Rights
1979 Constitution with custom recognised and climate at the centre
A republic under the 1979 independence Constitution with a justiciable fundamental-rights chapter, an executive President chosen from elected members, and express recognition of Kiribati custom in the application of laws.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — A unitary republic spread across 33 atolls and more than three million square kilometres of ocean. Island councils exercise local government powers; the Banaban community on Rabi Island in Fiji holds a distinct statutory position.
Governing law
- Constitution of Kiribati 1979, ch. II
- Laws of Kiribati Act 1989
- Local Government Act 1984
- Constitution of Kiribati 1979, ch. IIIcitizenship
In practice
The Laws of Kiribati Act 1989 sets the hierarchy of sources and directs that customary law applies in defined matters including land, fishing rights and family, so custom is not merely tolerated but assigned a field of operation. The rights chapter is enforceable in the High Court. Two constitutional peculiarities are worth noting: the President must be an elected member of the Maneaba ni Maungatabu and is chosen by national vote from a shortlist the Maneaba nominates, and the Banabans, displaced to Fiji by phosphate mining, retain a constitutionally acknowledged position including a reserved seat. Climate change has become a constitutional-scale question: the state has purchased land in Fiji and pursued a migration-with-dignity policy, both premised on the possibility that habitability, not sovereignty, fails first.