Leslie Jacques...British rep to the island. 

Should we call it compensation or what is it really? A reward from Britain to the Pitcairn victims of sexual abuse who cooperated in the sex investigations?
Almost a decade after the revelation of sexual abuse on the British overseas territory, the United Kingdom has announced compensation for the Pitcairn women who were victims of sexual abuse over a period spanning three generations.
The victims, some live on the island and others overseas, stand to earn as much as £500,000 (A$1.13 million approximately) under the United Kingdom Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) tariff scheme for any personal injury they sustained as a result of sexual assault since 1961.
But, the compensation as outlined in the Compensation Framework comes with conditions.
It will only be paid out to those who had cooperated with Operation Unique, an investigation of sexual abuse in the British overseas territory dating back three generations.
The abuse which came to light in 1999 resulted in the conviction of eight men, about half the adult male population on the island.
“What happened to these women was terrible and no amount of money will take that pain away. But I hope this will give them some recognition of their suffering,” Foreign Office Minister Gillian Merron said.
According to the Compensation Framework, those eligible for compensation are:

• those who were identified during the Operation Unique investigations as having suffered personal injury as a result of being a direct victim of criminal sexual abuse on Pitcairn Island and where the police considered there to be sufficient evidence to charge another person with one or more criminal offences;
• compensation will only be considered for the injured person and not for their spouse, dependents or estate;
• compensation will not be considered for criminal injury sustained before September 7, 1961;
• an application will be considered where the injured person and assailant were living together at the time as members of the same family;
• the injuries may be physical or mental (temporary mental anxiety, medically verified or a disabling mental illness confirmed by psychiatric diagnosis);
• it is not necessary for the assailant to have been convicted of a criminal offence in connection with the injury. This may be due to reason of age, insanity or death of the assailant but where the assailant’s conduct may nevertheless be treated as constituting a criminal act.
Compensation, however, will be refused where it is considered the applicant failed to cooperate with the governor, police or other authorities in attempting to bring an assailant to justice.
It will also be refused if the applicant does not assist the authorities in the processing of the application.
The award will also depend on the conduct of the applicant before, during or after the incident and also if the governor is satisfied there was no likelihood an assailant would benefit directly or indirectly from the compensation.

Level of compensation
Interestingly, all those applying for compensation must renounce any and all potential, existing or future claims or cases against the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Government of Pitcairn Islands, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, British High Commission and police authorities, officers or persons connected with the Operation Unique.
“We have agreed to advise the Governor of the Pitcairn Islands on the appropriate level of compensation payable to eligible victims.
“This will be based on information from the Governor’s Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,” CICA told ISLANDS BUSINESS.
“ We will assess this information in accordance with the tariff of injuries in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
“The circumstances of each individual case will vary, however, and so it would be impossible to say now how much an eligible claimant may receive. The Governor’s Office will be responsible for paying any awards.”
A group of women were planning to file a class action against the British government and while the latter was refusing compensation initially, it has now decided to agree to the compensation but on discriminatory grounds.
When the abuse came to light, a  total of 96 charges were laid against 17 men on and off the volcanic island, 3300 miles from New Zealand, which has a population of 50—most of whom are descendants of the mutineers from the Royal Navy ship the Bounty.
Eight men were eventually convicted of a variety of sexual offences against children.
Six received prison terms, including a former island mayor Steve Christian, now 57, and two were given community sentences, most have served their sentences.
However, many potential witnesses dropped out of the trial under pressure from families and friends, who warned they could spell the end of the community.
The abuse also resulted in UK taking a more serious approach towards the running of Pitacairn Island.
But for Pitcairn Islanders, the presence of the British and their new policies could spell the end of their culture. Discovered in 1767 by the British and settled in 1790 by the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions, the Pitcairneers have developed their own culture and language.
One unfair policy reported by the Pitcairn News was the training of all official visitors to the island on “abuse spotting”.

Abuse spotting
“In the October public meeting, there was discussions on why the same course on abuse spotting was not offered to Pitcairneers especially those living on Pitcairn.
“A vote by show of hands on who wanted to do such a course was almost unanimous.”
The newsletter said the course would help the islanders spot abuse by “outsiders” and went on to accuse non-islanders of spying on the Pitcairneers.
“We are renowned for our unique sense of humour and nicknames of each other and places,” the newsletter said, implying that the outsider may not understand what the islanders meant in their conversations.
One incident, they said, which has earned an “outsider” the official nickname “backstroke”, was committed on Tedside (the only spot on the island where children can play in the sand).
The official who was married was caught in an uncompromising position with another married government official prompting the islanders to question the right of officials “to perceive themselves morally better and safe than the Pitcairneers”.
The islanders were also disappointed with the Child Protection Ordinance, giving the government the right to remove children from the island if their safety was a concern.
“Shortly after the ordinance was passed, one child was at risk of such fate because a small bruise was discovered on his backside,” Pitcairn News said.
The child is still with his parents but the newsletter sarcastically recommended to parents “to wrap their children in cotton wool because it would be easy to suffer bruising for various innocent reasons”.
When this edition went to press, the British representative to Pitcairn Island, Leslie Jacques,  had not responded to our queries.