The Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) of the Pacific Community

Increasing women's access to justice: a project to implement the FPA in Solomon Islands

Focus area: Improving Service Delivery

Family and domestic violence in the Solomon Islands is prevalent and according to a 2009 Health and Safety Survey, 34 per cent of women aged 15-49 have experienced sexual and/or physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime. The Family Protection Act (FPA) 2014 came into force in April 2016. It provides for an integrated response by various government departments to provide assistance to victims of family and domestic violence. Section 9 of the FPA recognized the lack of formal justice mechanisms and thus created Authorized Justices, which are local justices empowered to issue Interim Protection Orders. Local court justices were trained last year on the application of the FPA but according to a review by stakeholders, the training was inadequate to ensure that women are able to access justice in a timely and professional manner.

Photo courtesy of The Pacific Community

The project will help the Solomon Islands government and improve access to justice and redress by VAW/G survivors, including marginalized groups. The organization will develop guidelines for the selection of Authorized Justices and develop a national training curriculum and accreditation scheme to develop the capacity of selected informal justice mechanisms established by the FPA in rural communities to be able to deliver quality services. Government agencies who will be involved in this project include the Ministry of Women, Ministry of Justice and the judiciary and other organizations to ensure a multisectoral approach to improve access to justice in both the formal and informal sectors and address the specific issues related to Authorized Justice.