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The Rights of the Child in Solomon Islands’ Plural Legal System

  • Chapter
The Rights of the Child in a Changing World

Part of the book series: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law ((GSCL,volume 13))

Abstract

This chapter examines the rights of the child in Solomon Islands. Commencing with a short introduction to the country, the chapter provides an outline of Solomon Islands’ plural legal system. It looks first at the State legal system, before moving on to a brief introduction to customary law. The chapter explains the place of international law in the legal system and outlines the relevant conventions and protocols. It describes the patchwork of legislation which governs the age of majority. It then discussed the other domestic laws governing children, both in the context of protection of children and the promotion of their rights. With reference to relevant case law, it discusses how far the laws go to comply with Solomon Islands international obligations and to protect the rights of the child. It also looks at reciprocal obligations. The chapter concludes that there is an urgent need for comprehensive child rights legislation in Solomon Islands. However, rather than adopting a bill modelled on foreign legislation, this should be drafted to take into account the circumstances of Solomon Islands.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Solomon Islands National Statistics Office, Key Social Indicators (2012) Census 2009, http://www.spc.int/prism/solomons/index.php/social

  2. 2.

    Solomon Islands Independence Order 1978 (UK).

  3. 3.

    Constitution of the Solomon Islands 1978 (SI) (‘Constitution’), s 9. The Constitution is scheduled to Independence Order 1978 (UK).

  4. 4.

    Constitution , art 114(2)(b) acknowledges the chiefly system and provides that the Parliament must legislate for the role of chiefs in the government. The Provincial Government Act Cap 118 (SI) provides for the administration of local government by provincial assemblies.

  5. 5.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/ADD.208, available at:

    http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [44].

  6. 6.

    Draft Federal Constitution of Solomon Islands, available at: http://www.sicr.gov.sb/2011%20Draft%20Fed%20Const%20of%20SI.pdf [accessed 11 November 2013].

  7. 7.

    Constitution , sch 3, para 1.

  8. 8.

    Constitution , sch 3, para 4(1).

  9. 9.

    Constitution , Sch 3, para 2(1)(c).

  10. 10.

    Constitution , Sch 3, para 2(1)(c): ‘the principles and rules of the common law and equity shall have effect as part of the law of Solomon Islands, save in so far as … in their application to any particular matter, they are inconsistent with customary law applying in respect to the matter’. See also, Kasa v Biku (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Muria CJ, 14 January 2000), available via www.paclii.org at [2000] SBHC 62.

  11. 11.

    Jennifer Corrin and Don Paterson, Introduction to South Pacific Law (Palgrave MacMillan, 3rd ed, 2011) 47–48.

  12. 12.

    See Jennifer Corrin Care, ‘Wisdom and Worthy Customs: The Role and Operation of Customary Law in the South Pacific’ (2002) 80 Reform 31, 34. Compare K v T [1985–1986] SILR 49.

  13. 13.

    See, for example, in relation to Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, Kenneth Brown, Reconciling Customary Law and Received Law in Melanesia (Charles Darwin University Press: Darwin, 2005) 38–40.

  14. 14.

    Solomon Islands Government, Reports Submitted by State Parties under Article 44 of the Convention: Solomon Islands, UN Doc CRC/C/51/Add.6 (12 July 2002) 8.

  15. 15.

    As opposed to a monist system. In the US, for example, a treaty becomes part of the domestic law of the country once it has been ratified according to the constitution .

  16. 16.

    Solomon Islands, as a common law country, follows the UK’s dualist approach: R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate; Ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No 1) [2000] 1 AC 61 at 81 (Lord Slynn of Hadley), cited in Gillian Triggs, International Law: Contemporary Principles and Practices (Chatswood: LexisNexis, 2006) 107. See also Corrin Care (2006, 51, 59). See also Sue Farran, Human Rights in the South Pacific: Challenges and Changes (Abingdon, Routledge-Cavendish, 2009) 62.

  17. 17.

    Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1577 UNTS 3 (ratified 10 April 1995) (‘Convention’)

  18. 18.

