It is easy to paint a picture of recent history in the Solomon Islands as a country ruined by ‘militia thugs’ and corruption and to boast about the return of law and order through the number of people now in jail since the Australian intervention in July last year. Most Solomon Islanders are grateful for the intervention and the return of law and order, but not all of them are as positive about their experiences. Mothers explain how they rely on the generosity of their neighbours to put food on the table, and how their children have had to leave school because there is no money for school fees. This is because their husbands, often the sole breadwinners in the entire extended family, have been sentenced to lengthy periods in jail for minor offences committed during the ‘tension’, as the locals call it.
Jail is not the only way to solve the law-and-order crisis in the Solomon Islands. East Timor adopted reconciliation as the way to address crimes committed during the conflict between 1974 and 1999. Commissioners and victims of the crimes mediate an agreement with the perpetrators of less serious crimes. The legal system continues to deal with serious crimes such as murder. The result has been the reintegration of many militia members back into their communities with agreements to address the damage caused by their crimes. The system has assisted in reconciling and strengthening their society.
In July 2003, the Australian Government, supported by other countries in the region, intervened to restore law and order to the Solomon Islands and prevent it becoming a ‘failed’ state that could lead to security issues for Australia over the longer term. The tension, which impinged on law and order from 1998, had a number of complex causes. The Solomon Islands is made up of a number of different ethnic and language groups that were administered together during colonial times by the British until 1978 when it achieved independence. Conflicts arose in the late 1990s over land and resources and the way those resources were distributed. There were also issues about the lack of economic opportunities, displacement of rural communities in a move to a cash economy, and no access to free education. Conflicts reached crisis point around the capital, Honiara, as different groups moved there seeking employment and educational and economic opportunities. Disputes between ethnic groups around Honiara in 1998 and 1999