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High Court judge, Justice Stephen Pallaras QC says that the Solomon Islands is a small country, “and a small country be what they want it to be.”
He said in order to mould the communities, everyone has to act and do something about respecting women and children.
“You have to learn your rights what they are for women and what they are not for men.”
“You have to lead by example.”
“You have to demand your political representatives that they tell you what they have done to solve this problem.”
A report into sexual offending produced by the Solomon Islands Law Reform last year found an alarming level of sexual violence.
Pallaras said the report also looks back to the time of the tensions and says that sexual violence during those times were high with amnesty international reporting that women and girls experienced high rates of sexual violence in Guadalcanal and Malaita.
“Now I don’t know what was like before the tension, and I don’t know whether the tensions were the beginning of this problem, hatred and disrespect shown to women and children.”
“But it is here now, it is in your families, your villages.”
He made these comments when he was giving an awareness talk based on the topic on how to treat women and children in our community at an Anglican church, Saint Albans Chapel.
Pallaras was South Australia’s public prosecutions Stephen before moving to the Solomon Islands to become a justice of the High Court there in 2012.
St Albans has a partnership with Buala Parish, Santa Ysabel, Solomon islands as part of the memorandum of understanding between the Anglican Dioceses of Melanesia and Canberra/ Goulburn.
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