Women's Experiences of Family Violence Services in Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands has high rates of violence in families – with 64% of women between the age 15 – 49 years found to have experienced sexual and physical violence by an intimate partner.1 In response to this pressing security issue, Solomon Islands Government has taken a number of measures including the gazetting of the Family Protection Act 2014 (FPA) in April 2016. Key government agencies such as police, justice, women and health were collectively trained in a whole of-government response to provide services to advance protection and safety of women and girls. These agencies are referred to collectively as service providers in the report and are the implementers of the FPA in Solomon Islands. The FPA includes options for women to take out Police Safety Notices (PSN) (issued by police, valid for 21 days with conditions for violent perpetrators), Protection Orders (more permanent orders issued by the courts), pursue court cases and obtain other services such as counselling (see Figure B).