Letters from Samoa: Samoa Celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities

With disability students and other Australian volunteers in front of the painting done by the students.

With disability students and other Australian volunteers in front of the painting done by the students.


This week is a very busy week in Samoa in the disability community. We are celebrating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPwD), with a whole week of events. An Opening Ceremony was held yesterday on the island of Savai’i. Generally, official ceremonies and events are held in the capital Apia, on the island of ‘Upolu. However, the organising committee wanted to ensure inclusion of persons with disabilities in Savai’i for this year’s ceremony, and so it was held in the village of Salealoga. It was well attended, by disability NGOs and service providers, as well as students and staff of special schools from around Samoa. The President of NOLA (Nuanua O le Alofa), a disability advocacy organisation based in Apia, gave an excellent speech about the need of inclusion of persons with disabilities in all fields of life in Samoa. This was in keeping with this year’s IDPwD theme, ‘Break barriers, open doors: to realise an inclusive society for all’. There was a speech competition for young school students, in which they had to speak on breaking barriers for inclusion of PwD. That was followed by a debate between students of Amoa College and the Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC), who debated on whether PwD should be treated the same as other people. The debate demonstrated a need for education about PwD, including an understanding of correct terminology (e.g. to not refer to persons without disabilities as ‘normal’ compared to PwD). Maiava Toma, the Ombudsman, and I attended, and were seated in the Officials’ fale overseeing the proceedings. Maiava was appointed to present the prizes for the speech and debating competitions, and had generously donated the first prize for the speech competition. Continue reading

CEDAW 52nd Session Country Reports: New Zealand and Samoa

By Mel O’Brien

I thought I would put NZ and Samoa in the same blog post, as they are two Pacific island countries, and so it is a useful comparison. The two states are in completely different situations, however, in many ways, with regards to advancement and equality of women.

The issue of women in politics continues to be a pressing issue for the Committee, and they have pushed this topic with every state whose report(s) has(ve) been considered. There was no love lost with either NZ or Samoa, however. In the case of NZ, there was, we repeatedly heard, "no appetite" for special measures like quotas to increase the number of women in parliament. NZ does have a relatively high percentage of women in parliament, at 32%, however this is down from previous governments, and in general the trend towards women’s advancement is decreasing in NZ. As a consequence, the Committee pushed for NZ to consider implementing temporary special measures, although the NZ delegation did not take to this idea. Continue reading

30 Years of Working to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women- 52nd Session of CEDAW

By Mel O’Brien

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Today the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women held a 30th Anniversary Event during its 52nd Session at UN Headquarters. The brief event focused on women’s political participation and leadership, and the pursuit of equality in this area. Mr Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, spoke about the importance of equality and non-discrimination and how his office is seeking to achieve that, through intergration of human rights principles. Michele Bachelet, the head of UN Women, gave an excellent speech about how women in positions of leadership inspire young women to seek further education and aspire to be leaders themselves some day. The event also heard from several women from different countries, who hold positions in their home countries in the legal profession, government or civil society organisations, and the challenges that they face in their home states with regards to achieving parliamentary parity and legislative changes to implement rights under CEDAW.

By 2030, the UN is aiming for 30% women in all governments/parliaments across the world. Currently only about 30 states have at least 30% women in their parliaments, which certainly makes the UN goal an ambitious one, but still an essential one. Having women in leadership roles ensures that a wider variety of issues are addressed by governments, including women’s concerns. 

I am attending the 52nd Session of the CEDAW as a delegate of the American Society of International Law, and will post regularly during the next three weeks. During this session, the CEDAW will address the state reports of Bulgaria, Guyana, Jamaica, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Bahamas, and Samoa.  

Update on Australia’s refugee policy

By Mel O’Brien

A month ago I wrote about the positive progress of the Australian government under Kevin Rudd. I mentioned in particular the changes the Rudd government has made to refugee policy, but still recognised the need to address the issue of mandatory detention of refugees. Well, the government was listening! This week Chris Evans, the federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship made a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra outlining the government’s ‘New Directions in Detention- Restoring Integrity to Australia’s Immigration System’. Continue reading