    The only small island of the South Pacific to have done this is Vanuatu: see, for example, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (Ratification) Act Cap 235.

  19. 19.

    Dennie Iniakwala, ‘Solomon Islands’ (statement by Dr. Dennie Iniakwala, Head of Delegate and Co-Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Children during the Presentation of the National Initial CRC Implementation Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Geneva, 26 May 2003) 4

  20. 20.

    R v K (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Naqiolevu J, 12 July 2005) available via www.paclii.org at [2005] SBHC 80.

  21. 21.

    Cap 14.

  22. 22.

    K v R (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Palmer CJ, 16 September 2005) available via www.paclii.org at [2005] SBHC 150. His Honour specifically mentioned s 7 of the Constitution (giving effect to art 37 of the Convention) and the Juvenile Offenders Act, the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code (giving effect to art 37(b) of the Convention).

  23. 23.

    See, e.g. Soeasi V R (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Naqiolevu, J), 7 December 2007, available via www.paclii.org at [2007] sbhc 159.

  24. 24.

    See Pacific Order in Council 1893 (UK); John Nonggorr, ‘Solomon Islands’ in Ntumy (ed) South Pacific Island Legal Systems (Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1993) 268.

  25. 25.

    Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1577 UNTS 3 (ratified 10 April 1995).

  26. 26.

    Optional Protocol Relating to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2002) 2173 UNTS 222; signatory 24 September 2009.

  27. 27.

    Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (2002) 2171 UNTS 227; signatory 24 September 2009.

  28. 28.

    Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2003) 2237 UNTS 319.

  29. 29.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Crc), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, Crc/C/51/Add.6, available at:

    Http://www.Refworld.Org/Docid/3df59ecb2.Html [Accessed 5 November 2013].

  30. 30.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Crc), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments On State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, Crc/C/15/Add.208, available at: Http://www.Refworld.Org/Docid/3df59ecb2.Html [Accessed 5 November 2013].

  31. 31.

    Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observation s : Solomon Islands, 33rd sess, UN Doc CRC/C/15/Add.208 (2 July 2003) 2.

  32. 32.

    Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observation s : Solomon Islands, 33rd sess, UN Doc CRC/C/15/Add.208 (2 July 2003) 8.

  33. 33.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Crc), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, Crc/C/51/Add.6, available at: Http://www.Refworld.Org/Docid/3df59ecb2.Html [Accessed 5 November 2013], [15].

  34. 34.

    Dennie Iniakwala, ‘Solomon Islands’ (statement by Dr. Dennie Iniakwala, Head of Delegate and Co-Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Children during the Presentation of the National Initial CRC Implementation Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Geneva, 26 May 2003) 4; UNICEF, Solomon Islands “Plus 5” Review of the 2002 Special Session on Children and World Fit for Children Plan of Action Country Report (UNICEF 2007) 2.

  35. 35.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 201.

  36. 36.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 208. Section 206 of the Penal Code provides that a woman commits infanticide where she causes the death of her child and ‘the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactation consequent upon the birth of the child’.

  37. 37.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 2(1).

  38. 38.

    Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act Cap 1, s 7.

  39. 39.

    Section 8.

  40. 40.

    Cap 26, s 14.

  41. 41.

    Cap 26, s 14.

  42. 42.

    (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Muria CJ,15 March 1996]) 4–5 available via www.paclii.org at [1996] SBHC 13.

  43. 43.

    The CRC expressed concern that society at large is not aware of the importance of birth registration: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/ADD.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [28].

  44. 44.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, [417–418], [431–434] available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 7 November 2013.

  45. 45.

    Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No 10 (2007) Children’s rights in Juvenile Justice CRC/C/GC/10.

  46. 46.

    Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission Review of Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Issues Paper 1, November 2008.

  47. 47.

    Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission Review of Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Issues Paper 1, November 2008, [4.10–4.13].

  48. 48.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 14.

  49. 49.

    Cap 14, s 2.

  50. 50.

    Juvenile Offenders Act Cap 14, s 2.

