EVERY year from 25 November to 10 December the Australian High Commission in Honiara takes part in the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, a global campaign to raise awareness about gender-based violence and the adverse impacts it has on women and girls around the world. Here in Solomon Islands, there are a number…
By JEMIMA GARRETT*Writing in the Interpreter THE refusal of the Vanuatu government to allow high-profile Vanuatu-based journalist to fly home on Saturday has given a sharper edge to concerns about a wider trend of attacks on media freedom in the Pacific and highlights both China’s influence and Australia’s policy failure in broadcast and other…
Bougainville’s independence referendum explained By KATE LYONSGuardian Australia TODAY, the people of Bougainville – a small archipelago of islands flung 700km off the coast of Papua New Guinea in the Solomon Sea – will begin voting in a referendum that will determine if their beloved homeland will become the world’s newest nation. It is…
By WARREN PAIAMunda, Western Province IT does not have to be controversial. It does not have to be an issue that polarizes the views and positions of so many people in this country. But the reality is that it has and continues to enrage the contending parties on the issue of Government’s diplomatic recognition of…
By SETH GUKUNAWest Honiara THE decision taken by our Government for this country to switch to China was based on the cabinet paper that Cabinet endorsed on September 16th 2019. In that paper our Ministers would have been given the reasons as to why this country needs to move to China. That…
As the pro-Chinese emphatically exclaimed “Its China”, Island Sun headline last Tuesday said it all; “September 16 – A sad day”. Yes, I agree, it’s a sad day indeed. A relationship that we worked hard together to develop over nearly four decades had abruptly disappeared, taken away by a government that…
TESS NEWTON CAIN* Civil society voices concern about West Papua CIVIL society groups are voicing their concerns about the situation in West Papua. Across the region, there have been numerous displays of support for self-determination for West Papuans and calls for action to protect human rights. This comes as the Indonesian authorities have deployed…
FIRST, if you think you would find justice in China, sorry; their justice system is nothing but a big bluff rubber stamp of the Communist Party of China(CPC). An article by one Vincent Gale on Solomon Times about the protests going on in Hong Kong more than meets the eye. It is only a tip…
Why is Transparency Solomon Islands so concerned about good governance, focusing its advocacy activities on [1] civic awareness, [2] active citizenship/citizens, [3] fight against and rolling back corruption, [4] people engagement, [5] democracy, [6] empowering citizens with information on their relationships and linkages to the three arms of the government, [7] supporting people’s activism, [8]…
As we celebrate to Easter Vigil, we are entering the most crucial and mysterious period of time. On the part of the disciples and those who were close to Jesus, it was a time of confusion, a time of loneliness, doubts, and uncertainties. But more than this, it is a time of darkness and death.…