OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN, SAMOA Samoa’s Second Universal Periodic Review Recommendation 9: That the Samoan Government collects statistical data on domestic and sexual violence disaggregated by sex, age, region, and victim/perpetrator relationship, to be reported on a quarterly basis directly to NHRI. 3.2 Children 17. Progress on the protection of children’s rights has been made in Samoa, including through the Child Care and Protection Bill currently before Parliament and the Child Labour Taskforce. However, the NHRI would like to draw the Council’s attention to the following children's rights issues which present a particular problem in Samoa: misunderstanding about the rights of the child; access to education; child labour; and abuse, including sexual abuse and incest. 18. The NHRI’s SHRR focus group consultations indicated widespread misconceptions about the human rights of Samoa’s children. A commonly raised concern was that human rights give children the freedom to misbehave and disobey their parents.32 Recommendation 10: That the Samoan Government collaborate with the NHRI and relevant NGOs to deliver a community education campaign to dispel the misconception about the rights of the child. 19. Samoa is on track to meet Millennium Development Goal 2 in achieving universal compulsory primary education with the national schooling participation rate for children aged 5-14 above 90% since 2005.33 Primary and secondary education in Samoa is free under the Samoa School Fee Grant Scheme (SSFGS). Recommendation 11: That the Samoan Government withdraws its current reservation under Article 28 of the CRC. 20. While the NHRI commends the introduction of the SSFGS, access to primary education is still restricted for some Samoan children as primary education cannot be said to be completely free. The grant scheme only covers tuition fees, books and stationary costs.34 It is the incidental costs of education35 that prevent some children from attending school, especially in rural areas. Recommendation 12: That the Samoan Government assist in reducing the incidental costs of education so that primary education in Samoa can be completely free. 32 SHRR village focus group qualifying data, notes on file with the NHRI. http://www.ws.undp.org/content/samoa/en/home/mdgoverview/overview/mdg2/ [accessed 2 September 2015]. See also s 4-5 of the Education Act 2009 which ensures compulsory enrolment for children ages 5-14. Failure to enrol a child into school could result in the carer of the child receiving a maximum fine of $5000 WST ($1910 USD). 34 The SSFGS is currently funded by the Australian and New Zealand governments. The Samoan government is making efforts to fund the SSFGS in its national budgets in the future. 35 Such as uniforms, registration fees, transportation and lunches. 33 8