  51. 51.

    Juvenile Offenders Act Cap 14, s 4(4).

  52. 52.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, [417–418], [431–434] available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 7 November 2013]; Juvenile Offenders Act Cap 14, s2. The schedule defines ‘grave crimes’ as murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, unlawful wounding, unlawful poisoning and causing grievous harm.

  53. 53.

    Juvenile Offenders Act Cap 14, s 4.

  54. 54.

    Juvenile Offenders Act Cap 14 s 4(a), (b).

  55. 55.

    Correctional Services Act 2007 s 2.

  56. 56.

    Correctional Services Act 2007 s 34(2).

  57. 57.

    Correctional Services Act 2007 s 34(3).

  58. 58.

    Correctional Services Act 2007 s 40(2).

  59. 59.

    Correctional Services Act 2007 s 75(2).

  60. 60.

    Cap 14 s 17(1).

  61. 61.

    CRIN, Solomon Islands: Child Rights References in the Universal Periodic Review, available at:

    http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=25544 [accessed 10 November 2013], [77].

  62. 62.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 141.

  63. 63.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 254.

  64. 64.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 143. If the child is under 13, the crime is classified as a felony: s 142.

  65. 65.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 143.

  66. 66.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 150.

  67. 67.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 253.

  68. 68.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 144.

  69. 69.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 204.

  70. 70.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 212.

  71. 71.

    Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission, Review of Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Issues Paper 1, November 2008.

  72. 72.

    Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission Review of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code: Second Interim Report – Sexual Offences June 2013 available at

    http://www.lawreform.gov.sb/files/reports/Final-sexual_offences_report_2013_v4_12_June.pdf

  73. 73.

    Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission Review of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code: Second Interim Report – Sexual Offences June 2013 recommendations 12, 14–27, p. 25–32.

  74. 74.

    Section 77.

  75. 75.

    Immigration Act 2012, s 77.

  76. 76.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Sch 4.

  77. 77.

    Constitution , s 55(1)(b).

  78. 78.

    Article 1.

  79. 79.

    See further Jennifer Corrin, ‘A Question of Identity: Complexities of State Law Pluralism in the South Pacific’ (2011) 61 (1) Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 143–169.

  80. 80.

    Islanders Marriage Act Cap 171 (SI), s 10.

  81. 81.

    Islanders Marriage Act Cap 171 (SI), s 10.

  82. 82.

    LRC, Review of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code: Second Interim Report Sexual Offences, 2013, recommendation 13a.

  83. 83.

    Marriage Act 1929 (UK), s 2.

  84. 84.

    Mahlon v Mahlon [1984] SILR 86, 87–88.

  85. 85.

    Arnold v Earle (1758) 2 Lee 529.

  86. 86.

    Kenneth Brown, Jennifer Corrin Care ‘Putting Asunder: Divorce and financial relief in Solomon Islands 2005 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, 96.

  87. 87.

    ILO Normlex. Ratifications for Solomon Islands; accessed November 5, 2013;

    http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:11200:0::NO:11200:P11200_COUNTRY_ID:103193

  88. 88.

    Cap 73, Part VII.

  89. 89.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 46.

  90. 90.

    Constitution , s 6.

  91. 91.

    Constitution , ch II.

  92. 92.

    Constitution , s 4.

  93. 93.

    Constitution , s 5.

  94. 94.

    Constitution , s 7.

  95. 95.

    Constitution , s 10.

  96. 96.

    Constitution , s 11.

  97. 97.

    Constitution , s 12.

  98. 98.

    Constitution , s 14.

  99. 99.

    Constitution , s 15.

  100. 100.

    See Constitution , s 3: the rights and freedoms are ‘subject to such limitations of that protection as are contained in those provisions, being limitations designed to ensure that the enjoyment of the said rights and freedoms by an individual does not prejudice the rights and freedoms of others or the public interest’.

  101. 101.

