Transitional Justice in Practice: Conflict, Justice, and Reconciliation in the Solomon Islands

This book examines the practice of transitional justice in the Solomon Islands from the period of the ‘The Tensions’ to the present. In late 1998, the Solomon Islands were plunged into a period of violent civil conflict precipitated by a complex web of grievances, injustices, ethnic tensions, and economic insecurities. This conflict dragged on until the middle of 2003, leaving an estimated 200 people dead and more than 20 000 displaced from their homes. In the time that has elapsed since the end of The Tensions, numerous—at times incompatible—approaches to transitional justice have been implemented in the Solomon Islands. The contributors to this volume examine how key global trends and debates about transitional justice were played out in the Solomon Islands, how its key mechanisms were adapted to meet the specific demands of post-conflict justice in this local context, and how well its practices and processes fulfilled their perceived functions.

Renée Jeffery is Professor of International Relations in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University, Australia, where she holds joint appointments to the Centre for Governance and Public Policy and the Griffith Asia Institute. She is the author of Amnesties, Accountability and Human Rights and editor of Transitional Justice in the Asia-Pacific (with Hun Joon Kim).