an overemphasis upon these endeavours over other types of
recreational pursuits.
- Certainly
a subsistence lifestyle is labour intensive. With 86 per cent of
Solomon Islands’ population benefiting from subsistence
agriculture,
the question of availability of time for recreational pursuits seems a valid
one. However, if communities seek to expand
their understanding of recreation
beyond sports, then the recreational choices of children and adults may also
become more varied
and interesting. Desire to establish cooperative village
libraries, for instance, may accompany literacy programmes. Naturally
occurring
fibres, pigments, resins or clays are accessible materials to many craftspeople.
Dramatic productions may be done at low
cost and with relatively low inputs in
the way of props. The primary ingredient is human innovation. The value of the
developing
recreational pursuits for everyone in a village directly benefits
children, who usually manage to create innovative play
opportunities.
- Very
often the student population of a country begins to lose its understanding of
traditional languages, stories, crafts, songs and
dances. This obviously can
happen due to the emphasis placed upon scholastic achievement. Opportunities to
engender cultural awareness
amongst the student population is, therefore,
important. The loss of cultural identity lamented by those who watch the
emergence
of a worldwide materialistic youth culture, may also be addressed
amongst unemployed school leavers via establishment of community-based
artistic
productions. Young people immediately gravitate toward modern music forms;
however, sponsorship may also be available to
preserve more traditional
expressions of culture. As developmental processes become more established,
preservation of traditional
expressions of culture may also become a more highly
valued commodity. Encouragement should be given to young people who seek to
maintain continuity with traditional endeavours.
- Development
and maintenance of cultural stories, songs and dances via the educational system
can be engendered many ways. Neighbouring
Papua New Guinea encourages young
people enrolled at National High Schools to organize and participate in annual
dance festivals.
Such highly publicized activities in Solomon Islands would
develop increased awareness of cultural origins and encourage students
to
maintain their contact with such traditions and rituals. At the same time,
these activities engender increased awareness of each
other’s differences,
developing attitudes of appreciation and tolerance
cross-culturally.
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION
A. Children in situations of civil emergency
1. Legal context for refugees
- Solomon
Islands is a signatory to the Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees (1951) and to its Protocol of 1967. Although
the country has not
had to face internal civil emergency, the nearby conflict between the Papua New
Guinea Defence Forces and the
guerrilla movement (Bougainville Revolutionary
Army) in Bougainville has resulted in some estimated 3,000 Bougainvilleans -
some
of whom are refugees - residing in Solomon Islands.
- There
is currently no refugee law in effect in Solomon Islands; however, in late 1996
the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) submitted sample
legislation to the Solomon Islands Government which may be useful in drafting a
refugee law in future.
Currently, Bougainvilleans in Solomon Islands are
considered “displaced persons”, as there is no official mechanism in
place to distinguish actual refugees from amongst other Bougainvilleans who
intend to return to Bougainville. In the absence of
a refugee law, there is no
legal method for determining refugee status of Bougainvilleans in Solomon
Islands.
- Bougainvillean
children born in the Solomon Islands are registered at birth, but not as Solomon
Islands citizens. They are eligible
for Solomon Islands citizenship if the
mother is a Solomon Islander or if both parents have resided here more than 10
years and decide
to apply for citizenship. Although the issue of
non-discrimination based on gender should be addressed by more inclusive
wording,
i.e. “if either parent is a Solomon Islander,” the
Solomon Islands citizenship policy for displaced persons is consistent with
those of other countries. Consequently,
Bougainvilleans are granted the same
rights to acquire nationality as other aliens residing here.
- Bougainvilleans
found breaking the law in Solomon Islands are prosecuted according to Solomon
Islands’ law. They may be provided
with a public solicitor and
represented in court. Bougainvilleans also have legal standing to bring civil
and criminal complaints.
2. Implementation of refugee policies
- The
Solomon Islands Government de facto refugee policy is at the moment in conflict
with existing immigration laws. It allows to
some extent illegal entry,
informal employment and residence for Bougainvilleans seeking medical treatment
in the Solomon Islands
and not wishing to return. Despite this, the Solomon
Islands Government (SIG) does not officially declare or recognize
Bougainvilleans
in the country as refugees. Contributing to this decision may
be concern over the governmental fiscal austerity measures currently
in place to
remedy governmental cash flow problems. Certainly, once refugees are
acknowledged legally, there would be fiscal as
well as humanitarian obligations
to be met as protocols have been established by international refugee
conventions. It has been
pointed out, however, that a refugee law would, in all
likelihood, reduce current financial expenditures by permitting SIG and others
to
determine who amongst the Bougainvillean population is legitimately entitled
to refugee status. Such a mechanism would eliminate
the random, and perhaps
inappropriate, delivery of services currently being rendered to all
Bougainvilleans including those non-refugees
who openly intend to return to
Bougainville.
- Bougainvilleans
residing in Solomon Islands are often referred to as “patients”.
They live at Red Cross care centres
or with friends and relatives around the
country. The Red Cross provides them with food and arranges for their medical
treatment
in hospitals. Churches also provide housing and
food.
- Bougainvillean
children in Solomon Islands are here with their families. They have come
seeking medical attention either for themselves
or another family member. Most
of them arrive traumatized and badly affected by the conflict. Red Cross
workers have noticed a
remarkable difference within individual families between
siblings brought over the border and those born in Solomon Islands. Those
who
have come from areas of conflict exhibit much more aggressive behaviours.
Current international refugee laws do not address
the issue of providing mental
health care for these children. These children are in an unfortunate state of
parity with Solomon
Islands children in that no facilities exist for helping
children in Solomon Islands cope with the aftermath of having witnessed
or been
themselves victims of violence, either psychologically, emotionally or
physically.
- Solomon
Islands Government allows Bougainvillean children living in Solomon Islands to
access health and primary education services
on the same terms as citizens of
the country. In the case of payment of school fees for children of
Bougainvilleans, some of their
parents have mobilized their own resources. Some
special funds earmarked for education of refugee children may also be accessed
through various international donor organizations.
- Attitudes
toward Bougainvilleans by Solomon Islanders are not unsympathetic,
although there have been statements made to the effect
that they are
putting health-care services under too much pressure. Opinions have also been
offered that they are to blame for rising
incidence of crime and drug abuse and
that they are stealing jobs from Solomon Islanders, etc. Politically, however,
many Solomon
Islanders are sympathetic to the Bougainvillean cause and Papua New
Guinea frequently accuses Solomon Islands of “harbouring
rebels”,
etc. Undoubtedly, there is a need for public education on the social
obligations incurred by offering sanctuary to
refugees. However, no serious
crimes that could result in possible deportation have been committed by
Bougainvilleans to date.
This would indicate that, for the most part,
Bougainvilleans’ behaviour as a community reflects their own recognition
of their
status as guests here.
- The
net effect of the Bougainville “crisis” has had serious results for
communities in nearby provinces, especially in
Choiseul Bay. Raiding parties of
PNG Defence Force soldiers who are seeking “rebels” forced an
evacuation of Taro Island
during the months of June and July 1996. The effects
of these raids upon these communities are real and have not been quantified.
Since 1992 several Solomon Islanders have been killed in these
encounters.
- Children
in Solomon Islands have not become involved in armed conflict so far. Certainly
some children’s academic years have
been interrupted as whole villages
have sometimes moved inland away from the areas of incursion. The cessation of
school in some
affected communities has certainly had a negative effect on
the education of some Solomon Islanders.
- Late
in 1997, a three-day seminar covering the introduction of International Refugee
and Humanitarian Law was given to Ministry of
Police personnel. It emphasized
special applications for border patrol officers. According to a news article,
the seminar was organized
in response to the need for the Police to identify and
categorize “border-crossers” with the aim of producing a document
to
“blue-print” future defensive operational procedures in border
areas. The article quoted the Commissioner of Police
as saying, “the
police have been accused of harbouring and suffered military attack as a
consequence, or [were] criticized
when they failed to act against those entering
the country’s territory.” In his speech, the Commissioner called
attention
to a variety of reasons that Bougainvilleans have come across the
border into Solomon Islands. They are enumerated here: “some
non-combatants who sought medical treatment; some who simply sought refuge from
the fighting, those simply wishing to visit a relative
or a friend or go
shopping for provisions, and those who illegally entered our shores to carry out
nefarious acts.”[144]
UNHCR personnel attended the seminar from Canberra, Australia and
representatives of the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent
Societies, as well as the general secretary of the Solomon Islands Red
Cross.
3. Conscription of children
- There
are no armed forces in Solomon Islands. Border reconnaissance forces are drawn
from the domestic police forces; therefore,
there is no conscription for adults
or children. Minimum age for recruitment into the disciplined force is 18
years.
4. Emergencies due to natural disasters
- The
National Disaster Council (NDC) is the official body that deals with emergencies
such as cyclones, earthquakes, floods, drought,
etc. The NDC regularly solicits
donations on behalf of the disaster victims from the public via radio bulletins.
However, Solomon
Islands Red Cross also administers funds in situations
such as these. There may be a need for improved understanding between these
two
organizations. Recent response to providing for needs of Solomon Islanders
during the aftermath of cyclones in 1996 have focused
concern as to whether the
two agencies are able to effectively coordinate relief services. There is a
need to avoid duplication
of relief efforts in some geographical areas, while
others have been overlooked altogether for assistance.
- Much
suffering has been caused to families in Solomon Islands by cyclones and their
aftermath, including lack of shelter, lack of
potable water, flooded food
gardens, lack of money to pay school fees, etc. The National Disaster Council
negotiates with the Government
to waive fees for children whose family
livelihood has been destroyed by natural disaster. Basic food supplies and
temporary shelter
is usually supplied to stricken areas within a reasonable time
after a disaster. Rehabilitation takes longer. Some schools that were
destroyed by cyclone Nina in 1993, for example, have been
rebuilt but are still
operating without furniture or books. Cyclones, which come with regularity each
year, continue to be significant
deterrents to development in certain areas of
the country, e.g. Renbel Province and parts of Temotu, Makira and
Guadalcanal.
- World
Bank funds have been made available to the Ministry of Education for
rebuilding of schools in the wake of cyclones in 1986 and
1991 in
Guadalcanal, Makira and Temotu Provinces. The European Union and others have
assisted other affected areas, e.g. Renbel
Province.
- In
addition to the effects of cyclones and flooding, parts of the country
periodically experience periods of sustained drought. It
is not clear what
degree of food garden loss must be sustained before assistance from either the
NDC or other parties is activated.
