This Anti-Corruption Helpdesk brief was produced in response to a query from a U4 Partner Agency. The U4 Helpdesk is operated by Transparency International in collaboration with the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre based at the Chr. Michelsen Institute.
Query
Please provide an overview of corruption and anti-corruption in the Solomon Islands, including its drivers and legal and institutional framework against corruption.
Purpose
We are preparing an up-coming in-country anti-corruption workshop in the Solomon Islands.
Content
- Overview of corruption in the Solomon Islands
- Corruption in natural resource management
- Governance structures and anti-corruption efforts in the Solomon Islands
- References
Caveat
There are very few publicly available sources of information on corruption in the Solomon Islands, and almost no recent datasets and information about the state of corruption and anti-corruption in the country. More resources would need to be allocated to compile a comprehensive corruption profile for the country. This answers draws on a previous Helpdesk answer on corruption challenges in small island developing states in the Pacific region.
Summary
As a developing small island state recovering from a period of political instability and civil unrest, the Solomon Islands face a number of corruption challenges fuelled by the size of the country and its geographic features, low state penetration, weak central institutions, of the region and specific governance challenges associated with the management of natural resources. Corruption manifest itself in a variety of forms, ranging from petty corruption, embezzlement, grand and political corruption and various forms of nepotism and patronage networks. Corrupt practices in the management of natural resources are specific areas of concerns given the current prospects of transitioning from a logging to a minerals-based economy in the coming years, with the country insufficiently prepared for this transition.
The government has recognised the corruption challenges facing the country and the management of national resources, and is committed to address it with the development of an anti-corruption strategy, a freedom of information policy, the enactment of an anti-corruption bill and a whistleblower protection bill as a precursor to a right to information bill, as well as reform to strengthen existing anti-corruption legislation and institutions.
Authors
Marie Chêne, Transparency International, [email protected]
Reviewers
Kate Hanlon, Transparency International, [email protected]
Date
08/03/2017
