RAMSI Ten Years On - From Post-Conflict Stabilisation to Development in Solomon Islands?

The archipelagic nation of Solomon Islands in the sw Pacific experienced a debilitating internal conflict between 1998 and 2003. What began as an ethnic conflict evolved into a wider breakdown of law and order that led to the progressive collapse of government, closure of commercial enterprises and threat of national bankruptcy. In mid-2003 the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) was mobilised and deployed under the auspices of the Pacific Islands Forum. Led and largely funded by the Australian government, RAMSI sought to restore security and stability to the troubled nation through a combination of policing and law enforcement, institutional strengthening with central government agencies and measures aimed at reviving and growing the national economy. Ten years later and the mission is undergoing drawdown and the transition of its development programs into regular bilateral and multilateral aid programs. While RAMSI has made a substantial contribution to the restoration of security and stability in the aftermath of conflict, many outstanding challenges remain. These include issues of political economy and how these are impacting on the quality of governance, service delivery and nation-building, as well as longstanding structural issues with the formal economy, set against prevailing patterns of population growth and internal migration. These challenges are examined in the context of Solomon Islands socio-economic characteristics and recent history with a view to assessing the country's prospects for enduring stability in the post-RAMSI era

Experimentation and innovation in police reform: Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Bougainville

The plural character of policing provision in most countries is now widely acknowledged, though rarely reflected in the practical police reform programming undertaken by donors. While much of the literature on international police assistance focuses on its modest results and innate limitations, less attention has been paid to those still relatively rare programmes that have sought to engage with the local realities of plural policing. This is particularly so in the conflict-affected and fragile settings where such assistance is typically provided. In this article, we present three case studies of policing innovation and experimentation from Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Bougainville, respectively, set in the context of the recent and very different post-conflict interventions in each place. While not wishing to overstate the impact of these modest programmes, we highlight their potential contribution to fostering productive relations across the multiple social orders and sources of authority found in many post-colonial, post-conflict and otherwise fragile contexts. We tentatively conclude that the most significant contribution of these kinds of initiative is likely to lie beyond the realm of institutionalised policing and, specifically, in relation to larger processes of social and political change, including state formation, under way in these places

The Quest for Integration: Australian Approaches to Security and Development in the Pacific Islands

With the deployment of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands in July 2003, the former Howard Government initiated its robust new engagement with Australia's Pacific island neighbours. Interventions with an initial security focus have been portals to broader and ambitious state-building exercises. The quest to integrate security and development agendas lies at the heart of 'the new interventionism'. This article examines the evolution and character of this approach, as well as reviewing its implementation in the two case studies of Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and Papua New Guinea (ECP). It also discusses the significance for Australia/Pacific relations of the recent change of government in Canberra and the differences (and similarities) to be anticipated under Prime Minister Rudd's Labor Government

Building bridges - law and justice reform in Papua New Guinea

This book comprises six informed contemporary narratives and historical commentary by a group of distinguished regional scholars writing in the context of growing concern about an emerging 'arc of instability' in the Southwest Pacific region. This collection of papers derives from a public seminar at the Australian National University in 2001, intended to provide some commentary and discussion on a number of significant events then taJcing place in Melanesia, and in the context of growing concern about an emerging 'arc of instability' to Australia's north. The collection has subsequently been expanded and updated

Community Law-Making and the Codification of Customary Laws - New Currents

The July 2018 Codification and Creation of Community & Customary Laws in the South Pacific and Beyond conference at The Australian National University focused on the proliferation of unofficial community law-making and other initiatives to codify customary laws in the Pacific. The significance of these developments was particularly discussed for conflict management, engaging with legal pluralism, community governance and addressing gender-based violence. Researchers and speakers from government and non-government organisations across the region presented case studies from Papua New Guinea (PNG), New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu. This In Brief identifies the main themes discussed, while recordings and summary papers are available on the conference website. Several more In Briefs will follow, as will an edited collection of papers. Community law-making and codification are complex and contested phenomena particular to local sociopolitical contexts. Our initial engagement with them at the conference was deliberately broad and exploratory, and intended to help shape a longer-term research agenda.AusAI

