UPR Sexual Rights Database

Noted. We are unable to commit to ratifying any further treaties at this point. While Singapore may not be party to a particular human rights treaty yet, our outcomes are already fully or largely in compliance with its objectives.

We have social safety nets to provide help where family and community support is inadequate.

Singapore enacted the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act (PHTA) in 2015 to specifically combat trafficking in persons (TIP). The definition of TIP in the Act is aligned to that under the UN TIP Protocol.

Noted. Although Section 377A of the Penal Code remains in our statute books, it is not enforced. All Singapore citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation, are free to pursue their activities in their private space. We firmly oppose discrimination and harassment and have laws to protect all our citizens from such conduct. We will continue to manage the issue of LGBT rights in a sensitive and pragmatic way, so as to protect the vulnerable, uphold the family and preserve the common space for the diverse communities in Singapore.

Noted. About a quarter of the recommendations that we noted relate to the ratification of international human rights treaties. Singapore takes our treaty obligations seriously and engages actively with the relevant treaty bodies. We also have a process under our Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights to actively review Singapore's ability to ratify additional human rights treaties. Since we cannot prejudge the outcome of the review process, we are unable to commit ourselves to ratifying any of these specific treaties at this time, apart from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (OP-CRC-SC), for which a review has already been completed. While Singapore may not be party to a particular human rights treaty yet, it does not mean that our outcomes are not already fully or largely in compliance with its objectives.

Noted. The Singapore Constitution enshrines the principle of equality of all persons before the law. This provision encompasses non-discrimination in relation to women. In addition to the Constitution, the rights of women are protected in legislation such as the Employment Act, the Women's Charter, the Children and Young Persons Act, the Penal Code, the Protection from Harassment Act and the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act. Any aggrieved woman is able to seek redress under such laws.