Visiting Samoan judge shares observations on Samoan law and culture
Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Law recently hosted Samoa’s first female judge, Justice Mata Keli Tuatagaloa, for a panel discussion about legal issues facing Samoa and New Zealand.
8 March 2019
Justice Tuatagaloa was visiting New Zealand as a Prime Minister’s Fellow, a programme that invites an influential person to New Zealand to develop relationships and identify future opportunities for collaboration between New Zealand and other countries.
The panel discussion was opened by Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Law Professor Mark Hickford and involved a wide-ranging dialogue touching on issues including culturally appropriate sentencing, structural discrimination, customary land rights, the rights of children and youth, family violence, substance abuse, and the role of village councils and Fa’a Samoa (Samoan customary practice) in Samoan life and law.
The event was attended by a broad cross-section of Wellington’s legal community, including Faculty of Law staff, Victoria University of Wellington Law alumni, past and current judges, representatives from the Ministry of Justice, and Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft.
After listening to contributions from other panel members, Justice Tuatagaloa shared insights into some of the legal issues facing Samoa today.
When asked by a panel member about the issue of family violence in Samoa, Justice Tuatagaloa said that violence is not sanctioned in contemporary Samoan society.
“I think that in any society, violence should not be accepted in the family. There’s certainly now a lot of domestic violence being reported [in Samoa], I think that it took a while for those matters to be reported—there’s a growing awareness of the rights of women under the law—that they can report it.
“I also think [another issue is] status within the village—people used to think ‘we don’t want anyone to know [about violence] because everyone will look at you in a different way in the village.’ That’s definitely changing, which is good.
“Even children—I’m talking about young victims of sexual offending—with the assistance of Samoan Victim Support, and all these other people that help support them—these children are actually going to them and reporting the abuse. It’s moving in the right direction.”
During the discussion Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban asked what New Zealand can learn from the interplay between Samoa’s Westminster parliamentary system and its Fa’a Samoa values. In response, Justice Tuatagaloa said that while the courts play a vital role in Samoan life, the support of communities is also very important in upholding law and order.
“Sometimes [when sentencing] I really stress the importance of culture, sometimes I really go against culture, because it depends on the defendant appearing before me—sometimes they abuse culture for their own benefit.
“We always fall back on our communities. We don’t have a military, we have a very small force of police. They are effective at keeping the peace in the villages because they have the support of the village councils. If they didn’t have this support I don’t think they would be able to carry out their duties.
“It’s a fine line balancing this, but in terms of getting support, you always to go to the community.”
Justice Tuatagaloa also advocated for more women to take leadership roles in Samoa so that the judgments of village councils and matai (village chiefs) better reflect issues and challenges facing Samoan women.
“I think having more women within the sitting of the village councils would definitely add that voice to the decisions that are made in there. I add my voice from somewhere else, but there should be more women getting involved in village councils.
“I think women who are matai themselves, that’s a real strength.”