Building bridges - law and justice reform in Papua New Guinea

Introduction: Problems of lawlessness loom large in current accounts of Papua New Guinea. Concerns about these have induced high levels of personal insecurity, as well as providing a major disincentive to foreign investment. While such problems cannot be resolved by law and justice solutions alone, the continuing deterioration of PNG's ‘law and order’ situation raises questions about the adequacy of the formal regulatory system. Successive governments have been loud with ‘tough’ rhetoric, like many of their counterparts elsewhere. Practical responses have been essentially reactive and short-term. Australia, PNG’s largest aid donor, has claimed to concentrate on institutional-strengthening projects with individual law and justice agencies. While there have been achievements, it is clear that improving the performance of law and justice processes is a complex and long-term task and one that needs to be integrated with other areas of governance reform. Building a more effective law and justice sector requires strategies that go beyond the strengthening of particular institutions. Given the operational inter-dependence of law and justice agencies, a broader sectoral focus is needed. In addition, while the state is the central player, there is a need to recognise the contributions of other stakeholders to the management of conflict and maintenance of peace at local levels. PNG’s non-government sector, comprising ‘traditional’ structures of governance, community groups, churches, NGOs and the private sector, already plays a significant, if often unacknowledged, role. A sustainable law and justice framework needs to delineate responsibilities between different organisations and develop appropriate and mutually reinforcing linkages between government and non-government sectors. This paper examines the challenges facing PNG’s law and justice sector and identifies key directions for reform. Section one describes the broader context of PNG’s problems of order, including the acute fragility of the nation-state and the high levels of social and legal pluralism. Attention is drawn to the restorative character of many ‘traditional’ justice practices and the manner of their interactions with colonial institutions of social control. Section two examines the workings of the modern criminal justice system. Its shortcomings are attributed as much to a lack of legitimacy and strong social foundations as to its patent lack of institutional capacity. The final section looks at the recently endorsed National Law and Justice Policy (The National Law and Justice Policy and Plan of Action) and the prospects for building a more socially attuned and effective law and justice system.AusAI

Lending a fist? Australia's new interventionism in the Southwest Pacific

[Conclusion]: In conclusion, Canberras renewed engagement with its Pacific neighbours is a welcome and timely development. A major window of opportunity has opened. There is a significant role for external assistance in helping address many of the difficulties experienced in parts of the region. The success to date of the Australian-led intervention in the Solomon Islands provides ample evidence of what can be achieved. At the same time, assistance needs to be grounded in a thorough understanding of the socio-economic and political complexities of the recipient countries. Outstanding challenges of governance require sustained engagement and are not susceptible to quick or easy solutions. Many aspects of the fragility of the postcolonial states in the Solomon Islands and PNG reflect their particular histories and the weakness of their articulation with their domestic societies. Current problems cannot simply be attributed to the mendacity of a handful of incompetent or corrupt leaders. Nor can they be resolved through an exclusive focus on strengthening the principal institutions of state. Non-state resources also need to be acknowledged and, where appropriate, mobilised in the larger processes of building state and nation. This requires that greater weight be given to local circumstances, knowledge and expertise. The most difficult challenge of all remains that of long-term sustainability.AusAI

Guns, money and politics: disorder in the Solomon Islands

For many observers, the elections scheduled for late 2001 offered a possible circuit breaker to Solomon Islands' deepening political crisis. Behind the crisis lay four years of ethnic tensions, a de facto coup in June 2000, and a progressive collapse of the economy and, in many places, law and order. The incumbent Sogavare administration had come to power as a result of the coup instigated by an ethnically-based militia group, the Malaitan Eagle Force (MEF), and elements of the paramilitary police field force. As a result, it had little legitimacy in the eyes of many Solomon islanders and, moreover, appeared quite incapable of providing the leadership necessary to restore peace and stability. During its period in office, the economy had gone into free fall, with all major commercial enterprises suspended, and there was growing evidence of systematic conuption and plunder among political leaders, senior officials, and their militant associates. Since the coup, Honiara, the national capital on Guadalcanal, had been under the effective control of bands of anned militants. The police force remained deeply divided and was no longer able or willing to enforce the law. Sadly, the new government formed after the December 2001 elections and led by Sir Allan Kemakeza has not lived up to expectations. It is made up of remnants of the Sogavare administration and includes several high-profile former members of the MEF. While there have been some signs of improvement, including in the critical area of disarmament, the national economy continues to verge on bankruptcy, essential services have ceased in many places, public servants go unpaid, and corruption and lack of security remain serious concerns. The Kernakeza government appears incapable of leading the Solomon Islands out of its current predicament and, in the view of many observers, there is a clear need for far greater engagement by the main regional players, notably Australia and New Zealand

Justice Delivered Locally in Rural Solomon Islands

Justice and security are important development goals for donors such as Australia and a high priority for poor people around the world. The plural realities of security and justice provision, comprising interplay between diverse actors and practices at different scales, are now widely acknowledged in development circles. Plural approaches to dispute resolution and everyday security prevail throughout rural Melanesia. While engaging with pluralism has become a standard exhortation in policy discourse, the evidence base for doing so is often thin. Few comprehensive studies have been undertaken by governments or donors to map out local configurations of justice and security provision and illuminate how end users navigate plural regulatory terrains.AusAI

Aid effectiveness and Australia's new interventionism in the Southwest Pacific

The year 2003 marked a significant change in Australia's relations with the island Pacific, including Papua New Guinea (PNG). Since gaining independence in the 1970s, the island states of the Southwest Pacific have been left to control their own political and economic affairs. While providing substantial amounts of bilateral aid, Australia has been sensitive to charges of neo-colonialism and interference with national sovereignty. All this has changed, however, with the Australian Government's adoption of a distinctly more robust and interventionist stance under Prime Minister John Howard. The primary objective is to enhance security and stability in troubled Pacific states. Although poverty reduction continues to be the broad goal, the Australian aid program is being gradually calibrated to reflect this changing approach. In practice, this also entails the deployment of growing numbers of Australian personnel in key government agencies in recipient countries