Women
Rape and Domestic Violence: The constitution prohibits the abuse of women. Rape of women and men is a crime. The criminalization of “unlawful sexual connection” with another person without that person’s consent applies to spouses and is punishable by 14 years in prison. The courts treated rape seriously, and the conviction rate was high. The penalty for rape is up to life imprisonment, but no court has ever imposed a life sentence.
When police received complaints from abused women, authorities generally investigated and charged the offender. Authorities charge domestic violence as common criminal assault, with a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. Village councils typically punished domestic-violence offenders only if they considered the abuse extreme, such as when there were visible signs of physical harm. In the past few years, several villages have taken the extra step of incorporating specific fines into their village bylaws.
The government acknowledged that rape and domestic abuse were of significant concern. The report National Public Inquiry into Family Violence, released by the government in 2018, revealed that 86 percent of women experienced some form of physical violence from an intimate partner, and that 24 percent had experienced choking. Many cases of rape and domestic abuse went unreported because societal attitudes discouraged such reporting and tolerated domestic abuse. Social pressure and fear of reprisal typically caused such abuse to go unreported.
The Ministry of Police’s Domestic Violence Unit works in collaboration with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and focuses on combating domestic abuse. The Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration and the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture, in collaboration with NGOs, carried out educational activities to address domestic violence, sexual abuse, and human rights awareness.
Sexual Harassment: No law specifically punishes sexual harassment, although the law permits an employee who experiences harassment to break an employment contract. There were no reliable statistics on the incidence of sexual harassment. The lack of legislation and a cultural constraint against publicly shaming or accusing someone reportedly caused sexual harassment to be underreported. Victims had little incentive to report instances of sexual harassment, since doing so could jeopardize their career or family name.
Reproductive Rights: There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization on the part of government authorities.
According to a 2019-2020 study released by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF, and a 2020 report from the World Bank, while 86 percent of women ages 15-49 had knowledge of modern contraceptive methods, 39 percent of married women in that age cohort had an unmet need for contraception. The government worked with the NGO Samoa Victim Support Group to provide access to sexual and reproductive health services for survivors of sexual violence. Emergency contraception was available to survivors of sexual violence and to the general population.
Discrimination: Women and men have equal rights under the constitution and statutory law, but traditional attitudes continued to consign some women to subordinate roles. Women faced discrimination including in interactions with police and in some judicial processes. The government generally enforced the law effectively.
Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination
The constitution states that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection under the law, and it bars discrimination on grounds of descent, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, social origin, place of birth, or family status. There were no reports of racial or ethnic violence during the year.
Some villages, however, banned ownership by Chinese nationals of shops on village-owned land (more than 80 percent of the land in the country).
Children
Birth Registration: A child is a citizen by birth in the country if at least one parent is a citizen. The government also may grant citizenship by birth to a child born in the country if the child would otherwise be stateless. Citizenship also derives by birth abroad to a citizen parent who either was born in the country or resided there at least three years. By law children without a birth certificate may not attend primary schools, but authorities did not strictly enforce this law.
Child Abuse: Law and tradition prohibit abuse of children, but both tolerate corporal punishment. The law prohibits corporal punishment in schools; a teacher convicted of corporal punishment of a student may face a maximum one-year prison term. In 2020 a school principal was convicted and fined for caning six students with a hose as punishment for the students’ posting pictures of themselves to social media wearing their school uniforms. Following the incident, the minister of education, sports, and culture publicly spoke out against corporal punishment.
The government aggressively prosecuted reported cases of child abuse.
The report National Public Inquiry into Family Violence, released in 2018, found that nine out of 10 children in the country experienced violence in their lifetime. Press reports indicated continued high levels of child abuse, especially of incest and indecent assault cases; the reports appeared to be due to citizens’ increased awareness of the importance of reporting physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children. In July, a man was jailed for 13 months after pleading guilty to sexually abusing his minor niece.
Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: The legal minimum age for marriage is 18 for both men and women. Consent of at least one parent or guardian is necessary if either party is younger than 21. Early marriage did not generally occur.
Sexual Exploitation of Children: The minimum age for consensual sex is 16. Under the law the maximum penalty for sexual relations with children younger than age 12 is life imprisonment and for children between ages 12 and 15 the maximum penalty is 10 years’ imprisonment. The law contains a specific criminal provision regarding child pornography, and authorities generally enforced the law. The law specifies a maximum seven-year prison sentence for a person found guilty of publishing, distributing, or exhibiting indecent material featuring a child. Because 16 is the age of majority, the law does not protect persons ages 16 and 17.
Although comprehensive data on the sexual abuse of children was not available, it remained a widespread problem, and the number of incidents reported by local media during the year remained high. In the 2018 report National Public Inquiry into Family Violence, nearly 10 percent of women respondents reported they were raped as children by a family member. Social pressure and fear of reprisal meant this number likely represented a significant underreporting.
Antisemitism
The country had a small Jewish community, and there were no known reports of antisemitic acts.
Trafficking in Persons
There were no confirmed reports during the year that traffickers exploited domestic or foreign victims in Samoa or that traffickers exploited victims from Samoa abroad.
Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics
Criminalization: “Sodomy” is illegal, with a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. The law also prohibits renting, leasing, occupying, or managing any premises used for the commission of “indecent acts” between males, with a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment. Authorities did not enforce these provisions regarding consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults.
Violence against LGBTQI+ Persons: There were no reports of acts of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex (LGBTQI+) persons.
Discrimination: Although there were no reports of societal violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity, there were isolated cases of discrimination. The law does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics; nor does it recognize LGBTQI+ individuals, couples, and their families. There are no hate crime or antigay propaganda laws, nor are there criminal justice mechanisms to aid in the prosecution of bias-motivated crimes against members of the LGBTQI+ community. Although society accepted the traditional Polynesian fa’afafine (transgender, nonbinary) community, which plays a prominent role in the country, members of the community reported instances of social discrimination.
Availability of Legal Gender Recognition: There is no mechanism for legal gender recognition or changing one’s name or gender assigned at birth on official documents.
Involuntary or Coercive Medical or Psychological Practices Specifically Targeting LGBTQI+ Individuals: Pathologization or treatment of sexual orientation by health care professionals was not reported. Other so-called conversion therapy practices and intersex normalization surgeries are not explicitly banned.
Restrictions of Freedom of Expression, Association, or Peaceful Assembly: There were no restrictions on those speaking out about LGBTQI+ matters, such as so-called antigay propaganda laws, “hate speech” laws, and restrictions on the ability of LGBTQI+ organizations to legally register or convene events such as Pride festivities.
Persons with Disabilities
Persons with disabilities were unable to access education, health services, public buildings, and transportation on an equal basis with others. Government information and communication on disability concerns was not provided in accessible formats.
While no law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities in the provision of public services, the law does prohibit disability-based discrimination in employment. There were no reports of violence, harassment, intimidation, or abuses against persons with disabilities.
Most public buildings were accessible to persons with disabilities.
Some children with disabilities attended regular public schools, while others attended one of at least three schools in the capital created specifically to educate students with disabilities.