Diet is certainly affected by such events
and children usually suffer the greatest debilitation in such instances, as
occurred in
neighbouring Papua New Guinea in late 1997.
B. Children in conflict with the law
1. Legal context
- The
Juvenile Offenders Act provides for a separate juvenile court to hear cases
involving such offenders. As required under this
law, juvenile court sessions
are always held in camera. The juvenile court sessions are to be held in a
different location from
ordinary sessions or on different days or at different
times from ordinary court. Care should be taken to ensure the young person
does
not come in contact with offenders over eighteen, as far as circumstances
permit, while going to or from court or while waiting
before or after the
session. It is the duty of the court to explain the substance of the offence to
the child or young person as
soon as possible and in simple language. Questions
are to be put to witnesses as appear to be necessary and proper in the interest
of the child or young person.
- The
Juvenile Offenders Act also states the necessity for understanding all the
contributing aspects of the young person’s life
so a decision may be
reached in the best interest of the child or young person. The court may direct
a probation officer to prepare
and submit such a report. The court may ask the
defendant any questions arising out of the information in the report; or request
a special medical examination or observation for the purpose of considering how
to deal with the case in the best interests of the
child or young person. The
court may from time to time remand the child or young person to be placed on
bail or to a place of detention.
2. Implementation
- The
numbers of young males committing crimes over the seven-year period are
decreasing and numbers are even lower for females. (See
table 21 below.) About
85 per cent of these cases occurred in Honiara. Honiara population
increased from 14,942 in 1976 to 30,413
in
1986.[145] Unfortunately
no recent census data is available for Honiara’s current population
figures.
Table 21
Criminal offences committed by juveniles, 1990-1996
|
1990
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
Male
|
123
|
104
|
66
|
79
|
78
|
60
|
43
|
Female
|
11
|
8
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
3
|
Total
|
134
|
112
|
68
|
82
|
82
|
60
|
46
|
Source: Social Welfare Division (1997).
- Juvenile
court is children’s court. The magistrate’s court sits a juvenile
court once a week.
- When
the police arrest a child or a young person for committing a crime the procedure
is as follows:
The child or young person is put in a cell at the police station for a period
not to exceed 24 hours. During that period there is
an initial
interrogation
process.[146]
The offender is then released from the cell and taken to be formally charged
with the crime.
A statement is then taken “under caution” meaning the offender is
not forced to incriminate him/herself but anything said
at that time can be used
to incriminate him/her in court.
There is then an opportunity for police to question the offender again, this
time with the intent of discovering inconsistencies in
the original story.
The offender is taken for fingerprinting.
The offender is then advised of the court date and time and that he/she is
required to appear or else pay a $500 fine.
At this point the offender is either escorted by police to a meeting with the
Social Welfare Officer (SWO) or required to find their
own way to visit the
Social Welfare Officer. In both cases, the SWO has been advised of the
impending meeting and expects the arrival
of the offender.
The SWO interviews the offender either in the company of their parents or
relatives or alone and identifies him/herself as an advocate
for the offender.
When this is made known, the element of fear diminishes and an interview
follows.
A Juvenile Enquiry Report (JER) is then drawn up using the offender’s
story and any further background research done by the
SWO in the period prior to
the offender’s court date. The report may also include information about
the treatment of the offender
during their time with the police.
The police then continue with prosecution of the case.
During the first hearing the court asks if the SWO is present, if the parent
or responsible relative is present, and in a serious
case or if the child is 12
years old or less, whether a lawyer is present. If no lawyer is present, the
court adjourns the case
until the child sees a public solicitor. The court
clerk expedites this appointment or the SWO can help to arrange the meeting.
At some point in court the child or young person is asked to give a
“mitigation statement”. The court offers the offender
three options
at this point: (a) to say nothing on their own
behalf;[147] (b) to say
something from the “accused box”; (c) to say something from the
“witness stand” under oath. Of
these three options, the most weight
is given to the statement made under oath.
The court then asks the SWO for his/her report (JER) and any other comments
at which point the SWO may emphasize particular aspects
of the child or young
person to the court, e.g. first offence or student status. The SWO may also
recommend particular types of
punishment or that the sentence be “bound
over” meaning to request that the punishment be suspended unless another
crime
is committed by the offender. In the case of a repeated offender, the SWO
may request a “residential order” from the
court permitting the
offender to live under supervision in a village setting away from their habitual
residence.[148]
During sentencing hearings the court listens to SWO recommendations, but
maintains total authority in its sentencing decisions. However,
if the parents
or relatives feel the sentence is inappropriate, they may appeal the case to a
higher court.
The SWO maintains contact with probation supervisors and requests reports on
a regular basis regarding young offenders on probation.
- In
the case of a juvenile being arrested for a crime in the company of adults, the
court and the police are aware that the young person
should be held separately
from adults. Often the police will take advantage of this rule to question the
young person on details
of the crime away from the influence of other offenders.
A court, however, may choose to hear the case while the juvenile is in the
company of adults, rather than in the situation of in camera court hearings. It
is not clear if juveniles waive their right to separate
court hearings solely
due to their participation in a crime with the adults.
- There
has been a police practice of transferring children or young persons, who are
only suspects, to a remand cell at Central Prison
in Rove before being formally
charged. This is not consistent with the Juvenile Offenders Act. During this
period, it is also likely
that the young person may be housed with a convicted
criminal as convenience or space dictates. These practices are not in accord
with Juvenile Offenders Act, which states the need for the child or young person
to be segregated from adult criminals. The fact
that this practice takes place
before the suspect has been charged with any crime seems contrary to the intent
of the law.
C. Children deprived of freedom
1. Legal context
- Section
3 of the Constitution states that every person in Solomon Islands is entitled to
the fundamental rights and freedoms of an
individual. The enjoyment of that
right is subject to the respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for
the public interest.
- Section
4 of the Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of his life
intentionally, save in the execution of the sentence
of a court in respect of a
criminal offence under laws in force in Solomon Islands. There is no known
offence under any law of Solomon
Islands catering for capital punishment.
A child above 9 years of age who is convicted of murder attracts the mandatory
punishment
of life imprisonment. Neither the High Court nor the Court of Appeal
has a mandate in law to recommend parole. Life imprisonment
for murder is
mandatory and unconditional. Capital punishment is currently not a form of
punishment in Solomon Islands.
- The
Governor General is the only person, acting on behalf of the Head of State
(The Queen), who can grant to any person convicted
of any offence under the
laws of Solomon Islands a pardon, either free or subject to lawful
conditions. Any person convicted of
murder or any offence can be paroled by the
Governor General, acting in accordance with the advice of the Committee on the
Prerogative
of mercy.
- The
police, under the laws of Solomon Islands, have wide powers of arrest. Such
arrests can be executed with or without a warrant
of arrest being granted by the
Magistrates Courts on persons who have committed an offence or who are likely to
commit an offence
punishable under law. Children and persons under the age of
18 are subject to this law contained in section 5 (1) (f) of the
Constitution.
- Section
5 (a) of the Juvenile Offenders Act provides for the procedure that the police
must follow when dealing with children in custody.
Normally bail is granted by
a court; however, in situations where the child cannot be brought before the
court, the police must
release the child on bail.
- The
child will not be released on bail if “he” is charged or held in
connection with a charge of murder. Also the child
will not be released on bail
if his release would defeat the ends of justice. In such cases the law allows
for the child’s
liberty to be restricted.
- Section
92 (4) (a) of the Constitution provides that one of the many functions of the
Public Solicitor is to provide legal aid, advice
and assistance to any person in
need who has been charged with a criminal offence. A child above the age of 9
years who is charged
with a criminal offence has access to legal
assistance.
- Section
7 of the Constitution provides that any person, including a child, whose rights
or freedoms under the Constitution have been
contravened shall be entitled to
compensation for the contravention of that right from the person or authority
which contravened
that right.
- Section
18 (2) (a) of the Constitution provides that the High Court shall have original
jurisdiction to hear and determine any application
for compensation made by any
person for a contravention of his constitutional rights.
- Probation
of Offenders Act 1971 provides for a regular report to be made by a probation
officer on a probationer for purpose of review
of a probation order. A review
may be required for young offenders in prison.
- The
Constitution, the Penal Code, and other relevant legislation safeguard children
or individuals from maltreatment, abuse, exploitation,
torture, forced labour,
inhuman treatment, etc.
- Probation
of Offenders Act 1971 provides for rehabilitation of offender or probation
through supervision by competent authorities,
e.g. Social Welfare Division of
the Ministry of Heath and Medical Services.
2. Constraints on implementation
- Rove
and other state-approved prisons are the only ones where minors are sent for
imprisonment. In 1994, the Social Welfare Division
of MHMS recorded that there
were four minors sent to prison. In 1995, there were
three.[149] At the time of
this writing there is one juvenile currently in prison at the maximum-security
prison at Rove, serving a four-month
term for breaking and entering. The crime
was not particularly severe, so the decision to place him in this particular
prison seems
questionable. Factors influencing the court’s decision are
not immediately available. Young offenders above the age of 14
may be treated
as adults.
- Unfortunately
the review referred to in the Probation of Offenders Act above (para. 428)
is often ignored and not implemented. In
the absence of an alternative care and
treatment facility for young offenders, there is a need for frequent review or
supervision
by a competent authority other than police or prison authorities.
At present social welfare officers’ visits to prison are
strictly limited
and subject to prison authority censorship.
- Apart
from the approved prisons there are no other approved institutions for proper
custody of young law offenders. Alternatively,
the Probation of Offenders Act
1971 provides for young or adult offenders to be served with probation. Such
offenders shall serve
their probation orders outside of the approved prison
institution. Current remodelling taking place at the Rove Prison also caters
for a juvenile unit and facilities. There are also plans for employment of a
social worker and minister of religion upon completion
of the new facility.
Facilities proposed under the new prison system would cater for the needs of
young offenders. Present facilities
have the services of a medical doctor and
church people visit prisons on a regular basis. This conflicts with opinion of
the Social
Welfare Officer (SWO) that inmates are escorted to medical care when
there is a complaint and that only first aid facilities exist
inside
prisons.
- There
are no specific rules for treatment of young offenders in prison as there is no
separate facility for their detention. All
prisoners detained in Central Prison
in Rove are subjected to the same treatment and policies of the prison. Prison
officers monitor
conditions and police may go into the prison to investigate.
MHMS Social Welfare Division officers also bear responsibility to monitor
treatment of prisoners.
- The
complaint procedure for ill-treatment involves notifying a prison service
superior officer who may relay the complaint to a prison
committee or directly
to the police. It is unclear how this procedure is
implemented.
- There
are literacy classes, trade and apprenticeship programmes, instruction offered
on watch or radio repairs, carpentry, furniture
making. Inmates housed at rural
prison sites may also participate in agricultural instruction.
- At
the end of the term of confinement or probation, the SWO maintains an open door
policy so there remains an opportunity for the
young person to maintain contact
with him or her. This option must provide needed psychological support for the
young ex-offender.
- There
is a need for more information regarding what training prison personnel receive
relevant to the provisions of the CRC or other
international conventions
concerning the treatment of juvenile offenders. Social Welfare is fortunate to
have a member on the NACC.
Perhaps a prison representative could be appointed
to the NACC or some programmes could be developed for the police academy
recruits.
- Cabinet
endorsed a policy paper on probation services in 1992. This was an attempt by
the Social Welfare Division to improve and
expand services. Government supports
the idea of community supervision and intervention where the offender is sent
back to his/her
community to serve a probation order, under the guardianship of
a probation officer.
- Juvenile
and probation services are among several statutory functions provided by the
Social Welfare Division of the Ministry of Health
and Medical Services.
Recently, a programme of Community Policing was introduced in Honiara. Social
Welfare has played an active
role both in formulation and implementation of this
programme.
- The
Honiara Urban Youth Committee (UYC), an idea conceived by the Social Welfare
Division, was formed in February 1996 to address
problems faced by young people
in Honiara. The committee was recognized by the former president and
administration of the Honiara
Town Council (HTC) and consists of representatives
from NGOs, churches and government. A representative of the Honiara Town
Council,
currently the HTC youth officer, chairs the UYC. The committee was
given political recognition by the president as the political
head of the HTC
and was mandated by HTC to function and execute its activities.
- The
Church of Melanesia, in response to an identified need, started the
“Street Kids Committee”. Children from a settlement
area near the
waterfront in Honiara were observed to be living without adult supervision and
were becoming involved with adults in
various criminal activities. Some of the
members of this committee are the same as those on the Urban Youth Committee;
however,
there are some that serve with Street Kids who do not serve on Urban
Youth Committee and vice versa. The committee has been designated
space at the
Multipurpose Hall in Honiara for weekly morning sessions with the young people.
Although monies have not been forthcoming,
some Honiara Town Council personnel
have been dedicated to the programme and it continues largely due to the efforts
of a committed
group of volunteers and the Church of Melanesia. The formal
proposed programme includes literacy training, bible study, maths, and
sports
e.g. basketball and self-defence training. The committee meets on an ad hoc
basis.
- Statistical
information (see tables 22-25) below indicates the numbers of cases handled
annually by the Social Welfare Division.
Table 22
Custody of children, maintenance and
separation
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
22
|
26
|
23
|
25
|
22
|
Table 23
Adoption
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
2
|
Table 24
Divorce
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
Table 25
Referrals (including affiliation - single
mothers)
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
30
|
23
|
3
|
3
|
22
|
Source: (tables 22-25): Social Welfare Office Annual
Records.[150]
- The
number of youthful offenders seen by the Social Welfare Division is relatively
low (please refer to table 2 above). Honiara young
people represent almost 85
per cent of the cases. Delinquent behaviour resulting in criminal activities is
largely an urban problem.
Thus it is fair to assume that unemployment, lack of
capacity in the formal education system, lack of recreational facilities or
programmes for youth, significant numbers of young teenagers who drop out of
school, and a lifestyle of idleness are contributing
factors to
delinquency.
D. Exploited children
1. Child labour
Legal context
- Solomon
Islands became a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO)
in 1985, seven years after independence. At that time
14 conventions were
ratified (see
annex 3). Portions of other ILO conventions or
recommendations have also been integrated into this country’s laws over
time,
without being officially ratified. For example, components of the
yettoberatified Convention, “Fixing the Minimum Age for
Admission of
Children to Employment at Sea” may have provided guidelines for pertinent
sections of labour legislation in Solomon
Islands relating to this topic. Of
the 14 conventions ratified to date, 2 deal specifically with children or young
people:
Medical Examination of Young Persons (SEA) Convention (No. 16), 1921
This Convention states the requirement for annual medical examination of any
child/young person under 18 on any vessel.
Labour Inspection Convention (No. 81), 1947
This Convention affords protection to children working in industrial and
commercial sectors of the economy by setting out the following
functions of
appropriate labour inspection:
To secure the enforcement of legal provisions relating to conditions of work
and protection of ... children and young persons;
To supply technical information and advice to employers and workers
concerning the most effective means of complying with the legal
provisions;
To [report] defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legal
provisions (Convention No. 81, art. 3).
- The
Labour Act sets out minimum ages for admission to employment in various sectors
of the economy:
Section 84 of the Labour Act states, “no children under the age of 12
years shall be employed in any capacity whatsoever.”
Exceptions: children employed by or in the company of their parent or
guardian in light work or agricultural/domestic or other forms
of employment as
may be approved by the Minister.
[N.B. Children under 12 are not allowed to work in any capacity in the
industrial or commercial sectors.]
Section 85 of the Labour Act states, “all persons under 15 are not to
work in any industrial undertakings or any branch thereof.”
Exceptions: Children employed on training ships (for education purposes) or
those types of employment approved by the Minister.
[Notable exceptions to section 85 are interpreted to include certain
family-owned-and-operated businesses of a industrial nature,
e.g. a bus service,
in cases where there is direct supervision of the child by a responsible family
member.]
Section 86 of the Labour Act states, “A person under the age of 16
shall not be employed underground in any mine.”
Section 87 states that once males attain the age of 16, with medical
certification of fitness, they may be employed:
Underground in any mine;
On any ship within stated limitations;
During the night in any industrial undertaking with written permission of the
Commissioner.
- There
is apparently no protection in the Labour Act for children or young
persons (12 years of age and upward) who work in the commercial
sector, e.g. hotels, restaurants, casinos, hospitals, offices, theatres, etc.
(See endnote 151 under Constraints and recommendations
below.)
- To
the extent that children who work are also wage-earners, they are considered by
the Labour Division to benefit from any wage and
condition legislation which has
been enacted to protect adult wage-earners in the workplace.
- In
the absence of verifiable age documentation, the Labour Act states an
employer’s good faith assumption that an employee meets
the legal age
requirement under the terms of the Act to be a justifiable defence in
court.
Implementation
- The
Solomon Islands Labour Act states that only an initial medical exam is required
by operations employing young people at sea.
Despite the apparent inconsistency
in implementing the letter of this convention, present circumstances reveal that
no young person
below age 18 is known to be employed on any ship (with the
possible exception of supervised school-training ships).
- In
providing information on penalties and sanctions it is necessary to note that
all inspections by the Labour Division are conducted
in response to either
accidents reported or complaints lodged. This is essentially a reactive basis
for inspection, rather than
a proactive one. This significant limitation has
been attributed to lack of funds, lack of personnel and lack of adequate
transport.
It is the opinion of the Labour Commissioner that all workplace
accidents are, nevertheless, reported. Employees and their supervisors
are
considered to have been effectively informed of their rights to compensation via
seminars and radio programmes dedicated to disseminating
such
information.
- Occasionally,
in the process of investigating an accident, a labour inspector discovers a
person below the legal age of employment
working at the site. The subsequent
enforcement procedure is quite clear. The employer is advised that the
employment of the child
is against the law and the employer’s future
payroll lists are subsequently monitored to determine that the child is no
longer
employed there. Although fines up to $500 are listed in the Labour Act
for such a breach, sanctions have never been imposed for
child labour
violations. This implies that employers found in violation of the law have
always been compliant and have thereby avoided
sanctions.
Constraints and recommendations
- While
the Labour Act denotes various age restrictions with regard to children working
in industrial, mining and shipping undertakings,
there are effectively no
prohibitions or special considerations governing those who employ children (12
years and over) in the commercial
sector.[151] There is
a need, therefore, for additional or revised legislation to protect children
from potential exploitation.
- Solomon
Islands registered a declaration with the ILO on 24 September l965 to exclude
ratification of Part II (entitled “Labour Inspection in
Commerce”) of the Labour Inspection Convention, per the requirements
stated
in Part III, article 25 of the same Convention. This means that the
Solomon Islands Labour Act, although omitting special provisions
for
children/young persons (12 years and over) who work in the commercial sector,
conforms to the ratified terms of the Labour Inspection
Convention. Hence, the
apparent lack of protection for children of age 12 upward is explained.
However, the necessity to re-examine
this exclusion remains of significant
importance to the future protection of children in Solomon
Islands.
- Of
particular interest in examining limitations of the Labour Act regarding
protection of children 12 and over from employment in
the commercial sector is
whether they are also prohibited from working or being present in casinos.
According to the Gaming and
Lotteries Act [Cap 32] section 3, subsection
(3):
No gaming shall take place at which any person under the age of 18 years is
included among the players, except where both the following conditions
are satisfied, that is to say:
(a) In a private dwelling house or in the presence of a parent or guardian
of that person;
(b) Any such person taking part in gaming does so with permission, whether
general or special, of a parent or guardian of that person.
In this case,
there is no absolute minimum age defined, as in some legislation. This could be
interpreted to allow persons under
18 years of age to be present, e.g. serving
food, at a gaming establishment without necessarily requiring the presence of a
parent
or guardian. This gap in protection needs to be remedied by law revision
or drafting of new legislation.
- The
lack of required legal age documentation for all those seeking employment in
Solomon Islands interferes with meaningful enforcement
of age restrictions.
Consequently, some employers may erroneously assume that their young workers
have reached the age of 18 years
when they are hired. This assumption is
considered to be a justifiable defence in the case of legal action brought
against an employer
who has unknowingly hired a person below the legal age for
employment. A national identity card with date of birth and photograph
would
assist employers and others in verifying names and ages when
necessary.
- Despite
its mandate to implement the functions mentioned in the Labour Inspection
Convention, the Solomon Islands Government keeps
no specific data on child
labour in the country. Although numbers are kept for adult female wage earners,
numbers are not known
for juvenile wage earners. It is the considered opinion
of the Labour Commissioner that the relatively large number of unemployed
adults
currently seeking paid employment in the country probably has the effect of
diminishing the necessity for employers to meet
their labour needs via
employment of
children.[152] The need
for baseline data to assist in measuring the incidence of juvenile employment in
the commercial sectors is paramount.
- Of
equal importance is the fact that the text of the Labour Act omits any specific
language protecting children from economic exploitation
or from work hazardous
to children’s health, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
(These phrases are found in article 32, CRC). Perhaps such wording could be
incorporated in future legislation or via Law Reform
Commission sanctioned
revisions governing child labour practices in Solomon Islands.
- In
differentiating between genders in the age requirements for 16-year-olds that
choose hazardous industrial employment, the Labour
Act lacks equal consideration
for males and females. The Law Reform Commission should revise the Labour Act
with attention to remedying
the omission of the commercial sector in labour
inspections.
- November
1997 saw the arrival of an Australian film crew and its screen stars to do
location shots in Solomon Islands for a feature
film. Via a two-page article in
the local newspaper, it was learned that in addition to adult Solomon Islanders,
three Solomon Islands’
children had also participated in the film on
location in Australia.[153]
This information raises questions regarding the processes involved in recruiting
these youngsters, organizing their travel, and particularly
their treatment when
on location. Although Australian filming practices and policies may have been
applied on behalf of the young
Solomon Islanders in this case, the questions
remain.[154]
2. Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse
Legal context
- The
Penal Code, Cap 5, Part XVI deals with offences against morality. Sections 128
to 146 would cover certain particular situations
relating to sexual abuse
of children, especially girls. These provisions are clear as far as they go;
however, they are antiquated
and need to be broadened to include language that
protects boys from similar crimes. Additionally, language protecting children
from computer disseminated pornography is urgently needed. The commercial
exploitation of children, including paedophilia associated
with tourism and
commerce, is a growing problem here and elsewhere in the Pacific. The Law
Reform Commission is the legal entity
through which such changes would be
channelled. However, it is up to interested individuals and advocacy
organizations to submit
the specific requests for such changes in the
laws.
- The
Penal Code section 133 (1) states that a person who unlawfully and indecently
assaults any woman or girl is guilty of a felony,
and liable for imprisonment
for a term of five years. This is a general provision that could be used
against persons assaulting
female children, but falling short of rape, or even
serious assault. Here, however, is again raised the question of whether male
victims are protected by the letter of this legislation (see above). Section
154 of the Penal Code covers indecent assaults/attempted
indecent assaults on
any male person and so would include boys. This is liable to seven years’
imprisonment. Section 133,
indecent assault on women/girls, is only liable to
five years’ imprisonment. This raises the question of nondiscrimination
and needs to be addressed by the Law Reform Commission.
- Section
237 of the Penal Code is a general provision governing assault and protects
children and adults, male or female.
- Those
found guilty by the court of sexually abusing children are normally sentenced to
prison, although some may serve suspended sentences
outside of
prison.
- Where
there are offences under the Penal Code, a person found guilty of sexually
assaulting a child (girl) might be sent to prison.
The victim may be happy that
the perpetrator has been sent to prison, but the injury caused to her may still
exist, and she may
feel that she has not been compensated properly. With the
assistance of a lawyer, the victim of a sexual assault may bring a restraining
order against the person who assaulted her. A civil suit can be instituted in
court for damages against the person who committed
the offence.
Implementation
- The
Ministry of Police has published some data on children as victims in Annual
Report form, please see tables 5 and 6, above. More
detail on children’s
ages and resolution of cases would be useful to understand whether there are
obstacles to effective prosecution
of such crimes. Involvement of newly trained
police officers[155] within
the Ministry of Police will also be advantageous to children and victims of
domestic violence, etc. The training, conducted
by the Family Support Centre,
highlights the renewed working relationship between the Ministry of Police and
this Centre.
- Laws
(including the Penal Code) are only of use to any person or authority if there
is a breach of compliance with that particular
law. Where, for example, an
uncle has molested a girl, unless such acts are brought to the attention of the
Police the culprit will
never be prosecuted.
- Instruction
can be made to the office of the Public Solicitor or to any private legal
practitioner to commence civil proceedings against
persons who are known to have
caused these assaults. This may facilitate prosecution of cases which otherwise
would not be brought
to court due to the intimidating aspects of the criminal
reporting process.
Constraints and recommendations
- An
important obstacle to prosecution is the non-reporting of sexual assaults to
police officers. This could be due to various reasons,
such as the fact that
compensation has been paid to the victim’s parents, or that it would be
shameful for the family to acknowledge
that such acts have occurred, or that
there is simply no easy access to police stations. In most areas police
stations are miles
away. Even if there is a police station close by, it is
possible that the victim will not report the assault because of the fear
of
being intimidated by
police,[156] more so if the
victim is a female and the police attendant is a male.
- Another
issue is identifying which acts or actions amount to sexual abuse. Unless a
victim understands that s/he has been assaulted,
such acts may continue to be
practised undetected. Thus the issue of awareness is also important. It is
difficult to allege that
a child has been sexually abused without actually
recognizing if such an act amounts to sexual abuse under the Penal Code. There
is definitely an ongoing need for public awareness amongst communities
concerning child abuse. The Family Support Centre in Honiara
conducts outreach
workshops on family violence issues, CRC and legal rights to address this
need.
- Occasionally,
the government radio station (SIBC) or the newspapers carry some news regarding
convictions for common assault or sexual
abuse. This has changed in recent
years to include overseas news items involving young Solomon
Islanders.[157] With Asia
cracking down on its child sex trade, certainly there is a growing desire
amongst Pacific nations not to become the next
destination for sex tourism. At
the same time casinos have gained a significant foothold in the local economy.
The risk of exploitation
of staff by patrons in such venues is
great.[158] It is hoped
that regulatory agencies will focus on protecting casino workers from
exploitation. Similarly, hotel operators in nearby
countries have been charged
with prostitution tied directly to competition for business in the mainstream
hospitality market. Such
signs are worrisome trends that need to be closely
monitored. Creating raised awareness of this issue via discussions with the
Tourism
Authority would be a positive beginning point.
3. Sale, trafficking and abduction of children
Legal context
- The
Penal Code, Part XXVI “Offences against liberty” refers to sanctions
prohibiting kidnapping, abduction, concealing
abducted persons,
etc.
- The
Penal Code, section 246 specifically deals with child stealing. Cases exist
commonly amongst birth parents reclaiming children
from families who have
informally adopted them. In custodial disputes, the non-custodial family quite
commonly takes children from
the custodial parent. These cases are often
handled through the Public Solicitor’s Office (see chapter V, Family
environment
and alternative care, section E, Illicit transfer and
non-return).
- In
the case where children are suspected of being active in sexual activities on
boats or in certain premises, the guardians of the
child may bring a lawsuit
against the owners of the boat to restrain them from allowing children on
board.
Implementation
- Customary
law is part of the law of the land as long as it does not violate the principles
of humanity ensured by the Constitution.
Although there has not yet been a case
brought to court, potential does exist for legal conflict to arise between
certain customary
marriage practices and the constitutional protection of the
right to personal liberty afforded to young females as citizens of this
country.
- In
certain areas of the country, customary marriage practices may, for example,
allow a female child of comparatively young age to
be married to a person chosen
by her parents, but against her own will. In such cases any potential advocate
for the girl’s
interests might be deterred for several reasons. Persons
who might help would not be welcome interfering in family affairs. Such
persons
may also be uninformed of the child’s legal rights under the Constitution.
Or an advocate may not be willing to disrupt
the highly valued cohesion of the
community in such a circumstance. Though such hypothetical situations may or
may not be uncommon,
a legal case must be presented before the strength of the
constitutional protection can be effectively measured.
4. Drug abuse
Legal context
- The
Constitution of Solomon Islands is the Supreme Law of the land. All other laws
are subject to it (section 2 of Constitution).
Chapter II of the Constitution
contains the fundamental rights of individuals. Of particular importance are
section 6, which provides
for the protection of individuals from slavery and
forced labour, and section 7, which provides for the protection of individuals
from inhuman treatment. To fulfil these provisions in the Constitution, laws
like the Penal Code, Dangerous Drugs Act, etc. were
enacted or
adopted.
- The
appropriate piece of legislation prohibiting the use of certain drugs is the
Dangerous Drugs Act Cap 53. Such drugs include Indian
hemp (Cannabis
sativa or Cannabis indica), Raw Opium and Coca Leaf. Section 7 of
the Act prohibits the cultivation of Opium Poppy or Indian Hemp or Coca Leaf by
any person.
Section 8 (a) and (b) states that any person found being in
possession of drugs, or selling or who shall have given or sold is guilty
of a
crime. The provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act apply to all persons,
including children.
- The
penalty provisions in section 39 of the Drugs Act range from:
On conviction by the court, a fine of two thousand dollars or to imprisonment
of 10 years or both.
On summary conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars, or to imprisonment
or both.
- The
Liquor Act, Cap 33 regulates the sale and consumption of liquor. The opening
hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. each day (section 5 of the Liquor Act). Only licensed
liquor outlets are permitted to sell liquor. Section 74 (1) and (2) of the
Liquor Act, amended in 1988 and 1992, prohibits a person or licensee to sell or
supply liquor to any person who is known to be under the age
of 21 years.
Breach of this section attracts a fine of $1,000 and a term of imprisonment.
Section 74 (3) prohibits persons under the age of 21 years to consume liquor
whether on licensed premises or not. A fine is also attracted
where there is a
breach. Section 74 (4) also prohibits a person to send a person under the age
of 21 to purchase liquor.
Implementation
- Alcohol
and tobacco are widely used and abused by both young and old despite the
presence of national legislation in the form of the
Liquor
Act.[159] Arguments may be
made that the Liquor Act amendments increasing the minimum ages for purchase and
consumption of liquor from 18 to 21 years are not enforceable. The legal
voting
age in the country is 18 years and the employment restrictions of the labour
laws apply only to those under 18 years of age.
Effective policing may also be
hampered by the difficulty in determining whether someone is under 21 years of
age or above unless
that person carries some kind of identity card, e.g. a birth
certificate. An article in a local newspaper raised the question of
whether
under-18-year-olds are banned from attending clubs where alcohol is
served.[160] The text of
the article questions whether clubs can successfully deny entrance to those
under 18. The issue of being 21 years of
age to legally drink alcohol was not
even addressed. This leads to speculation that the public generally assumes an
18-year-old
can legally attend clubs and drink alcohol.
- Studies
by WHO and UNICEF consultants in November 1995 highlighted both the prevalence
of alcohol-related problems and the need for
a national preventative programme
to combat such problems and for awareness raising. These consultants were
assisted by MHMS staff
during the course of conducting their study in Honiara.
