The full story
The Ombudsman's National Public Inquiry into Family Violence, launched by Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa on 12 September 2018, found that nine in ten women consulted had experienced physical or emotional violence from family members and six in ten had experienced intimate-partner violence; it made 39 recommendations. 13 Its village recommendation became the Village Family Safety Committee pilot in six villages (Lotopue, Vaiee, Lalovi-Mulifanua, Taga, Asau and Saleia) from 2020. 45
The 2019–20 Demographic and Health Survey is the last national measure. Analysis of it put past-year physical, sexual or emotional intimate-partner violence at 31.4% of ever-partnered women, and 90.8% of children aged 1 to 14 had experienced physical punishment or psychological aggression in the previous month. 26 Of women aged 15 to 49 who had experienced physical or sexual violence, 41% sought help, against 11% in a 2017 survey. 7 A 2025 study of nine rural villages found about one in four women had experienced family violence in the past year; its measure and population differ from the inquiry's. 8
Under Fiamē, the government adopted a 2021–31 family-safety policy and the 2021 Malu i Fale campaign, and a review reported to UN Women in 2024 said three of the six pilot villages (Saleia, Taga and Vaiee) could serve as models and that violence in the pilot villages had fallen over the year, without publishing the counts. 5 After reports of an investigative backlog, police adopted a no-drop approach to domestic-violence cases. 9 Samoa reviewed its legal-aid scheme in 2025 and endorsed its first National Legal Aid Policy. 10
Under Laʻauli, the 2026/27 budget gives SAT$200,000 to the Samoa Victim Support Group, and the Police, Justice and Family ministries launched a multi-ministry drugs-and-violence programme in September 2026. 1112
No recommendation-by-recommendation count of the 39 inquiry recommendations has been published, and no national prevalence survey since 2019–20. 52 No measured impact published yet from the pilot villages or the 2026 programme; the next Demographic and Health Survey would show it.