Solomon Islands Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau had been acting in the role since the departure of his predecessor Matthew Varley in November 2019. Photo: Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Warning: some readers may find details in this story distressing.
Solomon Islands Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau says sexual offences, particularly those associated with child abuse, are increasing.
Police say three men were recently arrested for sexual abuse in a single day in one province of the Solomon Islands earlier this month.
A 56-year-old man, a 76-year-old man, and a 25-year-old man have all been charged in relation to separate incidents.
Mangau said the rate of sexual offences in the province is quite alarming.
He said some of the alleged offences are committed by people of trust in the community, which is a serious and sad thing to see happening in society.
"Parents and guardians need to be more cautious and considerate on who is looking after your children, as some person of trust can no longer be trusted," Mangau said.
One of the accused allegedly raped three girls aged eight, nine, and 12, and then threatened them not to tell their parents.
Another has been charged with persistent sexual abuse of a child after allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions in different locations.
Another allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl on multiple occasions over the course of a month.
Mangau said the victim shouted and struggled to free herself, but the suspect overpowered her.
The three men are in custody awaiting further legal proceedings.
Sexual violence is not uncommon in Solomon Islands.
A group of UK medical students on a medical elective at the National Referral Hospital in May 2015 expressed multiple concerns.
In their commentary, published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care], they said that while on the wards, they came across multiple cases of possible family and sexual violence (FSV).
"Many patients presented to ED with patterns of injury and psychological distress consistent with FSV, and healthcare professionals struggled in the management of these patients," they wrote.
"In particular, healthcare workers often did not explore the history of a presenting complaint beyond the story given. The overcrowding in ED put staff under pressure to see, treat, and discharge patients as soon as possible, allowing limited time for a thorough history.
"Unusual injury patterns which would raise concerns in the UK were not investigated in details in Solomon Islands, as healthcare workers often accepted the parental account of the history without further investigation into how the injuries were sustained."
The commentary quoted a 2009 study which revealed high rates of family and sexual violence in the Solomon Islands and concluded that a multi-factorial approach to tackling attitudes toward gender-based violence was necessary, involving politics, public health, communities, and healthcare policies.
But in 2011, the World Health Organisation reported that 73 percent of men and women still believed gender-based violence was acceptable.
The students wrote that domestic violence is a major public healthcare concern in the Solomon Islands.
"From our experiences and interactions with people working in this area, it is evident that numerous interventions are being developed and implemented. However, these interventions are still in their infancy [as of their 2015 visit] and have largely stemmed from Western protocols."
A 2018 UN report says in many countries across Asia and the Pacific, the proportion of women who report having experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime is substantially higher than the global average - it's 50 percent in Solomon Islands and over that in Fiji, Kiribati, and Papua New Guinea.
