Justice for Pacific & Caribbean Women & Girls

In May, we hosted a 3-day Train-the-Trainers program in the Solomon Islands, hosted by the Ministry for Justice and Legal Affairs (MJLA) and the Ministry for Women, Youth, Children, and Family Affairs (MWYCFA). Twenty representatives from SAFENET, the Solomon Islands GBV referral network, came together to learn about how gender bias and discrimination manifest in the justice system and how to address this to better support victims/ survivors of GBV. 

Understanding the Data

The workshop underscored the importance of data in enhancing justice sector accountability, transparency, and consistency. Participants reviewed recent TrackGBV data, including 110 GBV cases from 2021-2023, which were recently uploaded to the TrackGBV Dashboard.

Key Findings in the Solomon Islands

• In GBV cases from 2015 to 2023, judicial officers raised gender stereotypes (e.g. victim-blaming) in sentencing in over 1 in 4 cases (26%). 
• For example, the “sole breadwinner argument” was used to reduce sentences in 1 in 3 (33.3%) domestic violence cases from 2015 to 2023. 
• “First time offender” status often garners a high sentence reduction. In 2015-2023 cases in which the court applied this status, 24.3% of cases featured evidence of past violence that was never prosecuted. 
• The average sentence reduction due to contentious factors (gender stereotypes, customary practices, or other contentious factors) in cases similar to rape in the same time period was 1.7 years.

One of the participants, Jimmy Mathew Masura, an Immigration Officer specializing in Human Trafficking, emphasized the workshop's impact: "This program really highlighted the different experiences faced by victims/ survivors of GBV in the courts. We should treat everyone the same, and I must be an advocate for equitable outcomes."

Developing Policy Recommendations

In the second part of the training, participants co-created a set of policy recommendations. These were shared with key stakeholders and included:

• Eliminate the use of gender stereotypes in sentencing, particularly victim-blaming and myths that result in gender-based discrimination when applied in mitigation. 
• Increase funding to the Social Welfare Division to meet the needs of families of prisoners through the After Care Support for Prisoners Families program and ensure survivors and their families are made aware of this support. In cases in which the sole breadwinner faces a custodial sentence, judges should advise victims/ survivors of the support available to them from Social Welfare. 
• Build the capacity of health and legal professionals to handle, present, and interpret medical evidence in GBV cases through a medico-legal train-the-trainers program. 

You can read the full policy brief and set of recommendations here. 

Kyla Venokana, Chief Legal Policy Officer at MJLA, shared: "This training helped me understand the final stage of the access to justice journey for reported cases. It was really interesting to learn the TrackGBV methodology for reviewing cases. This learning will undoubtedly support our legal policy reform work on GBV legislation."

Your contributions have been instrumental in making this impactful training possible, and we can’t thank you enough. Rest assured, the work continues as we collaborate with key stakeholders to implement the recommendations and eliminate barriers to justice for survivors of GBV.

Links:

• Solomon Islands Policy Brief and Recommendations
• TrackGBV Dashboard