    Dennie Iniakwala, ‘Solomon Islands’ (statement by Dr. Dennie Iniakwala, Head of Delegate and Co-Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Children during the Presentation of the National Initial CRC Implementation Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Geneva, 26 May 2003) 4.

  102. 102.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/ADD.6, Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [20].

  103. 103.

    The Honourable Rick Houenipwela MP, Solomon Islands Budget 2013: Budget Strategy and Outlook (Solomon Islands Ministry of Finance and Treasury, 2013).

  104. 104.

    Law Reform Commission Act Cap 15.

  105. 105.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [20].

  106. 106.

    The NACC is not amongst the list of those who made submissions to the LRC on the Review of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, although it is listed as having been consulted: LRC, Review of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code: Second Interim Report Sexual Offences, 2013, App 1.

  107. 107.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/Add.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013, [7].

  108. 108.

    Adoption Act 1958 (UK).

  109. 109.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 9(1)(b): ‘The court before making an adoption order shall be satisfied…that the order if made will be for the welfare of the infant’.

  110. 110.

    The welfare principle is stated in even stronger terms by the Convention in relation to adoption : art 21 provides that the system of adoption within a country must ensure that the best interests of the child are not just ‘a’ but ‘the’ paramount consideration .

  111. 111.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 9(2).

  112. 112.

    Re Rabaua (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 27 July 2012) available via www.paclii.org at [2012] SBHC 77.

  113. 113.

    Re Armstrong (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 2 April 2012) available via www.paclii.org at [2012] SBHC 26; Re Rabaua (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 27 July 2012) available via www.paclii.org at [2012] SBHC 77.

  114. 114.

    Re Duinkerke (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 2 September 2011) available via www.paclii.org at [2011] SBHC 82.

  115. 115.

    Re Matautia (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 21 March 2013) available via www.paclii.org at [2013] SBHC 22.

  116. 116.

    Marumaru v Wetara (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 28 July 2009) available via www.paclii.org at [2009] SBHC 28; see also Re Rietveld (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 3 February 2012) available via www.paclii.org at [2012] SBHC 9.

  117. 117.

    Re Lizza Rabaua (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 27 July 2012) available via www.paclii.org at [2012] SBHC 77.

  118. 118.

    Re Wetara (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Mwanesalua J, 21 November 2012) available via www.paclii.org at [2012] SBHC 130.

  119. 119.

    Guardianship of Infants Act 1925 (UK) s 1: Principle on which questions relating to custody , upbringing, etc. of infants are to be decided: Where in any proceeding before any court (whether or not a court within the meaning of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1866) the custody or upbringing of an infant, or the administration of any property belonging to or held on trust for an infant, or the application of the income thereof, is in question, the court, in deciding that question, shall regard the welfare of the infant as the first and paramount consideration , and shall not take into consideration whether, from any other point of view, the claim of the father, or any right at common law possessed by the father, in respect of such custody, upbringing, administration or application, is superior to that of the mother, or the claim of the mother is superior to that of the father.

  120. 120.

    [1982] SILR 12.

  121. 121.

    [1983] SILR 223.

  122. 122.

    [1985–86] SILR 49.

  123. 123.

    [1987] SILR 91.

  124. 124.

    It should be noted, however, that the Court in each of the four cases made it clear that it regards custom as relevant to a determination of where the child’s best interest lies.

  125. 125.

    Affiliation, Separation and Maintenance Act Cap 1, s 5(1).

  126. 126.

    Section 3.

  127. 127.

    Section 2.

  128. 128.

    Section 3(a).

  129. 129.

    Section 3(b).

  130. 130.

    Section 3(c) and (d).

  131. 131.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 18(1).

  132. 132.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 18(3).

  133. 133.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 18(4).

  134. 134.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 18(5).

  135. 135.

    Article 7.

  136. 136.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/ADD.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [40].

  137. 137.

    Convention, art 20(2).

  138. 138.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 3(1).

  139. 139.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 3(5).

  140. 140.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 12.

  141. 141.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 26(1).

  142. 142.

    Constitution , s 12(1).

  143. 143.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/Add.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013],[27(b)].

