Reconciliation and the rule of law in the Solomon Islands

‘[L]aw and order is here but peace is not in our hearts.’ In late 1998 the Melanesia archipelago state of the Solomon Islands was plunged into a period of chaos and violent civil conflict precipitated by a complex web of grievances, injustices, ethnic tensions, and economic insecurities. Known colloquially as ‘the Tensions’, the low-intensity conflict dragged on until the middle of 2003, leaving an estimated 200 people dead and more than 20,000 displaced from their homes. Although in comparison to other civil conflicts in the region the events in the Solomon Islands claimed relatively few lives, they were, nonetheless, marked by the protracted, systematic, and consistent violation of human rights. In addition to the kidnapping and murder of local and international civilians, including missionaries and peace envoys, the Tensions saw rampant torture and the entrenchment of gender-based violence, including the widespread rape of women and girls. Following a request made by the then-Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Sir Allan Kemakeza, for assistance to quell the increasing insecurity and instability in his country, on July 24, 2003, the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) arrived in the capital, Honiara. Operating under a pidgin name, Operation Helpem Fren, RAMSI’s overwhelming display of force quickly brought ‘the miracle… that Solomon Islanders had been praying for’, the restoration of law and order and the cessation of overt violence. Alongside the standard expectation of an intervening force to ‘[e]nsure the safety and security of the Solomon Islands’, RAMSI was also mandated to institute significant reforms and improvements in the ‘machinery of government’, economic governance, and law and justice, the so-called ‘three pillars’ of the mission. In particular, what made RAMSI unusual among interventions of its type was its ‘unusually strong rule-of-law agenda’ which, in the immediate phase, demanded the restoration of the Solomon Islands’ ‘“barely functioning” criminal justice system.’ Its initial success in doing so is unquestionable: less than four months after arriving in the Solomon Islands, RAMSI had facilitated the arrests of some 1,340 individuals, many of whom were accused of committing serious offences including murder and other human rights violations.