There is a need to assess sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, and access to essential services in the country.
Samoa does not have a formal legal guardianship system that deprives people with disabilities of their legal capacity to make independent decisions.
This is outlined in the assessment report on sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, and access to essential services of women and young people with disabilities in Samoa, which the United Nations Population Fund commissioned (UNFPA) under the Australian Government funded Transformative Agenda for Women, Adolescents and Youth in the Pacific programme.
There report says there are two exceptions to this related to administrative and judicial procedures to declare a person mentally incapacitated and requiring inpatient treatment under the Mental Health Act 200749 and unfit to serve as a witness under the Evidence Act 2015.50
“However, according to to focus group and interview participants informal deprivations of legal capacity are commonplace in various settings, including in the context of SRH (sexual and reproductive health and rights) services.
“The National Policy for Persons with Disabilities 2021-2031 does not comprehensively address formal or informal deprivations of legal capacity.”
Women and young persons with disabilities in Samoa are generally entitled to equal recognition under the law, however, in practice many experience a denial of their right to make decisions for themselves, particularly in healthcare settings.
Common ways this occurs in Samoa are through:
- Harmful stereotyping by both service providers and family members that a person with a disability cannot make a decision independently;
- Services that rely on third parties (often family members or OPDs) to provide interpretation or other accessibility measures, which restricts the ability of the person with the disability to make decisions independently;
- Lack of clear legal and policy supports and safeguards to enable a person with a disability to make their own decisions through supporteddecision making mechanisms and to challenge a denial of their right to make a decision for themselves;
- Disempowerment of persons with disabilities, which prevents people from understanding and advocating for their right to make an independent decision;82 and
- Lack of support services and social protection schemes for people with disabilities and their families, which leads to people with disabilities being economically dependent on their family
