Samoa has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The government submitted a 2020 Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum. It mentioned that the legal minimum age of marriage is 19 for girls and 21 for boys but a girl can marry at 16 and a boy at 18 years with parental consent. It also highlighted that the median age of marriage in Samoa is 23 for women and 27 for men.
The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2024 High Level Political Forum.
Samoa co-sponsored the 2014 and 2016 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.
Samoa ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1992, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.
During its 2021 Universal Periodic Review, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern at the high prevalence rates of child marriage with parental consent and recommended that the government address the root causes of child marriage and raise awareness on eliminating negative attitudes surrounding early marriage, adolescent pregnancies and having children out of wedlock.
During its 2016 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child raised concerns that the Marriage Ordinance Act 1961 sets the minimum age of marriage for girls at 16, and that exceptions are allowed for them to marry even younger at times.
In 2018, the CEDAW Committee recommended Samoa to expedite the amendment to the Marriage Ordinance, 1961, to raise the minimum age of marriage for women to 18 years, and address the root causes of early marriage, including through awareness-raising programmes targeting both men and women.
Samoa is a participant country of the Spotlight Initiative, a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and United Nations supporting partners and institutions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030.
Samoa is a pathfinding country of the Global Partnership Education.
Regionally, the Spotlight Pacific Regional Initiative builds on existing commitments across 16 Pacific Island countries, including Samoa. In Samoa, this initiative aims to:
Support the revision of six family laws, including laws around marginalised women and girls’ rights, domestic violence, and violence against women and girls.
Strengthen capacity of women's rights advocates, government ministries and parliamentarians.
Develop a National Family Violence Prevention Strategy in six pilot villages to promote and raise awareness on gender equality, attitudes and behaviours.
Support and strengthen women's groups and civil society organisations in the implementation of laws, budgeting and mapping on sexual and gender-based violence.
In 2019, at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, Samoa committed to moving towards zero sexual and gender-based violence, including child and early marriage.