Kindy and grassroots gender transformations in Solomon Islands

Vernacularising ‘child rights’ in Melanesian secondary schools: Implications for transitional justice

“…Interestingly also, Teacher B appeared to hold a similar opinion of human rights to the kindergarten teacher who Cox (2017) interviewed; rights were distinct from culture, but still compatible. Teacher B had observed that in resisting child rights some teachers had themselves forgotten that rights do not overrule responsibilities to society:…”

“…Corporal punishment occurs in Solomon Islands schools too (Cox 2017), and its civil conflict, known as the 'Tension' or 'Ethnic Tension', certainly called into question Solomon Islanders' capacity to live together peacefully. The Tension began in 1998 when local militia on Guadalcanal began violently evicting settlers (predominantly from the neighbouring island of Malaita) from the rural and peri-urban areas around the capital, Honiara.…”

The Characteristics of Locally Led Development in the Pacific

“…As a locally led initiative, Simbo for Change focused on reinvigorating the island scale, using a mix of livelihoods development, and work that cemented social cohesion using appeals to Christianity and traditional leadership. Yet, far from being a conservative social movement, Simbo for Change has been able to address gendered inequity, as have other small initiatives in the Western Solomons (Cox, 2017;McDougall, 2014). Simbo for Change has done so by stretching the 'local' beyond the island scale and reimagining the island as reconnected to and held in esteem by provincial, national and Pacific regional actors.…”

Mis-selling transitional justice: The confused role of faith-based actors and Christianity in Solomon Islands’ Truth and Reconciliation Commission

“…The concept of human rights was described to me as dangerous and subversive: its association with individual agency, freedom of choice and the redistribution of power between men and women was seen to threaten family and community cohesion, and contribute to the dissolution of traditional authority. Although rights advocates insist that gender inequality was never intrinsic to Solomon Islands kastom; nevertheless, kastom is often invoked as a justification for women's subordination in the home and public life (Cox 2017). One interviewee told me that women's awareness of human rights was the reason for increasing levels of family violence, as men found it necessary to try to re-establish the gender hierarchy that was being destabilised (interview with anonymous ex-combatant, 2013).…”