Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Kastom in Dispute Resolution: Transitional Justice and Customary Law in the Solomon Islands

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Transitional Justice in Practice

Abstract

Customary practices of acknowledgment and justice, known as kastom in Solomon Islands Pijin, are widely used throughout Solomon Islands, as they have elsewhere throughout the region. In Solomon Islands, kastom has been applied in the process of rebuilding in Solomon Islands, but customary practices were rejected for formal, state-sponsored use, and the consequences of those decisions are still being felt—in part because of the exploitation of their use both from within Solomon Islands and by outsiders during and after the Tensions. Other transitional justice mechanisms that have been adopted, including the truth and reconciliation commission, are poorer as a result of not including elements of reconciliation that Solomon Islanders understand and upon which they rely. This chapter considers the utility of kastom in rebuilding.

A paper originally prepared for presentation at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, 26 March 2014, Toronto. Research for this project was carried out with assistance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Standard Research Grant Residual Fund (The University of Western Ontario). Ethics review NMREB 10418.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, Matthew, Sinclair Dinnen, Daniel Evans, and Rebecca Monson. 2013. Justice Delivered Locally: Systems, Challenges, and Innovations in Solomon Islands. August 2013 Research Report, J4P. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bleiker, Roland, and Morgan Brigg. 2011. Introduction. In Roland Bleiker and Morgan Brigg eds. Mediating Across Difference: Oceanic and Asian Approaches to Conflict Resolution, 1–15. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, John, and Ray Nixon. 2012. Timing Truth, Reconciliation and Justice After War. Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 27(3): 443–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, John, Sinclair Dinnen, Matthew Allen, Valerie Braithwaite, and Hilary Charlesworth. 2010. Pillars and Shadows: Statebuilding as Peacebuilding in Solomon Islands. Canberra: ANU E Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, Philip. 1998. Uganda. Old Saybrook, CT: The Globe Pequot Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • British Colonial Office. 1961. Report of the Uganda Relationship Committee. Entebee: Government Printer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Terry. 16 July 2011. List Serve Post. Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Central Intelligence Agency. 2011. Australia-Oceania: Solomon Islands. The World Fact Book. Accessed December 8, 2015. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bp.html

  • Chan, Stephen. 2011. Mediating the Mediation with Difference. In Mediating Across Difference: Oceanic and Asian Approaches to Conflict Resolution, ed. Roland Bleiker and Morgan Brigg, 270–274. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corrin Care, Jennifer. 2005a. The Search for a More Appropriate Form of Government in Solomon Islands. In Unfinished Constitutional Business? Rethinking Indigenous Self-Determination, ed. Barbara Hocking, 159–169. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corrin Care, Jennifer. 2005b. Legislating for the Application of Customary Law in Solomon Islands. Common Law World Review 34(2): 144–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corrin Care, Jennifer, and Jean G. Zorn. 2005. Legislating for the Application of Customary Law in Solomon Islands. Common Law World Review 34(2): 144–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, Marcus, Emele Duituturaga, and Eric Scheye. 2012. Solomon Islands Case Study: Evaluation of Australian Law and Justice Assistance. Canberra, Australia: AUSAID Office of Government Effectiveness.

    Google Scholar 

  • Droogan, Julian, and Lise Waldek. 2015. Continuing Drivers of Violence in Honiara: Making Friends and Influencing People. Australian Journal of International Affairs 69(3): 285–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enterprise, A.N.U. 2012. The People’s Survey 2011. Canberra, Australia: Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, Daniel, Michael Goddard, with Don Paterson. 2013. The Hybrid Courts of Melanesia: A Comparative Analysis of Village Courts of Papua New Guinea, Island Courts of Vanuatu and Local Courts of Solomon Islands. Justice and Development Working Paper Series 13/2011, Justice Reform Practice Group. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farran, Sue. 2009. Palm Tree Justice? The Role of Comparative Law in the South Pacific. International and Comparative Law Quarterly 58(1): 181–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, Miranda. 2007. A Typology of Relationships between State and Non-State Justice Systems. Journal of Legal Pluralism 39(56): 67–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraenkel, Jon. 2004. The Manipulation of Custom: From Uprising to Intervention in the Solomon Islands. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodenough, Nick. 2006. Reconciliation and the Criminal Process in the Solomon Islands. Journal of South Pacific Law 10 (1). Accessed 8 December 2015. http://www.paclii.org/journals/fJSPL/vol10/3.shtml

  • Huyse, Luc, and Mark Salter, eds. 2008. Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences. Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inifiri, Jeremy. 24 January 2014. Communities Reconcile with Br George. Solomon Star. Accessed 20 December 2015. http://www.sibconline.com.sb/communities-reconciled-with-founder-of-san-isidro-care-centre/

