Country Overview

Solomon Islands (note: not ‘the’ Solomon Islands) is located in the south-west Pacific. There are nine provinces across seven major islands and many smaller ones that form a double chain. The western-most area of Solomon Islands is the Shortland Islands, which is adjacent to the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, where there is a porous border to allow for the free movement of people and trade.

Solomon Islands is in an area of seismic activity. Locally, it is said that weather events start in Solomon Islands as strong winds and rain and end up in Vanuatu as cyclones. Solomon Islands itself rarely experiences cyclones.

Honiara, the capital city of Solomon Islands, lies on the north coast of Guadalcanal. The population of Honiara is estimated to be almost 85,000 but it is rapidly growing in informal settlements and the true figure might be as high as 150,000.

Climate change remains the single greatest threat to development and security for Solomon Islands. The World Risk Index 2020 ranks Solomon Islands as the fifth most 'at risk' country in the world with regards to extreme natural events and climate change, with minimal coping or adaptive capacities.

Uniquely in the Pacific, soccer, not rugby, is the national sport.

For further information on Solomon Islands’ culture, see the resources below (a reminder, videos are available to view on your mobile devices or standalone laptops – not on the DPN):

Video

1. Solomon Islands (Geography Now, 26m38s)

Articles

1. Solomon Islands Country Profile – DFAT
2. Solomon Islands Country Profile – BBC
3. Solomon Islands in the Commonwealth
4. Solomon Islands Country Profile – The World Factbook – CIA
5. Solomon Islands Articles – The Guardian

Culture/Demographics

The estimated population of Solomon Islands is almost 690,000 (2019), which is growing at around 2.7% per annum. There is a very large youth population, concentrated in Honiara in informal settlements characterised by poverty, instability, underemployment, and none of the services or infrastructure to support them.

The overwhelming majority (95%) of the population is Melanesian, from multiple language and cultural groups.

Solomon Islands is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, with around 70 living languages. English is the official language and is widely spoken in Honiara and provincial capitals, less so in the villages where Solomon Islands Pijin is more common.

Religion plays a very important role in the life of Solomon Islanders and close to 100% of the population is Christian.

As in Papua New Guinea, the ‘wantok’ system in Solomon Islands is very strong. ‘Wantok’ means ‘one talk’ and refers to familial, community, and social ties which bind groups together and comes with both benefits and obligations. While informal, the wantok system encourages social obligations whereby those within a wantok network look after each other – for example, by providing funds, housing, or food in times of need. The wantok system pervades all levels of Government, public service, and the judicial system where it is realised as political patronage and nepotism.

For further information on Solomon Islands’ culture, see the resources below:

Videos

1. The culture of Solomon Islands (2m1s)
2. Get to Know: The Solomon Islands (4m26s)

Podcasts

1. The Solomon Islands, Everything Everywhere Daily (14m)

Articles

1. Solomon Islands – Everyculture.com
2. Honiara, the village-city (DevPolicy Blog)
3. How many people with Pacific island heritage live in Australia? (DevPolicy Blog)
4. Order-making in the shadow of the law: community by-laws in Solomon Islands (DevPolicy Blog)
5. “Every High Tide Reaches My Doorstep”: How People with Disabilities Face Climate Change in Solomon Islands (Solomon Times)
6. Solomon Islands festival sees family members fight each other (ABC)

National Psyche

Solomon Islands is yet to resolve the ethnic tensions, land disputes, lack of economic opportunities outside Honiara, and other drivers of instability which caused ethnic violence (between two of the nine provinces; Malaita and Guadalcanal) from 1997-2003.

There are still thousands of individual compensation claims against the government from ex-militants, ex-civil servants, and ex-police for which the government does not have the money to pay.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established by the government in September 2008, but the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Report’ is contentious, overdue, and only reached Solomon Islands’ Parliament for debate in August 2023 (though it was tabled in April 2023). While in Parliament, the debate failed to articulate clear ‘next steps’.

Solomon Islands is at the centre of geopolitical wrangling, but Dr Transform Aqorau, Vice Chancellor of the Solomon Islands National University, compellingly argued in a ‘letter to the editor’ in The Solomon Star newspaper that to ordinary Solomon Islanders, who often lack basic support services and facilities, the origins of the aid matter far less than the benefits they bring. “When new infrastructure or services emerge, it isn't about which flag flies overhead, but about the tangible improvements in their day-to-day lives”.

For further reading on Solomon Islands’ psyche, see the resource below:

Articles

1. Malaita and the Provincial-National Divide in Solomon Islands (United States Institute of Peace)
2. Attitudes towards women’s political participation in Solomon Islands (DevPolicy Blog)
3. Can civic nationalism help reduce corruption? Insights from Solomon Islands (DevPolicy Blog)
4. When judging meets development: foreign judges on Pacific courts (DevPolicy Blog)
5. Solomon Islands unrest not helped by foreign powers behaving badly (The Lowy Institute)
6. Behind the shine of the Pacific Games lurks poor governance and corruption (DevPolicy Blog)

Public Diplomacy

Solomon Islands signed a Security Cooperation Agreement with the People’s Republic of China in April 2022, and a policing Memorandum of Understanding in July 2023. The details of these agreements have never been made public. This marked a new era in relations with its traditional partners (the United States, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia) and new partner (China).

