SOLOMON ISLANDS TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION Confronting the Truth for a better Solomon Islands FINAL REPORT FEBRUARY 2012 Honiara, Solomon Islands 1 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This document is the Final Report of the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), mandated by an Act of the Solomon Islands Parliament in 2008. The Commission of five members worked from 2009 through 2011 to discover the causes, details and effects of the country’s “ethnic tension” crisis of 1998-2003, which nearly destroyed the country, killed at least 200 persons, and adversely affected many thousands more. The TRC did its work through conducting public and closed hearings; collecting statements from victims, perpetrators, and other involved parties; facilitating focus group interviews with all sectors involved in the conflict; and organizing research on issues related to the conflict. The first volume contains chapters discussing the mandate of the TRC, the historical background of the Solomon Islands conflict, the timeline and details of the conflict, the various militant groups (especially, the Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army/Isatabu Freedom Movement, the Malaita Eagle Force, the Black Sharks, and the Guadalcanal Liberation Front), and the response of the Solomon Islands Government. The second volume discusses human rights violations committed by all parties during the conflict, including the state, non-state militant groups and state-authorized Special Operations conducted by police and former militants. After an initial chapter discussing the domestic and international legal framework for the TRC’s human rights work, there are separate chapters on the six human rights violations identified by the TRC as most prevalent during the conflict: killings, abductions/illegal detentions, torture/ill-treatment, sexual violence, property violations and forced displacements. The third volume begins with two chapters discussing the situation of the two most vulnerable groups in the conflict, women and children. It then discusses the economic and social costs of the conflict and the TRC’s exhumation program. In light of all that has been previously presented, a chapter follows on reconciliation in the Solomon Islands context, discussing how the country might move forward with justice, peace, and reconciliation. The chapter concludes with 3 an overall a summary of conclusions from the TRC’s work and recommendations to Government, civil society and overseas aid donors for future peace and reconciliation work. The latter chapter also includes a discussion of the appointment of a Commission by the Prime Minister, as required by the TRC Act, to oversee the implementation of the TRC’s recommendations. The fourth volume contains transcripts of the 11 public TRC hearings held around the country in 2010-2011. The fifth volume is an annex which includes an institutional history of the TRC, a profile of the Commissioners, the texts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act and Townsville and Marau Peace Agreements and lists of compensation claims (many false and illegal) to the Solomon Islands Government following the Townsville Peace Agreement and the Joint Operation to the Weather Coast, whose payment contributed to the further economic collapse of the country. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Commissioners’ Letter to the Prime Minister 2 Executive Summary 3 Table of Contents 5 Volume 1 1. Mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 9 2. “A Nation conceived but never born”. 27 A brief introduction to the Solomon Islands 3. Unhappy Isles: The tension between 1998 and 2003 3.1 Timeline 51 3.2 The conflict 3.2.1 The “ethnic tension”: an overview 54 3.2.2 Tasimauri: The Weather Coast of Guadalcanal 100 3.2.3 Malaita after the exodus 143 3.2.4 Ethnic tension in Marau Sound 167 3.2.5 The tension in the West 186 3.3 The militants Guadalcanal militants: Guadalcanal Revolutionary 3.3.1 216 Army/Isatabu Freedom Movement 3.3.2 Malaita Eagle Force 242 3.4 The state The failed attempt to purchase peace: Solomon 3.4.1 Islands Governments between 1998 and 2003 3.4.1.1 A weak state under siege 267 3.4.1.2 Compensation payments 270 The Law and Justice Sector during and after the 3.4.2 301 tension 5 Volume II 4. Human rights violations and abuses 4.1 Legal framework 335 4.2 Patterns and incidence 4.2.1 Killings 388 4.2.2 Abduction/illegal detention 430 4.2.3 Torture/ill-treatment 456 4.2.4 Sexual violence 470 4.2.5 Property violation 500 4.2.6 Forced displacement 518 Volume III 5. The tension and its impact on women and children 538 5.1 Women 539 5.2 Children 626 6. Consequences of the conflict 648 6.1 Economic impact 649 6.2 Sectoral impacts: health and education 662 6.2.1 Health 662 6.2.2 Education 676 7. The TRC Exhumations and Victims Program 689 8. A pathway towards national unity and reconciliation 704 9. Conclusions 732 10. Recommendations 747 Volume IV ANNEX I Annex 1 Transcription of Public Hearings 1. Honiara 810 6 2. Gizo 836 3. Malaita 875 4. Tulagi 905 5. Visale 915 6. Makira 961 7. Youth 994 8. Women (victims) 1029 9. Women (experts) 1049 10. Guadalcanal ex-combatants 