Solomons mission worsens child sex

Dan Box
The Australian 22 March 2006

SOLDIERS, police and technical advisers sent from countries including
Australia to rebuild the war-torn Solomon Islands have fuelled a huge
increase in the country's child sex industry.

A series of harrowing interviews, documented in an unpublished UN report and
revealed in this week's Time magazine, detail how years of civil conflict
and poverty forced many Solomon's children to sell themselves for sex.

One church group in a remote area of the islands described how a local
family had been paid $US10,000 ($13,800) for their adopted daughter by a
foreign contractor working for the Regional Assistance Mission to the
Solomon Islands.

"The girl had been forced to leave school in the middle of Form 4," the
report said.

"There appears to be a considerable risk that the girl would be abandoned
when the purchaser moves on, as respondents believed he has done before."

Other Solomon Islanders said the influx of army, police and civilian workers
had contributed to an increase in prostitution among girls under 18.

"Other regular clients of prostitutes were said to include tourists,
expatriate workers, aid workers, timber workers and fishers," the report
said.

The report, commissioned by the UN Children's Fund, was completed in October
2004 but has never been publicly released.

UNICEF spokeswoman Shantha Bloeman said the document was due to be released
this year as part of a combined study on the commercial sexual exploitation
of children in five Pacific countries.

"UNICEF has been working with governments to develop national plans of
actions to put in place legislation, policies and enforcement mechanisms to
prevent child sexual exploitation and assist the potential victims," she
said.

Other examples of child sexual exploitation detailed in the report include
school girls who sold themselves to a taxi driver because they could not
afford to travel to school and families who sold their daughters to foreign
fishermen for fish.

The report suggests much of the Solomons' sex industry is driven by the
poverty that followed a civil conflict between 1999 and 2003, known as the
Troubles, which displaced about 35,000 people.

The Islands Government subsequently invited the combined RAMSI force, which
includes about 250 police officers, 120 civilians and a contingent of
military personnel from 11 Pacific countries, including Australia and New
Zealand, to help restore peace.

The Australian Government had allocated $840.6 million to RAMSI over four
years from 2005-06 at the time of the report's writing.

The force was due to stay until 2013.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that one member of the
Australian Defence Force serving in the Solomons had been found guilty of an
indecent act and subsequently suspended.


Submitted Via Email R.T, Oxfam Int'l.

Youth representative in national election

People First | Thursday Mar 16
HONIARA, Solomon Islands - A young man will contest in East Honiara against veteran politicians in the coming national elections

Solomons influence works for Nasinu

Sunday March 12, 2006

Nasinu, with the influence of its imported Solomon players, thumped a young Nadroga side 5-1 in their Pepsi League encounter at Ratu Cakobau Park today.
It was the second biggest scoreline in the league competition. Ba holds the record after whipping Labasa 7-0 earlier on.

But Nasinu found the wet and soggy Ratu Cakobau Park to their advantage as they piled in goal after goal.
Nasinu led 3-0 at the break with goals coming in from Robert Mafane in the opening minute. His goal was by far the fastest to be scored in the Pepsi League competition.

Binesh Kumar put Nasinu up to two goals before Elrick Kiluwa's 12th minute sitter allowed them to take a comfortable 3-0 lead.
In the second spell, Kiluwa struck again to make it 4-0. Nadroga replied and pulled one back through Intiaz Hussein but Benjamin slotted in the last goal two minutes to full-time to make it 5-1.

Benjamin and Kiluwa join Navua's Ovini Duguca as the second top goalscorers in the competition. Ba's Josai Bukalidi scored a hat trick against Labasa and leads the board.

Nadroga manager Nazim Khan blamed the ground condition for their loss. He said the heavy underfoot from last night's rain was in Nasinu's favour because the southerners were used to playing in that condition. He said Nadroga had a new team and needed to improve.

Nasinu President Praveen Chand was happy with the performance of the islanders but said areas of concern were the central midfield and defence. Fijilive

Nasinu's Solomon Islands import Robert Ma'fani tries to beat the Nadroga goalie in their 5-1 win during their Pepsi League fixture at Ratu Cakobau Park.

UB40 Rocks Suva - Fiji

Here are some images taken during the UB40 "Who You Fighting For" World Tour to Fiji, at the FMF Dome on the 10th of March 2006. There was a capacity crowd of about 7000 fans, that includes students from Solomon Islands studying at USP. The band did two shows. Click Photos to Enlarge

World War 2 Relics-Solomon Islands

Some images of the remains of the Second World War on Guadalcanal, namely the Guadalcanal Campaign. More on this to come...












Photos courtesy of Phil Blade, Honiara,2006