There have been plans for the Social Welfare Office (MHMS) to arrange for
a
wider study on adolescent behaviour in relation to substance abuse and
unemployment. Contacts have been made with the WHO office
in Honiara for funds
or expertise. Also in collaboration with the UNICEF office in Fiji, an action
plan (project proposal) was submitted
by Social Welfare during a regional
workshop in May/June 1996. This plan requested funding of a local workshop
addressing alcohol
and tobacco abuse. This workshop was to be held in December
1996.[161]
- Statistics
on how many children have been convicted of drug offences are not immediately
available. The Police and Magistrate’s
Court does not have proper
statistics on the prosecution of drug abuse by children. There is, therefore, a
need to develop a system
where the number of children convicted under the Drugs
Act is kept. It would then be possible to gauge the problem of drug use by
children.
- For
several years until late 1997 there was no proper surveillance undertaken by the
Town Council Police and the National Police to
halt the rise in the numbers of
black market beer outlets. During that period, Honiara experienced a steady
increase of black market
beer outlets in government residential areas and also
in settlements outside the town boundary. Because of the fear of purchasing
alcohol in the retail shops, children purchase beer from the black markets in
the night. The presence of illegal outlets stimulates
child consumption of
liquor. In the last quarter of 1997, police policies changed and several raids
were conducted on such outlets,
resulting in closure and
arrests.[162] Via a local
news story in February 1998, the police restated their commitment to continue
“ongoing police operations to prevent
illegal activities, e.g. sale of
alcohol, drug abuse, housebreaking, vandalism,
etc.”.[163]
Constraints and recommendations
- Control
of alcohol consumption is hindered by the availability of alcohol, including
home brew and toddy (kaleve). Since mid-1993,
Solomon Islands has had its own
local brewery. This has not prevented continued importation of foreign beer
into the country. In
1995, in exchange for its promise to assist in building a
new wing of the maximum-security prison at Rove, a local wholesaler was
granted
a 50 per cent concession rate on customs duties on imported beer. This made the
wholesaler’s business in imported
beer very competitive with local beer
prices. The Government lost a significant amount of import duty
money[164] and work on
the prison has since stopped due to lack of funds from the wholesaler in
question. In future criteria for awarding government duty concessions must
be reviewed and minimized to prevent such problems from occurring.
Transparency
in Government is necessary to win back public trust. If private enterprise
cooperates with Government in future social
welfare endeavours, it should be
strictly on a charitable basis, with no hidden benefit to be gained by the
company beyond resulting
public goodwill.
- Binge-drinking
patterns characterize alcohol consumption in Solomon Islands. The traditional
value system of sharing and reciprocity
exacerbates the societal abuse of
alcohol. A study in two communities in Ysabel Province found that 82 per cent
of respondents said
that they normally drank with friends, while only 18 per
cent said they drank alone. The association between having a celebration
and
excessive consumption of alcohol is a firmly entrenched
one.[165] Keeping track of
alcohol-related illnesses, accidents and crime statistics will assist in
developing public awareness of the problem
of alcohol abuse. Such data will
prove useful as a source of indicators for incidence of child abuse and other
issues for children
or young people.
- It
is not widely understood by the drinking public that such consumption patterns
can be precursors to either psychological or physical
dependence, i.e.
alcoholism. The detrimental economic effects of alcohol abuse are also
significant in a country where wage rates
are comparatively low and education
costs for children are relatively high. Specific campaigns to heighten
awareness of the dangers
of binge-drinking alcohol consumption patterns would
probably only be helpful in combination with establishment of counselling and
referral programmes. Churches may be effective resources for their immediate
communities. Establishment of Alcoholics Anonymous
(AA) or similar self-help
organizations might be useful, especially where other agencies are unable to
provide counselling services
or adequate support to the person seeking
help.
5. General recommendations
- The
extent of child exploitation in Solomon Islands (child labour, prostitution,
drug abuse, and sale, trafficking or abduction of
children) is not known. This
is largely due to the fact that there are no proper statistics kept by the
authorities that are concerned
with the administration of the relevant
legislation. Such bodies include the Police, Social Welfare, courts and
hospitals and clinics.
Relevant statistics are vital to determining the
effectiveness of current legislation. It is difficult to introduce meaningful
changes to current laws without relevant data contained in statistical
form.
- The
Police, the courts, social welfare officers, health workers, teachers, child
rights advocates and citizens must work together
to combat exploitation of
children on all fronts. A national database of child-relevant statistics needs
to be established and maintained.
This could be facilitated temporarily through
the office of the Secretariat of the National Advisory Committee on Children or,
more
preferably, through a dedicated position in the lead ministry for
children’s affairs (currently the Ministry of Youth, Women
and Sports).
Regardless of where the database resides, it must be accessible. The relevant
agencies must cooperate in the process
of data-sharing by identifying
indicators, tracking child-relevant statistics and updating the national
database in a timely and
regular manner, e.g. reporting current statistics at
least every six months, if not quarterly. The database should be insulated
from
the capricious transitions of governments, and given priority as a meaningful
repository of information. Such information should
be monitored in a timely
manner to detect both positive and negative trends and facilitate implementation
of measures necessary to
optimize the development of Solomon Islands
children.
- Laws
that do protect children from exploitation are contained in various acts and
ordinances. Perhaps due to the fact that such provisions
are widely scattered,
their implementation is often lacking. A good majority of the citizens of this
country do not know where to
find these laws, let alone provisions relating to
abuse of children. It would be convenient, therefore, to have a separate
article
of legislation dealing with children. The problem immediately foreseen
is that such a law may duplicate the provisions in the Penal
Code, Labour
Ordinance, Dangerous Drugs Act, etc.
- All
current, child-relevant legislation should be reviewed by the Law Reform
Commission and revised. A comprehensive Child Bill should
be drafted and
enacted to address the existing areas of weakness, thereby strengthening
existing legislation. Such a bill might
use the Convention on the Rights of the
Child as a guideline in considering all areas of law relevant to children. It
should create
new language for child-protective measures that address the
technological developments of the next century. Specifically, use of
various
present and future communication technologies, such as the Internet, are not
covered by current laws, thereby permitting
child exploitation practices via
these media to go unchecked. Neighbouring Fiji is already wrestling with the
problem of applying
child-protective legislation inadequate to the electronic
age.[166] Solomon Islands
must not find itself left behind.
E. Children of a minority or indigenous group
- Solomon
Islands is culturally extremely diverse, with over 80 language groups and
distinct differences in customs, lifestyles, physical
appearance, etc. - even
among Melanesians who form over 90 per cent of the population. Polynesians (4
per cent) and Micronesians
(1.5 per cent) form the largest minorities
in the country with Asian and Europeans accounting for some 1 per cent each. To
some
extent, therefore, minorities are the norm. This is especially true, in
light of the observation that cultural distinctions are
frequently made amongst
Solomon Islanders who comprise the Melanesian majority. Most modern Solomon
Islanders, who have lived in
culturally diverse areas, take great pride in their
ability to identify fellow Solomon Islanders’ places of origin by either
their appearance or by their language. This awareness has been known to
engender a lack of cooperation at the workplace. However,
it is difficult to
gauge whether cronyism or the wantok system permits oppressive discriminatory
practices over children.
- There
is no acknowledged or overt discrimination against any of the minority groups
mentioned above. However, at least one group
of Solomon Islands citizens -
those from Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands), who were settled here by British
colonial authorities
in the 1950s - are disadvantaged because of their lack of
customary land ownership rights. Other groups from small, remote outlying
islands such as the Temotu group, Ontong Java and Sikiana are greatly
disadvantaged by their geographically remote positions and
the associated
difficulties in receiving services provided by Government or
businesses.
- Women
and children are generally disadvantaged by their lack of power in social and
economic spheres. These inequities may most easily
be addressed by continuing
to focus attention on the vestiges of institutional discrimination inherent in
the remnants of colonial
law still used in the modern era. Solomon Islands
citizens must also decide to what degree the current inequities inhibit or
advance
the development of the country. With clear agreement and desire for
either facilitating change or maintaining the status quo then
education may then
proceed to perpetuate or improve the current situation for minorities in Solomon
Islands.
Notes
References
Asian Development Bank (1997). Solomon
Islands Economic Report 1997, Honiara.
Central Bank of Solomon
Islands (1997). Quarterly Review, September 1997,
Honiara.
Chevalier, C. (1997). Being wise after the event: Learning
from childhood deaths in Choiseul Province. Unpublished paper presented as
a Master’s seminar at Solomon Islands Medical Training and Research
Institute (SIMTRI), December
1997, Honiara.
Davies, E. A. (1997).
Mission report: Adolescent health in Solomon Islands. World Health
Organization, Regional Office for the Western Pacific.
Fia, P. (1996).
Social welfare sector feedback progress report on children in especially
difficult circumstances in relation to CRC for NACC. Ministry of Health and
Medical Services (MHMS), Social Welfare Division (SWD), Honiara.
Fia, P.
(1996?). Youth and other social problems in Solomon Islands: An
overview. MHMS, SWD, Honiara.
Fia, P. (1997). Social welfare
report on social trends and lifestyle in the Solomon Islands: For
“Evaluating health for all by the year 2000”,
review report.
MHMS, SWD, Honiara.
Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development
(1997). Education policy and administrative handbook. MEHRD,
Honiara.
Ministry of Health and Medical Services (1996). The
Comprehensive Review of Health Services Report, Honiara.
Mitchell, J.
(1997). A review of the Solomon Islands Maternal Child Health Division.
Unpublished draft, SCFA/UNICEF, Honiara.
Muntarbhorn, V. (1997). A
Sourcebook for reporting under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Bangkok, Thailand.
Poerio, L. (1995). Domestic violence in Solomon
Islands: Results of a community survey. Griffith University, Brisbane,
Australia.
Solomon Islands Government (SIG) (1997). Education
Statistics 1995. Statistical Bulletin No. 03/97,
Honiara.
SIG/UNICEF (1993). A Situational Analysis of Women and
Children in the Solomon Islands. Honiara.
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (1997). MTH students conducted
research into the sexual knowledge and behaviour of
teenage girls in Honiara.
Unpublished paper distributed to survey participants.
UNICEF (1992).
The State of the Pacific’s Children. Submission to South Pacific
Forum, Honiara, Solomon Islands.
World Bank (1994). Health Priorities
and Options in the World Bank’s Pacific Member Countries, Chapter 5:
Solomon Islands, pp. 153-214.
Yates, D., et al. (1992).
Community-based rehabilitation for people with disabilities in Solomon
Islands: A feasibility study and plan of action. MHMS and Save the
Children Fund Australia, Honiara.
-----
[1] Please refer to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 42. In Solomon Islands this
will mean the full country report
will only be available in English; while
shorter, summary reports may be translated into several of the larger local
languages, including
Pijin, and more widely disseminated.
