56. In 2013, the LRC made recommendations for the re-definition of rape so that it applies to all people, even where there is a marital relationship between victim and accused.27 Case-law28 in 2012 for the first time held that a husband can be found guilty of raping his wife. The High Court applying CEDAW principles under Articles 15 and 16 stated that a husband and wife are equal partners in marriage and held that a husband can be criminally liable for raping his wife.29
57. The MWYCFA continued to take the leading advocacy role on ending VAW and girls in collaboration with its relevant stakeholders. The Ministry provides annual budgetary support to two local NGOs, the Christian Care Centre (CCC) and FSC towards initiatives to prevent family violence.
58. Implementation of the FPA began in September 2014 with the development of an implementation strategy and the formation of an Advisory Council. The Council comprises of government representatives, civil society, police and health care providers that will ensure that services and legal assistance are provided to victims of DV. An Information Committee responsible for standardising information on the FPA for training and awareness purposes was also formed. The FPA awareness programs are drawn with four key messages centred on protection, safety, responsibility and communication. A key medium for awareness programs30 is the annual 16 days of activism campaign against Gender-Based Violence (GBV). During the 2014 ‘16 days of activism’, a ‘take action’ toolkit was produced with information on the prevalence of DV, the FPA and strategies that can be adopted to eliminate VAW and girls.
59. A GBV Coordinator post was established in 2015 within the MHMS. The Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the SAFENET Referral Network, a referral system comprised of government stakeholders that can be used by DV victims when reporting violence committed against them.
60. A Family Protection Unit (FPU) was created and funded under the RAMSI Law and Justice program within the Public Solicitor’s Office in 2012. The FPU gives priority to all
family violence cases that are referred to it by any of the stakeholders in the SAFENET membership31. In 2014, 47% of weekly legal clinic clients were family law cases, 53% were civil claims. Seifples was established32 in 2013 as a health clinic for DV victims needing medical attention before referral to FPU for legal assistance.
61. The RSIPF Academy introduced a VAW Module in their curriculum. Annual trainings on eliminating VAW for the Correctional Services Solomon Islands (CSSI) officers and Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) are continuing. Family Violence Standards and Operation procedures by RSIPF promote investigation of complaints initiated by victims on SGBV. The Sexual Assault Unit (SAU) and a Family Violence Unit (FVU) within RSIPF carry out criminal investigations in all sexual related offences;
undertake family violence awareness and register reported cases under community policing programs, respectively. FVU introduced a register distributed in all police posts nationwide to record FV complaints to collect data on DV occurrences. Statistics from the FVU show an increase in the number of cases reported from 55 in 2012 to 726 in 2015.
62. A DV Unit is also established in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2013 (ODPP) where serious DV cases resulting in deaths are prosecuted. SAU and FVU work in collaboration with the ODPP on DV cases from across the country that are fully investigated and prepared for prosecution.
63. The National Advisory and Action for Children (NAACC) endorsed the 2015 Dynamics of Child Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) cross provincial study findings conducted by Save the Children. The study recommended inter alia, (1) a gender and child rights sensitive standard Code of Conduct for Fishery and Logging Industry employees;(2) a revision of the Solomon Islands Anti-TIP Action Plan so that greater protection is provided against domestic trafficking of children; (3) provision of technical support, training and resources for institutional strengthening of government ministries implementing child related programmes; and (4) Increased joint collaboration between local and international children’s rights NGOs for effective intervention and sustainability of project initiatives. The study found children who have limited education and livelihood opportunities are at risk of being trafficked or sexually exploited. NAACC will use these recommendations to advocate and inform program and policy directions with efforts by the labour sector work and relevant stakeholders to regulate and reduce the risk of child labour and child trafficking. Awareness raising at community level on commercial sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse is executed by a sub-committee33 of NAACC whilst CSOs provide counselling, temporary protection services and social integration of child victims.
64. The Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) in partnership with relevant ministries provided training programs for the public service on the FPA. In 2013, the Government Information and Communication Technology Support Unit (ICTSU) partnered with IPAM to enable all government employees’ access capacity building trainings online.
65. The government in partnership with SPC is focused on increasing sustainable livelihood opportunities and educational programmes for young people closely linked with the market economy through the Youth at Work (Y@W) program which began in 2012.
Aimed at addressing the high unemployment of young people in the capital, Y@W continues to provide training, skills development and group/peer mentoring opportunities for youth to start small businesses and access public sector employment.34 Over 400 youth have been placed in public service over past 3 years in internships. 10 of these were permanently employed in the public sector after completing internships. 316 youth groups ran Youth Market stalls in 2014-2015; 45 new businesses were funded and started in 2015.
66. The Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System (CRVS) was launched in early 2014 with the support of development partners. CRVS allowed access to birth registration for children and their families living in rural areas to significantly improve. Fifteen additional health satellite service centres that directly facilitate birth notifications were established in Guadalcanal, Choiseul, Temotu, Makira, Western Provinces and Honiara.35 67. The MHMS and Civil Registration Office (CRO) have an on-going agreement to centralise birth registration through the SIG ICTSU system. In 2014, for the first time, a national recurrent budget allocation of SBD$1million was provided to the CRO for operational costs.
68. On-going training of nurses on the importance of birth registration, processes and procedures was conducted. The Government endorsed the Regional Action Framework for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific developed by UN ESCAP in 2014.
69. Towards the National General Elections (NGE) in 2014, the SINCW conducted national consultations on Temporary Special Measures (TSM) for women’s participation in decision making bodies.
70. The Solomon Islands National Parliament launched the Young Women’s Parliamentary Group (YWPG) in 2011 with the support of UNDP. The YWPG promotes the participation of young women in leadership. It continues to raise awareness and encourage debate on TSM for elected reserved seats for women in Parliament and undertook a baseline survey on voter behaviour towards female candidates before and after the 2014 elections. The survey36 identified vote buying during campaigns and gendered cultural perspectives on leadership as some of the barriers to supporting female candidates.
71. The Ministry of Public Service (MPS) has undertaken public service reform in two stages. MPS launched a human resource management strategy aimed at increasing gender mainstreaming and increase female participation in all government machinery. Measures to ensure these two reforms in place were realised resulted in newly introduced key result indicator into all Permanent Secretaries contracts to ensure gender sensitizing in the Public Service and secondly ensuring there is a gender sensitive recruitment and selection process in place.
72. The number of females holding mid-level positions in the Public Service has gradually increased. However, fluctuations are noted at senior level positions of permanent secretaries and under-secretary. Two out of twenty-three permanent secretaries are women, and five out of thirty-nine under-secretaries are women. Opportunities to elevate qualified and experienced women into senior management positions are open.
73. In the RSIPF for the first time, the Deputy Commissioner of Police is a female. A gender audit was undertaken by CSSI with a view to address gender equity in recruitment processes and increase women in senior positions. Recommendations from the gender audit will provide guidance on how to improve women’s meaningful participation at leadership level across the government sectors.
74. At the political level one female MP was elected in the 2012 by-elections. In 2014 four female representatives were elected at provincial level and one MP was voted into office.37
75. Data from the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce (SICC) data shows that 40 out of 120 members are young entrepreneurs. Twelve of these are female members and part of the Solomon Islands Women in Business (SIWIBA).38 The Association of Solomon Islands Manufacturers also has women in its governing committee. Four of the nine State Owned Enterprises (SOE) have females on their boards.
76. The Government has four females in substantive and acting capacity as Heads of Diplomatic missions abroad.