Nauru

Executive Summary

Nauru is a constitutional republic. International observers deemed the 2019 parliamentary election to be generally free and fair. Parliament elected Lionel Aingimea, a former human rights lawyer and second-term member of parliament, as president.

The police force, under the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, maintains internal security and, as necessary, external security. The country has no military force. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Members of the security forces committed few abuses.

Significant human rights issues included credible reports of censorship and the existence of criminal libel laws, although there were no such cases of the latter issue during the year.

There were no reports that government officials committed egregious human rights abuses or corruption, and impunity was not a problem. The government had mechanisms in place to identify and punish officials who may commit human rights abuses or corruption.