An American academic says Pitcairn Islanders should consider approaching the United Nations and make a unilateral declaration of independence.
Dr Herbert Ford of the Pitcairn Islands Study Centre in California says the proportionately heavy police presence on the island as part of the three year investigation of alleged sex crimes amounts to martial law being imposed.
He says as well the legal system has been compromised and the most logical way to correct it may be to declare independence.
"The United Nations, as you may know, under its committee of 24, looked very very closely at the 16 remaining colonised territories in the world, one of which is Pitcairn Island, and encourages each of them to seek independence in one of three different categories, none of which is a complete standing-alone but has various levels of help from other people who achieve that independence and I see no reason in the world why Pitcairn shouldn't screw up its courage and go about that right away."