A Traditional Knowledge and Expression of Culture Bill in its draft form is now with the Attorney Generals (AG) Office for consideration.
Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, John Wasi, revealed this to Solomon Star this week in an interview.
He said the Bill is to protect all the traditional knowledge and expression of culture in this country from the outside world.
“The Bill which has been drafted by MCT is now with the AG office for consideration.
“This Bill is to engage, protect, promote and preserve the traditional knowledge of our people including the cultural expressions.
“It is a very important Bill, which my Ministry looks forward to passing it and we will work with the communities at large in terms of its implementation,” Mr Wasi said.
The Tourism PS added many local traditional knowledge and cultural expression have benefited people many around the world, because Solomon Island does not have a law to protect it.
“So much of our traditional knowledge and cultural expressions have been taken for granted and people make millions of dollars out of it.
“The example is the lullaby song from Baegu woman, which deep forest makes millions of dollars out of it. This is the kind of cultural expression that we want to protect our culture from.”
“Therefore, once this Bill is cleared at the AG office, then it should go to parliament for deliberation and then gazetted as a law,” Mr Wasi said.
By DENVER NEWTER
