Solomon Islands

21% of girls living in the Solomon Islands marry before the age of 18 and 6% marry before the age of 15.

4% of boys in the Solomon Islands marry before the age of 18.

Customary marriages of young girls still take place and, despite not being registered, these are often recognised by courts as valid.

While a 2015 DHS survey shows that younger girls in the Solomon Islands are delaying marriage, there is evidence to suggest that forced marriage of girls may be increasing among communities affected by logging-related immigration.

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

In the Solomon Islands, child marriage is also driven by:

Poverty: The Solomon Islands is one of the poorest countries in the Pacific region. Economic challenges, especially in rural areas, force some families to marry young girls to a groom’s family in exchange for payment, known as a bride-price. This contributes to a perception that a husband “owns” the young girl bride, making her more vulnerable to violence. In a World Vision study conducted in the capital city of Honiara, 90% of respondents reported that their community practises bride price.

Level of education: School dropout can both initiate and be a consequence of child marriage. In the Solomon Islands, girls’ education is not prioritised as compared to boys’, especially by parents who are struggling financially. A survey conducted by Plan International found that two in five girls had dropped out due to child marriage or pregnancy. In addition, girls in relationships or who become pregnant are expelled from school because of societal beliefs that pregnant girls will “influence others to get in trouble”.

Gender inequality: Approximately 60% of men believe that violence against women can be justified and 78% of women believe the same. Long-standing beliefs that men are superior to women often justify oppressive behaviour towards women and girls. Scholars note that the civil war that took place two decades ago and the “undermining” of male roles in modern Melanesian culture has led to aggressive forms of masculinity which further harm women and girls.

Harmful practices: These vary across Melanesian, Polynesian and Micronesian communities, but often encourage child marriage as a means of ensuring that land inheritance and ownership remain in the family.

Trafficking: There are reports of women and girls being trafficked internally in Solomon Islands for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced marriage. Most of the perpetrators appear to be foreign men working as labourers in the logging industry.

The Solomon Islands has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2024 High Level Political Forum.

The Solomon Islands co-sponsored the 2014 and 2018 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

The Solomon Islands acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2002, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2021 Universal Periodic Review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern about the prevalence of the sale and sexual exploitation of young girls to foreign workers for the purposes of marriage. It urged the government to criminalise and prosecute the sale of girls. The Committee also expressed concern about the legal minimum age of marriage, and it urged the government to revise the Islanders Marriage Act to ensure that the minimum age is raised to 18 for both men and women. It was also raised that the government should make primary education compulsory, as one of the reasons for the high dropout rates is child marriage.

During its 2016 Universal Periodic Review the Solomon Islands agreed to examine recommendations related to ending child marriage and the practice of bride price.

In 2014, the CEDAW Committee expressed concerns that girls continue to be subjected to child marriage and bride-selling under customary laws, and urged the government to raise the minimum age of marriage (including customary marriages) to 18 years for girls and boys and to prohibit any customary practices that discriminate against women and girls.

In 2018 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concerns about the sale of girls to foreign workers in the natural resource sector for the purpose of sex and marriage. The Committee also raised concerns regarding the timeline for reviewing the Islanders Births, Deaths and Marriage Act which allows girls to marry at the age of 15. Despite the report identifying the legal gap for the minimum age for marriage, the government responded to the Committee that "Raising the minimum age of marriage of 15 was not a priority of the ongoing legal reforms at the moment."

Solomon Islands is a partner country for the Global Partnership for Education.

Regionally, the Spotlight Pacific Regional Initiative builds on existing commitments across 16 Pacific Island countries, including the Solomon Islands.

With the support of the International Migration Organization and Save the Children, the Ministry of Commerce, Industries, Labour and Immigration and the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force have established a Child Protection Committee in the Western Province to tackle the issue of child marriage, trafficking and sexual exploitation in logging camps.

The National Policy to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls (2016-2020) recognises early marriage as a form of gender-based violence, but it does not include any specific objective or action to end this practice.

Between 2009-2018, UN Women established the Pacific Regional Ending Violence Against Women Facility Fund (Pacific Fund) in 8 Pacific countries: Solomon Islands, Nauru, Vanuatu, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga. This fund specialized in the regional facilitation and support of local governments and civil society organizations to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls using a gender-responsive human rights approach.

In 2019, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) conducted research on the increase of violence against women and girls (particularly in regard to transactional and exploitative sexual relationships, child and forced marriages) among communities affected by logging-related immigration. With the Family Support Centre and the support of the European Union, the IOM has also implemented a project on “Protecting the Rights of Women and Children Particularly Girls in Migration-Affected Communities” to raise awareness at the community and provincial level.

The Islanders Marriage Act states that the legal age of marriage is 15 years of age, with parental consent required up until the age of 18 (or judicial consent where parental consent is not possible).

In practice, many customary marriages involving girls under the age of 15 still take place. Customary marriage in the Solomon Islands (marriage arranged according to indigenous customs rather than statutory ceremonies) is closely tied to the concept of customary land inheritance. The disjuncture between customary and formal marriage laws makes it challenging to lay down sanctions for customary marriages.

In addition, there are contradictory provisions regarding who is considered a child under Solomon Islanders laws. The Child and Family Welfare Act 2017 defines a child as “a person who is under the age of 18 years but does not include a child who is or has been married”. The Penal Code (Amendment) (Sexual Offences) Act 2016 defines a child as “a person under 18 years of age”. However, the Penal code also stipulates that the age of consent to sexual activity is 15 years.