Solomon Islands under the Universal Periodic Review

On Wednesday, 11 May, 2026, the Solomon Islands underwent its fourth review under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a human rights mechanism of the United Nations which reviews the human rights records of each member state every four years and a half.

In May 2025, in collaboration with Franciscans International, we conducted a field visit to the Solomon Islands to meet with local partners and better understand the reality on the ground ahead of the UPR. Meetings involved ground research, interviews, and a three-day workshop with community and religious leaders as well as civil society representatives. We discussed advocacy strategies and identified key concerns to share with national authorities and contribute to the UPR.

In our submission, we describe the concerns we have about the situation regarding logging and mining operations. These include arguments that the current legal framework is ineffective at representing the interests of local communities and that the logging and mining industries cause severe harm to the well-being of those living in affected areas as well as to their environment, with women and children particularly harmed. We also make several recommendations on how the Solomon Islands can move forward to better resolve these problems. A factsheet was created summarizing our findings and recommendations, which we proceeded to use for our lobbying efforts.

Ahead of the review, we lobbied several recommending states by meeting with their representatives and urging them to present our recommendations during the UPR. These efforts were very effective, with several states making recommendations that reflected our same concerns. 

One of our recommendations urged the state to pass into law Forests Bill 2004 and Mineral Resources Bill 2025. Several states that we lobbied, like the UK, implored the Solomon Islands to adopt the revised forestry and mineral resources bills, and many others urged more strict regulation of forestry and mining operations. In addition, our recommendations stating that the government must ensure fair representation of local communities (including women and youth), and that gender-based violence must be combatted were similarly well-received. Lastly, many states called on the Solomon Islands to raise the legal marriage age to 18, which we also advocated for.

We at the Dominicans for Justice and Peace urge the Government of the Solomon Islands to accept and implement all of these UPR recommendations, and we remain committed to continued work with our partners and other civil society actors to bring about real change on the ground.

Written by Clyde Lambert

Solomon Islands Review – 52nd session of Universal Periodic Review | UN Web TV

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