[2] Ona calls for
referendum ... and condemns Solomons for signing border treaty
(16 July 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 5.
[3] Peace talk group arrive
[sic] on Royal NZ Air Froce aircraft (23 July 1997). The Solomon Star,
p. 3.
[4] “Big step forward
for peace” (23 July 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 3.
[5] Confidence of peace
soon on B’ville (14 October 1997). The Solomon Star,
p. 7.
[6] NZ troops fly to
B’ville (9 November 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 12.
[7] More Bougainville peace
talks (28 November 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 14.
[8] Central Bank of
Solomon Islands, (1997). Quarterly Review, September 1997, Honiara.
Also, Asian Development Bank, (1997), Solomon Islands Economic Report
1997, Honiara.
[9] Solomon Islands
Government (SIG) (1992). Statement of Policies by Solomon Islands Alliance
for Change 19972001, Honiara.
[10] Bus fare rise by 50
per cent (27 February 1998). The Solomon Star, p. 2.
[11] There are several
cut-off points in the education system, at the end of standard 6,
forms 3, 5 and 6. The number of students that
are able to
continue from one cutoff point to another depends on availability of facilities
such as classrooms, dormitories, teachers
and available places. There are fewer
facilities available in secondary schools for females. (MHMS, SWO, March 1997,
p. 3).
[12] Although health
information on incidence of STDs is kept by MHMS, it is not disaggregated by
age, so there continues to be an urgent
need for data collection on all these
issues that affect young people in Solomon Islands. (Source: WHO
Mission Report on Adolescent Health, 1997, annex 3).
[13] Fia, P. (1996),
Youth and Other Social Problems in Solomon Islands: An Overview,
p. 5.
[14] SIG/UNICEF 1993.
Situation Analysis of Women and Children, Honiara, pp. 2734.
[15] In the period prior
to publication of this report there has been great confusion as to the status of
children in the governmental
ministerial structure. Although the NACC is
chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the lead ministry designated for children,
the
dissolution of the MYWSR in early 1997 meant that youth and women were
assigned to separate ministries. This resulted in confusion
as to what ministry
would have jurisdiction over children’s issues. This essentially
decapitated the NACC for a sustained
period in 1997 as letters by the
secretariat requesting governmental clarification produced conflicting
information. The issue was
still unresolved in March 1998. Among other
things, this has negatively affected the momentum for furthering
children’s rights/needs
engendered by Solomon Islands’
accession to the Convention. Not having a confirmed lead ministry for
children’s affairs,
the NACC and children’s issues themselves have
been pushed to the periphery of governmental awareness. Despite a workshop
held
on the CRC in Honiara in October 1995, the rapid pace of public sector and NGO
personnel turnover since then has adversely affected
development of a base of
informed, highlyplaced individuals necessary for sustained continued progress
toward the goal of implementation
of the Convention.
[16] The Pacific
Islands’ definition of youth generally corresponds to the WHO definition.
This applies to young people 15 years
of age up to 30 years of age, essentially
young unmarried adults. Such a broad definition of youth means that young
people between
the ages of 15 and
18 years probably comprise only a small
percentage of members within youth groups throughout the country. Consequently,
it is difficult
to take any data relevant to youth groups and interpret the
status of the 15 to 18 year olds in Solomon Islands.
[17] The children’s
policy is also known as the Draft Solomon Islands Policy, Strategy and
Outline Plan of Action for Children.
The document incorporates the relevant
provisions of the CRC, the World Summit Goals for Children and the principle of
the best
interests of the child as its framework.
[18] Also for discussion
was whether the MYWSR would chair the NACC. At that meeting it was suggested
that a full-time officer of children’s
affairs was needed to keep track of
progress towards sectoral targets set out in the policy. Further information on
the history
of the attempts to establish an officer for children’s affairs
is contained in NACC minutes for 13 April 1995.
[19] The idea was also
introduced to organize a CRC reporting workshop to be held in Honiara in
October 1995.
[20] Police could assist
youths says Short (11 November 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 3.
[21] The Law Reform
Commission should not be confused with the Law Revision Commission, which deals
with revision and reprinting of existing
laws. Unlike the Law Reform
Commission, the Law Revision Commission has no power to recommend changes to the
law. The Commission
can do grammatical changes to a provision so long as the
substance of that law is not changed. A revised edition of a particular
Act by
the Law Revision Commission becomes the authentic authority.
[22] The funding for the
production of these materials has been provided by UNICEF and Save the Children
Fund Australia (SCFA).
[23] Health booklet will
help community (1 August 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 8.
[24] Unfortunately this
annual tradition was omitted in 1997 due to staffing shortage at SCFA.
[25] NACC has an advisory
role to the Government on child issues and was charged with the task of
formulating a National Policy on Children
and Plan of Action. NACC is still the
only intersectoral committee for which sitting fees are not paid, the rationale
being that
Committee members are paid for their work during working hours and
that issues affecting children, the future of Solomon Islands,
will garner
priority amongst the busy demands of participating members. However, lack of
interest by some NACC members to regularly
attend Committee meetings has been
attributed to lack of incentives, such as sitting fees. The Committee roster
represents most
sectors affecting children (see annex 1, point 10). Notably
absent are members from the Ministry of Police; however, the Ministry
of Justice
is represented by a lawyer from the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Historically, the Committee has relied on the
goodwill of individual members to
carry on its work. This work has included publishing information on the CRC,
lobbying Cabinet
for Solomon Islands’ accession to the Convention in April
of 1995 and raising public awareness of children’s issues.
This work
continues with the compiling of this report and perhaps monitoring into the
indefinite future.
[26] NACC minutes dated 2
February 1995 and 13 April 1995.
[27] MYWSR re-established
in the latter part of 1997 by the newly elected Government with the name
Ministry of Youth, Women and Sports.
[28] NACC minutes dated
14 March 1996.
[29] For example, the
newly formed Family Support Centre was delegated to write in the area of child
exploitation. Although the Centre
has dealt primarily with abused women, the
need to help affected children is a natural and obvious progression in mission.
Discussion
of the issue of child abuse and exploitation in the country currently
presents a challenge and opportunity to mobilize forces to
meet this unmet need
(in terms of services for victims of child abuse in Solomon Islands).
[30] By way of example,
an Under-Secretary from the Ministry of Development and Planning compiled
significant portions of the report
section dealing with education with input
from MEHRD personnel. By way of further illustration, there has not been a
sitting representative
of SICA (Solomon Islands’ Christian Association) on
the NACC since the first submissions were requested in August of 1995.
This has
meant that a valuable source of non-governmental information has been omitted
with extra time and effort insufficient to
compensate for this loss.
[31] The notable
exception was a submission by the Social Welfare Division of MHMS in
August 1996. However, requested feedback from
that sector, too, was
periodically delayed.
[32] Unexpected
assistance came via a visit to Honiara by Professor Yuri Kolosov, the
ViceChairperson of the Committee on the Convention
on the Rights of the Child in
Geneva. Professor Kolosov met with some members of the NACC in August 1997.
His comments on the third
draft of the report were of great assistance. The
invitation to attend a UNICEF-sponsored Pacific Regional Consultation Workshop
on the Reporting and Monitoring for the CRC in Suva, Fiji, also in August 1997,
also proved very beneficial to the final drafting
of the report.
[33] Even within MHMS
there is room for improved statistical records. For example, teenage suicides
and attempted suicides have not
been quantified. Teenage pregnancy rates and
school dropout/push-out rates have not been correlated. Causes of
children’s
injuries and deaths, above the age of 5, have not been
consistently tracked, categorized or quantified in ways that could be useful
as
indicators of other childhood health issues. The data included in the health
section of this report emphasizes traditional areas
of childhood health. Deaths
or injury attributed to child abuse are not tracked, unless by particular
doctors for their own information.
These examples point to areas where improved
data collection and data sharing is sorely needed. For example, nurses and
clinic
health workers are not adequately trained in identifying injuries
suspected from child abuse. Apart from areas of deficiency in
paediatric
health-care training, a major obstacle to development of record keeping in the
provinces may also be a culturally based
unwillingness to identify people within
a child’s own family as abusers. Yet the evidence for child abuse
worldwide emphasizes
family members are frequently abusers of children.
[34] For example,
information has never been requested from the Commissioner of Police who assumed
office in the last quarter of 1997.
This omission has been due primarily to
reportediting time constraints as the report is now overdue.
[35] Neither the draft
Child Rights Bill nor the Draft Outline and Policy Plan of Action for Children
has been endorsed by Cabinet.
The domination of sports council interests in the
Ministry designated as the lead ministry for youth has obscured children’s
and young people’s interests apart from sports in the Government’s
agenda. The process of holding elections in August
1997 and the coincidental
loss of the primary focal person for CRC to an intergovernmental organization at
the same time also served
to slow momentum toward completion of this
document.
[36] EU approves $8.0 m
for population census (19 November 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 7.
Preparations under way for national population census (4 February1998). The
Solomon Star, pp. 6-7.
[37] In late February
1998, a census users’ committee meeting was held in Honiara to address the
question of topics to be included
in census data collection. A follow-up
meeting was to be held in April 1998.
[38] These include civil
works (mainly upgrading secondary school facilities); upgrading secondary
teacher training; curriculum development;
staff development at ministry level;
direct assistance to SICHE (upgrading nurse training, adding dormitories,
upgrading natural
resources training); technical assistance in project
management and studies (primarily directed toward school assessment and Ministry
of Education Policy Handbook); and cyclone rehabilitation of primary schools in
Guadalcanal, Makira, and Temotu (for 1986 and 1991
cyclone damage).
[39] This section should
technically protect children from abuse who have been informally adopted into
families.
[40] Liquor (Amendment)
Act 1988 (No. 15 of 1988), p. 10.
[41] In some cases in
traditional matrilineal societies, women’s significant roles as
landholders are increasingly nominalized
as males negotiate with outside
interests for cash as in logging and mining enterprises.
[42] Convention on the
Rights of the Child, Part I, article 1.
[43] Iroga, R.L. (27
January 1998). Are those U-18 banned in clubs? The Solomon Star, p.
6.
[44] The exception,
perhaps, being hospital facilities.
[45] SIG/UNICEF,
Situation Analysis of Women and Children in Solomon Islands (1993), p.
53.
[46] Ibid., pp. 55,
64.
[47] Ibid., pp.
56-57.
[48] Pollard, A. (1988).
