Domestic violence in Samoa

Samoa, formally the Independent State of Samoa, has a population of approximately 188,000 people. Samoa gained independence from New Zealand in 1962 and has a Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy which incorporates aspects of traditional practices. The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) is currently in government and has been so for over 20 years.

While the Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa provides for the protection of certain fundamental human rights, there continue to be several major issues. Major areas of concern include the under-representation of women, domestic violence and poor prison conditions. Reports issued under the auspices of the United Nations have noted that societal attitudes towards human rights tend to be sceptical, this is contributed to concern that that enforcement of such rights will be at the detriment of Samoan customs and tradition.

Samoa is a member of the United Nations and has also ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the eight fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). In 2012 Samoa ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPPED).

Due to limited resources, Samoa has previously failed to issue reports within the designated time frames of the conventions. For example, Samoa submitted its initial, second and third periodic reports under CEDAW as one document in May 2003 when they were due in 1993, 1997 and 2001 respectively.

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