The realization of human rights of all, underlies the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than 90% of the SDGs and their targets correspond to human rights obligations.1 As progress is made on achieving the SDGs across their three dimensions of economic, social and environmental, so too, progress is made on human rights obligations. Commendable efforts have been taken by government to date to realize the human rights of Samoans. In Samoa’s Second Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, 2020, the report highlights a Human Rights approach in Sustainable Development in Leaving No one Behind.2 Samoa is currently a party to six of the nine core human rights conventions one of which is the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which Samoa ratified in 2008.3 The ICCPR guarantees civil and political rights including the right to hold and express an opinion and freedom of expression (speech). The ICCPR also embraces the right of access to information held by public bodies which in turn enables the public to be informed and express views on issues important to them. In the national context, freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right under Article 13 1(a) of the Constitution. It reinforces all other human rights by granting individuals the ability to express opinions and speak freely which is essential to bring about change in society and allowing it to develop and progress. My Office is mandated under the Ombudsman Act 2013 to produce a yearly report documenting the state of human rights in Samoa on a specific human rights issue. This Report will be the 7th State of Human Rights Report (SHRR) that my Office has produced and it focuses on the status of freedom of opinion and expression in Samoa, including the right to information. Issues associated with the application of the aforesaid rights and freedoms have been raised frequently through our monitoring work and from our consultations with relevant stakeholders and the public – hence the reason to explore it further. In our first ever SHRR in 2015, freedom of expression was briefly 1 Sarah Rattray, “Human rights and the SDGs - two sides of the same coin”, UNDP Blog (5 July 2019) https://www.undp.org/blogs/human-rights-and-sdgs-two-sides-same-coin. 2 Government of Samoa, Samoa’s Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals to Ensure: Improved Quality of Life for All (Apia, 2020) https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/26429Samoa_Samos2ndVNR2020reduced.pdf. 3 The 9 core human rights conventions include: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC), Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPED), International Convention of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families (ICWM) and United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT). Samoa is a party to the following 6 conventions: CEDAW (1992), CRC (1994), CRPD (2016), CPED (2012), ICCPR (2008), UNCAT (2019). State of Human Rights Report 2021 |5