At the height of the ethnic tensions in Solomon Islands, in 2000, the Solomon Islands Christian Association requested that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission be established. Further to the passage of an Act of Parliament in 2008, this came about in 2009. In February of 2012 the Commission presented its five-volume report to Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo. Under the terms of the governing Act, ‘The Prime Minister on receiving the report of the Commission, shall cause it to be laid before Parliament and the report be made available to the public’ (s 17). On April 28th 2013 Bishop Terry Brown, who was not one of the five Commissioners but the editor of the final report, released the document to around sixty individuals and selected media outlets. Why did Bishop Brown take such a drastic step….? [read more].
[Confronting the Truth for a better Solomon Islands, the Final Report of the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission (February 2012) is available online. Listen to an interview on ABC Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat on 6 May 2013 with Rev. Terry Brown, the former Bishop of Malaita.]
