Van TreaseHoward, ‘Colonial Origins of Vanautu Politics’ In Van TreaseHoward (ed), Melanesian Politics: Stael Blong Vanuatu (1995) 21.
4.
Article 95 Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu.
5.
Article 29(1) Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu.
6.
LindstromLamont, ‘Chiefs in Vanuatu Today’ in LindstromLamontWhiteGeoffrey M (eds), Chiefs Today (1997).
7.
For further information see AllenM, ‘Homosexuality, Male Power and Political Organisation in North Vanuatu: A Comparative Analysis’ in HerdtGilbert, (ed), Ritualised Homosexuality in Melanesia (1984).
8.
Observations by HarrissonTom that ‘the [Big Nambas] women have developed a parallel pleasure system of their own, much less elaborate than the male’ were reported in SimpsonColin, Islands of Men (1955) 123.
9.
Pentecost Island, eg, was formerly known to planters as ‘the home of homosexuality’, (ibid); The Director of the Department of Culture has recently stated that homosexuals have existed in Vanuatu ‘throughout the centuries’ (‘Churches Criticise Henry’Trading PostIssue 441, 21 April 1999, 9).
10.
In HerdtGilbert (ed), Ritualised Homosexuality in Melanesia (1984) 3.
11.
SimpsonColin, above n 8.
12.
‘The Tourist Dollar That's Being Questioned’Vanuatu Weekly Hebdominaire 22 August 1998.
13.
Reported in ‘We Respect their Rights but we Don't Encourage it’ Trading PostIssue 386, 3 October 1998.
14.
The question was ‘Olsem wanem long ol man mo woman we oli jus blong mared autsaed naturel wei?’ or ‘What do you think about men or women who choose to marry outside the natural way?’ (Trading PostIssue 387, 7 October 1998) The ways in which the language shapes the discourse on homosexuality would make an interesting study.
15.
FoucaultMichel, The History of Sexuality: Volume 1 An Introduction (1976) 43.
16.
HerdtGilbert, above n 11, xii–xiii.
17.
Public comments by Marilyn Tahi, Director of the Women's Centre Against Violence that homosexuality should not be encouraged because it ‘does have social implications’ (‘We Respect their Rights but we Don't Encourage it’ Trading Post, Issue 386, 3 October 1998) and that homosexuality ‘would be like a fire on our culture’ (‘The Tourist Dollar That's Being Questioned’Vanuatu Weekly Hebdominaire 22 August 1998) reflect this strain of reasoning.
18.
Section 99 Penal Code (Cap 135).
19.
Section 97 Penal Code (Cap 135). This provision of the Penal Code is gender specific and does not make it illegal for an adult woman to have sex with a boy aged less than 15 years.