The international community reacted strongly to this security agreement and saw it as a sign of China's expanding influence in Solomon Islands and the Pacific more broadly.

2023 saw a flurry of high-level visits from major powers, with new commitments to benefit Solomon Islands, and the then-Prime Minister Manasseh Damukana Sogavare said it was evidence that his foreign policy approach of ‘friends to all, enemies to none’ was a success.

The issue was prominent in Australia’s 2022 federal election, with now-Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong criticising the then-Morrison Government for making the “worst foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since the end of World War Two”. It is uncommon for Australia’s foreign policy in the Pacific to be debated during an election.

Recently there has been significant media scrutiny of Solomon Islands issues, a renewed intensity of focus from Canberra’s civilian, policing and military leadership, and fresh pledges of development and security support from Solomon Islands’ traditional partners.

Solomon Islands has leveraged this interest to garner new infrastructure development and economic opportunities for the country outside Honiara in an attempt to stem the flood of underemployed youth to Honiara and decrease the risk of further instability.

Solomon Islands’ relationship with China is explored in detail in Hot Topic.

Media and Internet

The media environment in Solomon Islands is fragile and extremely small in comparison to Australia; there are approximately 50 workers across ten organisations; including reporters, camera people, editors, and so on. There are two newspapers in Solomon Islands: The Solomon Star and The Island Sun. Both are owned by local families but struggle financially due to limited advertising revenue. In August 2023, The Solomon Star made headlines when the ‘Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)’ published a report alleging it had “received nearly USD140,000 in funding from the Chinese government in return for pledges to ‘promote the truth about China’s generosity and its true intentions to help develop’” Solomon Islands.

TV is the least accessible form of media, as many people do not own a TV nor have access to electricity. Daily viewership of all TV channels is relatively low.

Media coverage is primarily focused upon Honiara, the capital, with 1-2 journalists based in the major population centres of Auki (Malaita Province) and Gizo (Western Province). Journalists lack resources to travel to cover media stories in other locations. Events regularly occur in the provinces which are not reported in the media and therefore simply not known by the wider population.

In a 2023 ‘audience survey’ which BBC conducted for the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, it was found audiences have high exposure to false or misleading information daily or at least once a week.

Australia built the Coral Sea Cable System which is a fibre optic submarine cable system linking Sydney to Port Moresby and Honiara. This SBD1 billion investment delivering high speed internet vastly improved connectivity in Solomon Islands. Since it came online the cable has seen a 400% increase in internet usage. Damage to the cable in May 2023 impacted communication services outside Honiara.

For further reading on Solomon Islands’ Media and the Internet see the resources below:

Articles:

1. How China is winning the information war in the Pacific | The Strategist (aspistrategist.org.au)
2. How the CCP is influencing Solomon Islands’ information environment (ASPI)
3. How China is winning the information war in the Pacific (ASPI)

Reports:

1. BBC Media Action Report – Understanding audience needs, values and the role of media and communication (14 pages, pdf)

International Forums

Solomon Islands is a member of many regional and international bodies, including the Pacific Islands Forum, the Pacific Community, the Melanesian Spearhead Group, the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the International Whaling Commission.

Solomon Islands is host to the important regional organisation the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), based in Honiara.

International agencies including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, United Nations Development Programme, and World Health Organisation also have offices in Honiara.

Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, the United States, and the Peoples Republic of China have diplomatic representatives in Honiara.

Israel, Philippines, Fiji, Malaysia, Turkey, France, Germany, and South Korea have resident honorary consuls.

Solomon Islands has missions in Canberra, Brisbane, Port Moresby, Suva, Beijing, Wellington, Havana, at the UN in New York, and at the European Commission in Brussels.

For further reading on Solomon Islands’ involvement in international forums, see the resources below:

Articles

1. The Pacific Islands Forum
2. The Pacific Community
3. Melanesian Spearhead Group
4. US 'disappointed' by Solomon Islands snub as Pacific Island leaders gather at White House (ABC)
5. Solomons PM Sogavare claims Melanesian Spearhead Group ditch West Papua independence talks (RNZ)
6. For the Melanesian Spearhead Group, West Papua Presents a Challenge (The Diplomat)
7. Not the Indo-Pacific: a Melanesian view on strategic competition (The Lowy Institute)

Discussion questions

1. What risk does a weak media sector pose for Solomon Islands’ society? What can Australia do develop the media sector and combat mis-/disinformation?
2. How has Solomon Islands benefitted from a foreign policy premised upon ‘friends to all, enemies to none’?
3. What do you know about the ethnic tension in Solomon Islands from 1997-2003, and the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI)? Why might this conflict still impact Solomon Islands society?
4. What risks are posed by high levels of youth unemployment and underemployment?