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The Pitcairn Islands, officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four islands—Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno—are scattered across several hundred miles of ocean and have a combined land area of about 18 square miles (47 km2). Henderson Island accounts for 86% of the land area, but only Pitcairn Island is inhabited. The islands nearest to the Pitcairn Islands are Mangareva at 688 km to the west and Easter Island at 1,929 km to the east.
The Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific Ocean, with a population of about 50. The politics of the islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Mayor is the head of government. The territory's constitution is the Local Government Ordinance of 1964. In terms of population, the Pitcairn Islands is the smallest democracy in the world.
Adamstown is the capital of, and the only settlement on, the Pitcairn Islands, the only British Overseas Territory that is located in the Pacific Ocean.
The history of the Pitcairn Islands begins with the colonization of the islands by Polynesians in the 11th century. Polynesian people established a culture that flourished for four centuries and then vanished. They lived on Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, and on Mangareva Island 540 kilometres (340 mi) to the northwest, for about 400 years.
Steven Raymond Christian is a politician, convicted sex offender and child rapist from the Pitcairn Islands. He was mayor of the islands from 1999 until 2004, when he was removed from office after being found guilty in the Pitcairn child sexual abuse trial.
In 2004, seven men living on Pitcairn Island faced 55 charges relating to sexual offences against children and young people. The accused represented a third of the island's male population and included Steve Christian, the mayor. On 24 October, all but one of the defendants were found guilty on at least some of the charges. Another six men living abroad, including Shawn Christian, who later served as mayor of Pitcairn, were tried on 41 charges in a separate trial in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2005.
The Island Council is the legislature of the Pitcairn Islands.
The Governor of Pitcairn is the representative of the British monarch in the Pitcairn Islands, the last remaining British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. Despite technically being under the authority of the colonial governor, Pitcairn has local autonomy.
Jay Calvin Warren is a political figure from the Pacific territory of the Pitcairn Islands.
Meralda Elva Junior Warren is an artist and poet of the Pitcairn Islands, a remote British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific. She works in both English and Pitkern, the island's distinctive creole language. Her book, Mi Bas Side Orn Pitcairn, written with the island's six children, is the first to be written and published in both English and Pitkern. As an artist, she works with tapa cloth, a Polynesian tradition. She has also published a cookbook featuring Pitcairn Island cuisine.
General elections were held in the Pitcairn Islands on 15 December 2004. Voters elected a mayor, a council chairman, and four councillors to sit on the island council.
Betty Christian is the Communications Officer and Island Secretary of the Pitcairn Islands. Appointed by the colonial Governor, the Island Secretary is an ex officio member of the Island Council, the legislative body of Britain's last remaining Pacific colony. She previously served as an elected member of the Council in 1990 and 1993.
Gender representation has been a significant issue in Canadian politics.
The Pitcairn Supreme Court is the supreme court of the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory. It is a superior court of record. Provisions for a supreme court were set out in amendments to the Old Constitution Order in the 1990s. The court first sat for the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004, and its powers were further elaborated on in the Constitution Order 2010.
Law enforcement in the Pitcairn Islands is the responsibility of the Pitcairn Islands Police, the smallest British police force, which has just two constables. In the aftermath of child sexual abuse revelations, the force did briefly number five constables including Ministry of Defence Police officers on temporary secondment. Historically, and until 2000, a Pitcairn Island resident was appointed as the island group's sole police officer, and also acted as immigration and customs officer. From 2000 to 2015, the combined police, immigration, and customs role was held by a series of foreign professionals on short-term secondment. In 2015 the Pitcairn Government website announced that both previous systems would be employed alongside each other, with one local island police officer and one foreign police officer on secondment, working together.
Pervis Ferris Young was magistrate of the British Overseas Territory of Pitcairn Island from 1967 until 1975. Young was born on Pitcairn Island and died in 2003 at Auckland. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law Ivan Christian, and was uncle to future mayors Steve Christian and Brenda Christian.
General elections were held in the Pitcairn Islands on 8 December 2008.
Shawn Brent Christian is a Pitcairnese politician, who served as Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands between 2014 and 2019. He previously served in prison after being convicted of child rape.
Same-sex marriage in the Pitcairn Islands has been legal since 14 May 2015. An ordinance to permit same-sex marriages was passed unanimously by the Island Council on 1 April 2015, and received royal assent by Governor Jonathan Sinclair on 5 May.
Charlene Evelyn Dolly Warren-Peu is a Pitcairnese politician, who served as Mayor of the Pitcairn Islands from January 2020 to December 2022. She had previously served as Deputy Mayor from 2016 to 2019 and Member of the Island Council from 2014 to 2015.
References
- 1 2 "Rapist's sister elected first woman mayor of Pitcairn isle - Scotsman.com News". The Scotsman . Edinburgh. 9 November 2004. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- ↑ "Pitcairn Government". Pitcairn Islands Study Center. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- ↑ "Pitcairn News - News and Information about Pitcairn Island". Archived from the original on 20 May 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
