The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) as the Chair of the National Mechanism
for Implementation, Reporting, and Follow Up (NMIRF) on human rights obligations; continues to
schedule a series of consultations to prepare Samoa’s UPR report which is scheduled to be
presented virtually to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday 2
nd of
November 2021. This is Samoa’s third time reporting to the Council, having submitted a national
report and presented to the Council in 2011 and 2016 respectively.
The UPR is a process by which UN Member states report to the Human Rights Council on
the fulfilment of their human rights obligations and commitments, especially efforts made and
challenges faced in implementing the recommendations provided by the Human Rights Council
through the reporting process.
The process of consultations for the UPR report, is connected and thus a continuation of
the consultations held in 2019 and 2020 on Samoa’s Second Voluntary National Review on the
implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. More recently, a ‘UPR Dialogue Session
with Civil Society Organisations,’ was held in partnership with the National Human Rights
Institution/Office of the Ombudsman at the TATTE Conference Centre on Tuesday 27th April 2021.
This session focused on Non Government Organisations and groupsthat submitted reports for this
process. The CSO dialogue was followed by dedicated consultations from 27 April – 6 May. This
was an important opportunity to discuss specific issues and recommendations raised through the
different organisations’ reports. This approach allows for effective engagement of key
stakeholders and will ensure more focused discussions by all relevant government Ministries on
the issues raised and actions taken. The Ministry and the NMIRF utilises other national
consultations on relevant policies or related programmes to inform the review. The deadline for
submission of the national report is 9 August 2021.