The initiative is one of 16 projects selected from 1,068 proposals submitted worldwide under the UNESCO-Aschberg Programme for Artists and Cultural Professionals 2026. Solomon Islands is also among six countries whose governmental institutions will receive UNESCO technical assistance to revise or develop laws, regulations, policies and measures promoting and protecting the status of artists and artistic freedom.
Supported by the Government of Norway, the UNESCO-Aschberg Programme for Artists and Cultural Professionals promotes artistic freedom and the professional, social and economic status of artists. The Programme contributes to the implementation of the 1980 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist (1980) and the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
Building on Progress in Copyright and Artists’ Rights in Solomon Islands
The newly selected initiative builds on UNESCO’s longstanding collaboration with the Government of Solomon Islands to strengthen the country’s cultural and creative industries, including through the Joint SDG Fund programme “Building Resilience and Ending Vulnerabilities in Small Island Developing States through Economic Diversification, Digital Transformation and Improved Livelihoods,” implemented from 2022 to 2025.
A major focus of this work was strengthening copyright and intellectual property systems and supporting artists and cultural professionals to better understand and manage their rights. An important milestone was the establishment of the Solomon Islands Performing Rights Organisation (SIPRO), creating a national mechanism to support the collective management of musicians’ and creators’ rights. The establishment of SIPRO created an important institutional foundation for the next phase of copyright reform in Solomon Islands.
Advancing copyright reform
Building on this progress, the UNESCO-Aschberg project will support Solomon Islands in strengthening its copyright and intellectual property framework.
Implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, SIPRO, artists’ associations and other national stakeholders, the initiative will support the review of the Copyright Act 1987 and the development of implementing regulations through legal analysis, stakeholder consultations, technical drafting and validation.
The project will seek to strengthen the protection of copyright and related rights, as well as licensing, enforcement and collective rights management mechanisms, while considering emerging issues associated with digital technologies.
Through this work, the initiative aims to strengthen the legal and institutional environment in which artists and cultural professionals can protect, manage and benefit from their creative work.
READ MORE: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-aschberg-programme-supports-copyright-reform-and-artists-rights-solomon-islands?hub=701