  • Jeffery, Renée. 2013. Enduring Tensions: Transitional Justice in the Solomon Islands. The Pacific Review 26(2): 153–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014. Beyond Repair?: Collective and Moral Reparations at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Journal of Human Rights 13(1): 103–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jolly, Margaret. 1992. Custom and the Way of the Land: Past and Present in Vanuatu and Fiji. Oceania 62(4): 330–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jowitt, Anita, and Tess Newton Cain, eds. 2003. Passage of Change: Law, Society and Governance in the Pacific. Canberra: Pandanus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanairara, Philip. 2011. The Protectorate Era and How it Shapes People’s (Contemporary) Perception of the Law or Ownership of the Land Below High Water Mark in Solomon Islands. A paper presented at the Law and Culture Conference (29–31 August) at Emalus Campus, USP School of Law, Port Vila, Vanuatu.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. An Analysis of the Recognition of Customary Law and Common Law and Equity in the Legal System of Solomon Islands. A paper presented at the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission Conference on Underlying Law, October.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keesing, Roger. 1993. Kastom Re-Examined. Anthropological Forum 6(4): 587–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konainao, Cathy Dara. 24 January 2014. SIDT Values Christmas as Time for Celebration and Reconciliation. The Island Sun, 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, Stephanie. 1996. Tradition vs. Democracy in the South Pacific: Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lederach, John Paul. 1997. Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Dividied Societies. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lofana, Solomon. 24 January 2014. Bina Tribes Sorting Out Issues. Solomon Star.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lomaloma, Mataiasi Masi. 2013. Healing a Nation. In Rebuilding a Nation: Ten Years of the Solomon Islands-RAMSI Partnership, ed. Mary Louise O’Callaghan, 61–63. Canberra, Australia: RAMSI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lugard, Lord. 1965. The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, 5th edn. London: Thomas Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mac Ginty, Roger. 2008. Indigenous Peace-Making versus the Liberal Peace. Cooperation and Conflict 43(2): 139–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, Anna. 2015. From the Ground Up: What Does the Evidence Tell Us About Local Experiences of Transitional Justice? Transitional Justice Review 1(3): 72–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamdani, Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and Subject. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Man Questioned Credibility of Reconciliation Processes. 2 April 2014. Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation. Accessed 10 December 2015. http://www.sibconline.com.sb/man-questioned-credibility-of-reconciliation-processes/

  • Ntumy, Michael A. 1993. South Pacific Islands Legal Systems. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Callaghan, Mary Louise, ed. 2013. Rebuilding a Nation: Ten Years of the Solomon Islands-RAMSI Partnership. Canberra, Australia: RAMSI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C). May 2, 2014. RAMSI Supports Solomon Islands Reconciliation Efforts. Accessed 10 December 2015. http://www.ramsi.org/sig-reconciliation-effort-supported-by-ramsi/

  • Peters, Rebecca. 2011. Solomon Islands. In Peacemaking in Asia and the Pacific: Women’s Participation, Perspectives and Priorities, Women at the Peace Table Asia Pacific, Geneva: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, November.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powles, Guy, and Mere Pulea, eds. 1988. Pacific Courts and Legal Systems. Suva: University of the South Pacific.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puia, Mike. 14 January 2014. Roundtable Reconciliation Talk Proposed. The Island Sun.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, Joanna R. 2005. Tried and True: The Role of Informal Mechanisms in Transitional Justice. A paper presented at the International Society of Political Psychology Annual Meeting, Toronto, 6 July.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2009. Problematizing the Formal/Informal Distinction in Customary Justice: Mechanisms of Acknowledgement in Uganda. The Uganda Living Law Journal 7(2): forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, Joanna R. 2010. The Politics of Acknowledgement: Truth Commissions in Uganda and Haiti. Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • RAMSI Welcomes Solomon Islands Focus on Unity. 13 December 2013. PINA (Pacific Islands News Association). Accessed 10 December 2015. http://www.pina.com.fj/?p=pacnews&m=read&o=52304086852aa6ff91571adbe2a77f

  • Reconciliation Ceremony Between RAMSI and Family of Deceased. 29 March 2011. Solomon Times Online. Accessed 10 December 2015. http://www.solomontimes.com/news/reconciliation-ceremony-between-ramsi-and-family-of-deceased/6003

  • Renga Arts & Cultural Festival, [sic] a Big Success. 15 January 2014. Solomon Star: 8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richmond, Oliver P. 2011. De-romanticising the Local, De-mystifying the International: Hybridity in Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands. The Pacific Review 24(1): 115–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rouland, Norbert. 1994. Legal Anthropology. Trans. Philippe G. Planel. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. Custom and the Law. In Custom and the Law, ed. Paul de Deckker and Jean-Yves Faberon, 1–32. Canberra: Asia Pacific Press at the Australian National University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, Benedicta. 2008. This is a Court of Law, Not a Court of Morality. Journal of South Pacific Law 12(2): 15–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmeidl, Susanne. 2009. Successful Cooperation or Dangerous Liaison? Integrating Traditional and Modern Justice Mechanisms in Southeastern Afghanistan. A paper presented at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, New York, NY, 15–18 February.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon Islands Constitution. 7 July 1978. The Solomon Islands Independence Order. Statutory Instruments 1978 No. 783, Pacific Islands. Accessed 20 December 2015. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---ilo_aids/documents/legaldocument/wcms_126201.pdf

  • Solomon Islands Government. 2005. Solomon Islands Local Courts Handbook. Honiara: The Judiciary.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon Islands Local Courts Act [Cap.190]. 1996. Accessed 10 December 2015. http://www.paclii.org/sb/legis/consol_act/lca149.rtf

  • Solomon Islands The Amnesty Act 2000 (No. 8 of 2000). n.d. Accessed 10 December 2015. http://www.paclii.org/sb/legis/num_act/aa2000111.rtf

  • Wallis, Joanne, Renée Jeffery, and Lia Kent. 2016. The Dark Side of Hybridity: Political Reconciliation in Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands and Bougainville. Australian Journal of International Affairs 70(2): 159–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zartman, William I., ed. 2000. Traditional Cures for Modern Conflicts: African Conflict “Medicine”. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, and Department of Political Science, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

    Joanna R. Quinn

Authors
  1. Joanna R. Quinn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia

    Renée Jeffery

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Quinn, J.R. (2017). Kastom in Dispute Resolution: Transitional Justice and Customary Law in the Solomon Islands. In: Jeffery, R. (eds) Transitional Justice in Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59695-6_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation