Country Overview
Tuvalu
At a glance
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In Tuvalu, same-sex relations between men are criminalized under the 2008 penal code. The penalty is up to 14 years in prison, although the law has reportedly not been enforced in recent years. The Labour and Employment Relations Act of 2017 prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Amendments made to the Constitution of Tuvalu in 2023 included, in Section 27, a prohibition on discrimination based on sex, but do not explicitly extend this protection to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics. The constitution also prohibits same-sex marriage, imposing a duty on every person to “uphold the Christian principles of a family unit, which shall comprise a marriage as between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, and their offspring as the foundation of the Tuvaluan society.”
Tuvalu recognizes gender diversity in pinapinaaine or pina, who are assigned male at birth and adopt traditionally feminine gender expressions and historically played specific societal and communal roles. However, at present, there is no legal recognition of trans, gender-diverse, or intersex people.
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