UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 15) Gender-based violence (GBV) is considered to be one of the most persistent and under-reported crimes in Saint Lucia. The GOSL has adopted a multisectoral approach in combatting this scourge. In 2019, through the Essential Services Programme, the Division of Gender Relations in collaboration with the Women’s Support Centre embarked on the establishment and training of individuals within various communities in Saint Lucia to provide support through information and other resources to victims and persons at risk of domestic violence. Saint Lucia has also benefited from the Strengthening State Accountability Project for ending gender-based violence in the Caribbean by UN Women and Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP). Through this project a data gathering tool was designed and adopted. The tool systematically collects data from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, the Women’s Support Centre the Saint Lucia Crisis Centre and the Family Court. Not all agencies are fully compliant with the systematic sharing of data and it was noted that there was limited capacity of the Division of Gender Relations to analyse and use the data gathered. Recent commitments from UN ECLAC to support data management in Saint Lucia is intended to improve the Division’s capacity and that of the Gender Focal Points in relevant departments in that regard.
Para 16) In 2016, Saint Lucia was supported by United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Multi-Country Office in Barbados in collaboration with the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ThACCP). The ThACCP completed the National Plan/Partnership for Action to end gender-based violence in 2019 to produce a National Plan/Partnership of Action (NPA) to end gender-based violence in Saint Lucia. A national consultation on gender-based violence was convened in March 2019 to initiate the necessary processes to catalyze systemic change. A comparative review of existing legislation nationally, regionally and internationally with proposed legislation was completed in September 2019. The review was conducted through technical assistance from Sisters for Change through the Equality and Justice Alliance Initiative.
Para 17) This new legislation is expected to be submitted to Cabinet in 2020 and will define domestic violence, provide recourse for all victims of domestic violence regardless of marital status, living arrangements, sex and other factors prohibiting access to justice in the existing legislation.
Para 18) In the last five years, the Government of Saint Lucia has developed strategies aimed at preventing violence against women and girls, in primary and secondary schools. The Health and Family Life Education and the Good Touch Bad Touch programmes continue at all public schools. Youth A.R.T (Active Response Team) is an initiative undertaken by the Division of Gender Relations in collaboration with select secondary schools. It promoted the concept of healthy relationships among students from 11 to 17 years in an effort to reverse the trend of dating violence.
Para 19) As a second level of prevention, Family Court has introduced a Violence Intervention programme called Partnership For Peace which is a psycho-educational perpetrator programme particularly for men who are perpetrators of domestic violence. Furthermore, the Bordelais Correctional Facility has also engaged in a number of social programmes for inmates including one programme aimed at uniting incarcerated fathers with their children through the organising of family days at the facility.
Para 20) The COVID-19 pandemic has also created a need for psycho-social support as mental health crises and domestic violence of persons has been on the increase. Through the assistance of the Government of Canada and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the GOSL has implemented the Enabling, GenderResponsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean (EnGenDER) Project. The Project focuses on actions which address gender-based violence and gender vulnerabilities that became more pervasive as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Project will be used to support the implementation of income supplemental initiatives which benefitted women in the informal sector, women farmers and women living with disabilities. Assistance also focused on the provision of psycho-social support training for essential workers to address gender-based violence.

UN Compilation:
Para 37) The subregional team indicated that Saint Lucia had supported recommendations to address domestic violence and gender-based violence – a critical, persistent human rights challenge in the region. It noted that the country was implementing measures to that end, and noted a number of initiatives that had been adopted on the issue.
Para 38) The subregional team noted, nevertheless, that the number of cases of violence against women that were prosecuted was 1.21 per cent of all cases. The subregional team also indicated that the Penal Code 2003 (Revision of the Criminal Code (2003)) punished sexual violence within marriage only when rape occurred in divorced or separated couples.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 36) JS2 noted that Saint Lucia had accepted recommendations on gender-based violence including on domestic violence, sexual violence and marital rape. JS2 indicated that these recommendations involved different actions to be taken by various government areas and included practical steps, measures, policies and legislative framework modifications but that none of those recommendations had been fully implemented.
Para 37) JS2 added that domestic violence remained a significant problem, but noted that there had been no prosecutions of crimes of gender-based violence during 2018. While police were willing to arrest offenders, the Government prosecuted crimes of violence against women only when the victim pressed charges. The Gender Relations Department identified lack of training in trauma-specific interview techniques as a major problem for evidence collection.
Para 38) JS2 indicated that, according to statistics, incidents of rape in Saint Lucia were much higher than incidents of rape on a global scale and violence against women was disturbingly high. JS2 highlighted that the law criminalized spousal rape only when a couple was divorced or separated or when a protection order had been issued by the Family Court. Two recommendations on this topic had been received and accepted in previous reviews, however, there had been no developments on this issue.
Para 39) JS2 observed that though the legal framework could be improved, the biggest problems were the inconsistent application of the law in practice, and the approach of individual judges, police officers, social workers, medical staff, educational workers and other professionals who were the contact points of victims. JS2 indicated that quality and well-established multisector cooperation of all relevant stakeholders in the field of violence prevention and control was necessary.