Vaʻai Kolone and Tofilau Eti Alesana co-founded the party in May 1979 in opposition to the government of Tupuola Efi.

The U.S. State Department's 2010 human rights report (published on 8 April 2011) stated that the Human Rights Protection Party remained the only officially recognized party in the Legislative Assembly of Samoa[5] (the Fono) as of that date.

[9][10] In June 2017, the Legislative Assembly passed a bill to increase support for Christianity in the country's constitution, including a reference to the Trinity in Article 1.

According to The Diplomat, "What Samoa has done is shift references to Christianity into the body of the constitution, giving the text far more potential to be used in legal processes.

"[11] The preamble to the constitution already described the country as "an independent State based on Christian principles and Samoan custom and traditions.