Nauru abolishes death penalty and legalises homosexuality [1]
Friday, June 3, 2016 - 20:05. Updated on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 17:02.
Nauru has abolished its death penalty and decriminalised homosexuality after recently amending its criminal code. Tonga and Papua New Guinea remain the only two countries in the Pacific to retain the death penalty for crimes such as murder, while six Pacific countries still criminalize homosexuality including Tonga.
Nauru's new Crimes Act 2016 replaces the century old Criminal Code 1899, which was drawn from the Queensland Criminal Code.
The Nauru Government says the update is consistent with international human rights standards.
The European Union (EU) strongly supported the amendment and said in a statement that Nauru is “among the increasing number of countries that have taken steps to abide by their international human rights commitments to promote the equality and dignity of all human beings irrespective of their sexual orientation”.
The EU also said “the death penalty cannot be justified under any circumstances.”
Death Penalty
According to Amnesty International, Tonga and Papua New Guinea are the only two countries in the Pacific to retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes such as murder but they are considered "abolitionist in practice" because executions have not taken place during the last 10 years, and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
The last execution to take place in Tonga was in 1982 and in Papua New Guinea in 1950.
Pacific countries, whose laws do not provide the death penalty for any crime, include Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
Globally, there are 103 countries that have abolished the death penalty for all crimes (including Nauru). Six countries have laws that provide for the death penalty only for exceptional crimes such as crimes under military law or crimes committed in exceptional circumstances. While 31 countries still have the death penalty but have not executed anyone in the last 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions, including Tonga and Papua New Guinea, and 58 countries have retained the death penalty for ordinary crimes including the United States of America.
Homosexuality
Six Pacific countries that still criminalise homosexuality for males (female homosexuality is legal) are Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Kirribati, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tuvalu, as stated in the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) world survey of sexual orientation laws. Penalties vary for each country with imprisonment between three to 14 years.
The only Pacific country that criminalises both male and female homosexuality is the Solomon Islands with a penalty of up to 14 years of imprisonment.
According to the Human Dignity Trust, Tonga has not yet prosecuted any same sex adults for homosexual acts, and criminal prosecutions are “restricted in the context of criminal offending rather than against consensual same sex partners.”
Source:
http://www.naurugov.nr/media/47055/nauru_20bulletin_20_05_27may2016_20_28137_29.pdf [2]
http://www.paclii.org/to/legis/consol_act/co136/ [3]
http://ilga.org/downloads/02_ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2016_ENG_WEB_150516.pdf [4]
http://www.humandignitytrust.org/uploaded/Map/Country_Reports/Tonga.pdf [5]