Belyndar Maonia Rikimani, from Solomon Islands, has been awarded the prestigious Round Table Peter Lyon prize for her article, ‘Climate justice and Pacific Island countries – a case study on grassroots advocacy’, published in the August 2024 issue of The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs and Policy Studies.
Belyndar graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree and a Professional Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of the South Pacific. She is currently the Secretary to the Trade Dispute Panel under the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour and Immigration, where her everyday work deals mainly with labour law and employment issues of workers within Solomon Islands. She was one of the founding members of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, who have led the Advisory Opinion Campaign on Climate Change and Human Rights, and she is currently the Awareness Chairperson of the organization within the Executive Committee. She is also a One Young World Ambassador representing Solomon Islands. She is a passionate advocate for climate justice for the Pacific Islands and the region, and strongly believes that change has to start with ourselves; and that our collective efforts can make a big difference if we all stand together.
Founded in 1910, The Round Table is the oldest English-language international affairs journal, and provides analysis and commentary on all aspects of international relations. The journal is the major source for coverage of the policy issues concerning the contemporary Commonwealth, with occasional articles on themes of historical interest.
Find out more about the Round Table Journal
The Peter Lyon prize is an annual prize for the best policy-oriented article on a theme of significance for the contemporary Commonwealth published in the journal each calendar year. It was instituted in memory of Peter Lyon (1934-2010), who was Reader in International Relations at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, and Editor of The Round Table from 1983 to 2004. Widely acknowledged as one of the leading experts on the Commonwealth, he was keen to bridge the divide between academia and policy-making, and over the period of his editorship he wrote almost 100 editorials and other articles for the journal, commenting on more or less every issue of relevance to the contemporary Commonwealth.
For more information about the prize and previous winners, see Peter Lyon prize – The Round Table.