Solomon Islands in Pacific women roles and status of women in Pacific societies,
ed. T. Tongamoa, Suva: Institute
of Pacific Studies, University of the South
Pacific, p. 43. Cited in SIG/UNICEF (1993), Situation Analysis of Women
and Children in
Solomon Islands, p. 54.
[49] (MHMS) National
Nutrition Survey, 1991
[50] However, some crimes
against children do not attract heavy penalties, e.g. attempted defilement of a
girl under 13 is only punishable
by two years in prison under the Penal Code,
section 134 (2).
[51] It must be noted
here, however, that it does not state anywhere in this Act that the court must
consider the best interests of the
child. This practice is derived from British
common law. Please refer to paragraph 97, Constraints and recommendations.
[52] Refer to paragraph
91 of the report.
[53] This is illustrated
by two cases handled by the Public Solicitors’ Office where one family was
discouraged from pursuing a
legal case on the grounds that they would have
difficulty proving the verbal contract made for the informal adoption. While
the
second case called into question the natural mother’s ability to
parent and therefore allowed the adoptive parents to engage
in legal proceedings
on that basis. (See chapter V, section E of the present report: Illicit
transfer and non-return.)
[54] The initiative in
the Solomon Islands is the beginning for the South Pacific region. It is being
carried out in association with
the Institute of Education of the University of
the South Pacific, the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development
(MEHRD),
the Rotary Club of Victoria, Australia, Rotary International and the
Honiara Rotary Club. The programme is expected to last through
2001 if fully
funded and will include provincial schools to Grade 4. Source:
Report from Evaluation Visit 15-19 July 1996 for Rotary International
Literacy Project/Solomon Islands.
[55] Solomon
Islands’ definition of youth, for the purposes of forming youth groups and
the National Youth Congress, for example,
is from age 15 years up to 30 years of
age. This means although development of National Youth Policy schemes and
programmes have
the potential to impact significantly upon the young adult
populations, they directly involve a relatively limited number of 15-
to 18
years-olds whose needs may intersect or diverge from those of young adult
Solomon Islanders.
[56] A National Youth
Policy Workshop was held in Honiara at the Commonwealth Youth Programme Centre
from 15 to 17 April 1997.
[57] Committee work on
youth policy (13 February 1998). The Solomon Star, p. 7. Also:
Discussion looks at youth problems, (27 February 1998), The Solomon Star,
p. 5
[58] Ueteri-Taasi, I. (29
January 1997). Delay of classes at King George VI School.
The Solomon Star, pp. 10-11.
[59] Students express
concern to ministry. (24 October 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 3
[60] Drop out children:
the nation’s rising problem. (16 August 1996). The Solomon Star,
pp. 1213.
[61] Ueteri-Taasi, I. (21
January 1998). Understand human rights in Solomons The Solomon Star, pp.
8-9.
[62] Bus fare rise by 50
per cent. (27 February 1998). The Solomon Star, p. 2 [Once again, in
early 1998, bus operators were making moves to increase fares. This continues
to increase hardship for families
whose children use public transport to reach
school. Significant increases in fares affect how children get to school, e.g.
rising
earlier and walking longer distances. This, in turn, influences which
schools children attend and, in some cases, raises the question
of whether
families can afford school at all.]
[63] Lateef, S (1991). A
study of women in export development in the Solomon Islands. Commonwealth
Secretariat. Cited in SIG/UNICEF
(1993). A situation analysis of women and
children in the Solomon Islands, p. 65.
[64] Progress of Nations
1998 survey on birth registration and nationality and malaria, requested by
UNICEF, implemented by SCFA.
[65] Progress of Nations
1998 survey.
[66] Information,
Education and Communication (IEC) Officer, SCFA, personal conversation, January
1998.
[67] However, this
premise will have to be tested on a case-by-case basis in the courts, to be
substantiated as fact.
[68] Kaelonga v. Tuita
and Kura (1985) is an example of a case where the Solomon Islands’
courts did give custody of children to their mother after their father
died. In
this case the mother and her husband had seven children. They had been married
in custom. When the father of the children
died, his two brothers came and took
the children. The mother filed for the custody of the children. The Social
Welfare Officer’s
report said in effect that the children would be equally
comfortable with their mother or with their uncles. A custom law expert
gave
evidence that payment of bride price bought the right to the children. He
further said that the mother’s right to access
could be bought off by
further compensation if she agreed. The court said that the mother’s
determination showed her deep
love for her children. He ruled that there was no
evidence that the mother was not a good mother. The magistrate said that in the
children’s interest, the mother was granted custody.
[69] Per letter to UNICEF
Programme Officer from Principal Legal Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
dated 19 August 1993.
[70] Passenger criticizes
obscene movies screen on MV Ramos 1. (16 January 1998). The Solomon
Star, p. 3. [The article highlighted the concern of an adult passenger on
an interisland boat trip that the video seen onboard ship contained
sexual
material unsuitable for viewing by small children. The same article highlighted
the responsible crew member’s response
that “the movie had gone
through censorship board”.]
[71] New publications
have recently appeared targeted to sports and music audiences in addition to
those newspapers that cover more general
news items.
[72] This information was
provided by Charles Fox, head of the National Youth Congress, in
early 1998. The status of the Youth Congress
is now unclear.
[73] Unfortunately, there
was no further information provided in time for the submission of this
report.
[74] Case hearing under
tight security (13 February 1998). The Solomon Star p. 2.
[75] Furniture and
seating arrangements may be modified to remove some of the factors which may
contribute to intimidation of the child.
For example, the child witness may be
physically elevated in the courtroom. This changes the child’s position
relative to
that of the accused - who are normally seated in a box higher than
the witness box. Or furniture may be positioned so that any peripheral
view of
the witness by the accused is obstructed.
[76] See paragraph
67.
[77] If the non-custodial
father is not working a report is still entered so that in case of his future
employment maintenance will be
paid. An attachment may be made so that his
future employer is notified of his outstanding commitment to pay maintenance and
part
of his wages can be deposited directly to the account of the mother.
Additionally, it is necessary to note that such procedures
may also apply to a
non-custodial working mother if the father is the custodian of the child.
[78] SIBC Radio news
script, July 1997, used with permission.
[79] Cited in Fia, P.
(1997). Social welfare report on social trends & lifestyle ...,
MHMS, Social Welfare Division (SWD), Honiara.
[80] Poerio, L. (1995).
Domestic violence in Solomon Islands: Results of a community survey. Griffith
University, Brisbane, Australia.
[81] Ibid.
[82] “Family
violence unacceptable” (20 January 1998). The Solomon Star, p.
3.
[83] Cited in Fia, P.
(1997). Social welfare report on social trends & lifestyle in the
Solomon Islands: For “Evaluating health for all by the year
2000”,
review report. MHMS, SWD, Honiara.
[84] Need to set up child
protect centre (17 December 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 5.
[85] Solomon Islands
Policy, Strategy and Outline Plan of Action for Children, March 1996 (annex
2).
[86] Contraceptive
Prevalence Surveys conducted in Honiara, 1992, and Choiseul, 1993, showed levels
of 36 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively.
These
surveys, conducted by students enrolled in Masters of Tropical Health degree
programmes from Australia indicated there is
gross underreporting of prevalence
due to significant data recording error. For example, persons choosing tubal
ligation as a birth
control option should be included as data not only for the
year that the procedure is done and for all their remaining potentially
reproductive years in light of the fact that they continue to benefit from this
longterm contraceptive option. However, it has been
pointed out that such
individuals have not been included in those subsequent years’ data,
resulting in significant error rates
in reporting.
[87] The necessity for
accurate updated census figures is illuminated by this example of the difficulty
in reconciling projected population
figures with actual figures for purposes of
determining health-care coverage. As immunization coverage figures are
calculated by
dividing the total number of doses administered by the total
number of children, the need for reliable accuracy for the actual number
of
children is imperative. In the case of Solomon Islands, intensive canvassing of
the country by health-care workers in recent
years has consistently shown lower
numbers of babies and children than 1986 projected growth rates would suggest.
Computations made
using population estimates that are too high can make any
immunization coverage rate appear to be too low.
[88] One exception,
however, is the Kombito settlement area on the eastern outskirts of Honiara,
where a large water tank has not been
put into service due to lack of good
quality boreholes to provide sources for the water tank. Therefore, residents
must walk 30
minutes to get drinking water from a stream. [Eremae, O. (11
February 1998). The fate of the settlers. The Solomon Star, pp.
9-11.]
[89] MHMS, 1996, p. 92,
italicized emphasis added.
[90] The Paediatric
category of medical care traditionally includes children from birth to
12
years old.
[91] Mortality
included 38 deaths with 47 per cent (18 children) dying in the first 48 hours of
admission. This is indicative of late
presentation of more severe disease.
(MHMS, 1996, p. 91)
[92] Ibid.
[93] MHMS, 1996, p.
92.
[94] MHMS, 1996, p.
87.
[95] Iroga, R.L., Doctors
recruited from overseas (6 February 1998). The Solomon Star, p. 1.
[96] Chevalier, C. 1997.
Discusses the efficacy of establishing a post mortem interview procedure to
discover which factors contributed
to a child’s death and then feedback
this information to the health-care system so that deaths attributable to delays
either
in seeking medical care or in subsequent referral might be minimized.
[97] University of
Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 1997, Masters of Tropical Health students
conducted research into the sexual knowledge
and behaviour of teenage girls in
Honiara. In 1998, a companion survey was being conducted with boys focusing on
the same topic.
[98] MHMS, 1996, The
Comprehensive Review of Health Services Report, p. 27.
[99] Ibid.
[100] Spirit poison
youths. (25 July 1997) The Solomon Star p. 2.
[101] Poerio, L.
(1995). Domestic violence in Solomon Islands: results of a community survey.
PhD Dissertation, Department of Health
and Behavioural Sciences, Griffith
University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, p. viii.
[102] These deaths
would obviously not have been considered teenage suicides; however, they may be
viewed as useful indicators of problems
affecting young people.
[103] Mielke, J.
(1996). Youth, alcohol, and other drugs in the Pacific, cited in Fia, P. (1996)
Youth and other social problems in Solomon
Islands: An overview, MHMS, SWD,
Honiara.
[104] Oberli, H.
(1996). Central Hospital Records, cited in Fia, P. (1997). Social Welfare
report on social trends and lifestyle in
the Solomon Islands: For
“Evaluating health for all by the
year 2000.” MHMS,
Honiara.
[105] Here is another
indication of the need for improved health data gathered on children.