  144. 144.

    See, e.g. Sima v Thomas (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Muria CJ, 27 October 1995), available via www.paclii.org at [1995] SBHC 60.

  145. 145.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, [417–418], [431–434], available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 7 November 2013], [224]. See, e.g. K v T [1985–86] SILR 49.

  146. 146.

    See further, Catherine Crosby-Currie, ‘Children’s Involvement In Contested Custody Cases: Practices and Experiences of Legal and Mental Health Professionals 20:3 Law and Human Behavior (June 1996), 289–311.

  147. 147.

    See Juvenile Offenders Act Cap 14 s 2: ‘child’ is defined as a person under the age of 14 years; ‘young person’ is defined as a person between the ages of 14 and 18 years.

  148. 148.

    Juvenile Offenders Act Cap 14 s 9(1).

  149. 149.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Sch 4.

  150. 150.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Rule 3.17.

  151. 151.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Rule 3.19.

  152. 152.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Rules 3.18 and 3.20.

  153. 153.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Rule 3.24.

  154. 154.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Rule 3.24.

  155. 155.

    Solomon Islands Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules 2007, Rules 3.18 and 3.20.

  156. 156.

    See, e.g. The Legal Practitioners (Professional Conduct) Rules 1995, para 9(2): ‘A legal practitioner shall always be frank and open with his client and with all others so far as his client’s interest may permit and shall at all times give his client a candid opinion on any professional matter in which he represents that client’.

  157. 157.

    Constitution , s 92(1).

  158. 158.

    Constitution , s 92(4).

  159. 159.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/ADD.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [42(a)].

  160. 160.

    LN 145/2008.

  161. 161.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 6(1)(a).

  162. 162.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 7.

  163. 163.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 3.

  164. 164.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 9.

  165. 165.

    Adoption Regulations 2008, reg 6.

  166. 166.

    (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Palmer J, 30 July 1999) available via www.paclii.org at [1999] SBHC 74.

  167. 167.

    In re Armstrong (Infant) [2012] SBHC 26; HCSI-CC 8 of 2012 (2 April 2012) http://www.paclii.org/cgi-bin/sinodisp/sb/cases/SBHC/2012/26.html?stem=&synonyms=&query=adoption%20and%20act%20and%202004; Marumaru v Wetara [2009] SBHC 28; HCSI-CC 238 of 2009 (28 July 2009) http://www.paclii.org/cgibin/sinodisp/sb/cases/SBHC/2009/28.html?stem=&synonyms=&query=adoption%20and%20act%20and%202004; Re Lizza Rabaua (A Minor) [2012] SBHC 77; HCSI-CC 48 of 2012 (27 July 2012).

  168. 168.

    Adoption Act 2004, s 28.

  169. 169.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, [417–418], [431–434], available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 7 November 2013], [225].

  170. 170.

    Constitution , s 15.

  171. 171.

    The Free Fee Education Policy has been in operation since 2009, but this only covers operational costs.

  172. 172.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/ADD.6, Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [173].

  173. 173.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [172].

  174. 174.

    Constitution , s 12.

  175. 175.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [169].

  176. 176.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/C/51/Add.6, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [173].

  177. 177.

    Penal Code Cap 26, s 233(1).

  178. 178.

    Penal Code Cap 26, s 233(1).

  179. 179.

    Penal Code Cap 26, s 233(4).

  180. 180.

    Section 7.

  181. 181.

    [1987] SILR 45.

  182. 182.

    [1987] SILR 45, 50–51.

  183. 183.

    [1987] SILR 45, 50–51.

  184. 184.

    Penal Code Cap 26, s 233(1).

  185. 185.

    Penal Code Cap 26, s 233(2)(a).

  186. 186.

    Penal Code Cap 26, s 233(2)(b). The exception to this is where the child suffocates due to disease or choking.

  187. 187.

    Penal Code Cap 26, s 233(1).

  188. 188.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/c/51/add.6, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [193].

  189. 189.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 12 July 2002, CRC/c/51/add.6, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013] [193]–[194].