1075 11. Malaita ex-combatants 1122 Volume 5 ANNEXES II Annex 1 History of the Solomon Islands TRC 1187 Annex 2 Profile of the TRC Commissioners 1234 Annex 3 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act 2008 1238 Annex 4 Townsville Peace Agreement 2000 1255 Annex 5 Marau Peace Agreement 2001 1270 Annex 6 Compensation claims MNURP 1286 Annex 7 Compensation claims EXIM Bank – PCM 1315 Annex 8 Compensation claims JOP-RSIPF 1326 7 SOLOMON ISLANDS TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION Confronting the Truth for a better Solomon Islands VOLUME I FEBRUARY 2012 8 1. MANDATE OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION Remembering is not easy, but forgetting may be impossible.1 1. Introduction The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“TRC”) was established under the Truth and Reconciliation Act (the “Act“) passed by Parliament in September, 2008.2 It was an initiative of the Solomon Island Christian Association (SICA) which first advocated the concept shortly after the arrival of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), and took several years to come to fruition. The TRC mandate3 related to the tensions which engulfed Solomon Islands, though mainly confined to Guadalcanal and Malaita between 1998 and 23 July, 2003, when RAMSI intervened to restore law and order at the request of Solomon Islands Government. The general objective of the TRC was to promote national unity and reconciliation by engaging all stakeholders in the reconciliation process, by discovering and helping to understand what happened in the tensions and why.4 It was to examine the patterns of human rights abuses and intervene in synergy and co-operation with other initiatives and strategies being implemented in the process of reconciliation and peace-building in the country.5 More specifically, the TRC was to investigate and fully report on the root causes of the tensions, the human rights and international humanitarian law violations and abuses which occurred and those responsible for them, whether governments, groups or individuals, as well as the role of 1 Priscilla B. Hayner: Unspeakable Truths. Confronting State Terror and Atrocity; New York and London: Routledge, 2001, p. 2. 2 For the text of the Act, see volume 5, annex 3. 3 A mandate is a conferral of authority to carry out or perform certain functions or tasks. 4 TRC Act, section 5(b) 5 TRC Act, section 5(c) 9 internal and external factors in the conflict.6 It was also to report on the raid on police armouries and the destruction or damage done to public property.7 The TRC was also to work to restore the human dignity of victims and promote reconciliation by allowing victims to tell their stories about the violations and abuses suffered and providing for perpetrators to relate their experiences, creating a climate fostering constructive exchange between victim and perpetrator.8 Special attention was to be given to the subject of sexual abuses and children’s experiences within the armed conflict.9 The TRC recognized the inability of the institutions of the State to afford its citizens the protection of their fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the 1978 Constitution of Solomon Islands. People were killed, tortured, abused, ill treated, displaced, and lost property; women were raped and sexually abused children deprived of education, forced actively to support one or other of the protagonists during the tensions. There was widespread suffering because law and order collapsed and those with guns held sway for a time. The TRC process was intended to create space for victims and former combatants to engage constructively with each other and with Solomon Islands society for reconciliation to be inclusive and complete. But these are matters of intense emotion, raw feelings and personal choice that cannot be rushed or imposed. There has to be mutual readiness and acceptance by the parties for reconciliation to occur. 2. Composition The Commissioners of the TRC were appointed by a National Selection Committee (NSC) chaired by the Chief Justice.10 Members of the NSC were drawn from the Government, the Official Opposition, the Churches, Ministry of Provincial Government, Solomon Islands Christian Association Federation of Women and traditional leaders.11 6 TRC Act, section 5(2)(a) 7 TRC Act, section 5 (2)(b) 8 TRC Act, section 5 (2)(c) 9 TRC Act, section 5 (2) (c) 10 TRC Act Schedule 2, paragraph 2(1) 11 TRC Act, ibid. 10 The TRC was comprised of five Commissioners, three of whom were required to be Solomon Islands nationals, and two, non-nationals.12 The Commissioners were required to have integrity, credibility and be impartial in the performance of their functions under the Act and enjoy the confidence of the people of Solomon Islands.13 They were also required to have high standing or competence in professions such as law, medicine, church ministry, social sciences or others relevant to the function of the TRC.14 Decisions of the TRC were taken by consensus but could be voted on where consensus was not possible.15 In the event of a tie, the Chairman had a casting vote; a quorum consisted of three members, one of whom must be a non-national member.16 3.