[106] Interestingly,
presence of anaemia in a population is often associated with lower incidence of
malaria in the population since microfilarae
require healthy red blood cells for
their development. Treatment of a population for anaemia may increase the
incidence of malaria.
(Source: personal conversation with Registered
Nurse, MHMS 1996.)
[107]
Refer to table 1: Demographic indicators, this document, following paragraph
4.
[108] According to the
previous Under-Secretary for Health Improvement of the MHMS,
the
90 per cent immunization rate discussed in paragraph 262 above, is
probably correct, despite the estimation that there is only
75 per cent
coverage, otherwise there would be epidemics and disease outbreaks around the
country. The previously discussed formula
used for calculations:
Number
of doses given in a particular year
Total projected births (1986 census)
for year
gives unreliable results if dated birth projection figures are
too high as appears to be the case in Solomon Islands.
[109] Yates, D. et al.
(1992) Community based rehabilitation for people with disabilities in Solomon
Islands: A feasibility study and
plan of action. Joint study by MHMS and SCFA,
Honiara.
[110] Ibid., p. 17.
[111] Ibid., p. 17.
[112] MHMS, 1996, p.
87.
[113] Source,
interview with Director of Handicapped Centre, 1997.
[114] Yates, D. et al.
(1991). Community based rehabilitation for people with disabilities in
Solomon Islands: A feasibility study and plan of action. MHMS/SCFA joint
publication, Honiara, pp. 11-12.
[115] Ibid., pp.
10-23.
[116] Ibid., p. 20.
[117] Yates, D. et al
(1991). Community based rehabilitation for people with disabilities in
Solomon Islands: A feasibility study and plan of action, pp. 19-20.
[118] See annex 2.
[119] NACC Draft
Policy, Strategy and Outline Plan of Action for Children (March 1996). Refer to
annex 2, this report.
[120] MHMS,
Comprehensive Health Review Report (1997), pp. 11-13.
[121] “Mortality
data is poorly collected, analysed and used. When infants and children die it
is important to understand why they
have died - what factors contributed to
deaths which are largely preventable deaths ... Maternal deaths also require
more investigation
and followup ... Particular attention is also needed for
investigating the high number of deaths in the perinatal period.”
(Mitchell, 1997, p. 31).
[122] “The rural
areas where 80 per cent of the population live receive 40 per cent of the health
budget ... The Comprehensive
Review states that ‘Deployment of additional
staff from Central level to rural areas is identified as a priority
intervention.’”(MHMS,
1996, cited in Mitchell, 1997).
[123] A mother may
travel to bring a sick child to a clinic at great physical expense and only
receive treatment for the presenting condition.
In this way the health-care
system misses an opportunity to measure the child’s growth rate and also
improve the mother’s
knowledge of basic child health-care needs, diarrhoea
prevention and nutrition (Mitchell, 1997).
[124] Chevalier, 1997,
p. 8.
[125] The Comprehensive
Health Review of 1996 is an excellent source of recommendations identified to
improve health care. Refer to chapter
12, “Major issues and future
directions”, pp. 266-281.
[126] Routine
documentation of maternal and child deaths, e.g. a brief one-page report, sent
directly to the MCH Unit, is a low-cost first
measure which will ensure each
death provides a guide for change for caregivers, communities and health
services (Mitchell, 1997,
p. 31).
[127] MHMS, Social
Welfare Report, 1997, p. 3.
[128] MHMS, Social
Welfare Report, 1997, p. 3.
[129] These grant
amounts are flat rates based on a formula derived by MEHRD.
[130] A good portion of
this figure is assured to be composed of volunteer teachers from the United
States, the United Kingdom and Japan
and missionary societies. The remainder
may be expatriate teachers contracted by non-governmental schools.
[131] No direct
financing by UNICEF/UNDP.
[132] These fees can be
significantly above the approved government range, amounting to
SI$ 1,000-2,000 per term in the highest cases.
This indicates a vast
disparity in available education options within the urban capital area. Other
options utilized by expatriate
families include correspondence education
arranged through Australia, New Zealand or the United States, etc.
[133] Access to
“non-fee” government schools is still based on students’
performance on the Solomon Islands Secondary
Education (SISE) examination
administered to Grade 6 students at the end of their academic year.
[134] The percentage of
CDF used in this manner is at the discretion of each MP. Some Members do not
provide such assistance. The SIAC
government has suspended the practice of
dispersing funds in this manner.
[135] “Solomon
Islands Teacher Upgrading Project (SITUP) is currently recruiting 30 English
and 30 Mathematics teachers who have
taught five years or more in a primary
school, for a year of study to upgrade their skill levels in order to teach up
to Form 3 of
Secondary.” Advertisement placed in The Solomon Star
newspaper, Friday, 9 January 1998, p. 17.
[136] 1986 Census
data.
[137] Cited in Fia, P.
(1997). Social welfare report on social trends and lifestyle in the Solomon
Islands: For “Evaluating health for all by the year 2000”,
review
report, MHMS, SWD, Honiara.
[138] SIG/UNICEF
(1993), p. 45.
[139] Please refer to
draft Policy, Strategy and Outline Plan of Action by NACC, annex 2.
[140] Ibid.
[141] Ibid.
[142] Under-18 team
wins 9 medals (16 July 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 20.
[143] Mini-Tennis
Programme launched (16 July 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 17.
[144] Seminar on
refugee and international law (8 October 1997). The Solomon Star, p.
2.
[145] Fia, P. (1997).
Social welfare report on social trends and lifestyle ..., MHMS, SWD.
Honiara.
[146] At some point
during this time, the offender may also have contact with Juvenile Section
officers, usually policewomen; however,
the interrogation process usually does
not include these officers. Intimidation is commonly used in cases where police
are fairly
certain of the person’s guilt but when he/she will not admit to
the crime. Although the suspect is entitled to the company
of legal counsel or
juvenile officer at the time of questioning, they are often unaware of this
right and do not exercise it.
[147] All children or
young offenders are expected to answer simply “yes” or
“no” when asked their opinion of
their own guilt or innocence.
[148] In fact, this is
often the preferred sentence for juveniles in light of the present lack of
prison facilities for juveniles.
[149] Social Welfare
Division, Annual Records 1996, cited in Fia, P. (1997). Social welfare
report on social trends and lifestyle in the Solomon Islands: For
“Evaluating health
for all by the year 2000” review report, MHMS,
SWD, Honiara.
[150] Cited in Fia, P.
(1997). Social welfare sector feedback progress report on children in
especially difficult circumstances in relation
to CRC for NACC, MHMS, SWD,
Honiara.
[151] Section 85 does
not include protection from employment for children/young persons (12 years
of age and upward) in the commercial
sector. The absence of such a specific
legislative restriction does not imply that children over 12 years are thereby
allowed to
work in the commercial sector, e.g. hotels, restaurants, casinos,
hospitals, offices, theatres, etc. It recognizes, however, that
there is no
legislative protection in place, thereby leaving children open for exploitation
within the commercial sector. Section
84 seems to cover protection of children
in the commercial sector, in that the protection is only available for children
under 12
years. Children over 12 years technically have no protection
under sections 85 or 86. It is clear from Part IX of the Labour Act
- in
particular, sections 84, 85, 86, 87 - that no provision is in place prohibiting
employment of children aged 12 and upwards in
the commercial sector.
[152] It must be
pointed out, however, that there are many instances of children assisting older
family members at work. For example,
smallholders who sell oil palm fruits to
the processors rely on their family members, including children, to assist in
collecting
fruits during harvest time. For children this may mean following
along for considerable distances behind the load and picking up
fallen fruits so
that cash received by the grower is maximized. It is common to see children and
young people assisting at various
construction sites, especially outside of the
town area and during school holiday periods. The issue of providing for their
families’
welfare is a legitimate one. The question to be resolved is at
what point a child’s work becomes child labour. This question
and its
definition needs to be addressed by relevant authorities.
[153] Our men in
Thin Red Line (7 November 1997). The Solomon Star, p. 13.
[154] Should the
Solomon Islands Government oversee such arrangements? If not, how shall a child
be protected if an unscrupulous person
takes advantage of his/her access to such
a child? This story stated that a grandparent accompanied one young girl.
Would the presence
of relatives be enough of a safeguard? How does one ensure
that the experience is not harmful to the child? All such questions
have
relevance for the Labour Division, Foreign Affairs or the Tourism Authority.
[155] Centre to hold
course for policewomen (13 January 1998). The Solomon Star, p. 5. This
article documents training by Family Support Centre staff on topics related to
child abuse, sexual assaults, domestic
violence, cultural and religious issues,
and law, as well as communication and interview skills.
[156] Short announces
new department to investigate complaints against police (4 October 1997).
The Solomon Star, p. 1. The creation of a “Complaints and Internal
Investigations Office” is designed to review procedures which lead
to
complaints by members of the public in an effort to reduce such complaints.
Procedures may need to be adapted when dealing with
children and minors.
[157] Haran, P. (9
August 1997). Defenceless child horror. Adelaide Advertiser, p. ?
[158] Ministry of
Health staff, with input from the Family Support Centre, recently worked with a
group of adult female casino workers
and gave them information on exploitation
and health concerns, legal rights, etc.
[159] For the last few
years the Government, via MHMS, has been working on legislation on tobacco. If
this bill is debated in Parliament
and passed it will be the country’s
first national law on tobacco. [MHMS, SWD (1997), Report on Social Trends and
Lifestyle
in the Solomon Islands ..., p. 12.]
[160] Iroga, R.L. (27
January 1998). Are those U-18 banned in clubs? The Solomon Star, p.
6.
[161] Fia, P. (1996).
Social Welfare Sector Feedback Progress Report ... for NACC, p. 14.
[162] Police raid
illegal beer outlets (28 October1997). The Solomon Star, p. 2.
[163] Rusa, D.
Downward trend in crime (10 February 1998). The Solomon Star, p. 6.
[164] The country
derives a great deal of income from alcoholic beverages. Import duty from
alcoholic beverages in 1994 totalled approximately
SI$ 8,762,443; while excise
tax on
locally-produced beer in the same year was estimated to be SI$
7,875,000 [McDonald D. (1996) Prevention of alcohol-related problems in the
Pacific, cited in MHMS, SWD, Report on Social Trends and Lifestyle ...
(1997), p. 13.]
[165] Fia, P. (1996),
cited in Fia, P. (1997). Social welfare report on social trends and
lifestyle in the Solomon Islands: For “Evaluating health for all by the
year 2000”. MHMS, Social Welfare Division, p. 14.
[166] Paedophilia in
Paradise (October 1997). Pacific Islands Monthly, pp. 17-24.
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