  190. 190.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/Add.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [30]–[30(a)].

  191. 191.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/Add.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [30].

  192. 192.

    Cap 1.

  193. 193.

    Section 11.

  194. 194.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, ss 22–24.

  195. 195.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, s 22(2)(b).

  196. 196.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, ss 22(5) and (6).

  197. 197.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, ss 22(3(c)(i).

  198. 198.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, ss 22(3)(c)(ii).

  199. 199.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, ss 24)(1).

  200. 200.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, ss 24(2).

  201. 201.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, s 9(1).

  202. 202.

    Affiliation Separation Maintenance Act Cap 1, s 9(2).

  203. 203.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 38.

  204. 204.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 152.

  205. 205.

    Jennifer Corrin and Kenneth Brown, ‘Marit Long Kastom: Marriage in the Solomon Islands’, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 18 (2004) 52, 75.

  206. 206.

    Kenneth Brown, Reconciling Customary Law and Received Law in Melanesia: The Post-independence Experience in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, Charles Darwin University Press, NT Australia, 2005.

  207. 207.

    Kenneth Brown, Reconciling Customary Law and Received Law in Melanesia: The Post-independence Experience in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, Charles Darwin University Press, NT Australia, 2005.

  208. 208.

    See, e.g. Macleod v Macleod, High Court, Solomon Islands, Ward C.J, 8 August 1991, available via www.paclii.org at [1991] SBHC 47; HC-CC 131 of 1989 (8 August 1991).

  209. 209.

    Cap 73, Part VII.

  210. 210.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 46.

  211. 211.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 47.

  212. 212.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 48.

  213. 213.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 49(a).

  214. 214.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 49(c).

  215. 215.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 49(b).

  216. 216.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 49(d).

  217. 217.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 50.

  218. 218.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 52.

  219. 219.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 51(2).

  220. 220.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 51(1).

  221. 221.

    Cap 26, ss 144(1)(a),149(1).

  222. 222.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 54.

  223. 223.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 54.

  224. 224.

    Labour Act Cap 73, s 56.

  225. 225.

    Labour Act Cap 73, ss 54 and 56.

  226. 226.

    ILO. Fact Sheet: Solomon Islands. Status Report. Bangkok: 2009, available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/-asia/-ro-bangkok/-ilo-suva/documents/publication/wcms_155871.pdf [accessed 5 November 2013].

  227. 227.

    ILO Normlex. Ratification for Solomon Islands, accessed November 5, 2013; http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:11200:0:NO:11200:P11200_COUNTRY_ID:103193.

  228. 228.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/ADD.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [6].

  229. 229.

    (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Palmer CJ, 16 September 2005), available via www.paclii.org at [2005] SBHC 150, affirming R v K (Unreported, High Court, Solomon Islands, Naqiolevu J, 12 July 2005), available via www.paclii.org at [2005] SBHC 80.

  230. 230.

    Penal Code Cap 5, s 200.

  231. 231.

    R v Kong Ming Khoo (Unreported, High Court, Solomon islands, Ward CJ, 1991) 2, available via www.paclii.org at [1991] SBHC 24.

  232. 232.

    Constitution , s 6.

  233. 233.

    Solomon Islands Government, Reports Submitted by State Parties under Article 44 of the Convention: Solomon Islands, UN Doc CRC/C/51/Add.6 (12 July 2002) 8.

  234. 234.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/ADD.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013].

  235. 235.

    UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Comments on State Party Report: Solomon Islands, 6 June 2003, CRC/C/15/ADD.208, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df59ecb2.html [accessed 5 November 2013], [18(b)].

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  1. Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    Jennifer Corrin

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  1. Faculty of European Legal and Political Studies – Novi Sad, University Educons – Sremska Kamenica, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Olga Cvejić Jančić

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Corrin, J. (2016). The Rights of the Child in Solomon Islands’ Plural Legal System. In: Cvejić Jančić, O. (eds) The Rights of the Child in a Changing World. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23189-1_16

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