NAURU: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Nauru's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on children's rights 

Status of the CRC in national law

Articles 51 and 52 of the Interpretation Act 2011, provide that treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, may be used to interpret legislation to resolve ambiguity, confirm or displace the apparent meaning of a law or to find the meaning of a law when its apparent meaning leads to a result that is clearly absurd or unreasonable. The Convention has been cited before national courts, including the Supreme Court.

Constitution: Part II of the Constitution of Nauru contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but a small number of provisions specifically address the rights of children:

  • Article 5(1)(d): provides that a child may be deprived of his or personal liberty when authorised by law, under the order of a court, for the purposes of education.

  • Article 8(2)(b): provides that nothing will violate the protection from deprivation of property where property is possessed or acquired for the purposes of administering it for a person under the age of 20.

  • Article 10(11)(a): permits a court or other authority to exclude the public from a hearing where it does so for the welfare of persons under the age of 20 years.

  • Article 11(3): provides that except with his or her consent, no on shall be required to receive religious instruction or to take part in or attend a religious ceremony, observance or instruction, except that which related to his or her own religion or belief. For persons under twenty years, the consent of a parent replaces that of the person affected.

  • Article 11(4)(c): provides that nothing will violate the Constitution's protections of freedom of conscience if it is done under the authority of law for the purposes of regulating secular education in places of education.

Legislation: there is no comprehensive or consolidated Children's Act in national law, rather provisions relevant to children can be found in a number of Acts and Regulations. Legislation of particular relevance to children includes, but is by no means limited to:

  • The Criminal Justice Act 1999

  • The Criminal Code 1899

  • The Criminal Procedure Act 1972

  • The Education Act 2011

  • The Adoption of Children Act 1965

  • The Guardianship of Children Act 1975

  • The Family Court Act 1973

  • The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973

  • The Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1973

  • The Births, deaths and Marriages Act 1957

  • The Immigration Act 1999

  • The Illicit Drugs Control Act 2004

  • The Liquor Act 1967

Legal Research

The Constitution of Nauru is available through the website of the Parliament (http://www.naurugov.nr/parliament-of-nauru/constitution-of-nauru.aspx). The RONLAW database provides access to Acts, subordinate legislation, court decisions and Gazettes (http://ronlaw.gov.nr/nauru_lpms/) and the Pacific Legal Information Institute (http://www.paclii.org/nr/legis/num_act/) maintains a database of primary legislation. In addition, the GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research n the south Pacific (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/South_Pacific_Law1.htm), and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/nr/) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/nauru.php) both provide access to a selection of legal and governmental resources. All resources are available in English.

Case Law

CRC Jurisprudence

The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been cited by the Supreme Court of Nauru, including in reference to adoption proceedings (http://www.crin.org/Law/instrument.asp?InstID=1579).

Case Law Research

The RONLAW database provides access to the texts of national court decisions (http://ronlaw.gov.nr/nauru_lpms/) and the Pacific Legal Information Institute provides access to the decisions of the Supreme Court (http://www.paclii.org/nr/cases/NRSC/), the District Court (http://www.paclii.org/nr/cases/NRDC/) and the High Court of Australia (http://www.paclii.org/ruhani.html). All resources are available in English.

Compliance with the CRC

Though Nauru ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, it is yet to report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Current legal reform projects

Bills currently before the Parliament are listed on the Parliament's website (http://www.naurugov.nr/parliament-of-nauru/bills-the-laws-proposed-to-be-passed-by-parliament.aspx). At the time of writing the Ombudsman Bill, the Adoption of Children (Amendment) Bill and the Guardianship of Children (Amendment) Bill were all listed as awaiting introduction before the Parliament.

Countries

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.